Weekend recap

After a busy long week in London, I was grateful for the weekend.

On Friday evening, we had dinner put in a local restaurant. Steak for the bear, chicken for the man and seafood pasta for me. We had fun and it cheered us up.

Saturday morning was an early start. I had an appointment at the beautician. Afterwards we tidied up the house.

I made us an early dinner of spicy rice and grilled chicken. The rice dish was cooked with arborio rice, turmeric, paprika, stock, herbes de Provence. It wasn’t a risotto, much drier but full of flavour. I added onions, red peppers and green peas, served with a side of broccoli.

We observed Earth Hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Lights out, and played scrabble by candlelight. It was so much fun!

On Sunday, we were up early for Palm Sunday mass. Afterwards the Bear and I did some grocery shopping and we spent the rest of the day chilling.

I made us a roast chicken for dinner and all of us craved Apple crumble. All to come after Easter!

Apple cake

We made this cake for afternoon tea today, plus the Bear wanted us to celebrate the 17th birthday of our sweet teddy, Swedish Moose or also known as Smoosh or Boris. The man and I bought him from Arlanda airport in Stockholm 17 years ago during midsummer and our daughter thought it was apt to celebrate him today.

The cake was inspired from a recipe I found on Instagram.

Ingredients:

• 115g butter
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour (sorry it is a mixture between imperial and metric measurements!)
• 1tsp baking powder
• 3 cooking apples, peeled, halved, cored, sliced thinly into half-moons
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tbsp icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius
• Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a mixer
• Mix in one egg at a time until combined
• Mix in the vanilla extract
• Add in the flour and baking soda
• In a separate bowl, gently toss the apple slices with the sugar and cinnamon powder. Set aside 1/3 and mix the remaining 2/3 into the cake batter
• Transfer the cake batter into a lined spring form pan (9”)
• Arrange the remaining apple slices on top of the batter
• Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes
• Remove cake from the oven and leave to cool
• Serve as is or with cream or ice cream, with a light dusting of icing sugar

This has to be my new favourite apple cake. So moist and delicious!

9/4/23

It’s Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny very kindly left chocolates for the Bear and she in turn shares them with us.

The man and bear go to mass whilst I prepare lunch.

The Bear helps set the table and we enjoy a feast.

We then go for a walk followed by a drink at a pub.

We get home for dessert which is apple crumble. When we were in Ibiza we fell in love with the simple coffee machine in the rented villa. We ordered a similar one which arrived earlier. The coffee is good.

The bear goes to bed and I watch YouTube. Lights out at 11.

7/4/23

It’s the last day of our holiday. We are up early, tidy up the villa and leave. We fill up the car with petrol and stop over at a cafe for coffee and a tostada.

We drop off the car at the airport and check in for our flight. No delays. We have an hour to kill so we grab some sandwiches from Paul and while away our time.

It is boarding time. I sit next to the bear. When we take off, we get a great view of Es Vedra.

Ed Vedra

We land just after 3pm and make our way home.

The house is cold but the weather is much better than a week ago.

We are all tired. I’m in bed at 9pm.

6/4/23

It’s a free day today. We have no real plans. The man wants to drive out to San Antonio. We get there and it looks rather run down. We take some photos and decide to drive back into Eivissa.

We stop for lunch en route. Salads for the grown ups and burger for the Bear.

We drive to Eivissa and have a walk around the town before tracking down churros.

We go back to the villa for a rest. The man then suggests a drive out west to watch the sun set. We stop at Cala Molí and catch a spectacular sunset.

Dinner is at a Thai. We are tired at this stage. Our last night here. There is a full moon.

We had packed earlier in the day. All we need is a good night’s sleep.