A quiet week in February

Hiya

Looking back on this week and comparing it to the one before, this week has been very quiet and actually a bit boring. After recovering from the excesses of my birthday celebrations and Barcelona, I am ready for activity again. But this week was not to be and unfortunately next week doesn’t look very promising either.

Workwise the week has been mostly about planning with not much action and I have worked mostly from home as I didn’t have very many meetings to attend. The highlights of the week were lunch with my best friend Fátima where we spent most of our time talking about diets and lunch with two very close journalist friends from ABC, one of whom I have to thank for his help in finding my current job. Thanks Antonio!

The weekend has been pretty usual too with just one social event. That was Friday night when we went to the cinema and out to dinner with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen. Guess which restaurant? Well the answer is easy; our usual, La Alapargatería. When I ring to make the reservation I don’t even need to say my name as they recognise my voice and depending on the number of people we are, they always know which table we want; 5 or 7.

The film we went to see was The King of Scotland which is about the rise of Idi Amin Dada, the famous dictator of Uganda in the 70’s but seen through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan. He is a young semi-idealistic Scottish doctor who comes to Uganda to assist in a rural hospital. Once there, he soon meets up with the new President, Idi Amin, who promise a golden age for the African nation. Garrigan hits it off immediately with the rabid Scotland fan, who soon offers him a senior position in the national health department and becomes one of Amin's closest advisers. The story ends with the famous episode of the highjacking by the Palestinians of an aeroplane which is forced to land in Entebbe Uganda. Hopefully tonight both the film and the actor who plays Idi Amin will win an oscar as it is one of the best I have seen in a long time; that is if you can stomach some of Amin’s atrocities.

We have had some friends of Susana’s for the weekend, Merce and Josema from Yecla who were also here in September. As usual they brought us some lovely products from Murcia; wine, fairy cakes and funnily enough a delicious Tiramisu.

Yesterday Eladio and I went a bit mad buying pictures. We were out shopping for something completely different and came across a shop which had just the sort of pictures we were looking for. They are of zebras, African people, a huge flower and a view of Madrid from its most famous street, La Calle de Alcalá.

And as I love having something to look forward to, I have bought tickets and booked hotel rooms for a stay in Cornwall to see Oli at the end of April. Also, I have booked rooms for a weekend away with our friends Roberto and Mari Carmen at a wonderful country inn called La Senda de los Caracoles in Segovia which is also a spa. We shall be going at the end of March. Thanks Ana for the tip – just look at the place: www.lasendadeloscaracoles.com

And now I must leave you to attend to the roast in the oven. Today we will be 7 for lunch and it wouldn’t do to serve up burnt roast chicken!

I think I might have bored you today with so little to tell in my blog but there is not much more to report from a quiet week in February. I hope you had a good one!

Until next week my friends.

Cheers Masha

3GSM Barcelona 07

Susi in La Rambla

Me in La Rambla

Reuniting colleagues - Nokia Networks Spain team 2000

Susi and me posing for an mms postcard at the Nokia party

Emilio, me and Patricio - the Chilean connection
Hello again,

So what’s 3GSM you may ask? Well it’s actually the biggest telecoms congress in the world and it was held in Barcelona last week. Anyone who is anyone is telecoms goes, so it’s the best place in the world for networking.

Yes, of course it’s all about work and new products and services but for me it’s all about meeting colleagues old and new. In the company I worked for before we had a few sayings which were Connecting People, Disconnecting Families and Reuniting Colleagues and I like the last one best! It was great to see Marianne, Yolande, Tia, Suvi, Ben, Thomas, Xavier, Eva, Anna and a whole load of other ex colleagues again.

From what I could gather, the 3GSM congress this year was all about internet in your mobile phone, also about mobile TV and to some extent newish technologies such as Wimax. And of course, Windows mobile. But I’m sure you don’t want to hear about the congress but about what I did for fun.

And yes, there was quite a lot of fun. I took Susi my daughter with me as she had a few days off after her exams and was going to the UK on Thursday with her friend Merce from Alicante to see Oli in Falmouth. So there we were the 2 of us in a splendid hotel, the Eurostars Grand Marina in the port of Barcelona for 3 nights and when I wasn’t working we were playing.

We set aside some time for shopping and Susi did some tourism. The most I got in was a walk down the Rambla which was as beautiful as ever. We were lucky with the weather as it was around 20º C and upwards most of the week.

The nights were the best with quite a few parties, the best, of course, being the Nokia party and that’s the night we were out longest. It was held at the Museum of Catalán Art at the top of Montjuic with fabulous views of Barcelona at night. There must have been more than a 1000 people and tickets were like gold to get hold of. With my connections I managed to get 4 and took Susi and 2 Finnish friends, Viivi and Hanna. The dinner was great with buffets of Spanish, Mexican, Japanese and Italian food, not to mention the chocolate buffet and the drinks, champagne most of the night. The funniest bit was when a Greek chap, based in Teheran told me I was beautiful – in front of my daughter!! Having just celebrated my 50th birthday that came as quite a compliment.

