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Around El Tubo

 

Pictures - Red

A bar in the old town: The view from the 1st floor of a Algo Mas, a bar in El Tubo where I was waiting. We ate tapas and drank wine at this bar (amongst others) on the afternoon of New Year's Eve with E's mates and their mates. A couple had brought along their 3 years old twins: one wore a scarf with red stripes and the other, blue stripes. This reminded me of G and I - growing up with our favourite colours: blue (G's) and red (mine). We still like the same colours -although these days I'm more partial to orange vs. red and like pink as much as red. 

 

 

Bicycles for rent: I didn't see as many bicycles (on stands, for rent) around the city last year as I do now (although in the two + weeks here, I've seen only one person inserting coins into the machine and taking a bike. It was a young-ish lady and she had multiple bags of groceries).  There are also more bike lanes, as well as pedestrian lanes next to the new tram lines at the expense of roads for cars. E thinks it's a bad idea to convert roads into pedestrian lanes, making it just impossible to drive around the city; I like pedestrian friendly cities and have counter argued him based on my biases, even though I don't know which side I would really support if I was living here. 

 

 

A random fire truck: E and FIL went into the government office in Huesca to sort out some stuff. I initially stayed in the car fiddling my iphone (deleting contacts I hardly talk to) reluctant to take a step outside as it was cold and windy.  But ended up joining E and FIL when they waved to me. I took this picture on the way into the government office. The latter reminded me of a typical department in the city where I grew up (i.e. only one person serving many people -  many years ago - I suspect it is not the case now). Incidentally, the Bahasa word for "Bomberos" is "Bomba".

Oh - To be fit

I don't know whether you've noticed from my previous postings - Luncheons are BIG affairs here with the E's family. Meals during festive occasions are especially elaborate, involving many (and I mean many, many, many) different courses including pre-appetisers (like in the picture above) and numerous bottles of (Spanish) wine.

Last year, I didn't dare to say "gracias, no"  too many times, especially to E's Tia C and Madre who are zealous cooks, so  I ended up feeling overwhelmed and a good few pounds heavier (90% of them piled on my cheeks). This year, I'm more prepared -saying no to generous portions (having practised saying "no" at least 10x a day before we came here, in front of the miror and accompanied by a picture of E's Tia C).

I've also been much more mindful about marginal enjoyment from consumption, stopping before I feel full (even if it means leaving stuff on my plate) and going out for walks outside in the cold even when everyone else is having a siesta or watching television in the warmth of the casa. Of course - you also know about my new party trick:  to swap a glass of vino or G&T for agua con gas and choose tapas with the least amount of carbs whenever possible (harder to avoid the fried tapas).

I've not been able to do this all the time - and especially not during Christmas/New Years eve and day but this is inevitable I think.  An unexpected and big challenge for me this year is to decline the after lunch-tray of turon which typically comes with coffee. All sorts of yummy flavours - chocolate, almond, pine nuts, caramel. All calling out to be tasted. 

I don't know whether I've avoided putting on weight these past few weeks here. I do know that I'm doing generally well given the many temptations and pressure from the various family and social events. This morning, I went out for an an hour's jog - discovering the nearby park which E's family have mentioned a number of times. It was very pleasant and I plan to repeat the experience in the coming days. I'm turning 40 in two weeks time and one of my goals for 40/2012 is to be as fit as possible.

4th attempt - More tapas from 2011

I've been trying to post here more pictures I took from my iphone relating to the different tapas we had during the last few days of 2011. They have all been unsuccessfully (as you've no doubt noticed). Aside from the usual problem with the app on iphone (which refuses to upload the pictures), LE has also been diligently helping me to  type whenever he sees me here with the lap top. Random "hsdNSGDFhsdikkkkfggg" is fine. Its the "Esc" which creates trouble. 

P.s. Yes, LE is back with us... and we are D.E.L.I.G.H.T.E.D.

Windy town in España

We spent most of the day at Huesca which is some 75km away from E's hometown of Zaragoza. The town is windy, significantly more than the city of Zaragoza. I was there accompanying the 2 Es to run errands and was subsequently treated to a cortado during a mid-morning break and for lunch, a delicious 3 course meal at a recently refurbished restaurant close to the train station. The bottle of wine we sampled at lunch was mediocre - a rare instance in E´s company and also very typical of the Spanish wine I drank before becoming acquainted with E. Later at home, E and I had a marathon viewing of the sitcome "Drop Dead Diva", finally completing the first series. I couldnt help myself and wanting to know more (and get on with my life) went on to the website to read the episode guides for Season 2 and Season 3. I feel better after knowing about what is going to happen but a tad bit disappointed with the writers for what I suspect is a string of tease and retreat. Still all very entertaining so all´s well I suppose.  

