Spring in Maine

The dogs need a walk (you can see that they are waiting patiently just outside the door). Might as well bring along the camera and capture a little Spring in Maine. Note: If only I could capture the HUGE CLOUDS of black flies trailing closely behind us. No joke... They are HORRIBLE!

POD "Ummm I thought it was spring???"

Woke up at 5:30 this morning and look at what I saw outside my parent's deck slider. Silly me, here I was thinking it was Spring. I must have more than the time difference between Spain and Maine confusing me. It ISN'T Spring right?

Atleast the view made for a few pretty pictures. :)

POD "Have a Dog, or Two, or Five"

Took a hike yesterday with the fam. I thought this picture was pretty great considering I managed to get all FIVE dogs in it. Yes, my family has to take TWO vehicles to take a walk because they have three black labs, and the granddog (Trev's husky shepard mix) from next door has to come too. TO TOP it all off, we were greeted at the trail by a puppy who lives very close to the base and apparently LIVES for joining the hikers. (His mother yelled across the street asking if he could come too.) His name is King. Here's a close up of him. He was pretty cute and a VERY well behaved guest.

It was a great hike, other than having to take a 20 minute breather at the top of the mountain for our old boy lab who was desperately needing it. Don't worry pup, Dad and I were about to have a heart attack too.

POD "MUST SEE Birthday Surprise!"

SOOOOOOO long story short, my dad and I have been planning a SUPER surprise for my mom for MONTHS now. For those of you who DON'T know, my mom is turning the big 5-0 in early May. The same weekend as Mother's day actually. (Yes, she usually gets jipped.) WELL, NOT THIS YEAR!!! My dad and I have been planning for her birthday a SUPER TOP SECRET surprise trip home from Spain to Maine. We had NO idea how we were going to pull it off, but whatever it took, we were going to make it happen. Being military, I am so so so fortunate that I am able to fly a military hop (flight) home to the United States for free IFFFFF there is space available on the plane. So last night, after telling my mother that I would be attending a Pampered Chef party, I checked in at the airport not knowing WHEN I would be able to catch a flight, or to WHERE in the US. I was lucky enough to get on the first flight, landing SO close to home in Springfield, Mass. I was picked up by Matt's sister Dani, and spent a glorious night there.

The next part of this oh-so-covert operation, involved a call to my dad (ON his WORK CELL) this morning at 5AM, letting him know that I had caught a flight and that I could meet him in Worcester, Mass. Unfortunately, my mother heard MOST of this conversation on my dad's excessively loud cell phone. Thankfully, he thought incredibly quick on his feet, and he made up some story about having to go in for work because an irrigation system was "whacked" (his words, not mine) and the COMPANY who designed the sprinkler system had to come ALL the way in from Worcester. Nice work dad. So, as you now all know, he did NOT go to work, he hopped on the road, and cruised the 2+ hours to pick me up outside Worcester. It gets better people.

The whole way home, we schemed what would be the best way to surprise her and worried whether or not she had caught on to our mischevious ways. We finally made a decision and went with it. Dad dropped me off half way up the driveway and drove up the rest of the way himself. (Returning from work, supposedly). I, sneakily climbed the rest of the driveway, (special opps style... ready to do one of those ground rolls at any given moment) hoping to avoid being seen and/or causing the dogs to bark. Upon reaching the house, I slithered to the window (picture the grinch who stole Christmas), and proceded to tap, tap, tap on the window with nose a small wolf figurine, all the while, keeping my identity undisclosed. (Why the wolf? That is a WHOLE Other blog, but if you're lucky, you'll get a picture of this beautiful creature soon.) Well, mother spotted the unmistakable wolf, who had last been seen in Rota, Spain, and wondered how on earth had Trevor (my brother) gotten ahold of the now Spanish wolf. Upon coming outside the deck doors, and rounding the corner of the house, Mother dear discovered that OH NOOOOO it was not Trevor, but a Spanish Senorita fresh off the boat. Here is her face upon discovering this forigner on her porch.