As the night went along I bumped into many familiar faces which was such a pleasure. It was great to see you Pepe Comas, Pedro Molpeceres, Roberto Sanz, Miquel Teixidor, Luis Ríos, Tia Matthews, Michael Wittenberg, Emilio Brambilla (el chavalín), Patricio Valenzuela, Cristina Miranda, José Luis Pérez from Siemens and a friend from my Motorola days, Stephen Green from Satama, Ikka from the Ngage tour, …..I also met a host of great new people including a Dane dressed like a Mexican whose name I think was Johan. He was such fun.

From there a big group of us went to Luz de Gas for after party drinks. Luz de Gas is the place I always end up at in Barcelona. And there we danced the night through (yes I did Anne!) and drank lovely Mojitos. The night ended after 4 o’clock when Susi and I went exhausted to bed. The next day was the end of the fair which was actually a good thing as I had been on the go since the 8th February and my body needed a rest.

From Barcelona Susi went on to Alicante from where she was flying to Bristol with Merce and from Bristol they were hiring a car to drive to Falmouth. The poor kids ended up at Oli’s place at 4 in the morning. Well, they are young and can take it.

And I came home on Friday to home sweet home and in need of a good rest in order to build up energy again for work next week.

Cheers till next week.

My 50th birthday, otherwise known as the Indian Wedding

The belly dancer

Eladio and I at the Arab restaurant

Amanda and I in the kitchen when they arrived.


The food

Me and the magician Nelo

Walking in Boadilla on Sunday morning

Amanda and me at the tapas bar "El Bierzo" in Boadilla

The younger generation at the Txitxarrería where Andy and Amanda took us for dinner on the last night.

And the older generation at the same dinner.

Susi and Oli, my beautiful girls at La Txitxarreria.
Hi again

It was actually on the 8th February and I haven’t updated my blog since the 7th as I haven’t had a quiet moment to myself since then.

The 8th was the family celebration with a lunch at home and a Mallorca bought birthday cake. It was just the 5 of us, Eladio, Susi and Oli, my Father and me. They had bought me a hilarious singing birthday card with a lady showing her legs! I got some lovely presents from all the family.

In the evening Eladio and I went to the Medina Mayrit Arab Baths (http://www.medinamayrit.com/template.php?l=en&m=2&s=1) for a Turkish bath, massage, dinner and show – belly dancer. It was certainly an experience and a place I had wanted to go to for a long time.

On Friday my dear friends Andy and Amanda came to join us for the celebrations. They hadn’t seen our new house so that was something new for them. We spent the afternoon catching up on our news and then took them to dinner to our favourite place, La Alpargatería.

Saturday was a full day of preparations, cooking and getting ready for the party. My catch phrase all day long, was “there are 45 people coming, so do you think this is enough?”. Eladio took Andy and Amanda out in the morning to buy Andy a Spanish classical guitar and they came back with a beauty of an instrument.

People arrived from 21h onwards and we welcomed them all warmly. We ate and drank to our heart’s content and dear Copi (Susi’s bosom friend) was making Mojitos in the kitchen – yummy. We had a mixture of people, family and friends from my Motorola and Nokia times as well as the girls’ boyfriends and closest friends. We were quite a multicultural lot and my Father had a great time talking to the Finns, my friend Gustavo of Canadian origin and Monica’s husband who is German. So did Amanda I think. I got lots of great presents – thanks everyone – the most original of all being an original copy of the Times printed the day I was born, from Susana and Gustavo. Amazing!

The evening ended with a magician’s show which actually lasted nearly an hour and a half but had us mesmerized b y the most incredible tricks Nelo (that was his name) made.

When nearly everyone left, Andy, Amanda, Eladio, the kids, the boyfriends, Copi and Carolina sat around eating up the birthday cake and having a final drink. It was then that I got out my old school reports and started reading out some of the comments which were hilarious. You might not know but Amanda and I were at school together (St. Joseph’s College, a convent school in Bradford). There were some priceless remarks like: “she rarely swims”, “lacks PE equipment”, “would do better if she concentrated” and some even worse! It’s actually quite surprising to think that out of my whole class, I probably did better professionally than most in the end but I must admit, I was an awful school pupil!

Sunday was a quiet day when we took 3 walks to work off the food and alcohol of Saturday but then the walks were actually made so we could get in some tapas at Boadilla in the morning and go out to dinner to La Txitxarreria in Pozuelo in the evening.

It was great having Olivia, Andy and Amanda over for my birthday which was one of the best, despite it being my 50th.

On Monday we all woke up early because Andy, Amanda and Oli were returning to the UK and Susi and I were off to Barcelona. You can read all about our trip to Barcelona in my next post.

Cheers
Masha

Birthday Surprise

Hiya again midweek,

I just had to update my blog today to tell you all my darling daughter Olivia came back from England for my 50th birthday. It was a huge surprise instigated by Susana and the conspirators were Oli’s boyfriend Jose Luis, Eladio and my Father.

