jaume who?

we recently got back from a holiday to the isle of majorca. on our first day the locals were wrapping up their yearly celebration of the conquest of the moors by king jaume I. we had booked one of those last minute deals and were blissfully unaware of any festivals and were surprised to find many of the local kids strange costumes. also, the locals started gathering already in early afternoon along the main street to secure prime spots to see the parade.







we thought that maybe this tourist hadn't noticed what was behind her...i think that cactus was too close for comfort.







the parade had moors on horseback, fair ladys of the king's court, knights and such.







there were stalls of all sorts by the main beach. the merchants were dressed in period clothing and selling, among other things, jewellery, colorful ceramics, potions and lotions, clothing, (very smelly) cheeses, toys. this lady sold artisanal breads and sweet pastries. needless to say, i ate way too many pastries...







the merchant of this tent was selling pastries and tea. we didn't have tea but had some pastries with all sorts nutty (pistachios, almonds) fillings.







these "knights" were selling pan dulce ala brasa. having sampled at too many stalls before this, we didn't taste any...







...but these kids we waiting to have some.







this stall had a huge wood burning grill for different kind of sausages and pork ribs. they also served cooked ham (the whole hind legs cooking in huge pots) and octopussy (which was yammy!)







certain someone was ecstatic about the tents and the fires...







...and the atmosphere. i wished i had taken my better camera with me. having decided that this holiday would be only for taking it easy and relaxing, i left that camera home.







the scenery was to die for. this at the southern tip of santa ponsa, calvià







the weather was balmy at between +28C to +30C and the sea beautifully warm. these nuns came to admire the scenery as well. i wish i had noticed them earlier to capture them with some bikini-clad tourists...







as my family can tell, i don't swim unless the water is warm (+25C). snorkeling was fun, plenty of fish to observe.







these green birds are monk parakeets. they were (outragiously) loud and flew around in big fleets.







a motorcycle hanged on a window? nope, that was an electric bicycle, they seemed to be the latest thing, and this shop had some fancy ones for sale.







when in spain...paella...







...sangria, olives...







...and something we hadn't tasted before, avocado with capers. i had grilled squid 3 times...







the sunsets were amazing.







sigh...







ps. i was pleasantly surprised with mallorca / santa ponsa. the island seems to have a bad rep from the 70's and early 80's. there wasn't much beside the obvious touristy things to do, byt our expectations were more or less on the weather and warm sea anyway. renting a bike, scooter or a moterbike would have broadened the experience. a couple staying the same hotel told us that they had toured the island on a motorbike and were amazed by the breathtaking scenery along the western side of the isle and the mountains. will i go again? yes, but with intention to see more of the island and perhaps a little later in the autumn, or earlier in the spring.

i will finally have my surgery next week. as of late, i've been kinda down as i'm quite fed up with this waiting and waiting, and as a result haven't accoplished much, including blogging. after the surgery i would assume that there'd be plenty fo time to blog, albeit one handed...

i saw a real prince!

i did too! H.R.H. carl philip, duke of värmland, almost run over my toes with his fancy porche. just kidding, but he did drive by as we were waiting for the green light near dramaten in stockholm. personally i think that pictures don't serve him right, he was rather easy on the eye...

certain someon and i took one of those "a day in stockhom" cruises from helsinki on tuesday and returned on thursday. here is part of helsinki harbour from a top our cruise ship.







dusk at sea.







inside östermalms saluhall. i love to see this kind of places in any village, town or a city i visit. it's always such a shame that i can't take stuff home and cook with it. although the inventory in swedish shops isn't that much different from what we have in finland, sweden is closer to the atlantic sea and its bounty.







such a pretty assemly of veggies, and several kinds of onions...







