La Gigante

This is my beautiful mother in law Mari my handsome father in law, Luis and me....the enormous Americana. I am the biggest person in our entire Spanish family. If I were to lose 50 pounds I would STILL be the "fat one" EVERY YEAR when I squeeze into my shitty itty bitty coach airplane seat I swear to myself to shed some major poundage. AS GOD IS MY WITNESS ........ next year.

Tio Manolo

My uncle Manolo. I love him so much! Manolo is always happy , always telling jokes (I never can understand them, but laugh anyway) Manolo loves to read the newspaper and has one hell of a time understanding my Spanish! Did I mention that I love him so much!!! I ALWAYS CRY when I have to say goodbye to him and tia Ludi. Te quiero tio & tia.

2009 It will be better

Hello again. I see from the date of my last post that it has been 4 months since my last. My husband is spending winter vacation in Asturias and called to tell me that my friends in Veguin want me to start posting again. I think I will change my format a bit, more photo's less words. Until I get around to that, here is a recent photo of my family at Thanksgiving. Minus my oldest son Ethan.

One Wonderful Weekend!

I can not believe it but school starts here this week so Miguel and I took the boys on a little get away to Kansas City. We had a wonderful time! I highly recommend the hotel we stayed at. ( Hyatt Place) it had all the amenities that our house does not have.... like fluffy goose down pillows and comforters, and a 42" flat screen TV. We took in the local amusement park on Saturday with the family of very dear friends, followed by a trip to their home for pizza and superb white wines. (My friend L has impeccable taste in wine) Afterwards we went back to our beautiful room and watched the flat screen .... "gotta get one of those!" On Sunday L took us to an awesome outdoor restaurant and treated everyone to lunch. I had chilled avocado soup and it was fabulous! Life can be so wonderful!!!!

The Gift

This is the corridor to my in-laws home. Three garages make up the ground level, the basement, workshop, coal storage and access to the wonderful backyard are below the garages. The top floor is where we live. Do you see the blue canary on the right? I remember when Miguel , myself and his sister went to the flea market in Gijon. We debated if a bird would make a good gift or not and apparently we decided it would. Mari (my momma in law) was delighted. Luis (my papa in law) started grumbling instantly about having to clean bird shit from the walls. It was about two days later that the entire family went out together (I cant remember where) we arrived home to find the family dog, Perla waiting by the door looking so very guilty. Walking through the beaded curtains I guess it was really no surprise to discover the blue canary dead as hell on the floor of the kitchen. I felt so bad for my mother in law, she really loved that bird.... Mari reached down picked up the poor little thing , shrugged her shoulders and tossed it over her shoulder into the backyard. She didn't even look back as she went in to wash up and prepare dinner. I guess it was at that point that it dawned on both Miguel and I that Mari was not really as delighted as we wanted to think she was with our gift. Moral of this story...... animals do not make great gifts. Second moral of this story.... mothers will pretend to absolutely love anything their kids bring them home!

My Aunt Ludi

If weather were to affect getting out of the house in Asturias, people would sure miss out on a lot! This is my auntie Ludi's home. We are having a typical family meal/party, and the family has grown so much that we spill outdoors as well. My uncles can rig up plastic tarps in a flash when it looks like rain, the rest of us.... well we just keep eating and eating and....

I look forward to the day I can walk up this mountain road to visit my auntie and not be a sweating pig on the verge of a massive heart attack!

Cudillero

I will never forget the first time I saw Cudillero! I had never seen a town like it before. I am told its nickname is The town of the hanging houses, I can't imagine being old with hip or knee problems and living here. I get very cranky when I am forced to walk up hill. I am however very lovely to get along with when I am walking downhill. Cudillero is a fishing port, and it's so amazing to watch the boats come in with their daily catch. I had a incredible seafood soup (sopa de marisco) at a restaurant by the harbor. It had chunks of crab, claw and shell included, clams, whole bodies of shrimp, chunks of white fish, mussels and no idea what else. It was FABULOUS. I am sure the rest of the meal was good as well but WOW, I really recommend the soup! By the way....this is a photo of my beautiful suegra y suegro. Te quiero y te echo mucho de menos!!! Ta luego y besos.

Mi Padre

I love love this photo of mi padre. This is the lovely fishing village of Lastres. If you enlarge this picture you can see the old cannons in the background, once used to protect the town from pirates and other enemies! My dad was the 1st person from the U.S that I have ever taken with me and it was a wonderful bonding time for me. I hadn't ever seen him so happy and curious about things before. He did not stop saying "what incredible engineers the Romans were,"and he was amazed by the European clothing..... it was so funny to find my big , tough cowboy dad in a dress boutique inquiring about a Jean Paul Gaultier evening gown. The rest of that day he kept muttering "where the hell would a woman wear a get-up like that?" I love you dad.

Mi Familia

Dinner at (casa mi tia) my aunts house! My aunts speciality is cooking huge amounts of food for mass quantity's of hungry people in a tiny kitchen. AND she does it with a beaming smile on her face! A typical Sunday gathering starts with one of my uncles pouring cider for everyone that wants it. We all visit while we drink a few bottles, and some might walk up the mountain a ways to check on the progress of the kiwis, lemons, grapes, apples, pear or peach trees. The more adventurous might go to the top to bring back eucalyptus leaves. Everyone scrambles to find a chair as my aunts start bringing plates to the table. Red wine is poured and some might mix it with coca-cola. Plan on sitting for at least 3 hours, it takes a long time to eat all this food. If you don't save room for desert, coffee and liquors.... that's just to bad! What is all this food you ask? Bread, corizo cooked in cider, spanish tortilla, croquettes, jamon, empanada, shrimp, calamari, russian salad, and squid......maybe more but at this point it doesn't really matter anymore! Sometime into the night we walk down the mountain, past the bars where the cider is being poured and conversation is lively,through town to Miguel's parents home.

Mi Suegra

My mother-in- law (suegra) is a fantastic cook, and a fantastic person! I love her so much. Among her specialities are arroz con leche (rice pudding) & Asturian Fabada (bean stew.) Meals, especially lunch, are the best part of the day!! Lunch is served between 2 & 3 pm. Always red wine to drink and orange soda or casera to dilute the wine if you like. I always eat too much of the 1st course and then regret it when the 2nd course is served! In between are the salads and ham and cheese plates as well as the huge crusty chunks of bread served with every meal. This is the point that I start to feel really miserable..... and then desert is served! Maybe an almond cake, apple tart or a hazelnut confection. Followed by fresh fruit, yogurt and various cheeses, and finally very strong coffee and a shot of licor. Hazelnut, cherry , strawberry , coffee flavored, the variety is endless. Sometimes we eat in the back yard and that's always a treat to dine. under the lemon and hazelnut trees. Life is good.