I had suspected slightly that she might come back but quickly put it out of my head when there were no signs. And then, lo and behold, in the middle of a pretty domestic scene at home last night, in she walked, completely unannounced into our bedroom.

I sort of cried out with joy and hugged her and hugged her. It was so good to see her and now the birthday party and celebrations will be complete with her here too.

Darling, it was a wonderful surprise and thanks for the effort because I do know that coming here for just a few days means a 7 hour train journey from Falmouth to Gatwick and another 7 hours going back next Monday, not to mention the plane, etc. But, great, so great to have you here for all the celebrations and there will be many because my birthday this year is going to be a bit like an Indian wedding, lasting quite a few days. Did you expect anything less from me?

More news on Sunday.

Love to you all
Masha

New bedclothes, lunch with friends, an hour long massage, Black Book and an anti terrorist demonstration in Madrid

Hello again

The title above is actually a pot pourri of what I have been up to this week, believe it or not. And now on to what actually happened:

I hesitated on including news about our new bedroom fabrics but actually the news is big, very big because Eladio and I haven’t changed them since nearly 20 years ago when we moved into our previous house in Parque Boadilla. And the picture to illustrate this post is the bed with its new finery – whether you like the fabric or not is immaterial because we were very practical here and chose it to match the curtains the previous owners had left behind. Thanks Anne for your help in finally getting us to make the change and here is the result.

I managed to slip in some lunches with friends and ex colleagues this week; so Monday I met up with Jorge López who now heads up an English owned PR Agency in Madrid, Lewis. He doesn’t work for me now but he has done in the past and we have great fun exchanging information and keeping up to date in the PR world. He took me to the Centro Riojano in Madrid and I did the terrible thing of ordering white wine (well I was having fish) and I’m afraid Rioja white is not the thing to ask for. Of course, we then changed to red and that was quite ok considering where we were. http://www.centroriojano.com/ It’s definitely a good place to eat in Madrid.

Wednesday was lunch with Mónica, Paloma and Cristina at Ginos – one of our favourites. They were all doing fine and in any case I will be seeing them again as they will be coming to my birthday party next week.

I mustn’t forget to mention that it was Alicia’s birthday this week and she was sweet 15 on Friday. Alicia is my goddaughter and is the daughter of Eladio’s youngest brother, Isidro and his beautiful wife, Yoli.

Midweek and after work I had a little experience of how the rich live as I went to have a massage at the Caroli Health Club near where I work in La Moraleja. I have to point out that I only went as I had been given a free voucher by Nokia at their New Year press party. And how was the massage you may ask? Great, relaxing, sheer luxury which lasted a whole hour. They tried to get me interested in all sorts of treatments afterwards but I said I would ring later but of course I never will. So I walked out and will never go again. It’s the sort of place I’m sure Victoria Beckham frequented when she lived here. Lovely, lovely.
http://www.carolihealthclub.com/

On Friday night Eladio and I went to see the latest Paul Verhoevn film called Black Book which is described as a tough yet strangely sexualised Second World War epic set in the Netherlands and made by that master of leering eroticism Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Showgirls). The leading actress is Carice van Houten, a native of Amsterdam who plays a Jewish hideaway during the second world war who ends up working for the Dutch resistance. Highly highly recommendable. Afterwards we went to dinner but this week we changed and went to La Vaca Argentina instead of La Alpargatería.

And in León yesterday Eladio’s sister Adela was operated for goitre (I think it’s called that) and had 2 big tumours removed – so a pretty long and nasty operation which took at least 3 hours. On the bright side of things the tumours are not expected to be malignant thank God. We wish her a quick and painless recovery.

On Saturday afternoon I accompanied Eladio to Madrid to a demonstration against ETA or negotiating with ETA. I am never a one for demonstrations but Eladio wanted to go so much and I didn’t want to let him go on his own. So we went and unfortunately it was very politicised against the present government. The experience was pretty interesting but the worst thing that happened is that we got trapped in one street and could not move forwards or backwards until it was over – so there I was in the cold trapped by hundreds of human bodies getting crosser and crosser until it was finally over and we could move away. Quite a few people couldn’t take it and we witnessed at least 4 people fainting and the ambulance personnel having to make their way through the dense crowd to get to them. Afterwards we walked all the way to Eladio’s brother’s flat for dinner – it took us well over an hour as it was impossible to get a taxi. My feet were killing after the experience which I know now will never be repeated again.

And next week at this time I will be reporting on my 50th birthday party which is taking place on Saturday. Andy and Amanda are coming for that and I cannot wait to see them.

Till then my friends

All the best
Masha

PR lunches, the company of the leader of the opposition, getting interviewed by Metro, it snowed, went to see Babel, lunch at Benito and Loli's

Susi rushing out into the garden for a photo when it was snowing

Me posing on the sofa with the new cushions and lamp
Hi again.

Well another week went past and it’s now the end of January. It has been a busy week work wise again but I managed to squeeze in quite a bit of socialising, specially at lunchtimes.

