Sunday Smiles and 8th Covid shot

 Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

In other news I got my 8th Covid pfizer shot yesterday. I waited almost an hour for my turn. It didn't look that busy.

The lady in front of me was filling her whole family's prescription and I had to wait for my 2 second injection.  Then the pharmacist asked me how was my day. I was polite.

New ceramic non stick frying pans

 I got some new ceramic non stick frying pans as they are supposed to be safer.  These have silicone handles.  They are to be used at medium to low heat.  The prices seemed reasonable and they are attractive.

My plan is to find silicone kitchen utensils next and maybe a new saute pan.  Apparently wooden cutting boards are now considered the safest but I still use plastic cutting boards.  

Friday Art - Lion Cub

 Welcome to Friday Art!  I did a lion cub for you today, an ACEO (2 1/2" in watercolour pencil.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Lanterns and Vinegret Russian Beet Salad

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. Here are my lanterns for this week's theme. It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") outlined with an acrylic marker and coloured in with watercolour pencil.

 

 For the Dinner Date I made a Vinegret Russian Beet Salad.  My friend S had given me some fresh beets and suggested this recipe she got from a friend.  It calls for onions and I found another similar recipe that sautes them in oil before adding them to the salad.  I decided to try that as well.

4 medium beets

2 medium potatoes

2 carrots

3-4 dill pickles

1 onion

2 c frozen peas

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried dill

a sprig of fresh coriander

1 c sauerkraut

1 green onion

Dressing

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Boil potatoes and carrots for 30 mins.  In a separate pot, boil beets for 50 mins as it will tint the water.  Cool veg, peel and slice into cubes.  Dice onions and pickles.  I sauteed my onions in a bit of olive oil.  You can oil the cubed beets so they don't leak.  

Mix all veg, peas, pickles, chopped sauerkraut, dressing, herbs, green onion.

Enjoy!

Wednesday Memes

 

Europe finale - Barcelona

After leaving the ship, we stayed at a good hotel in Barcelona close to the well known street of La Ramblas. We walked to the market there and ate empanadas, iberico ham, and gelato. You have to scan your euros into a machine everywhere in Barcelona. It would detect counterfeit money I realized. We were very careful and cautious of pickpocketers everywhere we went. 

 We got hop on hop off bus tickets for the 2 days that we were in Barcelona. That same day we took that bus to Park Geull. It is a famous park designed by Gaudi. The next day we visited Sagrada Familia also designed by Gaudi. We climbed many narrow steps down one of the towers inside the Church.  To be honest, I did not think the Sagrada Familia was beautiful, maybe I am not a fan of Art Nouveau.  It seemed like a monstrosity to me.  However, others love it.

We had dinner that last night at a lovely tapas restaurant and did some shopping.  There was a festival in town and daughter L and her husband enjoyed fireworks on our last night in Barcelona.  The rest of us went to bed.

We had a connecting flight home to Toronto on Sept 25th.  We were tired and happy to be home after a long trip, but many good memories were made.  Our family had some great bonding time.

On further reflection, cruises are a great way to have quick glimpses of places.  Husband M's nephew mentioned backpacking through Europe a long time ago as a student and it sounded great to have a week in each city at your leisure.
 

La Ramblas Market

La Ramblas Market

La Ramblas Market

La Ramblas

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

tapas - pickled mussels

tapas - avocado dip and truffle risotto

Sangria

 

Europe Continued - Cartagena and Tarragona Spain

 We visited the ancient city of Cartagena Spain (not Columbia).  The stairs down into the Roman Theatre (built 5-1 BCE) were very steep.

Cartagena Lighthouse

Cartagena Roman Theatre

Cartagena

Our next port of call was Tarragona.  We walked the medieval Old Town.

We would come to the end of our cruise in Barcelona where we left the ship and spent a few extra days.

To be continued.