Reflective day
I don’t know why but today I haven’t felt quite so “up” and have fought to stop the “down” taking me to the basement and beyond. Usually a favourite song on the radio will cheer me up but today was more reflective and I wanted some quiet. It was a Haagen Dazs strawberry cheesecake moment. One spoon, one pot and it lifted me to ground level.
Sometimes ice-cream can be your best friend....
Water activities on Istan Lake
We have never actually found our way to the border of Istan lake but always wondered if they have water activities there. We have been hankering for a chance to try canoeing and I can’t think of a more beautiful setting than on Istan lake.
Well a bit of research and I found a great company that offers canoeing, quad bikes, lake tours, aquaskipping and more all in the Marbella location. They are aimed mostly at companies wishing to book team building but I emailed them to ask what they could do for us as a family and they responded quickly and with a special package deal. They will also be shortly offering the chance to rent a canoe by the hour in Marbella.
To find out more go to:
http://www.marbellatop100.com/safarishop/index.php
One wrong turn turned into a better path
Sometimes you have plans, they don’t work out and you actually have an even better time that you would have done had your original plan….gone to plan.
Yesterday we thought we would go and have fun on a jet ski and banana boat. Only the golden mile was closed for what looked like a race and it was impossible for us to go where we needed. So we headed to Funny Beach instead only to find that the wind had picked up a little and the calm sea of the morning had turned into some rather large waves, not suitable for jet skiing.
The children had fun on the go karts and we bumped into a couple that we knew vaguely from school. We ended up talking with them until very late….it had gone dark and they were just the most lovely people. Irony is that they have now switched schools so I won’t actually see them in the playground come September.
Children had a ball on the activities at Funny Beach, the girls loved the new plastic cylinder that you climb into ( full of some water ) and like a hamster they have to tread around and around to make the cylinder roll across the water.
We all came back saying what a lovely unexpected fun time we had…..and we found some new friends! Erikita even discovered that the couple’s son who used to be in her year group was actually rather nice, even though he was god forbid…A BOY.
Happy Monday everyone….
Chinese restaurant in Marbella
It is nearly 1am so just a quick tappety tap before I sucumb to the night demons…..we went out on Friday night to La Canada and ate at M. Wok upstairs near Burger King.
They have a buffet, eat as much as you want menu, I think it was around 11.95 for an adult and half of that for children under the age of 12.
The service was very good, we ate outside on the terrace which was nice and private and the food was super tasty, my favourite was the beef and the steak. Super clean, lots of choice of duck, prawns, noodles all ready with seasoning and sauce. Behind that was a BBQ section. The steak there was absolutely delicious and you could keep on going back, which the boys of the house did. They also have a sushi section and ice-cream, fruits, cakes…..little Erikita couldn’t believe that she could try vanilla ice-cream, then the strawberry and then finish with some peaches and nobody was going to tell her off or call her a greedy guts. Well, apart from her brother.
Once Conrado tried the Hotel Puente Romano’s buffet ( superb if you don’t mind donating a kidney to pay for it) and he fell asleep at the table he was so full. That didn’t happen this time but he didn’t half pack away a lot of food, so it offered great value and the novelty of being able to choose what you wanted and go back again and again amused the children no end.
Will certainly go back again. Lovely people, lovely food.
M.Wok La Canada upstairs opposite Kentucky Tel 952860593
Summer chintz
My Grandma Meredith's tea set
I don’t know if I am just missing my ma, the heat has gone to my head or I’m just a little tired of eating off my oh so white and pattern free dinner plates, but over the last couple of weeks I have been hankering for chintz.
I moved out of my kitchen display cupboard all my crystal glasses and have instead replaced them with the bright and cheery tones of my chintzy tea set that once belonged to Grandma Meredith.
Lemon meringue pie tastes so much better when accompanied by flora…..
