En casa por vacaciones y "La Roja". Home for holidays and "La Roja"

Por supuesto que tambien hemos estado en Ciudad Real durante nuestras vacaciones!! :) Aunque no hemos podido salir mucho por algunas circunstancias familiares, he podido disfrutar igualmente. Lo mejor de todo, ver a la familia, amigos y ver los partidos de la seleccion española en casa :) No es lo mismo verlos en Chicago, no es el mismo ambiente, jeje!

Solo hice algunas fotos en la Plaza Mayor, con el ayuntamiento de fondo y el reloj de Don Quijote :) y por supuesto, tomando una horchata, jeje!

We also went to Ciudad Real during our holidays, of course! :) We didn't do many things with my family, we just had familiar dinners at home, but I enjoyed it the same way. The best of all if being with the family and friends and also...watching the games of the Spanish team, "La Roja" :) It is a lot better than watching the games in Chicago, the environment is not the same, hehe!

I didn't take too many pictures only a couple at the main square of Ciudad real at the city hall and with the Don Quijote clock and of course, drinking horchata, the authentic!!

Thomasito bebiendo horchata

Thomasito drinking horchata

Plaza Mayor de Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real's Plaza Mayor

Reloj de Don Quijote

Don Quijote clock

Por fin pude ver a mi abuela, pense que no llegaba a verla con lo malita que estaba...

I could see my grandma finally! I thought I wouldn't see her because she was very sick before...

El dia de la final decidimos hacer una pequeña barbacoa en casa :) todo muy familiar. Nunca he sido muy fanatica de las barbacoas, pero esta merecia la pena. Ese dia si que hice fotos y lo mejor es tenerlas de recuerdo de gran noche! Lo pasamos genial, comimos en familia, lo pasamos genial viendo el partido y hubo incluso brindis. Una pena que pasase tan rapido...
The day of the final we made a bbq at home :) everything very familiar. I've never been a big fan of bbq but that one was special and I took many pictures to have them as a memory of a great day. We had a lot of fun eating and watching the game. We even toasted for the Spanish victory :) The worse part was that it went by too fast...

Preparacion de la barbacoa :)

Preparing the bbq :)

Brindando por la victoria :)

Toast on Spanish victory :)

This is what my mother does when other teams are threatening Spain :)

Esto es lo que hace mi madre cuando algun equipo amenaza la porteria de Iker :)

Con mi hermano y Elena antes del partido

With my brother and Elena before the game

Brindis familiar

Family toast

Por vosotros!!

Cheers!!

El Brillante

No hay vez que estemos en Atocha con mas de 15 minutos de tiempo y que no paremos en "El Brillante", un bar que me encanta, a pesar de su olor a fritanga, su grasilla, sus papeles por el suelo y las voces de los camareros. Todo eso no me importa, adoro sentarme en la terraza al lado del museo Reina Sofia, en frent del conservatorio. Un sitio estupendo donde parar a tomarse una cervecita, unos calamares o unos churros. El sitio ideal para conocer un bar muy "castizo". Eso si, si lo que buscais es un sitio "cool" y moderno, este no es el sitio, pero para disfrutar de algo tradicional y un poco cañi, debeis ir :) Yo lo recomiendo!

Every time we are in Atocha for more than 15 minutes we stop by "El Brillante", a place I love. Probably, you foreigners won't understand the philosophy of the place, but if it happens you are in the neighborhood, please visit! The bar smells like reused oil and grease, there are papers on the floor and the waiters scream all the orders. I don't care about everything I mentioned before, I just love sit at the terrace next to the Reina Sofia museum in front of the conservatory in Madrid. It is a nice place to stop for a beer, calamares or churros. It is a good place to know the deepest Madrid. If you are looking for a cool and modern place this is not the best one, but if you are looking for something traditional and get the real sense of the deepest parts of Spain, then you should go. I highly recommend it! :)

Despedida de solteros!! Bachelor party!

Durante los dias de vacaciones que pasamos en Ciudad Real, celebramos la despedida de solteros de mi amiga Almudena y su futuro marido, Dani :)

Ella nos habia citado ese dia para darnos las invitaciones de boda, pero le teniamos preparada una sorpresita, jeje! Todo gracias a la colaboracion del grupo de amigos y a la hermana de la novia, Pilar, quien ofrecio la casa y organizo una gran parte de la celebracion.

