The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a melodramatic thriller with elements of horror, lots of romance and politics set in Fascist Spain after the Civil War.

I really enjoyed it. I'm a booklover and the whole plot revolves around books.

Some parts really made me shiver but it never got too gruesome for me. The suspense held up till the end and there were some really interesting twists in the end.

The characters are sometimes rather simplistic, either thoroughly good or evil but I didn't mind at all here.

I'd recommend this to anyone who's not afraid of such a thick book!

Menu Plan Monday - Nov 26th

Big Monkey was finally well enough to go to kindergarten today. Life can start to get back to normal.

I'm sure I would have gone crazy with her at home for such a long time just a few weeks ago but although the last two weeks have been very tiring it's been OK. It is such a relief that she has finally accepted her brother and doesn't spend all her time annoying him any more.
She's also started getting dressed (even by herself) without long tantrums. She doesn't take her clothes off all the time any more. She stays with me most of the time when we go out.

She's a reformed character - finally out of her terrible twos phase (it only lasted 3 years!) Everything has suddenly got much easier for all of us. She's very proud of herself - as you can see in the photo (dressing-up at her best friend's house)

Little Monkey is, of course, now reaching the terrible twos! But he is generally more reasonable, doesn't scream all the time and I can normally understand what is annoying him. I hope it stays that way.


Anyway, to my menu plan. I'm very late posting this Monday so today's meal has already been eaten.

MONDAY - Speedy Potato and Cheese Bake (prepared by P.!)

TUESDAY - Tofu sausages, broccoli, sweetcorn, carrots and cottage cheese.

WEDNESDAY - Stuffed spinach and mushroom pancakes.

THURSDAY - Lentil curry (this has been on my plan for weeks and somehow always forgotten!)

FRIDAY - Baked potatoes with aubergine puree, hummus and salad

SATURDAY - Left overs (time to empty the fridge and restock)

SUNDAY - Pasta with vegetable sauce (from the freezer)

Thanks to Laura for hosting menu plan monday. Visit her to see more participants.

Thirteen things I Enjoy

Thanks for your encouragement last week. This time I feel much more confident.
What I'm wondering is; did anyone actually read to the end of my last list? I've hardly told any real flesh and blood friends or family about my blog but my closest friend reads it thoroughly and told me in evening that he was very confused; what did #2 mean? and why 13 when there were only 12 things on my list. I didn't believe him but when I checked he was right. Did you notice that? Please tell me in a comment if I do anything really stupid again!

So here are thirteen random things I enjoy -

1. seeing my monkeys playing and smiling together
2. photos - in every way, taking, looking at my own and other people's, sorting...
3. a hot cup of coffee in the morning
4. sleeping all through the night
   
5. eating with friends
6. getting out into the fresh air
7. flicking through cookbooks and testing new recipes
8. getting post
9. the smell of freshly baked bread
10. watching obscure films in arthouse cinemas
11. lying in bed and reading a book
12. dreaming of future holidays and travel
13. good health
    
    

Happy Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating today and a wonderful Thursday to all! Go here to read more Thursday Thirteens.

Long Way Round

Long Way Round (Chasing shadows across the world) by Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman

This is a description of travelling from London to New York by motorbike. It's no literature but a chronological account of the journey and preparations, written alternately from McGregor's or Boorman's point of view. It's almost like listening to the two men talk - a very easy read.

The reason I picked up this book was purely because it was in English. I'm not a fan of the authors or of motorbikes but I found it enjoyable. I once did a 4 1/2 month bike trip myself and had some similar experiences with border crossings, camping, trying to make myself understood and meeting amazingly friendly and helpful people and reading this brought it all back to me.

McGregor and Boorman travelled in a totally different style to me though. They had funding for everything, a cameraman travelling with them and a support team never far away. In my opinion, this makes their claim of being adventurers and achieving something amazing seem rather thin.

Unfortunately, this book contains a lot more moaning about than enjoyment of the journey. Wonderful scenery is mentioned but barely described (and the photos are unimpressive). Maybe it comes over better when you've seen the TV series of the journey.