I have been trying to find one off chintzy dinner plates and found a great website in the UK with gorgeous tea sets for often £40 and less. I had a good hour of looking through photo after photo of gorgeous bone china with all the chintz I could dream of. If only I lived in the UK…..
and for a look at lovely Lala’s lemon meringue pies served on her very own summer chintz plates go here…..
http://mycastleinspain.blogspot.com/
A lovely evening walk
This one reminded me of a pretty in pink flamenco dress
Tonight at 8pm I ventured out with Erikita for an evening walk as the hea of the afternoon has just drained me of anything apart from the ability to say manana, manana.
I couldn’t resist taking my camera to show you some of the gorgeous flowers growing wild….
Oranges like the Marbella sunsets
Boughs heavy with advocadoes...
We passed an olive tree, its fruit not yet ripe
Space saving idea for your duvets
Duvet storage
My friend Jenny is a clever girl. She has come up with an ingenious space saving idea for those winter duvets that take up so much room.
She’s made a sausage shaped bolster cushion for going on your bed in any fabric that matches your room. It is zipped and has foam at the ends to give it shape and support and hides your duvet and looks very attractive on the bed.
If you are interested in having one made and finding out the cost etc go to her blog on Fuengirola http://holafuengirola.blogspot.com and you can get in touch with her there.
It was good…
seriously good and set beautifully after under 3 hours in the fridge. I’ve had it for breakfast, lunch and inbetween with numerous cups of tea. There are about 3 slices left….going, going.
GONE!
Making another one on Friday as friends over for lunch and I’m like this when I make new things…I want to do it over and over again until I get so sick of it that I never make it again!
Lemon meringue pie for supper
Leave the lemon meringue pie to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours...we shall see!!
I am a big fan of the blog My Castle In Spain and after seeing her mini lemon meringue pies that she made for supper with friends on her roof terrace I quite fancied trying to make a pie myself. The boys in the house love anything lemony, the girls like meringue so it seemed a good idea.
I wrote out one recipe that I found on the internet and after filling 2 sides of paper I gave up. I thought if ever I get to the end of this and actually make this recipe I’m more likely to throw the pie at someone than actually eat it. Eventually found a recipe that looked a little easier…but still, lemon meringue pie is a bit of a fiddle to make unless you can buy one of those already made sweet pastry cases. Marks and Spencers do mini ones in La Canada but I haven’t seen anywhere else that sells them….so I made my pastry from scratch with the help of my wizard blender.
I’m very hot and sweaty but quite proud. My pie looks great, even if it tastes YUK!
It is now I hope to God setting in the fridge. I’ve read that I should leave it around 3 hours. I’m not sure I can wait that long to cut inside it but I’ll try since I’ve taken most of the afternoon trying to make it.
I’ve called the children down and told them to “ooooh” louder. If this works I swear to God any of you can make this as a chef I am not……I don’t even read instructions properly. My last cake killed the sparrows, as they haven’t been seen since.
I’ll let you know if it is good or not…..
Back to school
well not yet, but shortly. It is my favourite time of year.
Hours spent looking for uniform, then finding it, taking it back, buying the size larger, too scratchy, taking it back, finding the right size, only to find it is the wrong size…taking it back.
Then we need to buy school shoes. Three lots. Hours spent trying to persuade a 12 year old that she doesn’t need stilettoes in year 8, then more time spent trying to persuade a 9 year old that those softest leather shoes from El Corte Ingles are not too tight and that she’s just too used to wearing flip flops for the last 2 months, and lastly trying to find a shoe to fit a 14 year old in size 44 that is wide enough for him not to screech at me in an even higher squeaky voice than we are already experiencing. Puberty and children….lovely mix.
Then there are the trainers, three lots. Laces or velcro? I opted for velcro as I thought I might strangle myself if I bought the laces.
Then we have the school bags. All needing adjusting to see if they cause shoulder rub or look good. Searching for long mirrors, preening, prancing. I don’t think at any point did any of my children actually consider would their books fit in the new school bags.
Stationery is another day trip. Rubbers that sing as they erase, pencils that have heads with wobbly eyes attached, gel pens that write upside down in space……
Lastly I get to sew on the name tags. I was so fed up last week I stuck a needle and thread, in a spot on my face and walked around the house asking my children if they thought I was too old for body piercings?
Yes, back to school and I think I need a holiday….