...and a somewhat ugly fish!







we walked from the värta harbour to the old town. passing the department store NK i saw several pairs of boots like these. somehow i don't think they were made for walking...







lunch at brasserie le rouge, what a cool idea to serve bread in a brown paper bag.







my ceasar salad was very tasty. it doesn't look like much but after mindless pigging at the buffet table the previous evening and a bacon breakfast on the ship, i probably could have managed with something lighter. well, we didn't pig out at the buffet. i'll admit i ate too much, but i did choose dishes that i don't eat at home too often, like onions, smetana and roe, salmon paté, mussels...







a square in the old town near the nobel museum. i wasn't prepared to seet his many tourists, but i guess the rest of the world still considers the end of august as summer and therefore time for holidays...







guards taking a break at the royal palace







after leaving stockholm (around five o'clock at least 6 apartment building size cruise ships leave stockholm, every day), the one behind us was going to tallinn. at one point there were at least 15 guys on jet-skis jumping the waves behind our ship, fun?

anna's club sandwich roll sans chicken

i first saw anna make club sandwich roll in her "fresh" tv-show a couple of years ago and decided that i'd make it, one day.

naturally, when you make this, you will have read the recipe and have all necessary ingredients at hand...don't do like i do, forget one of the main ingredients, namely the chicken...







i followed the recipe except for the amount of yeast, which varies on so many different things. i went with the package instructions, 1 bag (11gr) for 500ml liquid.







i wanted to use sundried tomatoes that weren't in any liquid, but i did soak them in water for 30mins to get them somewhat softer.







they plumped up nicely (as i was making veggie soup, i used the water in the soup)







i took the liberty of eating one rasher of bacon as the recipe called for only 8 and there was 9 in the package... i did not nibble on the grated cheddar.







the dough almost escaped. i did have to use almost 2 cups more flour than in the recipe. the dought was still a bit on the sticky side. there seemed to be so much dough that i decided i'd make two loaves.







one loaf with bacon, cheddar and tomatoes, the other with cured ham, cheddar and tomatoes.







here hoping all goes well...







the smell of baking break is amazing. loaves looked like they were done after 40 mins







on hindsight, i think i could have squeezed all of the dough into one pan. then i might not have had the airy bubble on top. on the other hand, it tasted great. will definitely try another time, with chicken.

gardens

it seems we might get something out of the garden this summer. this is how the tomato/ gourd plantantion looked a couple of weeks ago...







there are plenty of buds like these.







this is the biggest one so far. i wish i had written down what i planted...i have no idea if this pumpkin is edible or just for halloween decoration.







bees are keeping themselves busy.







the other day certain someone called me and said there is a big yellow thing that looks like a banana in the garden...well, i was quite aware of this zucchini.







tomatoes are only now starting to ripen.







this one was very juicy, the best tomato he ever ate said certain somenone. it was a truly tasty one, i must say.







i was sad to see that something had had a bite of this one...







i've tried corn many times, this is the first they grow over a meter high!






if the weather stays somewhat warm for a few weeks, we might actually, for the first time, get to eat home grown corn!








the "herb garden" is bursting...the two kind of thyme on the right got huge, as did the mint. i had read that mint will outgrow everything, but did i believe it? nope. there are only some many mojitos one can drink...i need to look for a mint jelly recipe...







as i was weeding the thymes, i found this. i have no idea what kind of mushroom it is and i plan to play it safe and not eat it.







it looks like i will get coriander seeds as well. i planted some coriander but thought that nothing comes up, didn't for months, suddenly there are tall stalks with flowers and seeds...








this big planted had over grown spinach in it, i tore it out, roots and all. couple of weeks later i noticed something green popping up...







low and behold, we're getting a second harvest of spinach!







now quickly to mom's patch at the cottage and her tomatoes.







they seemed to be ripening much earlier than mine.







there is carrots, parsnips, lettuce, dill, parsley and beets that seem to be especially tasty...







...well, at least the leaves. a rabbit has been visiting and eating only the beet leaves, sgtrange.







back at the shack...the composter is working quite well. i'm planning to start a new patch for gourds next summer, the compost will got to that patch.






ps. the white mushroom had opened up and revealed the telltale markings of a destroying angel (amanita virosa), which is deadly poisonous...now i'm afraid to remove it from the patch