On Monday I had lunch with Ketty Rico, the chief editor of Mia which is Spain’s equivalent to Woman’s Own. We met at Bice, which is the where we met for the first time a few years ago. We had illustrious company at the table next to us, in the leader of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy and one of his right hand men, Angel Acebes. They were both a lot thinner than you see them on the television and their conversation was very mundane and quite domestic – they spent most of the time talking about their kids!

Tuesday I was invited to lunch by the chief editor of a telecoms magazine and I was most surprised to be taken to the restaurant where Eladio and I celebrated our registrary wedding over 20 years ago and which I hadn’t visited since then – Chiquito Riz. It’s a classic Madrid restaurant which specialises in fish.

One of the week’s highlights was when I was interviewed by a newspaper called Metro –one of the free newspapers. The agreement was that as it was for a page on professional people they would interview me about my career but then it turned out all the questions were about work!! They took ages getting the right photo and I think I know why as I just wasn’t feeling like I looked particularly good.

It has been getting colder and colder this week and finally yesterday, Friday, it snowed. In some parts of Spain it has been really heavy snow and temperatures in the mountains as low as –15ºC (what a difference to the +20ºC in Barcelona last week!) but here we just got snowflakes which didn’t settle.

And last night Eladio and I went on our weekly visit to the cinema, this time to see Babel, one of the films nominated for the best foreign film. And it was one of the best I have seen for a long time and I actually came out crying. The film is set in 4 locations which could not be more different, rural Morocco, San Diego in the US, Tijuana in Mexico and finally in Tokyo. The contrasts are very acute but the story in each location is interrelated. I won’t say any more for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, except that I highly recommend it. Then we had dinner at Gino’s and a bit too much lambrusco which gave me a headache last night. I never learn ……

This morning we went to Ikea to get some more bits and bobs for the house, including some cushions for a lovely wicker sofa we have bought for the girls’ landing, plus a lamp to go with them. Of course, the first “person” to sit on them was our dear cat Henry.

For lunch today we were all separate as Eladio and I were invited to our friends, Loli and Benito’s. Loli put on a splendid table, full of delicacies such as octopus, prawns and Spanish cured ham amongst other things.

And that just but about sums up this last week’s activities worth mentioning as everything else was routine or too domestic to tell.

Cheers until next time
Masha

A change is as good as a rest – visit to Barcelona and other things

The flower arrangement in the lobby of the Arts Hotel

Birgitta and I at Neichel
Hi again

This week was full of activity – the worst thing being that my new Toshiba laptop crashed and died on Monday night – that made work rather difficult but in one day I was connected to internet again, thank God. I do realise what an addict I am or rather how work dependent we are on email. I also made time for my social life, of course. I had lunch with Jill on Tuesday – she was looking great. I celebrated Fati’s birthday with Julio and Fátima at Tony Romas on Friday where I gave her a present she already had – that shows we really are Pin and Pon as we have the same taste. On Saturday I went with Eladio to the “flicks” as we used to call the cinema when I was a teenager, to see Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. It was very beautiful, all the décor, Versailles and the amazing costumes and hair dos but I was disappointed that the whole of the film was set only at the palace so we got to see nothing about the French revolution and not even their decapitation. And of course we went for dinner to La Alpargatería afterwards and sat at out usual table. It’s a bit dangerous how set in our ways we are, really. Oli always tells me that and I suppose she is right.

But midweek I went to Barcelona with Andrea from our agency to meet up with Birgitta from head office to suss out places for an event in February. I hadn’t travelled for quite a time, so really needed to get away from my desk (or rather desks as I also work at home). So as I hardly travel any more, I was determined to get the most out of this trip and get a real mental break. The weather helped of course, so even if it was January, the temperature at midday was near 20ºC and frankly my coat remained on my arm throughout. We saw many places, old and new, ones I knew and ones I didn’t and finally we made our choice, the Hotel Arts Veranda Café www.hotelartsbarcelona.com. Every time I go to Barcelona to look for a place, I end up choosing it as it is such an amazing place. Dinner was at the Neichel restaurant, a recommendation from my dear friend Julio who has the best taste of all the people I know. And it is actually a Barcelona must, as is the restaurant Gavina at the Barceloneta. And, yes, I now am as I said to a friend who asked me how my trip to Barcelona was, “a kilo or two heavier” but mentally somewhat refreshed.

And that was my week my friends. How was yours? I must have quick peep at my friends’ blogs so I hope they have updated them too.

Cheers till next week/Masha
Pictures (when blogger lets me upload them) are of the flower arrangement in the lobby of the Hotel Arts and of Birgitta and me at the Neichel restaurant in Barcelona.

Back to full speed

Hi again

Monday was back to serious work; although I hadn’t taken any time off at Christmas, I must admit the cruising speed was slower. So it was back with a bang and with lots of activity, as well as planning.