The two men also write a lot about missing their wives and families (both have very young children). I think it was incredibly selfish of them to go off on a bloke's holiday like this leaving their families alone for months on end. Did they really think about how their partners felt about it?

"The Long Way Round" is an easy read with entertaining anecdotes for people who like travel stories but nothing memorable.

Wordless Wednesday - 21st November

Menu Plan Monday - Nov 19th

This is my fourth post here and last week I found that with seven new meals a week my fridge couldn't hold all the leftovers. Both monkeys were ill last week and we had a couple of unplanned meals just because I wanted to be able to spend the time with them and for them to eat really well without fussing over anything.

This means that I've been able to recycle most of the plan I wrote last week and want to try planning just five new meals. I'm going to stick to planning for particular days even if this sometimes get changed around because it just makes it easier for me to stick to my plan.

This is a normal week here on Germay so there are no Thanksgiving meals planned.

MONDAY Vegetable Spaghetti Bake

TUESDAY Leek soup from the freezer

WEDNESDAY Dahl and brown rice

THURSDAY Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie with extra vegetable side dishes

FRIDAY Microwave baked potatoes with leftovers...

It looks very bare but we're having visitors again on Saturday for French food and P. is responsible for that. I' sure there'll be enough leftovers for Sunday, if not, omelette.

We had French visitors last night last night and cooked a huge meal. One of the starters was my tartlets and this time I managed to take a picture before they all went. Aren't they pretty?


Thanks to Laura for hosting menu plan monday. Visit her to see more participants.

Boom boom

A lot's happened since I last wrote anything here.

The best development is definitely Yann's vocabulary. He's been saying Mama forever and Papa for quite a while. He woofs a lot (at all animals) and says brumm brumm for car. He's been able to say ball clearly but not regularly for a couple of weeks now. As I got him out of his car seat this afternoon he pointed at a ball on the floor and said the word at the same time. I was thrilled.

Yesterday he started saying boom boom / bonbon. It was so funny to see him pointing at the cupboard well out of reach of any children where we keep sweets and demanding bonbons and anytime he slips or drops anything he grins and says boom boom. I think he's really proud of being able to say things.
He's a bit late at starting to speak (although earlier than his sister was) but has a very good excuse as he has to deal with three languages.

It's normal that multi-lingual children start speaking later but I think my monkeys might have been later anyway as they are so extremely mobile and lively. They're too busy bouncing to think about speaking. Charlotte's latest achievement is sianding on her head and Yann likes me to hold his hands so he can walk up me and push himself off to do a backwards roll in mid-air. I'm amazed each time he does it.

I'm sure that second children have a big advantage in being able to copy the first-borns. Yann has been slightly quicker with almost everything so far.

I have a lot of ideas at the moment and could go off at a tangent on many things. Backwards rolls to role models to public toilets...
I used to live near a train station with very fancy public toilets and of course, had to use them from time to time. Don't worry this isn't going to go into any intimate details, it's just about a funny translation.
Next to the toilet paper was a sign with "For new Role push button" written on it. I had to think of Mr Benn and wonder what role I would get if I pushed, a zoo-keeper, a cowboy or a clown?

This leads me to a lovely mistake that Charlotte makes in her German. The Germans have a lovely word for finishing work and freetime starting. The translation is perhaps finishing time but it's used much more commonly than that and has a much more positive connotation. It's Feierabend (this literally sounds like "party evening"). Charlotte has taken this idea of a party and connected it with fire (pronounced the same as Feier). therefore she thinks Feierabend is a barbecue and often asks me if she can go to so-and-so's fire abend when she hears them saying it.

I could continue (I have those role models to write about) but I think I'll leave that for another time.
Tomorrow's going to be a busy day and as I couldn't get to sleep last night (you won't believe it but I stayed up till all hours wrapping Christmas presents and then couldn't sleep. I got up at about 5 this morning and started re-organising my living room cupboards!) So I need to get to bed at a reasonable time today.