Preparamos una cena en la que cada uno llevo un plato distinto mas todo lo que Pilar compro, hubo varios regalos, fotos, futbol, tarjetas, la cancion de Macarena adaptada a Almudena :), tarta con su foto, bebidas, coreografias y risas, muchas risas. La noche acabo pegando unas voces en el karaoke mas conocido de la ciudad. 

During our holidays in Ciudad Real we celebrated Almudena and Dani's bachelor party :) She cited us to give us the wedding invitation but apart from that, a surprise was prepared for them, hehe! Everything thanks to the entire group collaboration and Pilar, Almudena's sister, who offered her house and organized a big part of the event.

We made a pot luck dinner with presents, pictures, card, cake, adaptation of Macarena to Almudean, dancing, soccer (Eurocup), drinks and many laughs. The night ended singing at the most known karaoke of the city :)

Todos en la cocina de Pilar preparando las cosas. Everyone at Pilar's kitchen preparing the stuff.

Sorpresa!!! Surprise!!!

La novia. The bride.

Esta es la empanada que prepare, aunque no me quedo lo bien que yo queria. This is the empanada I made, but it wasn't as nice as I wanted.

Sector de chicas. Girls sector

La pareja :) The couple :)

Sector de chicos. Boys sector (and me)

Segundo gol de España a Francia. Second goal of Spain vs France.

Tarta con su foto. Cake with their picture.

Practicando para el gran dia. Practicing for the big day.

Collage

Cantando "Almudena", adaptado de "Macarena". Singing "Almudena", adapted from "Macarena".

Tarjeta firmada por todos nosotros. Card signed by all of us.

Coreografia of "Party Rock Anthem" de LMFAO. Dancing "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO.

Karaoke "Vivir asi es morir de amor"

Una de chicas :) 

Fue una noche estupenda y ahora a esperar hasta el 11 de agosto!!!

A great time was had and now waiting until August 11th!!

Monkey bread

Hoy he estado cenando con Christina y Lyle, siempre cocinan taaaan bien!! :) Queria escribir este post solo para enseñar el "monkey bread" que ha hecho Christina. Es una masa que se corta en trozos, se hacen bolas, se mojan en mantequilla y azucar, se deja que la masa suba y luego se cocinan. No es muy light, pero de vez en cuando es una delicia!! Se que en España no es un postre comun, asi que si alguien se anima, que me invite a probarlo, jeje! Lo he disfrutado mucho, especialmente por la compañia ya que llevo varios dias sola hasta que llegue Thomas mañana de Korea. Aqui os dejo la foto del monkey bread y tambien un enlace para la receta.
I've been eating dinner with Christina and Lyle tonight. They always cook soooo well, everything they make is delicious! I wanted to write this post to talk about monkey bread :) It is a sweat made with normal dough, which is cut in small pieces and then converted into balls. The balls are dipped in butter and covered with brown sugar. After this the dough needs to raise and then the balls are baked. I guess this is known here in USA but if anyone in Spain wants to cook it please let me know, I'll be happy to taste it! I've enjoyed it a lot, especially being with Lyle and Christina. I've spent a lot of time alone lately since Thomas is in Korea, so I had a very nice time. Here you can see the picture of Christina with the monkey bread and I also leave here a link for a recipe, even though I don't think it is as good as hers.

http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/monkey-bread-recipe.html

Visitando Palma de Mallorca. Visiting Palma de Mallorca

Durante nuestra estancia en la isla tambien visitamos la capital, Palma de Mallorca. Era la tercera vez que iba alli, pero las dos veces anteriores fue en viaje de estudios y no disfrute del turismo en la misma medida que esta ultima vez :)

Solo ibamos a estar alli una mañana, asi que solo visitamos la catedral en profundidad, el centro de la ciudad y poco mas. En otras ocasiones ya habia visitado el castillo de Bellver y otros puntos interesantes.

During our week on the island we also visited the capital, Palma de Mallorca. It was the third time I was on the islad, but the previous times I was on a trip celebrating the end of my studies and I didn't enjoy tourism so much :)

We stayed there for only half a day so we visited the cathedral, the center and some other nice streets. I had already gone to the Bellver castle and other interesting places previously.

Thomas, su padre y yo llegando a la catedral. Thomas, his dad and I arriving at the cathedral.

En la entrada principal. At the front door.

Interior de la catedral, con una pequeña contribucion de Gaudi sobre el altar. Cathedral's interior with a small Gaudi contribution over the altar. 