On Tuesday I was invited to the Nokia press party which was one of the highlights of the week. Needless to say I knew everyone there and saw quite a few faces I hadn’t seen for a while. It was held at Arola Madrid belonging to the “famous” Spanish chef, Sergi Arola and which is adjacent to the Reina Sofia Museum.

Wednesday was lunch with Mamen who I hadn’t seen for more than a year. I consider Mamen my “coach” of a kind. She is always so positive to me and after a session with her, my self esteem gets a real boosting. Thanks Mamen for loving me so much.

Thursday was the experience of the year probably as my boss was invited to run a local newspaper for one day. I went along as his “chief editor”. This has only ever happened in the UK (typical stunt for the UK) where Giorgio Armani ran the Independent for one day. It was a whole lot of fun but incredibly stressful as time is forever against you. We started at 14.30 and the newspaper had to be ready for printing by 21.30h. I was amazed to find out how at home I felt in that atmosphere. We also went along to the printing house to see how it was printed and take the first copy of the newspaper as it came off the press.

Not much more to report. Oh, yes, Beckham will be leaving Real Madrid for LA and the huge demonstrations for peace which took place yesterday in Madrid and in Bilbao after the ETA bomb at the car park in Barajas on 30th December. Football and bombs, that’s what Spanish news is nearly always about!

Just got a text message from my “supposed” friend Anne sunning herself in Bali at some 5 star resort, saying it’s just the sort of place I would love. Well, of course, it is, except that I’m not there but here at home, just out of pyjamas on a Sunday morning and with the organisation of the family lunch in my head as I update my blog. Thanks darling Anne , you are so diplomatic!!

Anne’s message has made me remember I haven’t travelled for one hell of a long time, the last place being Stockholm at the beginning of October and meanwhile she will have travelled the globe twice over. My only compensation will be Barcelona next week; off to suss out good locations for an event in February.

Ah, yes and the other thing I have had on my mind this week is the organisation of my next month’s 50th birthday party. Yes my friends, me, Masha, your Mother, your friend, will be turning 50 in February. That is half a century and as someone said to me the other day, that’s when you suddenly realise you are nearer to 70 than to 30. Ouch!!!!

Till next week, have a good week

Masha
PS no photos to illustrate the post this week, so Olivia told me to take one of me writing my blog. And here it is, above. I look very Sunday morningish, no make-up; i.e. the real nearly 50 year old me!!!

Oli - Leaving on a jet plane

Sweet Olivia ready to go
Hi again

Here I am catching up with my blog again midweek.

Dinner at Julio`s on Sunday was Olivia’s last night in Spain before going back to England to continue her Erasmus University Exchange Programme in Cornwall.

She had been with us for a month but time has flown past and on Monday it was time for her to go back. We shall miss her, of course, but she will be back again for Easter in the middle of March which is not so far away really.

This is a picture of her ready for her trip which turned out to be full of incidents. She nearly missed the plane leaving Barajas which was, in any case, delayed. Thus she missed her train from Gatwick and had to catch a later one which left her at a station too far away to get to Falmouth. Luckily 2 of her flatmates were able to pick her up in their car. Falmouth is a 7 or 8 hour train journey from London with 2 or 3 stops and is out in the sticks, literally.

Susi will be going to see her in February and we, hopefully, will too in May. I have never visited Cornwall which is one of the most beautiful parts of England and I am looking forward to it a lot. It is very much Daphne du Maurier land, the author of Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, both set in Cornwall of course.

Bye for now
Masha.

Dinner at Julio’s, something of a tradition

Round the table at Julio's house

Fátima and I
Hi again midweek

The last Christmas celebration this year was Julio’s dinner where my whole family, plus Fátima, descended on his bachelor flat for a great evening on Sunday 7th January.

This year was no change. The food was great as usual – all typical Spanish tapas easily obtainable from the Mallorca delicatessen, plus his Mother’s home made chorizo and stuffed peppers. This was washed down by a magnum bottle of Muga. Then we pulled the crackers which were my contribution and tried to translate the silly English jokes inside. Then after a good drinking game it was time for exchanging presents. There were not many surprises as we always tell each other what we want! In fact Fátima bought her present and Julio his and they did a swap at the beginning of the evening.

The highlight of the evening was when Fátima arrived wearing exactly the same jacket as me – a pink velvet one. And above you have a picture of us both dressed the same. Oh, well, no wonder we are called Pin y Pon by our friends here!!

Thanks Julito for a great evening.

Cheers
Masha

The Three Kings, our three “roscones” and the last but one day of Christmas

The dining room table laid for the Three Kings' lunch

Olivia smiling at her Mother after lunch

Sarita guapa looking realy guapa with the paper hat from her cracker. She will be going back to China on 15th January.

Hi

Well today is the last official day of Christmas and it is the Three Kings’ Day which is much celebrated in Spain and is the day when most Spaniards exchange gifts. However Father Christmas has become more and more important in the last 10 or 15 years and so some people exchange gifts now on the 24th but the for the most traditional Spaniards, today, the 6th of January is as important as ever.

