Carrot, Fennel, Chob and Rocket Soup

As the UK (and much of the rest of Europe and Spain) experiences a Scandinavian-style winter, Barcelona is having a British winter: rainy, overcast with the fleeting respite of a couple of sunny days, now and again. So, lots of cups of teas and hearty soups to shake off that all too familiar bone-chilling, depressing dampness!

With a pressure cooker, who needs ready meals or take-aways? Soups are so. wonderfully. simple. Roughly chopped onions fried for a bit, roughly chopped whatever you want to chuck in, a good pinch of salt, herbs or spices to season and water - as much as you fancy - transparent and brothy or chunky and stew-like. It goes without saying that fresher ingredients are better, but soups don´t suffer greatly from throwing in whatever non-descript left-overs you find gazing forlornly out of the fridge at you.

So, here I chopped up and finished off an older bunch of carrots, a cauliflower chob (what´s left after you cut of the florets!), some fennel stems (the bulbs are too fresh and crunchy to be pulped to death now!) and what was left of a packet of rocket - lush! 5-10 minutes in a high pressure sauna, a quick whizz with a hand blender, fennel fronds piled on top, homemade bread crusts chopped into croutons and yum yum - rain? what rain!

I´ll never buy a packet or tinned vegetable soup again - it´s a crime against the palate!

school blues

the essay I so enjoyed writing
failed to make the grade
"the oldest mistake in the book", he said.

and I´m left with a mirror
to write teaching reflections on
but after everything I see
am I really so dumb?

No pain, no gain, they say
as they convince us
our students need chill-out grooves
and a friendly, safe cocoon

for us a bed of sharpened pencils
a pillow made of books
paperclips grip our eyelids
information overload

when is a student not a student?
or is it just professional contempt?

What is Grammar?

It´s not what makes life interesting but it makes a lot of interesting things possible in life.

In most cases a more sophisticated structure makes life more comfortable: you can survive in a tent (and it´s always refreshing to go back to basics!) but it´s nice to have light, water, energy, heating, sanitation and communication.

Then you get to personalise yours, adding the colours, shapes and textures you like, bringing favourite objects and adding new embellishments.

The result being that everyone´s is slightly different.

Finally you get to live in it and throw a party now and again!



On the other hand, when you´re struggling to get in and you haven´t got a key, it can feel like hitting a brick wall...

Bastard Pie

No sweet tooth have I, but going on a sugar-free diet is one sure way to stop you thinking twice about the virtues of creating something so absolutely off-limit.

So in the cupboard there was a see-through container which was half-filled with a variety of smashed up biscuits which bizarrely kept on winking at me. So as we had friends coming it was the perfect excuse to remove temptation by do something I never do - make a dessert!

Mmmm... smashed up biscuits... some fresh, but battered-looking bananas... what does that tell you? Here you can get "dulce de leche" which is ready made condensed milk toffee in a jar. But it was a bank holiday and there was none competing for space in the cupboard. However, there was some liquid Caramel (bought for those créme caramels/flans de huevo, never made, although talked about for the last six years) and that lonely and almost full tin of Golden Syrup and of course Honey. The forgotten tin of syrup landed first in my hands, uncovering that tin of Custard Powder (spot the nostalgia items). I hadn´t got any cream (lactose also being off the list) and the thought of combining my all time favourite of Bananas and Custard (which my Grandma always used to make me) into my own take on two classics got those sweet tasting buds quivering in anticipation!

Without little further ado, the rest of the biscuits were beaten into submission (they are the enemy, after all!), mixed with some marge and stamped down to cover the bottom of a tart dish. A generous drizzle of Golden Syrup, a layer of sliced bananas with a little lemon juice squeezed over, followed by lashings of custard (made with "bad" milk and the last scrapings from the disconsolate sugar bowl), finally dusted with Cinnamon and Chocolate powder... then left to chill out in the fridge.

So there you have it Bastard Pie, the bastard child of Bananas and Custard and Banoffee Pie!

Lush!

Sorry, no photo - it disappeared like snow in the sun!

Late on the first day of school!

It´s always been my nightmare, but I never thought I could be late for on-line school!

There´s always some excuse - getting lost on campus, underestimating public transport times.... ...mine was that my email address was spelled wrong... I didn´t know where to find my virtual classroom!

Anyhow, better late than never!

I´m looking forward to getting to virtually meet my new classmates!

Diploma in TESOL

So I´ve taken the plunge to do the Master´s of my profession. This has already meant sacrifices - I´ve left Freud Quiere Bailar - but I know it´s the time to do it!

Week 1 Tasks

I like the fact that I can dip in and out of the activities online. I consider myself a slow learner and it´s been a long time since I´ve done any extended studying. I feel I need to read a bit then leave it to let it sink in of it´s own accord. Hopefully, I will soon get the academic knack back!

I´m really looking forward to connecting everything both mentally and in practice... the unknown is always daunting, but not without a healthy dose of excitement!