Food in Madrid...

At the grocery store...well you know I have to go to the grocer in every country I visit! This top picture isn't great, but I wanted to take a picture of their "baskets". They had regular shopping carts, but nobody used them, b/c they had these baskets on wheels with long handles that you simply pulled around. I loved them!

Not sure what you would use Pollen granules for, but they sure seem to use them with all the different varieties they had available!

Tiny food market off the street...

These pastry chefs were great. They were attempting to move the MOAM (Mother of all Mixers) by hand (let's see, it only took 7 of them), until the front man with the red vest brought out the key item; platform...on wheels! They were more than happy to pose for a tourist, wondering, in Spanish, why on earth I would want to take their picture...

Chris' last meal in Madrid...They provide their helado bars with their very own coffins...

R.I.P.

Around Madrid...

Chris and I spent 5 days in Madrid...if you would like a more well rounded set of pictures around the city, please visit Chris' blog...

Down Calle de Arenal, one of the touristy streets in Madrid.

This was in the window of a souvenir shop...Guess it was a colorful group of kkk members that did the deed!

They had these shops all over Madrid...apparently you could just walk in off the street and buy items meant for Catholic priests. Perhaps this is typical everywhere and I've simply not paid attention before, but I thought there would be some special order monopoly on this stuff...guess not!

La Botanica de jardin...There wasn't much color here, but I really dug the different cactus and "pitcher plant". My favorite part was their huge garden section...the rattle snake green bean plants were about ten feet tall!

Tomatoes...post-Spain

Katie Wenig...one of the two Katies...kindly agreed to my anal-retentive watering demands whilst Chris and I took our holiday in Spain. The list of watering instructions was quite lengthy and detailed and probably a bit overwhelming, but she was a trooper and came over the day before we left for a run through and note taking session. Yes, I was asking a lot, but I have put much work into my first garden and I was worried that if not given the proper amount of love, it would die off in my absence. I also left some delicious food in the fridge for her to snack on the numerous watering sessions.

Needless to say, as evidenced in the picture below, I had NOTHING to worry about. I left with the tomato plants a little over 4' tall. She followed my watering instructions to a 'T' and with having them inside, in a pseudo greenhouse setting, saying they thrived would be a bit of an under statement. I walked into the apt and the only thing I could say was "HOLY COW...THEY'RE HUGE!" They grew to a little over 6' tall while we were away AND are still growing. With my kitchen/cooking shoes on, I'm 6'2" easily and they are at least 6" taller than me. I'm afraid to put them outside with the wind we've been having lately...they would definitely be blown over!

Katie...thank you SO MUCH for taking such good care of my garden...you will be rewarded with more tomatoes than you could possibly ever want in a lifetime...once they start turning red! I really appreciate all your hard work and dedication! You are a good friend!

Garden update...pre-Spain

This is the garden on the balcony...we had some beautiful summer days pretty consistently before we packed our bags for Spain. So, the garden was living on the balcony full time. Unfortunately, there was a slight wind storm the day before we flew out and it blew over all my tomato plants...it was a sad moment, coming home that afternoon to find them all lying on the ground, many branches and stems broken. So the tomato plants took up residence in the kitchen again, but we kept the french doors propped open slightly, so they got fresh air each day. I also added more support with more 4' bamboo poles and garden "training" wire.

Here are the first peaks at what I have finally been able to deduce is the "moneymaker" tomato plant...These guys are getting pretty big now. There are a ton of small tomatoes on all four plants now, but this one was the early leader! Unfortunately, I don't think they will be turning red while Bev and Robin are visiting, but there will be plenty of red, juicy tomatoes for when mama and papa O'Connor are visiting next month.

My first little-itty-bitty beet. This one was competing with another one that was fully under the soil, so this one lost out... As for the bean...we've been averaging about 8-10/week. They are SO scrumptious! Very sweet and juicy! Can't wait for Mama and papa Kozelka to feast upon them...

Hotel California...