In this household we celebrate everything there is to celebrate, so today we had the traditional “Roscón de Reyes” for breakfast. The roscón is a sweet brioche like cake shaped in a circle and decorated with crystallised fruit. It always hides a surprise which is usually the figure of a King. Tradition has it that whoever finds it pays for the roscón - well Olivia found 2, so ... Actually this year we have ended up with 3 roscones; one Eladio and my Father bought with chocolate in the middle, one I bought yesterday at a favourite pastry shop and on top of that we got given one by José Antonio and Sara who came for lunch today. It’s quite obvious we are going to get sick and tired of it very soon.

Most of our presents come on the 25th, but some always find their way under our tree on the 6th in the morning , so the girls and Eladio had a little something to open this morning. My little something came yesterday from Eladio when we went to exchange the camera he had bought me for Christmas for a higher end version – you will notice the difference in the quality of the pics in this Blog from now on, I hope. Thanks darling for your generosity.

Lunch, was the last festive lunch of the Christmas Season and Susi and I went all out to lay a beautiful table with lovely food. Being very unoriginal, I prepared a typical English Christmas lunch, roast turkey with all the trimmings. Just look how beautiful the dining room table looked. We used my great-grandmother’s blue china dinner service which we realised later could not go in the dishwasher!!

Well I say today is the last official day of Christmas but actually this year there will be one more Christmas celebration and that will be the annual dinner tomorrow night at Julio’s house when this whole family – and we are 6 including Oli’s boyfriend, José Luis – and Fátima descend on his bachelor flat in downtown Madrid for the best party of the season. There we will pull the last crackers and exchange the last of this year’s presents.

And that then really will be the end of Christmas.

Greetings to you all my friends and, once again, here’s to a superb new year for us all.

Masha

New Year's Eve in León - the 12 grapes and 60 kisses!

Miguel and I

Alicia (my goddaughter), Susi and Sara (Salita Guapa)

Eladio and our beautiful daughter Olivia

Pili and Andrés in the Chinese hat

Eladio and his Mother at the Palacio de Bornos
Hello again

On Saturday we left in 2 cars to go to León for New Year’s Eve. On the way, Eladio, his Mother, my Father, Susi and I stopped off for a light lunch at our favourite place on the way to León called Palacio de Bornos where they produce the best white wine in Spain. http://bodegasdecastilla.com/bornos_osc/catalog/
Lunch was jamón, chorizo, lomo + queso washed down by that superb white wine we specially love called Colagón. Then after a coffee, we drove on to León to meet up with the rest of the family.

This year Eladio, my Father and I stayed at Alejandro’s new house. Susi stayed with her cousin Laura and Oli and José Luis stayed at Marisa’s house.

The dinner was held at a different restaurant from previous years. We had been going to Amancio’s for at least the last 5 or 6 years and it was time for a change. The place was called Zuloaga and was in the heart of the historical centre of León, near the Cathedral. We had a private dining room which, as we were 30 people, was very much appreciated. As usual the 2 generations sat on separate ends of the table but I ended up sitting in between both of them, next to my beloved nephew Miguel and in front of Oli, José Luis and my husband Eladio.

The evening was raucous as usual because we are so loud and just love family reunions. The menu was the same as ever – it never changes in León and consists basically of cold cuts (entremeses) and roast lamb. And, of course, the highlight of New Years Eve parties in Spain is the eating of grapes on each of the 12 chimes at midnight. Then people drink champagne (Cava, of course, here) and kiss each other on both cheeks. When you are 30 people, that means each person gets kissed 60 times and you kiss everyone 60 times, so quite a lot of kissing went on at our dinner.

We went to bed way past 3 o’clock and slept more or less straight through to midday. Alejandro was a superb host and we shall definitely be staying at his house again.

We all left León after lunch as tomorrow is a working day. So here I am at my computer just before midnight keeping my blog up to date – mostly for my dear brother-in-law, Andrés, who will probably be the first person to read it tomorrow morning as he will be avid to see the photos. One of the best ones is of him with his wife and Eladio’s sister, Pili. He is wearing the mandarin hat and it wasn’t even at the party, it was the afternoon before. Andrés is such a great party animal and none of our family parties would be the same without him.

Well, cheers everyone and a very Happy New Year to you all.

Masha

An outing to the Retiro and an encounter with a Gypsy

Hi again.

Today Eladio and I took my Father and his Mother on an outing to the Retiro. The Retiro is Madrid’s “Hyde Park” and is always fun to visit. There are so many people from so many places, lots of street attractions like puppet shows or people playing music.

It was a sunny day and there were still some leaves on the trees, quite something for the end of December. Above are pictures of Eladio and me with his Mother and my Father.

