31 August 2009

august 31



Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are fantastic! I had so much fun reading your comments! (And I hope you did too!) I feel like I´ve learned so much more about you! You are one funny, interesting, and generous group of friends! I was going to list my favorites, but the truth is they all were. I did especially love August 3, 10, 15 (just goes to show you my mother was always right- she used to say, "when you least expect it"... ) Aug 9 (great movie choices!!) Aug 17 (a special thank you- I thought I was going to be the only one- and that would have been embarrassing...P.S. I´m still laughing...) Lisa your comment on Aug. 29th gave me goosebumps! OK, I´m stopping because I´ll end up listing every day!

To thank you I´ll be having a giveaway with everyone who left a comment this month. I´ll be giving away a 5x7 of any image from August. I think I´ll have finally unpacked and will have some semblance of order around here by Friday. So check back then... If not Saturday...

I´ll fill you in on my summer in the following days. Hope you had a wonderful summer (and winter)! I wish I could visit every one of you and give you each a big hug!
¡Muchos besos! And HAPPY NEW YEAR! (My years still go from September to September...)

P.S. The New Basics Cookbook is by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins (Silver Palate Cookbook fame)

P.S.S. SPUDBALLOO is giving a great online photo course. Not to be missed! Really! Go now!

P.S.S.S. Corner View will be starting up again soon. I´ll post details in the next couple of days... Just got to unpack first...

Besos!

30 August 2009

august 30



What cookbook do you find yourself using over and over?

I read cookbooks like other people read novels. (Which, by the way, I once read was a sign of an eating disorder... yeah right!...) I never learned to cook when I was younger and in college lived on take out and frozen dinners. So you can imagine my panic when first realizing that Spain had not embraced the jarred, canned, and frozen phenomenon us Americans had. At the time, learning to cook seemed more daunting than learning Spanish... A friend gave me The New Basics Cookbook when I first got married. It was the only cookbook I used for years.
Now, I have over a hundred cookbooks, I only buy fresh seasonal produce, can look a fish in the eye and know when it has met its maker, and know the difference from a good wine and a great wine. However, every once in a while, I´ll revisit The Basics. I can usually find her squeezed between two Vietnamese cookbooks, her pages are stained, her back is breaking, and she is missing her front cover. I hardly cook from her anymore, but love flipping through her pages anyway. It always feels like coming home to an old friend. Who knew I could get so nostalgic over a cookbook?...

29 August 2009

august 29



Have you ever seen a ghost?

It´s funny, all my American friends have, but not one of my Spanish friends has... Then they proceed to laugh at me when I tell them that Americans see them all the time... I, personally, have never seen a ghost... and I´d like to keep it that way...

28 August 2009

august 28




What´s your favorite homeopathic remedy?

To clear up congestion try sleeping with a halved raw onion by the side of your bed... Side effects may include dreams about roasted potatoes...

27 August 2009

august 27



What´s your latest obsession?

The Pentax K-7. I know I´m preaching to a Canon and Nikon crowd... But I do luuuv my Pentax...

26 August 2009

august 26



What was your first job?

After university I got a job working for the city on an AIDS prevention project. I gave out clean syringes and condoms to drug addicts and prostitutes ... And... I put my life into perspective... (On a side note, I took some amazing photos inside a crack house which the city ended up keeping, because, they claimed, they had bought the film...) Live and learn...

25 August 2009

august 25



What is at the top of your bucket list (things you want to do before you "kick the bucket")?

To watch the Northern Lights in Alaska.



24 August 2009

august 24




What makes you envious of others?

Being able to speak publicly... (Not even picturing everyone in their underwear helps...)






23 August 2009

22 August 2009

august 22



What´s the most recent thing you´ve learned?

I just started making jewelry with beads and antique pendants. I´ll keep you posted.

21 August 2009

august 21



Something you have done, but still can´t believe you actually had the courage to do.

Mine is obvious. If you had told me I´d be living in Spain, and be speaking Spanish, I would have run for the hills and would have just kept on running... I was the one who´d hyperventilate before Spanish class and curse the Romans. (I had to curse somebody...) But like with all important decisions in my life (moving to a new country, marriage, kids...) I did without thinking.... But then, it can take me a week to decide on a new pair of shoes... Am I the only one?

20 August 2009

august 20



What´s your favorite beauty secret?

Almond oil is the greatest body moisturizer... Don´t tell Dove I told you...

19 August 2009

august 19



What other language do you wish you could speak?

French... and then Sign Language... and then Dutch (for when I retire to Amsterdam...)

18 August 2009

august 18



What´s this week´s favorite song?

Suicide Lullaby by Ryan Star... (I know... Ryan Star??... but I do love his voice...)

17 August 2009

august 17



What was your most embarrassing moment?

Running for the T (trolley) in Boston and realizing, after I´d paid and found a seat, that my shirt was wide open...

16 August 2009

august 16



What would you tell your 10 year old self?

Off the top of my head...Chocolate ice cream is your favorite... don´t bother with all the others... hmmm... I can´t wait to read your answers to this one!...

15 August 2009

august 15



Where did you meet your husband, boyfriend, best friend....?

I met Jorge in a bar called Dirty Frank´s in Philadelphia. (The name says it all.) I can hear you laughing Kathy!


14 August 2009

august 14



What film would you watch on TV even though you had it on DVD?

The Holiday. (The houses people... the houses!) OK that, and Jude Law...

13 August 2009

august 13


What is a typical Sunday lunch?

Paella... really... (Remind me to post my father-in-law´s recipe!)


12 August 2009

august 12


Mountains or beach?

Mountains... no,.. beach... no,... mountains... that´s my final answer...

11 August 2009

august 11



If you could go back and study something different, what would you study?

My major was Political Science. If I could do it again, I´d study architecture or photography.





10 August 2009

august 10



What´s the best piece of advice you´ve ever been given?

This too shall pass. (And it did...)

09 August 2009

august 9



Top 5 favorite films? (This week´s)

High Fidelity
Dear Frankie
Breaking and Entering
Moonlight and Valentino
Catch and Release

08 August 2009

august 8



If you could live anywhere, and money were no object, where would you live?

Off the top of my head, NYC. But I´m sure I have changed my mind 50 times by now...


07 August 2009

august 7



What new skill would you like to master overnight?

Painting with water colors. I´d love to take my easel anywhere and be able to paint what I see. I´d start in Maine and work my way south...

06 August 2009

august 6



Your favorite food combo?

Chocolate milkshake with french fries (don´t knock it till you´ve tried it... ) summer tomatoes with salt come in a close second...

05 August 2009

august 5



Last thing you baked?

The BEST chocolate chip cookies this side of the Atlantic.... (OK, the best after Allison´s mom...)

04 August 2009

august 4



What book do you read at least once a year?

I´d love to say Jane Austen or Gabriel García Márquez... but honestly, it´s India Knight. My Life on a Plate cracks me up.

03 August 2009

august 3



What famous person would you love to have as a best friend?

Bette Midler. She´s down to earth, funny, and we have the same curly hair...

02 August 2009

august 2



What´s the next place you´d like to visit?

Sicily, on a moped... (Any takers?)

01 August 2009

august 1



Favorite chocolate bonbons? (Hey, had to start with an important one.)

Milk chocolate caramels.

pink

I knew a girl who was blue. So she painted her world pink. xoxo