Sunday 21 July 2013

The Speckled Smoothie

Hopefully Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will forgive me for using part of the title of one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes short stories 'The Speckled Band' for my post. Ever since it's got hot, I haven't had much of an appetite. In winter, I wake up thinking about what I'm going to have. I still remember one of my university professors telling us how important breakfast was and that we should always have something - even a glass of juice. I have a friend who never eats anything until lunchtime. She says eating early in the morning makes her feel sick.

Cold foods are what really go down well in the summer. I love gazpacho and have it by the glassful like a normal tomato juice. That's the first thing I grabbed yesterday when I came in hot and sweaty from food shopping. Before the end of the day, I'm sure I'll have more gazpacho, but the smoothie is what I have for breakfast. This morning's smoothie has a few raspberries in it, so the colour isn't so nice. Instead of putting spinach in, I used lamb's lettuce (corn salad). Obviously red fruit and dark green leaves create a yucky colour that in no way takes away from the delicious taste, so I drank all of it, except a little that's still in the fridge. Sometimes we give too much importance to appearance. So what if there are green specks in my smoothie too?

Yesterday after coming back from food shopping, I decided to de-frost my fridge, which takes all of 15 minutes and gather all the packets of bits of this and that and make a stir-fry today for lunch or dinner - whichever I get round to making it for. No, I don't have a no-frost fridge and hope the one I do have lasts a few more years. I don't have a thermomix either, but then my kitchen is too small for one and they're too expensive for my pocket. Oh, I know they make wonderful things and quickly too. However, a thermomix is at the bottom on my wish list. 

Friday night there were 23,000 spectators in the bullring for the Red Bull Street Fighters exhibition. It sounded like a cannon of some kind was fired at the start of the show, and then at the end there were fireworks. Naturally I was thinking about Zara and how noises like these really frightened her. Until recent years when there seem to have been fewer, it was difficult to take her out at Christmastime because of all the bangers (firecrackers). I recently read somewhere that comforting your dog when they were frightened made their fears worse. However, I think that's the obvious course of action for a pet owner who sees their beloved animal suffering.

That's about it from my corner of the world. It's times like this that I always wish I could take the weather with me like the song from Crowded House - take the nice weather with me I mean. Earlier today my neighbour was complaining about being bitten by mosquitoes. If only she wouldn't insist on hosing down the patio all the time, which is a waste of water and doesn't really help, maybe the mosquitoes wouldn't come. I think because it's rained so much this year that we have so many. We're not usually bothered with them in Madrid. Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

 

3 comments:

  1. Hello Brenda. Your smoothie does look pretty nasty, but I am sure it was delicious. The colors we mix in those concoctions do tend to make a muddy looking mess, but that doesn't take away from the taste or how good they are for you when you throw in multi-colored veggies and fruit together.

    I think all people living in areas where the rain has been relentless this year are having mosquito problems. The standing water is where they lay their eggs. Nasty stuff.

    Wishing you a good week ahead!

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  2. Hmmm..your smoothy looks delicious and healthy too! I have to eat breakfast every morning or I am so cranky by the time lunch rolls around..LOL. Have a great week, Brenda!

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  3. well I've learnt something today, I didn't know what gazpacho was, so I looked it up and now I know..... :-)
    think Gazpacho sounds very nice, but I'm still not too keen on the yukky green smoothie

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