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Fish and chips, fish fingers or fish cakes are mostly the only fish-based dishes known to your average English person. You could include tinned tuna or salmon, maybe smoked mackerel and prawns as well. But no, English people are not great “fish-people”. Me however, coming from the south of Spain (where my mum goes almost everyday to the fish market to buy real, fresh fish), am used to eating all kinds of different types of fish and seafood very often – or at least, I was!
I’ve been a few times to the Loch Fyne Restaurants and I’ve always had a very good experience. Most of those times I’ve been with family and, I don’t know why, I always had the preconception that it is a very expensive restaurant. But it is not. They always have special offers, set menus, vouchers, etc, and if not, you can always have just one main dish and go home!
Jon and I have gone to one near home today (we were actually surprised how near home it actually is!) and had the lot: starter, main dish and bottle of wine (we would have gone for pudding as well had we not been sooo full!) We both had Mussels for main dish. I had had mussels for starter before and knew they are delicious, but the size of the starter is not huge, so nothing had prepared me for the surprise that was expecting me when I saw the main dish! It was huge! It was, basically, a pot full of mussels.
I had already had squid for starter, so I was feeling pretty much full. I have to say it. I must admit it… I couldn’t finish my meal! I was beaten by mussels! I left about ten or twelve, that may not seem like many, but it is… oh yes, especially when you’ve already eaten like two hundred!
The Loch Fyne we went to today was the one in Cobham. I must say that for a busy Sunday lunchtime, and having turned up without a reservation, the service was very good. Definitely somewhere to go to again!
I’ve noticed around Flickr recently that a lot of people are posting pictures or paintings of themselves and then writing a list of “16 random things or facts” about themselves. Apparently, someone has to tag you and challenge you to do this (One random example).
As I’m not popular enough in Flickr to have someone challenging me to do it, here’s my own list ow “16 random facts about myself“:
1) I love nature and all her creatures. I spent most of my childhood in a “cortijo“, in the middle of the nowhere, far from the madding crowd, and most importantly, surrounded by nature. However, what a southern spaniard can consider as “nature” is quite a different concept to what your average English person thinks nature is. I prefer the English version though.
2) I have been addicted to the internet since 1999. I remember the first time I went into a chat room. I was in an Internet Cafe with two friends. I was checking my uni emails and they were in the mIRC. I remember shouting across the room: “Show me how you do that!”
3) I am very autocritical. Although I may seem very cocky or confident sometimes, in reality I’m never 100% happy with anything I do.
4) I used to collect cinema tickets. I still have them. Two huge boxes full of cinema tickets dating approx. from 1995 to 2005. I don’t do it anymore. Now that I own my own house, I am more careful with useless clatter that I bring into the house.
5) My favourite dog ever was called Margaret Thatcher. She was a stray German Shepherd that I took in. She had been mistreated by her previous owner and she was very scared, but she was very strong though. Then and there we decided to call her “the iron lady”, Margaret Thatcher. Ah, this was in the early 80s!
5.1) My other favourite dogs when growing up were Johnny and Fosi.
5.2) I was actually biten by a dog during my childhood, but that didn’t stop me loving dogs as much as I do.
6) I’ve got over being 30. Turning 30 last year was a milestone that I wasn’t looking forward to. I felt old for a few weeks, but now I can successfully say that I have accepted my age and I’m happy about it!
7) I love singing, but can’t sing. I can’t hold a tune, no sir. Still, there’s nothing more satisfying that hearing a song I love and singing along (using anything as a “fake microphone”!)
8 ) I’ve loved the colour pink for almost 6 years now. It hasn’t been that long since I discovered that I really like that colour. And now I not only have several object on that colour… I also buy pink clothes!
8.1) I utterly love colours, all colours, bright colours, pastel colours, rich colours, soft colours, blues, red, oranges, greens
8.2) Although my favourite colour of all time is blue.
9) I used to be a bit of a bully in school. I wasn’t a proper bully though. Not to English standards. I don’t think there were any bullys in my school. I was just a bit naughty and would laugh at people sometimes. But I never attacked anyone (physically or mentally)
10) I take three sugars on my milky tea. I don’t drink normal English tea. I like Spiced Chai, but I take it with just milk. I put the mug of milk in the microwave for 2 and a half minutes and then put the tea bag on it. With three sugars. After three years in the office, people still look at me all surpised when I prepare it.
11) I used to ride a moped when I was 13. It was my brother’s moped (he was 18 then) but because he used to work in the afternoons/evenings, I would borrow it all the time. No, I wasn’t insured. No, I didn’t have a licence. No, I never had an accident. No, I was never stopped by the police.
12) My taste in music has changed greatly throughout my life. From childhood pop like Phil Collins, 80’s Madonna, New Kids on the Block, Jason Donovan, etc. Through alternative stage in my uni years like Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, REM, Manics, Taking Back Sunday, Killers, Brand New, Coheed and Cambria, etc. To a more relaxed adulthood, where I listen to practically anything. I have also developed a taste for classical music.