Notice the profound confusion in her face. It took her probably 5 minutes to really come to terms with the fact that I was in Maine, and NOT as my facebook page update said... enjoying the Spanish beach. :)


MUAHAHAHAHAHA we have succeeded in STUMPING her. Clow special ops strikes again. Happy 50th birthday, mom! Hope it's everything you wished it would be and MORE! :)

POD "Someone's in BIG Trouble"

Sooooo I was in a great mood this morning when I got up. WAS. And then I discovered this on the patio. SOME dog (ahemSultanahem) sorry, had to clear my throat, decided this morning to go to TOWN on half of my beautiful (ONCE very happy) hydrangeas.

It was when the rage (over a silly little plant right?) started bubbling up in my chest (this is before coffee mind you) that I realized... yes, I AM my father's daughter. :)

Oh well, it will grow back. But for now, someone's in BIG trouble.

Carpaccio... Ceviche... Same thing!

So I must admit, I slacked a tad on the blog this week. The weather wasn't perfect, but on the days it was, I was outside walking the dogs, jogging, working on getting some other flowers planted... etc. So, allow me to backtrack to Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday night, Matt and I went with a large group, including a Captain and Master Chief who were in town from Italy, to a restaurant in el Puerto de Santa Maria. Upon entering the place from the street, I was SO excited and I made matt stop and take a picture. The courtyard was AMAZING! This picture is taken from the street into the restaurant area. Matt, as usual, was not pleased I chose to include him in the photo, but atleast I caught him off gaurd and he didn't have too much time to conjure up a silly face.
The dim atmosphere inside was excellent too (more like what us Americans are used to), unlike some of the local bar/restaurants around here that are more on the casual, well lit side. I immediately told matt that this place will be GREAT to bring people back to!
The menu was small, but decent. A majority of the table went with the safe choice of Atun (tuna). Although tuna looked good... I went with pulpo y patata asada. Baked octopus and potato. Hey, i've had tons of chocos fritos here and loved 'em (another variation of squidy, octopusy, calamari-ish deliciousness) so why not?! I was feeling brave.
Matt took a long time looking over the small menu and asked me if I knew what carpaccio was. I'd heard heard that word before. Darn it, what was it? Well, I was thinking it was the dish where they chop up bits and pieces of shrimp, onion... etc with olive oil and serve it in a glass. I tried this same dish when we were in Mexico and it was VERY good. Matt promptly told me that he would "NOT be ordering a dinner that came in a glass."
So, I wasn't worried that I could possibly be wrong about what carpaccio actually was, because Matt had said he wasn't going to get it. Well, the waitress came round the table... and Matt orders... CARPACCIO! Uh oh, this is when I start praying that is what I said it was and not some strange part of an animal.
Ummmm so this is what matt got.

LOL. It was when the plate arrived that I immediately realized I had confused the word Carpaccio with Ceviche. Whooops. Carpaccio is thin delicate slices of extremely rare meat. Wow. Who'da thunk that something would get ordered stranger than octopus and potatoes! :)
My pulpo y patata was good. I wouldn't order it again (would rather try some other strange plate), but it was edible aside from being a little too salty. Poor matt, this was all he ate. One bite. I also tried it and didn't think the flavor was so bad, but neither of us could get over the consistency. We all laughed.

Most of us ordered desserts, and the chocolate volcano cake took 45 minutes to bake. My sorbet (trying to be good) came out in a ice cream dish, melted with a plastic straw. Is that normal??? Anyway, it tasted like one of the bad flavors of Flintstone vitamins you avoid and leave at the bottom of the bottle. :)
Needless to say, it was an interesting night with interesting food that cost a bit too much for what we got!!! Matt and I WILL return, for ambiance and drink... but i'm not so sure we'll be ordering food!!!

POD "Girasol Niño"

The photo of the day is a shot of a girasol niño (sunflower child). I have been experimenting with some seeds in starter pots I lined up along the side of the house. Although a few seeds didn't take, the sunflowers (giant, I believe) popped right up, very happy to be alive. Well, today I took all my babies and planted them in the Spanish soil along the side of our house. I hope they continue to do well! I will keep you updated on their progress. I hope they grow BIG and TALL and they attract fun, hungry birds!

POD "Cannabelieve It!"