And while we were enjoying a coffee opposite the lake, a gypsy woman approached us and before we knew it she was reading our hands. I enjoyed every minute of it but Eladio was trying to shoo her away. Her name was Susana. She told me I would live a long life, had had some bad luck in the past but would be very lucky now in the future. She also told me many people envied me which didn’t surprise me. She then read Eladio’s hand and told us he was a solid serious and very hard working person and that he would be a grandfather of twins!!!! (Susi later told me a gypsy had once told her she would have twins, so let’s look out!!). The gypsy then read my Mother-in-law’s hand and said she would also live a long time – well that’s easy to say I suppose as she is already 85!! About my Father she said the same and that he was a man of “capital” and that he had lost nearly every one dear to him which again was true. The only thing she got wrong was when she said my husband had had lots of women before me. Little did she know that I was the first!!!

What a laugh. Sandy darling if you read this you may well remember the two of us having our fortune told in the Retiro some 15 to 20 years ago, just before you went to work in Brussels and I joined Motorola. Wow was that fortune teller right with his soothsaying.

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and this family will be going to León once again to see the new year in with Eladio’s enormous family. This year we will be changing restaurants .- THANK YOU YOLI –

So my next post will be all about that. Rest assured we will be all trying on the newly acquired wigs and will have a great laugh all together.

Happy New Year friends and family.

All my love
Masha

Dinner at Fátima’s

From left to right: me: Augustin, Fátima and Julio

Anselme and Fátima junior watching the film
Hi again

Yesterday came another Christmas celebratory meal, this time at my best friend, Fátima’s house. The dinner was organised for Julio, Augustin and family, Eladio and myself. Augustin of French origin (plus some German or Swedish, can’t quite remember – suffice it to say Augustin is very international), was a former colleague of ours at Nokia until he got married to Eva and they went to live in Paris – well California first. Since then he has had 2 children, Anselme who is now 4 and a little girl who is 5 months old.

So dinner was a lot about old times but also catching up on each other’s news. Unfortunately Eva and the baby couldn’t come because the baby was teething but we did get to see Anselme who spent the evening playing with Fátima’s daughter, also called Fátima.

Whilst we had dinner – and a lovely one too, specially the ham and the Tiramisú – Fátima’s speciality, the 2 kids watched “Looking for Nemo” which gave us all a chance to natter about old times but actually, as Julio pointed out, it was as if time had not passed by as we felt just as close as ever.

I hadn’t seen Augustin since the 3GSM Congress in Cannes in February 2004, which was really some time ago, but I must admit he looked no different and as good looking as ever.

It was great to see you again Augustín and thanks Fátima for the great dinner.

And above are a couple of pictures of the evening to illustrate this post.

Cheers till New Year’s Eve when I will be writing my next post.

Masha

Christmas Day 2006 and the English traditions

The tree with all the presents

The table laid for Christmas lunch

Hi again

Christmas day is certainly the favourite day of the year in our family and this year was going to be no less, specially as it was to be our first Christmas in El Bosque. And this year we had Eladio’s Mother here which made it even more special.

If we celebrate Christmas Eve the Spanish way, we certainly celebrate Christmas Day the English way with no concession to change of any sort. The tradition comes from my Grandmother, my Father’s Mother, who, by way of my own experience from childhood, influenced the way I organise Christmas in this household and no doubt the same will happen to my own daughters.

Christmas Day always starts with the girls opening their stockings (knitted by my Mother when they were small) in one of their rooms together. The contents are just small tokens as the real presents come later. That is followed by breakfast all together in the dining room with the best china and a table groaning with good breakfast fare. Then the rule is we all get washed and dressed and join up around the Christmas tree to open the presents. Present opening can only begin when the Christmas Carol tape is on – it’s now over 20 years old and is getting a bit past it. Also very important for this “ceremony” is a good box of chocolates, preferably Cadburys.

The opening of the presents can take over an hour as there are more than 5 of us and each of us has more than one present for all the members of the family. Also to wind out the process even longer, only one present can be opened at a time so we all get to see what everyone has got and ooh and aah at everything. I can’t complain this year as I got a digital camera from Eladio (remember the other one was run over by Andy’s car), some Silver Rain EDT from my Father, more cosmetics, an Accessorise bag (black and white and so in fashion) from Susi and some lovely place mats and napkin holders from Oli. Everyone else seemed pretty happy too.

After the present opening came the preparations for the lunch which is always the same and cannot vary: turkey with sage and onion stuffing and cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts and roast potatoes plus the eternal English gravy followed by Christmas pudding and white sauce heavily laced with brandy. And, of course, there are crackers which can only be pulled after the desert.

The only change to the traditional English Christmas day is that we have introduced the Spanish national sport, the much loved and needed Siesta! This now takes place after the copious lunch and is appreciated by us all.

The day finishes with a family walk, a light dinner or no dinner and a film in the evening. This year it was one by Almodóvar, “All about my Mother”. I wonder what my English grandmother would have said about that?

All in all a great Christmas day. And here are some pictures of the great day taken with my new digital camera.

Cheers/Masha

Christmas Eve / Nochebuena 2006

The family around the Christmas table.

Another view of the family around the Christmas table.

Juan and Oli looking great!

Juan, Sarita, the Abuela and Olivia looking cool!

