Day trip to Wine Country

Monday we took a day trip to one of the wine regions of Spain, Ribera del Duero and more specifically the town, Aranda de Duero. We were on a mission to find and buy a wine barrel. It has been my dream forever to have a wine barrel table in our house. Spain is full of bars and most people can be overwhelmed by the selection but from the very beginning I found a way to measure the quality of a bar, if it had barrels it was probably pretty good. I'm a sucker for barrels and yes it might be a problem but I figure if you are going to live in a foreign country you are going to have to find some little obsession. I have two- barrels and stone. If any building, restaurant, house, bar has these two things I freak out, get all giddy and must go there. This my friends is why I want a barrel in my own house.
So, we drove about an hour and a half north of Madrid to seek a barrel and along the way stop in a bar drink some wine, eat some tapas and have a big lunch (my most favorite things!). The reason we chose this area is because Pablo stopped in a gas station around this town on his way back from Germany and the gas station had barrels for sale. 60 euros. That is the cheapest we've found so we said lets go for it! We arrived in the town and set out to find a bar to have a wine and tapas. We lucked out because the bar we found (chosen because it had barrels outside) turned out to be VERY cute. Exposed wood beams, barrels everywhere, very rustic feel. I love that stuff. We chose a recommended wine- 2 euros and two tapas- a toast called a lamb hamburger. So fancy and so delicious.

Our tapas and wine

This town is FAMOUS for lamb so lamb is everywhere. After we finished our snack we heard that below the bar was a wine cellar and we asked if we could go take a tour. The bartender said go ahead and we headed down the old stone steps and walked around the little wine cellar. It was very old and very cool.

In the wine cellar

behind the wall is the vats that store the wine

The stairs down to the wine cellar

Next, we walked around the old area of the town and found the cathedral. It had a really cool facade with tons of carved figures.

The town's cathedral

We circled around and passed through the Plaza Mayor before heading back to a restaurant Pablo read good reviews about for lunch. They basically only serve lamb and since we were in lamb country we said lets go for it. We had a salad, 1/4 lamb, house rose wine and dessert and it was all delicious. The lamb was so tender and juicy and didn't taste strong like some of the lamb I've had before. With our bellies now full we had to get back to business and figure out where to get a barrel.

The restaurant we had lamb at

The lamb

Our walk around the town didn't produce any visible barrels for sale so we decided to ask the staff at the restaurant if they knew a place. They were actually very helpful and told us of this place in a neighboring pueblo where a guy makes the barrels. He gave us directions and we headed out. The directions were great and we drove right up. The man was outside and Pablo got out to ask if he had barrels for sale. There were a ton in the lot and he said yes,  come pick out what you want. The man was very nice and showed us his shop, his catalog of thing he makes. It was amazing and expensive! He explained he used Hungarian or American oak and named off some of the states where he gets his oak from. I picked out a barrel, paid 60 euros, loaded it in the car (it fit!) and we high-fived. MISSION COMPLETE!
We headed back to Madrid and decided we must stop at our furniture store-IKEA and buy two stools. We had quite an adventure getting the barrel out of the trunk, up 5 flights of stairs and then 1 flight in our house but we did it. Its on our terrace and looks AMAZING! We opened a bottle of wine to celebrate and the next morning ate breakfast there as well. Our terrace is so cute now!

At home with our barrel and kids

Pizza Night!

Saturday night we had a pizza making party! It's a tradition I share with my dad and cousins as we use to have pizza parties a lot as an excuse to get together. I have no idea why I've never done it here but I finally came to my senses and decided to do it!
We bought a variety of toppings and I made the dough and pizza sauce. We set up all the ingredients, opened a bottle of wine, rolled out the dough and got to it! We made two pizzas each topping 2 halves. The pizzas turned out great and we were pretty proud of ourselves! We LOVE pizza!

Pizza Man!

Pizza #1

Pizza #2

Roadtrip to Germany and Paris!

Pablo had his very own little adventure a week ago when he took 47 dogs and cats to Germany. The shelter he volunteers at has many adoptions from Germans- they love cats and dogs! So every couple months a truck load of animals goes up and this time Pablo volunteered for the adventure. He went with two other guys and they rotated the driving duties, with one as a co-pilot and the other one sleeping. They left the shelter around 2 pm and drove all night until they arrived at the first drop off point in Germany around 8am. The animals did really well to be in cages for 19+ hours. Only one dog was super freaked out and peed and pooped on himself but the rest of the animals held it!! Can you believe it??! In total they had 4 drop off points before they headed to the house they would be staying the night. Some of the animals were met by their new owners with treats and new leashes and others were dropped off at local animal shelters. Overall it was really positive and Pablo really admired all the Germans that adopt animals in the worst conditions and whom they've only seen pictures. They do it because they generally love animals and want to help. One woman was brought to tears when she saw her dog, a greyhound, (which are severly mistreated and abused in Spain) because she looked far worse than I'm sure she imagined. She had all 4 paws bandaged up, a ripped ear and many visible scars. But the dog was so happy to see her that she was whining for attention and wanted to be scratched with her tail wagging the whole time. I'm sure it was a wonderful and heartbreaking scene.