Speaking of the RDS (which stands for Royal Dublin Society), they put on big concerts from time to time. That is where Chris and I saw the Pogues. At exactly 8pm tonight I heard a crowd of people cheering and thought, "Huh, a Rugby match tonight?" (We also have a rugby stadium near our apt.) Then the music starts to play..."No way..." As I run through my memory of the "big acts" coming to the RDS this summer, it dawns on me that I am listening to a free concert of the Eagles...Dublin just keeps getting better and better! What I'd like to point out is they started playing at 8pm with no opener...could that be b/c they are older than most of my generations' parents? Bet the concert is over by 9:30p! ;)

Now I'm not even close to being a die-hard Eagles fan, but I am familiar with many of their songs (often thinking...wow, I didn't know they sang that one). But you have to admit that hearing a legendary band like the Eagles, for free and in the comfort of my own home, is a pretty sweet deal! To all you Eagles fans out there...Eat your hearts out!

The heavens are opening...

The RDS Simmonscourt is always having different trade shows and conferences going through week after week, which is situated directly behind our back garden. This week it was something to do with lots and lots of semi-trucks. They have been loud, but not overly so. So last night at about 4am I hear what sounds like two semis crashing into each other. It was so loud it literally sounded like the crash happened in the parking lot. I woke up with a start, grumbled and thought, who is gettin on with all the racket at this time? (apparently I'm a little older than my years with that thought) but rolled over to go back to sleep. 10 minutes later it happened again, but even louder...then I heard to torrential downpour of rain...We are having a tried & true thunderstorm of the ages! How completely awesome...this was the type of thunderstorm I remember as a child growing up in ND where we opened the garage door and set up the lawn chairs, all sat down together and simply watched mother nature do her thing!

After that delightful thought it occurred to me that my babies were outside in this thunderstorm...I immediately jumped out of bed in my skivvies, ran into the kitchen, flung open the french doors and frantically started bringing my tomato plants in one-by-one! Chris woke up during this commotion and simply watched in a tired stupor! Crazy lady and her tomato plants! I got them all in (the rest of the garden could fend for themselves) and was chilled to the bone, soaking from head to toe! After drying off, I sat in the living room with all the lights off and simply watched as the heavens opened their gates! There were severe flashes of lightening and as the night went on the thunder had a 10 second delay, but was still ferocious!

Well, this thunderstorm was the talk of our walking group today...apparently Ireland NEVER gets thunderstorms! I feel pretty lucky...first we get to experience the first snowfall in 15 years, we have more sun this summer than they've seen in a few years and now an awesome display by mother nature!

Contamination...

While in Sligo taking surfing lessons a while back Chris and I met two very cool people, Clare and Nigel...and they live in Dublin! After much effort from both sides, we were able to meet up for the long anticipated Contamination Exhibit at the Science Gallery. All four of us were very excited for the exhibit. We were all equally disappointed, but very much enjoyed the company!

The first station was the "Kissing station". You could pay 3 euro to kiss a petri dish full of agar (it was like the science fair all over again...minus the kissing a petri dish part), then it incubates for 24 hours and is put on display so everyone can see all the bacteria you have in your mouth and on your face. These are the samples from the last 3 weeks...go ahead, click on the picture so you can take a closer look. There was one sample that had e.coli growing on his chin...Um, that dude had poop on his face! GROSS!

All the stations went downhill from there...

The Brainwave game was the saving grace of the exhibition. You strap sensors on your head, then relax or concentrate really hard to increase your alpha waves. In doing this you are able to move the magnetized ball into your opponent's circle...The hardest thing to do is relax on demand! I tried the concentrating really hard route, but that didn't work so well!

Anniversary dinner...

So Chris and my first year anniversary was officially Tuesday, June 23, 2009. I skipped yoga and was grandly rewarded by Chris cooking me dinner, then cleaning up the kitchen afterward...washed dishes and everything...he's gonna be hard pressed to top this year after year!

Eggs Florentine anyone?

Anniversary weekend...

In celebration of our 1st year anniversary, Chris and I took our new SatNav out for a spin and headed down to Wicklow County...Powerscourt waterfall, Glendalough & Glenroe Farm here we come!

It's like he's coming outta nowhere!

We ate lunch at this lovely cafe...delicious paninis.

Powerscourt waterfall...

The waterfall was breath taking and it was super fun climbing all over the rocks!