A little blue house in the white village of Salobreña

Did you ever hear of the charming white Andalusian villages ?

A Spanish friend explained to me that in
bygone days, houses were traditionally whitewashed
because lime was known to have disinfectant proprieties

This used to be my view for a couple of years
when I lived in Salobreña, down on the Mediterranean coast

the Moorish castle of Salobreña was built in the Xth century

The red tiled roof terraces create a soft pink light in summer
and I love to see clothes or white sheets drying in the sun

And the summer evenings.....

talk to me about the sweetness
of doing nothing but sipping a Pink Martini
with lemon and ice...

Last sunday, we took my friend Yolanda
up to the Moorish castle.

Oh...yes it's quite steep.
She needs to breathe. Monchéri remains impassible

Right, she says...let's carry on

I nearly cried when I saw the magnificent pink bougainvillea

It grows in front of my favorite little blue house of all times

since I live in Andalusia, I really love seeing plates
hanging on a wall

Outside
Inside

this house gives me so much peace

but we cannot just stop here
and simply enjoy the beauty of nature

the castle is waiting for us....

¡ Hasta mañana !

photos by your devoted blogging hostess

¿ Que vamos a comer ?.....let's go to the market, plaza de Romanilla en Granada

My friend Yolande is arriving tomorrow

and the fridge situation is a little bit alarming

One egg, 1 coke, 1 beer,
1 eggplant, 2 green onions

As we say in Spanish
es fatal....
in other words
it sucks

It seems I will never learn from Spanish women
who always have lunch and dinner ready

Oh well...
but please don't think I'm a bad hostess
you see, sometimes I just focus on little details
like the lavender sachet on the pillow
or the gold and nightblue velvet oriental slippers by the bed
(yes, they must be velvet)

and forget about the rest


So this morning, mission number 1 is
finding fresh food
in 0 time

My favorite foodmarket in Granada is next to plaza Romanilla


This charming little lady is here nearly everyday
but I've spotted her selling in other streets as well

Oh...chumbos

Habas (green beans) are great with jamon serrano

or bacalao (cod)

I'm so glad they have laminated almonds
on this market. I always need them

Revuelto exotico
funny name
Revuelto usually means a type of omelette


Oh...candied ginger
how nice with coffee

I need to check my Gipsy supplier of spices
next to the cathedral

Hum...not in a very good mood this morning


look, I found a new fashion accessory...

Oui madame, this is called
cooking in style



My plans for tomorrow's dinner
are perhaps too ambitious

Spinach lasagne with hot chili tomato and tuna sauce
Manchego cheese
Almond and orange cake

Monchéri thinks I have great ideas
but need to be more practical
as I will have actually 1 hour
to get dinner ready

So, hasta luego Spinach lasagne
and hello
PIZZA !

photos by your devoted blogging hostess

Plaza Romanilla, spices market next
to the Cathedral

Feria, fiesta....time to dance baby !

the Granada feria, el Corpus Christi
is starting next month...olé!

Little casetas (little cabins) will be
set up in the streets

If you have the honour of being invited
to one of them
for a glass of vino tinto (red wine)
then you will have to look your best
and wear the traditional flamenco dress,
don your hair up, add some necklaces
and earrings...

And here you go...

Ready to dance the sevillana ?

But we need to find a dress first....

Mmmm...don't know about the purple

Too small...don't be ridiculous

Black and white may be ?

If you think they're too expensive,
you can always find nice second hand ones
on the market

Yeah I'd rather go for yellow

Actually I made myself a dress
many years ago

well ...more to dance the salsa

but still, it could do.....

Monchéri says we have to parade
in the streets on horseback,
so we now have to find a horse

(i think he's kidding)

photos by your devoted blogging hostess

My perfume is rich.... or how to avoid working on a monday

This morning, I told my business partner "Stop! hold those files...".
I need a few hours for myself...

After all, I've worked all week end.

Ok it was raining but still....

So today monday I just feel like being insufferably light and girly

and ponder about relatively important matters....


PERFUME


Since the age of 18, I'm in love with the same perfume
Shalimar by Guerlain

Actually I'm in love with nearly all the old Guerlain perfumes
and their names are so poetic

Vol de nuit (night flight)
Chant d'arômes (aroma song)
L'heure bleue (the blue hour)

I love the fact that they have been created
a long time ago, as early as 1912

I love the deep sensual touch
of vanilla in Shalimar

I like its meaning
"temple of love"
in sanskrit

But you see, since I moved to the south of Spain

Shalimar has become too rich, too powerful...

So I opted for its lighter delicate oriental sister
Mitsouko
meaning "mystery"in Japanese


Did you notice how sadly empty these vials are ?

Oh yes I'm quite a perfume addict, still
there are days with and day without

with no reason

Happy monday to you
with or without perfume...

photos 1&2 by your devoted blogging hostess
photo 3 @ www.parfumdepub.net

A Moorish lazy afternoon in Granada

Some little streets in Granada take you far away to oriental fantasy land.

Do girls really wear this kind of outfit?...

Why yes...we're all belly dancers here !

And you wear djellabas as well ?

Why yes...we're so very near to the Moroccan coast

Today I take you to the calle de las teterias
the Moorish tearoom's street as we name it.
I can never remember its name properly

When the weather is grey and rainy just like last thursday
this is where Monchéri and I like to hang around


We entered one we've never been before

It has many corners and little rooms

all simply decorated in a typical Moorish and oriental style

I'm waiting for my mint tea with a cuerna de gacela
(oriental pastry made with almond paste and cinnamon)

Yes, Monchéri squints a bit...
Please forgive him if the photo is badly focused.

Come on, have some tea and take another pic

Ooops...

ok...forget it!

Re-fueling, re-filling, refreshing....

When you've got friends coming to visit,

you must make plans so that they will enjoy their stay

You need to find fresh ideas
so that in the end
they say : actually Granada is....nice !

I emailed my friend Yolanda today
How about a little splash in the Arab bath ?
Her answer was quick
Ah oui !

I can't guarantee we'll meet a lot of dashing Spanish men
while bathing our feet and talk talk talk

but at least, I'm sure we'll have fun



I can't guarantee the ambiance will be something like that either

it's just a hammam....you know!

And you sweet blogging friends, would you like it ?

photos
#1 Ablutions by Bill Viola who exhibited last summer in Granada (love his work)
#2 & 4 Los baños arabes (the arab bath) in Granada
#3 Le Bain turc (the turkish bath) by D. Ingres