Generally Gemma

Sky line

One of the things I love most about Spain is the way that when the moon is full is the way that the moonlight falls into a path across the water. When we were this year I missed it by a week I think and I didn't get my silvery road across the sea. When I was growing up I used to think of that silvery path as the road to all things possible. One thing is for sure is that next year I am going to time our holiday to the moon cycle!

I took these pictures in the garden a couple of nights ago. G and I go through phases of being obsessed with taking pictures of the moon although they never really seem to come out. I think what I really need to do is get a decent camera book that actually explains, aperture, fstops and all those other things I don't understand as at the moment I just twist dials and hope for the best!

And as a small respite from all the rain we've been having, the other day I was rainbowed! I always get very excited about these because of course rainbows are the stairway to Care Bear land! Even now at nearly 30 I still get a little leap in the pit of my tummy at that idea!

But this photo still isn't everything I wanted it to be either. So help me! Any book recommendations? Something written in words of one syllable for someone with poor retention skills?

G's brother is off to Mexico tomorrow for three weeks! So the backback doesn't belong to either of us! Although we are off to Wales this weekend to see G's mum. So leave me a comment if you joined in with 12 on 12 this month I will link to your posts from here on Monday. See you next week!

Plancha

I promise this is the last of the Spanish food related posts! M and I have wanted one of these for a while but refused to pay the horrific prices for them so when this arrived at lidl she was beside herself.

It's basically an electric grill plate also known in Spain as a plancha.  And as you can see you can cook anything and everything on there. The pictures above are squid, salmon, steak, pepper and courgettes, but we also did hamburgers, fried eggs G thought a fried breakfast on there would be fab too!

It was also great because it meant you could plug it into the extension cord and cook outside and everyone could do their own thing, so sort of a fondue but with grilling! I wanted to bring one home but G has decreed that there is no more space in the kitchen for gadgetry. BOO HOO!

For anyone that might want to play along tomorrow is 12 on 12! Let me know if you are!

For Bro

If you are vegetarian this probably isn't the post for you however, my darling Brother has heard a lot about this restaurant and it's sheer quantity of food on the plate so this is for him to live vicariously through!

M has been to this restaurant a number of times for this exact meal and everytime she calls Bro and I to wax lyrical about the taste and the sheer volume of food so when G and I were there this was on the must do list. So, we ordered the lamb when we made our reservation because it cooks FOR HOURS!

They then bring the lamb and the bed of root vegetables it cooks on to your table and carve it there.

You then get a plate load of lamb, potatoes, carrot, turnip all of which have soaked in all the lamby goodness as it has been cooking. This picture is of M liberally dousing her plate in mint sauce.

Then they bring you a humongous jacket potato with sour cream and butter and a side dish of other vegetables!

G was beaten and that NEVER happens!

 

Just for posterity

One of my favorite places in the world is the restaurant down the road from M's house in Spain. The only problem in recent years has been that they in the main serve fish so when we go with G he ends up having the same two meals in a cycle as fish really wasn't his thing. However, as the photo above documents this year, for the first time, (hence M's finger in the background!) G ordered his own fish and ate it! It was a proud moment!

And because I know most people won't be interested in such news I have the pictures below to show you. Rather than wasting the bread that people don't eat the waiters have taken to skewering the ends of rolls on the palms that grow in front of the restaurant. I couldn't resist taking pictures of them. They were just so adorable!

Where are you!?!?

This is the face that G pulled when he discovered how long it has been since I sat down to blog. It is his unimpressed face and one he is trying out to use on his new class. Personally I can't take it seriously!

This is the face he pulls when I say smile, aren't you pleased that school has started again?!?

I shall get the camera ready to take pictures of the look of abject horror on his face when he discovers I've posted these!