Sooooo yeahhhhh. Matt and I were at the greenhouse looking for fencing and veggie plants this morning for our first garden! We picked out a few plants with strange spanish names. Pepino, pimientos, sandias, and various other plants that will produce God knows what. But, the surprise will be fun right?
Then, near the check out counter, we found a BIG wall of seeds. "OOH, matt go see if there are any seeds that we want!" There were all sorts of vegetables, flowers, and then we spotted this exotic beauty (lower right corner). What a perfect edition to the garden it will make! ;)

(Note: no marijuana was purchased in the creation of this garden).

POD "Rainy Afternoon"

Just a rainy Friday afternoon here. I'm not complaining because it was predicted to rain all week long, and this is the first we've really seen of it. I am pretty sure we are through the rainy season, so I don't expect it to last.
Not that the DOGS really mind. They live SUCH rough lives. "It's a dog's life," isn't that what they say? Or "It's a doggy dog world?" or is the saying "it's a dog-eat-dog world?" I can't remember. Whatever the saying is... what i'm TRYING to say with poor idiom skills is that the dogs are living pretty good here even when the weather keeps them "stuck inside." (They look SO stuck right?)

Usually when I sneak in with the camera trying to get shots like these, they wake up and see me and they quickly re-adjust themselves before I can capture the ridiculous photo. DAMN IT! Seriously though people, if you were taking a nap on the airplane, mouth wide open, tongue hanging out a little... maybe some drool, or in my case, eyes half open to boot... would you really want someone to sneak up and take a snapshot of YOU? And if you caught them mid-photo, wouldn't you too cough or something and try to act all casual, like "Whaaaaat? What's the big deal???"
WELL, either way MUAHAHA I got the photos today!

POD "Hungry yet?"

Well, are you hungry yet? No? Well you must be now after seeing this delicious bowl of goodness! Check out my lunch from Friday. YUMMMMM right? These lil guys are called caracoles in Spanish. AKA snails. They are only good to eat this time of the year (spring time) and so right now ALL the restaurants and bars are featuring them. I have been hesitant to try them on my own, but on Friday I went to lunch with my Spanish partner. We ate at a local bar on a tiny side street in Rota: Bar Palma. Anyway, I felt alot more confident about trying these little guys with a local who knows where to order the "best" caracoles. They are served steaming in a hot broth with a very special spice used only with caracoles. "How do I buy this spice," I asked her. "Go to the store and ask for the caracole spice," she said. :)
They really weren't too bad. Sort of like clams or mussels. You just can't think about what you're eating. Oh, and you can't look at their sad little frowning faces either. :) I must say, i'm actually excited to try escargot in France after trying these. The snails themselves aren't bad, I just wasn't a big fan of the broth/spice. So, escargot is normally served with a garlic, parsley butter. What's not to love about that combo!



Oh, I almost forgot. How do you eat them? Just pick the shell up with your hand, put the little guy to your mouth, bite and pull him out of the shell. You may have to suck a little too, because it's a little embarrasing when you pull him out and he flops down outside your lip. ;)
I knew you'd be hungry after reading this.

La Catedral de Sevilla

Matthew and I took the train to Sevilla for the day on Saturday. I immediately fell in love with the city. The streets, many of which are lined with orange trees, smell fantastic this time of year because all of the trees are in bloom. There were SO many photo ops just walking through the streets that within minutes I decided I would just enjoy the views and not worry about taking photos of the town. Next time :)
We made our way through the tiny winding streets to the old district where we knew we would find the Cathedral. Matt and I were very excited to see the Cathedral and Christopher Colombus' tomb inside, but we had no idea we'd be spending a majority of the day there. The church is absolutely enormous and it seems to go on and on. I think I could go there 15 more times and still manage to miss some of the details and history. I uploaded all of my cathedral photos to Facebook, but I will share some of my favorite parts here. My 3 favorite parts of the Cathedral:




1. The details. Building something as grand as this church hundreds and hundreds of years ago would have been hard enough. Can you imagine the time it took to create the DETAILS. I couldn't sculpt ONE face let alone the 50 or so that covered the ceiling in this one room. I LOVED the details. Especially those in the ceilings.




2. The stained glass windows. Gorgeous. I even went to the gift shop after hoping to find a set of photos of the windows. They are just breath taking. Alas, no soup. No photos of the windows, so I will have to return and take pictures of them all myself. :) This last round window was easily the most beautiful stained glass i've ever seen.



