All Good Things

Okay so the first few days I did absolutely nothing except rest my weary bones (I was that tired)! 1 did do quite a bit of spring cleaning, with some exceptions like my rain-spotted windows didn't get cleaned since we had rain predicted for yesterday, which didn't happen. It sure was windy and we had a big drop in temperatures during the night. 

This is the first Easter I can remember when the weather has been summery. I slept with the windows cracked open at night too. I even started taking out summer things, which I don't usually do until the middle of May, and came across an old pyjama top (pyjama = British spelling) that I thought would make a good chef's blouse. I think chef's outfits are more elegant than aprons and have always wanted the top anyways. That's the part of me that gets messy when I'm cooking. Luck would have it the top is about two sizes too small. A pity really because it's still in very good condition.

Master Chef is very popular here, and kids love the junior version. I sometimes give them a simple recipe to make such as the smoothie in my photo - not that I normally follow a recipe when making one. However, I did find a recipe on Pinterest that I thought sounded a bit like eggnog without the egg. It called for a frozen banana - something I often put in smoothies - a cup of milk, a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of vanilla plus the same of honey, which I omitted. That's the last time I follow this recipe to the letter. Let me tell you a teaspoon of cinnamon is too much! The subsequent time I made it, I added a dash of cinnamon. This was much much better as far as the quantity of cinnamon. I meant to decorate the smoothie with nutmeg and instead grabbed the ginger instead. I really need a system for arranging some of my other spices like I do parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Because of the lighter colour of ginger, I sprinkled on more than was necessary and my second smoothie was spicy. The one in my photo I think was made to perfection - finally.

Thanks to the fantastic weather all the Easter processions were able to take to the streets. This is one of my favourites in Madrid. I've witnessed processions and not just watched them on TV, but I'm not a lover of standing for hours and hours to get a good position to see them for a few minutes, and I don't particularly like being in crowds. So the first one is Poor Jesus leaving the church, although they had to take Jesus off the float to get it out the doors of the church. 

In the second, you see the statue with Jesus's hands tied. For me, this procession and the Macarena in Seville are two of the most emotional processions I've witnessed.

I know I'm not ready to start a new week, but we all know time flies. I don't know why it didn't when I was a kid. Anyway, hope everybody has a good week.