The Truck!

On the road

Sleeping area in the truck

Meal at a gas station at 8am

Gas station

One of the dogs and its new owner- finally taking a walk after
a long trip!

They arrived at their host's house around 8pm and were invited to dinner at the local brewery. There Pablo got to eat a typical German meal and drink real German beer- he was in heaven! Pablo really liked the beer so he bought a mini keg to bring home. I'm really glad he did because the beer was SO GOOD. I loved it! The hosts were very friendly and Pablo got to act as translator as they only spoke German and English. The other two Spaniards didn't speak a lot of English so Pablo was the center of attention!

Authentic German Dinner!

 

The crew and German hosts

They finally had a good night sleep a good meal and a shower and then headed back on the road around 11 am Sunday. They took their time coming home because they didn't have 47 dogs and cats to worry about so they decided to stop in Paris. Pablo had never been to Paris so he was pretty excited. They luckily found parking for the truck and then played tourist for the next two hours checking out Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower's light show. They also did the driving tour and passed by the Arc de Triumpf on the way out of town.

Notre Dame

Officially in Paris

The light show they got to see

Pablo finally got to our house around 11 am Monday morning baring gifts- tourist goodies from Paris and sausages, beer, mustard and breads from Germany. Pablo had a great time even though it was really hard to drive so much in a short amount of time but it was a great experience and he helped so many animals find new homes and that is the best part of it all.

Update on the Kids

Here are a few videos and pictures of our children. We've become homebodies and are thoroughly entertain by these two. They make us happy.

Goonie actually listening to Daddy

                                           

Alkie in the toilet paper plastic and Goonie doesn't quite understand

Alkie is an acrobat

Alkie's new obsession....after staying at Abuela's house during Christmas he learned some bad habits. Like drinking out of the bidet! Now he won't stop meowing!!

Hanging out

Alkie is now a lap cat

Hard day

Breakfast on the terrace.....in February!

 

Cuddling on the couch

Being a Maruja

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure hanging out with the neighborhood Marujas. A Maruja is what Spanish people call the old ladies that are always at home and spying on all the happenings of the neighborhood. They know everything about everyone's business. This is a new word for me and didn't learn it until I was sharing this story with my spanish family.
So, the story....I had just got home from my early class and passed my neighbor leaving as I was arriving. She lives directly in front of our door and never once had I spoken with her but on this particular day she asked me if I've seen the cat that lives in front of our building in the bushes. This is a street cat that we've seen for awhile and we feed it every once in awhile. We've dubbed him pop-eye (he only  has one eye) and he makes Goonie go crazy (Goonie is obssessed with cats).
Anyway, back to the story, I told my neighbor yes I've seen the cat and she says he's been there two days and then asks me if I know someone to call to get the cat. I think to myself this cat has been here a lot longer than that but ok. Then she says she has called the city hall and the fire department. I'm confused, why did you call city hall? You don't like stray cats? The neighborhood is full of them. I didn't really understand and I said well my husband volunteers at an animal shelter and I'll ask him. She then tells me she lost her mother who went to the market and hadn't returned and had to go find her. Ok, random, and good luck!
I get home and call Pablo and tell him what the neighbor said and we're confused why she is so concerned about getting rid of the cat. About 15 minutes later I hear grandma return home, she was found. Then the neighbor rings our doorbell and asks if I talked to my husband I said he was asking and would let me know. She said ok and left. I went upstairs to eat lunch and watch tv. 20 minutes later I come back down and look at the window to the street and I see a fire truck right in front. I thought this is weird. Then I look up and I see the cat- he is UP A TREE! Everything clicked at this point. Now I know why the neighbor was all freaked out. I had no idea the cat was up the tree and she said he was there 2 days.

view from my window (the cat is black on the left)

I then call Pablo again and explain what is happening and if he can take the cat to the shelter. I then feel like I have to go tell the neighbor what Pablo is telling me. So I walked down to where a group of ladies (marujas) are watching all the happenings. It is kind of funny all of them watching, all talking, discussing how they are going to get the cat down. Meanwhile, a second fire truck arrives with a longer ladder. They set up the basket and two firefights head up. The rest are down below with a blanket to catch the cat in case it falls.

Waiting below with the blanket

As the basket gets closer the cat begins to get nervous and starts moving around on the branches. Closer and closer they get but can't reach the cat. This is when the cat takes a leap of faith, literally, and jumps and tries to land on other branches. He misses and falls and takes off running. Everyone gasps and the cat is gone. My neighbor was super nervous and worried for the cat and now she is tearing up. Other Marujas are saying they had cats that feel from 4 stories up and survived, no problem. I took this opportunity to escape and head up stairs.

I felt really bad for the cat and hoped he was ok. We didn't see him for two weeks and during that time we had the major Siberian cold snap so we thought he was a goner. Well about a week ago Pop-Eye returned to his same bush without any signs of injury. I haven't told the neighbor so hopefully she has seen him but I think Goonie is the happiest out of everyone!