Detalle de Gaudi. Gaudi's detail.

En el año 2001, el artista Miquel Barcelo pudo realizar una de sus obras en una parte de la catedral. El tema esta dedicado al mar, hecho en escayola. Las figuras marinas se hicieron desde la parte de fuera de las paredes, haciendo las formas hacia el interior de la catedral. Es una obra polemica, puesto que no encaja con el estilo gotico y romano de la catedral, pero hay opiniones para todos los gustos. La mia es que la obra tiene su encanto, pero no en la catedral, no tiene ninguna conexion segun mi parecer.

In 2001 the artist Miquel Barcelo built one of his pieces in a part of the cathedral. It is dedicated to the sea and it is made in a kind of plaster material. The figures were made from the outside of the walls, creating the desired shapes to the inside. This piece of art is pretty controversial since it doesn't really match with the Gothic style of the cathedral. There are many opinions about it but I personally find the construction very interesting, but not for the cathedral. I don't find the connection between this part and the rest of the cathedral. 

Barcelo's part. Parte de Barcelo.

Labores de restauracion. Restoration work.

Despues de visitar la navel principal de la catedral, las capillas y el museo, pasamos al claustro. Son mi parte favorita de las iglesias, me encantan!

After visiting the main part of the cathedral, the chapels and the museum we went to the court yard. This is my favorite part of the churches in general, I love them!

Despues de la catedral nos fuimos dando un paseo hasta la Plaza Mayor, tiene mucho encanto, no es una  plaza enorme ni señorial, pero tiene ese toque mediterraneo de color y vida que tanto me gusta. Ademas, habia estatuas humanas muy chulas.

After visiting the cathedral we went walking to the Plaza Mayor. It is very special, it is not a big or rich main square, but it has a Mediterranean touch of color and life, I really like that. There were also pretty amazing human statues.

Desde aqui buscamos un sitio tipico mallorquin para degustar comida tradicional y no turistica (y/o alemana...). Nos tomamos unas buenas raciones de todo lo mas tipico en una tasca muy taurina (soy anti taurina, pero el sitio era asi...).
From here we looked for a typical Mallorcan place to enjoy traditional Spanish food, not too touristic (and/or German...). We had "raciones" of the most typical food in a bar decorated in the classical bull-fighting style (I hate bull-fighting, but the place was like that...).

Terminamos el dia comprando una rica ensaimada casera, que rica!! Un dia muy humedo y caluroso, pero yo lo disfrute mucho, me encanta visitar sitios interesantes, culturizarme y conocer la gastronomia. Pasamos un buen dia!

We finished the day buying an ensaimada, a typical Mallorcan sweet. It is delicious. 

The day was too hot and humid, but I don't care about that :) I love visiting places, knowing the culture and the gastronomy. We had a very nice day!

Visitando Artá. Visiting Artá

Uno de los pueblecitos mas cercanos a la nuestra casa de vacaciones es Artá ( Odio no poder poner tildes con el teclado americano, asi que esta a con tilde, la copio). Asi que en plan turista nos fuimos a visitar este bello pueblo, con sus calles empinadas, estrechas, con la calzada de piedra, miradores y ermitas. Muy bonito :)

One of the closer villages to our holiday house is Artá (it has an accent on the a and for a Spanish person who knows how to write it is very important to type the accents, I can't with my keyboard, arggg). We decided to visit some of the touristic places of the village. It is a charming place, small, with narrow streets going up and down hill, the road had stones like the old Roman roads, the view was beautiful from some of the highest points of the place and there were also tiny nice churches.

Vistas desde uno de los miradores.

View from one of the highest points.

Un poco de ejercicio para subir a la ermita :)

A little bit of exercise to go up to the church :)

Vista desde la ermita. Se ve el resto del pueblo y la iglesia principal.

View from the highest church. The rest of the county can be seen from there and also the main church.

Con Florian otra vez. Solo quiere andar :)

Again with Florian, he only wants to walk :)

Ayuntamiento. Esta foto es especial para mi padre.

The Town Hall. Especially for my dad.

Aunque hizo mucho calor para andar por ahi subiendo y bajando por el pueblo, vimos cosas interesantes, comimos rica comida española y en general, pasamos un buen dia :)
Even though it was too warm to go up and down around the village, we saw many interesting things and ate nice Spanish food. A nice day was had by all :)