The Best-Laid Plans of Turkeys

And me often go wrong. For years now I've celebrated my birthday and Thanksgiving at a Mexican restaurant. As a matter of fact, I've been celebrating there since the last fiasco of a Thanksgiving meal in a restaurant. We've been served such strange dishes as blueberry jam for cranberry sauce, chicken and not turkey (though we were told it was turkey), stuffing that was tasteless because it was just bread crumbs stuffed in the bird and nothing else, etc. etc. These are some of the reasons why we don't look for a restaurant claiming to serve Thanksgiving meals. Besides, I like Mexican food, and we eat so much Chinese that we're getting slanted eyes. No really, I can use chopsticks as well as I can a pencil. But back to the story. When we got to the Mexican restaurant, we sadly discovered it had a private party booked and they wouldn't let us crash! There was a huge turkey on a table, no tacos or re-fried beans! We ended up across the street at the Indian restaurant where we'd celebrated Chris's birthday and where we were the only customers. I was disappointed but had a good time anyway and got some nice pressies. Next birthday I'll know to book!

We're having our first snow of the season today just as the weatherman predicted. The flakes are, or were when I came in, big and wet so nothing has stuck. Hope everybody stays warm. I got some new gloves and a matching scarf as a present which have been greatly appreciated today.

Nuttier Than a Fruitcake

This is the first fruitcake that I've made for years. I had to wait until all the ingredients like the candied fruit (fruta escarchada it's called here) were made available. Then I had to cut up all the fruit and take the stones out of the dates and chop them up. Sticky work I tell you! The recipe I used called for nuts, and I thought no way was I going to crack, hull and chop any nuts. As it is, I hope I don't drop the cake on my toes, because it feels like it weighs 2 or 3 kilos. If anyone wants the recipe, I'll post it. However, I think most people either don't like fruitcakes or they buy them already made. I used to buy things like that, well Christmas cake really, when we had a Marks and Spencer's in Madrid. I'm still angry at old Marks and Sparks, the British department store, for leaving me without hotcross buns, rhubarb crumble, sausages, etc. I don't live near Gibraltar like Tracy so I can pop over and get some pork pies whenever I fancy them.

It's getting busy time of the year for me. I've had so many requests for buckeyes/peanut butter balls that soon I'll be up to my eyeballs in them. Just hope what happened last year doesn't repeat itself. Zara, ever so sneakily, got into one of the packages that I made up for my friend Chris and ate at least 10! That's not the first time she's eaten chocolate, and supposedly chocolate is dangerous for dogs. Zara doesn't think so! I'll just have to be careful and not leave them where her nose can find them. BTW, the recipe for these is in my recipe file. And the candied fruit that I have leftover I'm going to put in thumbprint cookies for the kids.

Hope everybody who celebrates Thanksgiving has a wonderful day. How I love those smells! I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving and my birthday in a Mexican restaurant as usual. Have a good holiday and week everybody!

Flying Time

I remember when I was little thinking Christmas was never going to arrive or the day that we could take off our shoes and run around barefoot like the hillbillies we were. Christmas is almost upon us, and now the only places I'll go barefoot are in bed (though I have to wear socks in the winter) and the shower. I was thinking on Friday that the week had gone by without realising it, and that's with having extra free time.

Why did I have extra free time? Two reasons. One, Tuesday was a holiday for Madrid, and, two, some of us were unable to log onto multiply for more than a day, so some of us had to spend more time on places like facebook, farcebook, or facebooger - whatever you wish to call it. BTW, although this has nothing to do with what happened on multiply on Thursday, there are some PM's being sent out with a fake video and a message saying that you look familiar (of course, I do! Lots of people recognise that my favourite headshot/avatar is a bird of paradise). The ultimate goal of these messages is to trick the recipient into downloading something he/she really doesn't want. Be careful! As we say in Spanish 'he who warns is not a traitor'. I've had lots of experiences with meeting people I know everywhere - lots of them former students like the policeman who stamped my passport in the summer.  I even wrote a blog about how small the world is. However, on the internet I try to use precaution, because it is the great unknown. I detest forwards for various reasons, one of which is the sender most usually doesn't bother to hide all the 100's of addresses he's sending to. I only have one friend who does and I open his.

The only exciting, and possibly irritating, thing here this week has been the filming of yet another film in my neighbourhood. Rumour has it that Bruce Willis is in it. The only thing I can say for sure is there were an awfully lot of cinema vans around taking up precious parking spaces and a big crane in the Bullring Square. I just remembered that there was a demonstration of motorcyclists that came through yesterday protesting against the guardrails on the roads, which may provide extra protection for motorists but not for cyclists. One case I remember in which a motorcyclist's arm was sliced off. The promise has been made to modify the guardrails, but I assume nothing has been done so far.

No holiday this week for us. Hope it's a good one for everyone.

Apple Crumble

Description:
What can I say about this dish except that it has to be my favourite British dessert. I probably like rhubarb crumble more. Alas, rhubarb is non-existent in Spain or I've never come across it. We do have what I consider unrefined brown sugar, but ordinary brown sugar (probably the dark) can be substituted for it.

Ingredients:
Crumble:
300g/10½oz plain flour, sieved, pinch of salt
175g/6oz unrefined brown sugar
200g/7oz unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
Knob of butter for greasing

Filling:
450g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm/½in pieces
50g/2oz unrefined brown sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pinch of ground cinnamon


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Place the flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Taking a few cubes of butter at a time rub into the flour mixture. Keep rubbing until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Place the fruit in a large bowl and sprinkle over the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir well being careful not to break up the fruit.
3. Butter a 24cm/9in ovenproof dish. Spoon the fruit mixture into the bottom, then sprinkle the crumble mixture on top.
4. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the crumble is browned and the fruit mixture bubbling.
5. Serve with thick cream or custard.

Human Beeings

It's only fitting that I post this photo of my darling nieces all dressed up for Halloween, because, believe it or not, I saw a live honey bee buzzing around when my dog and I went out earlier! I've just checked the calendar, and yes it's the 7th of November and should be chilly, if not cold, here. Sometimes I wish I wrote something every day so I'd know for sure what kind of weather we'd had in previous years. I doubt that that will happen though. I'm just too busy during the day, or too tired when I get home or don't really have a lot to say (like now actually). Anyway, I'll say it now in case I forget: we're supposed to get some rain today and it is cloudy.

My great-niece will be six months old soon. I have her photos from when she was 5 months old that I've been meaning to post. Her mother takes her to Sears to have her photos taken every month and then posts them on facebook, which is about the only thing I like about that place - how the photos come out. Sure wish they were like that on here.

I am wishing a lot today! One thing that I don't have to wish for is another holiday this week. Tuesday is a holiday in Madrid. However, the government would like to take it away if they could I'm sure since it's a religious holiday. The Pope is in Spain, so the President has decided that it's time for a visit to the troops in Afghanistan instead.

Hope everybody has an enjoyable week. I'm going to try and add at least one recipe later on and my great-niece's photos maybe one day.