Home on the...couch :)

Yeah, my mom wishes that sentence ended with "range", but such is not the case. I'm snuggled up with my little woman on my cozy orange couch with, you guessed it, the heater on. :) It's not nearly as cold anymore here, but it's hard to turn off the heater when it's just so nice.

Today Angelines made jamon (cured Spanish ham) stuffed artichokes with cheese melted over the top for lunch. Mmmmm. They were really good, especially so because I was proud that my devoted sue chef (pretty sure that's an incorrect spelling...but I almost wrote Sioux...which is definitely NOT right. Too lazy for the dictionary at the moment) braved the kitchen all by herself to make a recipe that we both agreed looked great.

Okay, a little back story. We are completely hooked on a Spanish cooking show that's on every day at lunchtime (here that's 2:00). We never miss Karlos Arguinano, the cook, who's got real pizazz and some GREAT recipes. So we have a little list of must-tries and the artichokes were one of them; however, I was working this morning, and Angelines is not a cook. As I said, she loves to be in the kitchen with me and chop or peel or clean, but she's much more an observer than cook. This was a big step for her: a new recipe and no guidance. ;)

...An aside, I'm listening to the banda de Jesus (the band that belongs to one of the town's brotherhoods) practicing for the Semana Santa processions. From about 8-10 every night the sound of drumming accompanied by coronets and trumpets can be heard all over town. It's amazing how the sound carries! They practice at the far end of town (actually pretty near my house), but you can hear the music perfectly from anywhere. I guess that gives you an idea of how small the village is.

There's a Britishism for you. Excuse me. In British English, "village" apparently doesn't evoke the idea of medieval times...just one more thing I have to get used to to teaching English on this side of the Atlantic: trousers, not pants; petrol, not gas; car park, not parking lot...etc. I was actually scolded once for saying "sidewalk" when speaking to my students, without offering the UK equivalent: path. (WHAT?!!)

It's interesting, the change in meaning/connotation of words when they cross an ocean. ;) With that I'll leave you all.

Happy Monday! (is that an oxymoron?)

besitos