13) I had braces for quite a few years. Due to a problem with my dentist, lack of understanding with my own family and some other details that I’m not going to list here, I had braces for about 6 or 7 years. Problem is, my teeth never got really straight and they don’t look perfect at all, so you would never believe I wore braces for such a long time!
14) I have no tattoos and no piercings. I tried piercing the upper part of my left ear once, many years ago, but it hurt like mad, and it got infected, and I couldn’t sleep properly (because I move a lot) so I had to take it out, and never thought of doing it again.
15) Never broken a bone (touch wooooood!). I’ve only been to a hospital for minor injuries and hopefully the next time that I have to go to a hospital is because I’m just in child labour or something beautiful like that.
16) And last but not least, I love living in the UK despite the weather, the food, the hooligans and chavs, and all those things that make people go and ask “But WHY are you still here?!”
It is something that I had always thought about: a wedding website.
Planning and organising a wedding is quite a task. There are so many details to bear in mind, so many things to take into account, you must be careful with dates, keep a spreadsheet with your budget and make sure you don’t go over it… So making a website, just because, was a whim that we were willing to take on.
It is now live, although it is not quite finished, but you can have a look at it here: www.mariaandjon.com
Some people might think that all the information on the website is already going to be sent out with the invitations, but I thought this would be a nice way for close friends and family to have an earlier taste of what’s happening.
I must get a “Spanish” section soon, otherwise my family aren’t going to be too pleased! (although, only one or two people in the whole family can use a computer and would be able to navigate through the site without many problems!)
Have a look if you want and leave a nice comment!!!
I have found going back to work this week much harder than I thought I would. I’ve been on holiday before, and going back to work has never been such an issue like this time.
The Christmas break was fantastic and we had plenty of time to get used to waking up late and doing nothing all day. I remember saying once that I would probably get bored of doing nothing all day quite easily, but no, it didn’t happen. You can easily get used to so much leasure time!
But despite the credit crunch and lots of people losing their jobs in the UK, we at Andromeda, are as busy as ever. This first week of the new year has been manic. I haven’t even had time to have proper lunch breaks and had to stay at my desk for most of the time, working, working and working. I was lucky enough to get a pay rise (only little one) just before Christmas, and although it’s awesome, now I feel like I have to prove myself and demonstrate that they won’t regret having done it – because I’m worth it 
So here I am on a Saturday thinking how much work is waiting for me when I go back to work on Monday. It’s a dreadful feeling! Is this what you get with promotions and pay rises? More responsability? More stress? I suppose it’s going to take a while for me to get used to it!
The more I live in the UK, the more I realise how different these countries are. In Spain there are all kinds of traditions that have been followed by everybody all over the country for centuries. I can’t really think of any British traditions that are still fully alive these days.
For instance, just during Christmas, Spain has got the following traditions:
- Setting up the nativity scene (with the traditional “caganer“)
- Buying “Loteria de Navidad” and “Del Niño”
- Lots of seafood
- Singing Christmas Carols at home whilst playing the “zambomba” and the “pandereta”
- Eating the “12 lucky grapes” in New Year’s Eve
- Eating “Turrones”
- The “roscon de reyes”
- And the most important of them all: The coming of the Three Wise Men.
Santa Claus has only been in Spain for the last 10-15 years, before that, the real “kings” of the whole Christmas were the “Reyes Magos” (= Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar). Basically, they are the three wise men (or Magi) who travelled for two years following a Star and brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus.
Hence, Spanish gift giving tradition follows this Biblical story and not any North Pole nonsense as Santa Claus.
The tradition is that on the night of the 5th of January all kids must leave their shoes outside (in the window sill, or outside your bedroom door) so the Three Wise Men know where to stop to leave the presents. Normally, also, it is good practice to leave “refreshments” for the Kings and their camels; this widely varies depending on the area or family. Some leave milk and biscuits, some leave brandy and chocolates. It really doesn’t matter as long as you leave something out for them to recharge their energy!
Somebody was asking me earlier what I had asked for this year to the Three Wise Men and I had to answer that unfortunately it’s been quite a while since they brought me any presents. Obviously, it is quite a journey for them to come to the UK as well, so I fully understand that they can’t come all the way just to bring presents for me. Plus, the fatty bearded man is a good deputy-present-courier and I won’t complain if presents come early each year.
Having the “Three Wise Men” festivity on the 6th of January had one good aspect and one bad aspect.
- Good one: Christmas holidays last longer, as you don’t go back to school until after that day
- Bad one: You normally go back to school straight after it, so you don’t really have much time to play with your brand new toys.
I used to love the excitement of leaving my room in the morning and see all the presents there right under the tree. I can’t really remember when I stopped believing, but I don’t remember it being a huge disappointment. I suppose that having two older brothers would influence it, as I’m pretty sure they managed to drop a few hints before my mum told me they are not real.
