Tenerife

View from Villa Maspalmeras

Here is a link to the fotos from our latest trip (José and I). We took advantage of a long holiday weekend to visit Tenerife in the Canary Islands. I’ve now been to 4 of the 7 islands and hope to get to the other 3 soon.

tangerine beef

It has really been a long time since I posted anything in the cooking section. Sorry to those of you who enjoy that sort of thing. Both of you. Anyway, a few days ago a made my tangerine beef for the first time in over a year.
To make it:

• sear beef strips in olive or sesame oil for a few minutes
• add some chopped green onions and the chopped or shredded peels of 4 or 5 tangerines
• stir fry a few minutes and then add a couple cups of orange/tangerine juice
• season with ginger, sesame seed, salt & chili pepper
• add soy sauce and a little rice vinegar & a spoon of honey

Cook it as long as you can to tenderize the beef and for the last few minutes add bell pepper and/or broccoli. If you want to thicken the sauce you can use corn starch, but I never do.
It turned out really well. Not my best effort at it I must admit. But okay.

 

Tangerine Beef

 

 

take a hike

José and I took advantage of the holiday on Monday (Día de la Hispanidad) and went hiking at Cotos in the Sierra de Guadarrama above Madrid. I discovered that I am much more out-of-shape than I thought. But we had a great time and enjoyed some beautiful scenery and fresh air. And the old-time train which takes you into the mountains, was fun.

And now that José is back living in Madrid, we hope to be able to do a lot more of this type of thing.

Olympic fever

Congratulations to Rio de Janeiro on winning the 2016 Olympics. And to Madrid for the strong second place finish. Frankly, that’s just the way I wanted it. After having lived in Atlanta during the run-up to the 1996 games, I have no desire to live in another Olympic city. Just headaches. And higher prices.
I did, however, go to the celebration that was taking place to watch the results come in. After all, Madrid throws great parties and it was only a few blocks from home. And the hope and suspense was tangible and exciting.

new page

In case you didn’t notice, there is a new tab above. It is labeled ‘Doodles’ and highlights my ‘artwork’. Check it out.

summer travel

After nearly two months on the road, I am back in Madrid. D is back as well, though K is still in the states for a bit.
D spent 2 months in Phoenix with his Godmother while K and I went to South Carolina to see the family for the month of July. While there I also managed a couple of escapes to North Carolina. Once to Carowinds theme park outside Charlotte with K and a couple of my nephews. And the other a day trip to Asheville where I met up with my friend Denise who drove over from Greensboro.
José came to join me for the last week and we stayed over a night in Atlanta (where his flight arrived). There we stayed with friends and had a chance to see a wonderful play in the theatre where my nephew works. And José got to experience a black, Baptist church service. The scars may never fully heal.
From there we headed down to Tampa for a couple of days to catch up with friends and visit Busch Gardens. We made a brief cursory stop at Clearwater Beach as well. And Michael threw a fantastic cookout party in our honor.
And from there back to SC so that José could meet my brothers, nieces and nephews. (He met my mom and sister in New York last summer).
At the beginning of August, I returned with him to Frankfurt, Germany for a three week stay. Together we took a weekend trip in which we visited Munich, Ulm and the castles near Füssen. Munich was very nice though a bit too touristy in August. But it was not nearly as touristy as the castle district. We saw the castles from the bottom of the hills and walked up to Ludwig the Mad’s castle up close but didn’t enter any of them. The lines were just way too long! We only stopped in Ulm for a couple of hours on the way back to Frankfurt. But Ulm was very impressive. It is a smaller city that is renowned for three things: being the birthplace of Albert Einstein, the integration of historic and ultramodern architecture in it’s center and for having the world’s tallest church. We climbed to the top, all 768 steps! Fantastic views.
I also took leave of José for a few days to go to Prague. What a gorgeous city! But talk about touristy. So I spent one morning and another afternoon visiting the historic (read overrun with tourist and touts) center. The rest of the time I just hopped from one outlying neighborhood to another using the marvelous old tram system. The amazing thing is that the city is beautiful everywhere, even in the poorer working-class areas. It’s true that there is too much soot and dirt build up on most of the buildings and monuments and a pressure-washing is way past due, but things are great despite it.
Additionally, I cruised the rivers in and around Frankfurt. First via a day cruise on the lower Main and the Rhine to Rüdesheim, a pretty little village tucked under hills flowing with vineyards. And another day with José up the Main to Seligenstadt, a village slightly bigger and slightly less interesting, but nice nonetheless.
And as always, I took far to many pictures of all of it.
USA: Seneca, SC / Asheville, NC / Carowinds Park / Atlanta / Tampa
Germany: Day Cruise to Rüdesheim / Day Cruise to Seligenstadt / Castles / Munich / Ulm
Prague, Czech Republic

naked in the streets (again)

Once again I participated in Ciclonudista, Madrid’s annual bike ride and protest. The intention is to increase visibility of cyclist and demand more facilities such as bike lanes and rack in the city center. And the nudity is symbolic of how exposed we feel to traffic. This year José joined me as well on his new little, slick folding bike. There are pictures for those brave enough (or foolish enough) to look.

gone to see José

This past weekend, the boys, Isabel (José’s sister), Carlos (Isabel’s beau) and I went to Frankfurt to visit José. I had, of course, been there before, but it was the first time for the four of them. It was cool and rainy but we still had a wonderful time. Mainly due to the company. Definitely not because of the city itself which is a bit boring at the best of times. Anyway, we took tons of pictures. Check them out.

a day in Aranjuez

Just posting a link to photos from José’s and my trip yesterday to the World Heritage city of Aranjuez. It’s a small city on the southern edge of Madrid province about a 50 minute commuter-train ride away. It’s famous for its royal palace and beautiful gardens. It was actually my second time there having gone with the boys 3 or 4 years ago. And I enjoyed it as much this time around. Expect for the heat. (Yesterday was unusually hot).

José’s birthday party

Here are the pictures from José’s birthday party which we had at home last Saturday. He was celebrating his 34th year. What a baby!