3. The view. I was getting a bit tired of the dark cathedral and I was ready to move back outside to the brightly colored streets of Sevilla. (I kept begging matt to go to the orange tree courtyard.) BUT he convinced me to do ONE last thing which was wait in line to climb the bell tower. I told him we could do it next time we come. He wasn't having it. I'm so glad he made me climb it because it was definitely one of the highlights of our visit. The view from the top of the windy tower was beautiful and winding up the ramp to get to the top was something out of a movie.

Can't wait to return. SO much to do in such a wonderful city.

POD "It's Official"

Just a quick shot of the fabulous makeover of our Jeep. No really, all we did was put on our Spanish plates. But doesn't that small change just give her a WHOLE new look. SO sophisticated right? She's looking pretty hot these days.
Anyway, just wanted you all to to know it's official. We are Spanish. ;)

POD "The Gypsy Market"

It's a beautiful day today AND it's Wednesday, which makes it the perfect day to go to the Rota Gypsy market. I was pretty focused on finding a few key things including delicious OLIVES for the weekend!!! Check out the variety! Every tub is different!



Feria is getting closer and closer so it's crunch time for those buying dresses and accessories.



I hope to get back to the Market and take some "nicer" shots soon, but these should give you a taste of it's amazing-ness. Now, if you could only hear the vendor yelling "TRES EUROS, TRES EUROS, TRES EUROS." Only 3 euros? That's a glorious sound for a bargain shopper like me. :)

POD "Taking Home the Gold"

Annnnnnd taking home the gold for this spring's Most Spectacular Flower is this big boy. Those pink flowers are HUGE! You can find this guy crawling ALL over the ground near the beach, and yetttttt I could not locate him at my new favorite store "El Lago" aka the world's greatest plant store. (Just decided I need to get a picture of that gorgemus store for you all soon!)
Anyway, the good news is I have spotted a couple patches of this beautiful plant growing on the base. The bad news is... i'm not sure how the Spanish Navy is going to feel about me pulling a Lorrie/Tristin move and sneaking out at midnight to dig up a few for my own personal garden. ;) If you don't see any posts for a little while... you maaaaaaaaaaay be able to find me in the Spanish brig. How do you say "No sir, I do NOT think that looks like me on your surveillance video" in Spanish?

A Drinker's Guide to Spain

Ahhhh beautiful weather in beautiful Spain. One of the greatest things about nice weather is that the Spaniards take their drinking to the BEACH. The restaurant patios are full and even the chiringuitos on the beach begin to open up. What is a chiringuito? Chiringuitos are the ingenious small bars and food stands that the spanish build/set up on the beaches during peak beach season (photo of true chiringuito to come in a future blog entry). Yes, it's true. Your feet do not have to leave the sand in order to get a frosty beverage. Heaven you say? I agree.

Although the chiringuitos will eventually be the perfect solution, they are not up yet. Even when they are, there will be times when the chiringuitos are packed and you're stuck venturing off to another locale where you may have to tear yourself from the view or the sand or the water or the table to get another beverage from the bar. I give you exhibit A:
Refuse to leave and risk losing your spot to other thirsty tourists? You have a couple options:


1. Find a bar like this one. As you can clearly see, I never have to leave my table to order another beer. The foamy fabulousness is available by tap right there in front of me. This is an option, for those who REFUSE to lose any drinking time. (Note: Table exit frequency is negatively correlated to bladder size.)


2. Have children or find children (just pretend they are yours) and then send THEM to the bar for you. Really, this is the perfect solution because you can sit anywhere, even at tables without beer taps on them! Here, is an example of this technique being executed perfectly. These kids parents are sitting at an outside table enjoying the Spanish sun while Jorge and Maria, here, play "Who gets to carry the drink next." The kids are entertained and you never lose your seat when refilling. (Note: you may want to stick to bottled beer when sending the kids. The retrieval times were significantly faster when Jorge didn't have to balance a full-to-the-brim glass of Cruzcampo draft.) No seriously though, you should have seen how focused he was on not spilling a drop. He did a good job... it just took him a lot longer. :)