The restaurant where we had lunch  

We sat overlooking the train tracks

This traffic light was swaying because of the wind - I know this picture doesnt show this   

Night out watching basket ball

I've caught a bad cold these last few days. I hesitate to call it "flu" because although I'm suffering a coughing fit, a terrible sore throat and a nose bleed, I'm not too weak to stay put in bed and neither do I have a raging fever. I'm also evidently well enough for walks (to get some exercise to mitigate the eating) even if it's windy and chilly outside. &*%$, probably the reason why this cold is not only prolonging but worsening.  

I have however, begged off a few of E's social activities when not feeling "too well". I think I deserve the break: I really do have to make a big effort to understand 1/3 of the conversations. During my time alone in the room (Tia C's room to be exact), I 've discovered a number of lovely blogs on cooking, fashion and design. They are wonderful. I know I would not have found them if I wasn't hiding in the borrowed room, using E's Ipad and clicking on unfamiliar links. 

I was tempted to use the I'm not well card again last night (especially as I was NOT feeling well having spent most of the day in a cold house in the country, while E indulged in some winter BBQing). But I didn't and went along with PIL's good idea to watch live basket ball with his friends. We were given good tickets; we sat not too far from the court (but clearly, not near enough for me to take good pictures from my iphone).

The match was entertaining. Basket ball I realise again, is more my cup of tea than non-world cup football or rugby matches. However, I was a little disconcerted by the suit wearing managers (why the need to be so formal?) and more so by the cheer-leading performance during the breaks. The direct transfer of culture from America to Spain? Or the spectacle of teenagers disrobing, while flicking their hair suggestively and then dancing energetically watched by an audience consisting of mostly middle aged men (some of whom had booed and made dismissive comments relating to a woman referee).

We went to a tapas bar for dinner after the match (my stomach is now used to late luncheons and dinners after more than a week here) and there I tried again to follow the conversation - while also lapsing into my own thoughts,  mulling whether I was turning into my dear late grandmother who was always distressed watching the accompanying dancers on solid gold and similar programmes.   

Jeez... Am I really becoming a boring prude again (in my old age)? Or am I just concerned about the role and perception of women, especially in the context of women not being taken seriously. I don't know (I do know that I have no moral views or objections about women working in lap dancing bars or exchanging sex for money).   

9 days later

So, I'm continuing writing and posting using typepad app on my iphone but it seems as if the posts are lost in transit and will never appear here.

Hmm. And hmmm. 

So --- what's the latest since 9 days ago? 

I am (we are) still in Spain for our year end holidays.

LE is now with his mum.

I continue to be tempted by all the delicious tapas that are on offer and indeed caved in a couple of times - i.e. consumed carbs & alkie. And not out of hunger and thirst, but simply for pleasure AND on several occassions too. Tsk, tsk, tsk. 

Not counting my smaller lapse during family meal times (where I am under the watchful eye of Tia C's eyes who takes pleasure in cooking and watching us eat) - the first big transgression was on Christmas eve: We (E and I) were in Madrid for 2 days, after saying goodbye to LE. On Christmas eve, we hung out with E's cousins and friends and my current drink of choice, "agua con gas" was sneered at and swiftly replaced by cervesa (which is incidentally something I like and would drink it at every given opportunity if not for my chipmunk cheeks). Gloves off,  I went on to enjoy all the fried tapas that were on offer.

The other occasion was just  few days ago when E and I spontaneously hopped from one bar to another for an extended lunch of tapas which included a delicious but totally WRONG plate of fried eggs and potatoes. The alarm bells were ringing but... the door for other plus calorie-evilness opened and I indulged in several glasses of vino blanco and sugary sweet mojito. We started our tapas lunch/tea/dinner/supper at 2pm and finished at 12.30 at night.  Hello Kitty (who is currently half a world away from us) came to my mind a few times.  Funny - I could imagine her joining us for the impromptu afternoon-evening out. 

Point of interest: One bar served Japanese tapas (see below). Another newly opened one served fried squids dipped in teriyaki sauce.  We met E's friends last week at a Japanese restaurant which served Japanese sounding food which looked like Spanish dishes (garlic mayonnaise, tortilla etc). I see a trend.

There are a few cozy bars in the old part of town (El Tubo). The picture below does not really capture the comfortable and pleasing bar we sat in for a few good hours drinking cocktails. 

Tapas for dins last night

We had another tapas dinner last night. It's hard to say no to such delicious food. I'm trying to mitigate this by not drinking any alkie, walking as much as I can and avoiding carbs.

Delicious fried squids - Bula Restaurant 

Colouring

I'm trying to keep LE occupied and entertained without resorting to too much television. At the moment, he's really enjoying a few books: a sesame street on splashing in the rain and the 12 bugs of Christmas as well as playing his collection of cars but then he starts getting restless.

Yesterday, I took a 3 hour walk around the city to have some air (I was also getting restless -cabin fever!) and found a papileria stocking coloring books and "plastidecors" (a cross between colour pencils and crayons). I bought them and started to use them with LE last night. We colored a few pages. This morning, E and I were woken up by an enthusiastic and excited flying cat who wanted to Colour! Colour! Colour!

LE is enjoying the activity very much - nearly as much as E and I.

Tapas

Tapas at El Rincon