When wifey goes on a wine tasting tour of Piedmont
Tag: travel
The road to health is still bumpy
I’m in Barcelona for work. Work-wise, it’s been going very well, with many details sorted out and progress visibly happening. We’re in a really nice meeting room at the University of Barcelona and the mood is generally positive.
Food wise, I found that lunch is generally the easiest meal of the day. Monday I had some grilled iberico pork and potatoes and today I had swordfish and potatoes. Both went down very well. Dinner tends to be more problematic. On Sunday, I was only able to eat about a third of my ramen before feeling over-full. Last night, I had yakitori and rice, and that was ok-ish but one small (but really appealing) tuna maki put me solidly into blockage territory and I had to get back to the hotel toot-suite to be sick. Felt better afterwards, but still not ideal.
I still think the trip was a success, food-wise, because it does show me that I can function (mostly) OK when I’m not home, but I still need to be careful.
Ben goes to Canada
Ben had a week-long school holiday at the end of February, while I was on medical leave. Initially, my mom had offered to come over but, after discussion, we decided that it would be easier to ship Ben to Canada on his own. He arrived in Montreal and spent the night there. He, Nat & the boys were all supposed to go to my mom’s place on the weekend for my cousin’s wedding. The weather turned for the worse though, so they ended up with only Ben being dropped off/picked up in Hawkesbury. He then spent the week skiing, snowshoeing, sewing and shopping. Nat and the guys came the next weekend, so my mom had a full house for a couple of days – before Ben and Nat had to go back to Montreal for the return trip.
Rather proud of the child
Ben has boarded his solo flight to Canada. He’s excited about the trip, a bit anxious about the exact process, and is looking forward to seeing his cousins, aunts, grandparents and new dog. I’m rather impressed with doofus. He’s seriously grown up in the last couple of years and becoming more and more confident and independent. He can still be a right pain in the backside, but at his core, he’s a good kid and we done good. For the flight itself, as long as he has food, drink and a movie, he’ll be happy.
He just sent this to Katy. We still need to work on his English spelling, lol (his French is getting remarkably good).
Almost home
This is why I need adult supervision
At the Portuguese equivalent of Tesco. There was a giant rainbow unicorn as well, but I didn’t have enough arms.
Lisbon in 1 day
Vera and ! managed to sneak a few hours of walking around Lisbon before the official start of websummit. 24,000 steps later, we were beat, but we managed to see the highlights (if only from outside).
We also stopped in this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Honestly, at first I thought the door was a window – it was that small. It was, however, full of locals and the food was superb. I had a tuna steak and steamed veg for 9.50 euro. Seriously. I also had a piece of torta de laranja that was pure evil goodness. Think of a cake made with 12 eggs and 500g of sugar. I’m looking for a recipe. The host kept taking the piss at us, but in a friendly way. “You’re on your holiday and you want to drink sparkling water? What’s wrong with you!” And then when we were leaving, we complimented the kitchen saying that the food had been excellent. His response? “We know”.
Love it.
WebSummit, here I come
Finally made it to Lisbon. Flight delayed, thought my bag might have been lost (it wasn’t), it’s raining, but no worries. I’m in my hotel, I have Wi-Fi and I have plans to meet up with co-workers later tonight.
Canada trip picture mosaic
Click to see full version (2100×2100, 5MB)
Baaaaaad influence
That little owl is a bad influence. He “liberated” a bottle of wine from a tapas bar, which was opened with a shoe along the way to another tapas bar, then got reaaaaaly pissed with other bottles of wine. Many bottles of wine. Many many many bottles of wine. And unexpectedly prawns. Good prawns. But wine.
|
It started like this:
|
But rapidly devolved into this:
|
He will feel it in a couple of hours when the first session starts up. But it was worth it.
Edit: The owl felt better than he had any right to expect the following morning. The breakfast buffet and lots of water probably helped.