Cats, cooking, the cinema and important decisions

Hi again

This week has been mostly about cats, cooking and the cinema but there have also been some important decisions taken in my life.

Dear Phoebe was operated on Wednesday and the whole episode has been quite traumatic for her. We picked up her after she had woken up from the anaesthetic but was still drowsy and couldn’t walk properly.

Phoebe when we picked her up from the vet
She must have been in some pain and obviously not trusting us for what we had done, she very soon disappeared. We found her later in cupboard under the stairs behind the suitcases but she was to disappear again later on in the evening when she ran out of the kitchen door and into the dark. The mistake was mine and I felt very guilty, specially as she did not appear again until mid morning the next day. We were so worried she would be run over or attacked by a dog as she is so un streetwise. Thankfully now she is home and safe and recovering from her operation and seems to have forgotten the bad time she had. The only good thoughts I have about this is that we have saved her from a life of constant motherhood.

Our 2 lovely neutered pets, Phoebe and Henry living a cats’ life, sleeping on the newly upholstered window seats!
The highlight of the week was lunch with my PR Agency to celebrate the new year. They took me the Hotel de las letras in Gran Vía which is quite a chic place with semi Asian cuisine. They have the best white wine from Rueda I have ever tasted!

The weekend has been back to normal after the Christmas period. I did some cooking for relaxation, more than anything and came up with the best chicken and mushroom pie ever. And today I made some excellent prawn and crab stuffed peppers. I got top marks from the family for both creations! I am absolutely convinced that the best food is cooked when you are relaxed and enjoy what you are doing. It’s a bit like plants; if you look after them lovingly they grow well. Anyway, believe me or not, here is a picture of the pie. The flower and leaves are courtesy of Susana.

Back to normal also means going to the cinema again. On Friday we saw Atonement and yesterday we saw The Last train to Auschwitz. They are both great films in their own way. Atonement is obviously more entertaining with its story of love, passion and guilt. The last train to Auschwitz is as horrific as its title suggests and is a little claustrophobic because the story begins and ends on the train. I am now looking forward to seeing the Kite Runner which should be out soon as well as the film based on the book “Love in the time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez which will be out next week.

Back to normal also means going to La Alpargatería restaurant again. It was there we went on Friday for dinner after the film and sat at our usual table, number 7 where we had our usual dinner. Well, Eladio actually tried something different on the menu, but I did not!

Talking about dinner, that brings me on the subject of decisions. Since Tuesday I have decided to go on a diet like 65% of the population after the excesses of Christmas and not just Christmas. And what diet is that you may well ask? Well, it’s quite simple: breakfast: a glass of orange juice from one orange and coffee with milk; lunch: free choice (so I end up eating what I want); dinner: a piece of fruit and a yoghurt. And that’s it. The exception is dinner out once a week on either Friday or Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed this works because if it doesn’t I’m in trouble and will have to find some other solution to this widening with age which seems never to stop.

And the other decision regards our silver wedding anniversary trip. Our choices were Africa, China, Vietnam, Israel and India but not necessarily in that order. Really we both wanted to go to India. It has been my dream, at least, ever since I saw the film Gandhi by Richard Attenborough. I am attracted by the colour, by the people, by the music, by the food, by the culture, yet know so little about the country. I got some very valuable advice from Olivia’s wonderful Indian friends, Sandeep and Sumit who strongly advised us that August was the worst month to travel in India because of the heat. So after much debate we have decided, that yes, India is our destination but that we will not go in August which is when our anniversary is but in December just after Christmas. So now we have a whole year to plan the trip of our lifetime.

Just before I finish this post, I must say Happy Birthday to my dear sister-in-law Sanya whose birthday was on Monday and also Happy Birthday to my best friend, Fátima whose birthday it is today.

And that’s all for the moment folks.

Have a good week.
Cheers/Masha