José Antonio and his Mother, Ernestina - "la abuela" - they look like something from the Adam's family!

Hi everyone.

How is your Christmas going?

Ours is great as we love Christmas in this house. This is the first Christmas spent in our lovely new home. And Christmas Eve this year was very special not only because of that but because we had Eladio’s Mother with us. For Eladio it must have been the first time in more than 20 years. We also had the pleasure of the company of Eladio’s beloved brother and family who live in Madrid, José Antonio, his wife Dolores and their kids, Miguel (now living in London and working for Citibank), Sarita (guapa) – now living in China and Juan (studying and working for the TV channel, Cuatro).

So it was a real family reunion over the Christmas Dinner. Christmas Eve or Nochebuena in Spain is as important as Christmas Day is in the UK. And in our house we actually celebrate them both. We were 11 for dinner and the table was full of good food, crackers and candles. We had made far too much but that’s not a problem as today is Boxing Day (yes we celebrate that too in this house) and the girls’ boyfriends are here for lunch and it will all get eaten.

After the sumptuous dinner, we had champagne and chocolates in the dining room and then started trying on the wigs I had bought in the Plaza Mayor and those Eladio and I got at the Phone House party. It was such fun and we spent a good hour laughing ourselves silly but the hysterics came when Eladio’s Mother tried the wigs on herself. Just have a look at the photos and you will laugh too.

When everyone went and we made our way to bed, I had the final task of taking the girls’ stocking presents out from hiding to put in the Christmas stockings my dear Mother had made for them many years ago when they were very small. Today they are 21 and 22 but tradition dictates that they still get a stocking while they live in this house.

Happy Christmas my dear friends.

All the very best
Masha

Outing to the Christmas Market in the Plaza Mayor

Eladio looking "punky" in his blue wig!

Me and the abuelos at the Plaza Mayor on a very sunny Christmas Eve

Hi everyone and Happy Christmas

On Christmas Eve, in the morning Eladio and I took the “abuelos” (my Father and Eladio’s Mother) to see the Christmas Market at the Plaza Mayor. My “secret agenda” was to buy some fun wigs for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The Plaza Mayor at Christmas holds a market every year where you can buy all sorts of Christmas objects, mostly Christmas trees and Nativity figures but also lots of joke objects.

The abuelos didn’t buy anything but I had a grand time getting wigs, Christmas earrings that light up and a climbing Father Christmas that only up ended working once.

We also had time for tapas in an old fashioned bar in the Plaza where we were served Sangría, calamares and patatas bravas – delicious.

Eladio and I couldn’t resist trying our wigs on before leaving for home.

Cheers
Masha

Casa Paco, Alex and Diana

Hi again

Now it’s nearing Christmas our social calendar is getting fuller by the day and yesterday was dinner with Alexander  and his beautiful fiancée, Diana. You may have read about them in previous posts. Alex and Diana are a German couple we met at Andy and Amanda’s wedding more than a year ago. Alex is posted here in Spain and is the Finance Manager for the same company as Andy, a distributor called Arvato Services Ibérica. And Diana, amazingly enough, is a brain surgeon; actually the only one I have ever known. Diana is working in a Psychiatric clinic in Cologne but is hoping to move to Spain next year. Meanwhile she is learning Spanish fast.

Alex lives bang in the centre of Madrid, right next to the Plaza Mayor and we had agreed to have dinner at Casa Paco round the corner from his house in the Plaza de la Puerta Cerrada. Casa Paco is a typical Madrid tavern house where, according to Alex, they serve the best fillet steak in Spain. We tried and I think he may be right.

We had quite a lot to drink too and ended up having conversations with the waiters about the traffic on Madrid’s outer ring road, the M40 and with a very exotic lady on the table next door about being fined in Germany if you spat on the road. This lady, hearing us alternate between German, Spanish and English spent her whole dinner listening to our conversation and butting in with the most strange comments. Diana diagnosed her as mentally disturbed!!!

The evening fnished with a glass of cava and chocolates at Alex’s delightful flat on the Cava Baja. I must say after such a great evening, I had my best night’s sleep in a long time and slept this morning till after 11. So maybe we should go to Casa Paco for dinner more often.

More news on our daily life next week when it will be Christmas.

All the best till then

Masha

Encounter with the Oreja de Van Gogh

My beautiful daughters with Amaya the singer.

Hi

The Oreja de Van Gogh - Van Gogh's Ear in English and yes it’s the name of a group - played at my company's party.

My daughters, Susi and Oli were hostesses at the event and absolutely adore this group – so do I actually. So I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of meeting them or having photos taken.

Right after the concert and still backstage I asked their manager if we could have some photos for my blog. Gustavo said there was no problem and invited us all into the groups’s dressing room. Luckily Rafa Gómez, my photographer and personal friend was there and could take the pictures. And here they are, one of the group of us and one my girls and Amaya, the singer.

It was fun talking to the group too. They are from the most beautiful city in Spain, San Sebastián. They have just won a Grammy award for their album “Guapa”.


Cheers/Masha