Week 49, Project 365

I suddenly realized it's Saturday night and time to get another Project 365 post ready. It's been such a busy week that it went by even faster than usual. I did too well taking photos this week and had SO MANY that it was hard to choose. So once again I have more than the requisite seven.

The first photo is mostly for my mother-in-law because I know she enjoys seeing photos of the house in Sta. Rosa. This was after I finally finished cleaning the kitchen on Monday. Talk about dirty! Unbelievable how much dirt I swept, dusted and cleaned up throughout the house on Monday and Tuesday. We realized we just have to plan on going out every few months specifically to give it a good cleaning.

When we quit (not because we were done but because we were tired!) on Tuesday, we went into Belgrano to pick up some things and grab a bite at our favorite little restaurant (Tio Rico's) but it was closed that evening. Instead we grabbed some things from the deli at the grocery store and went home, put our feet up and enjoyed empanadas and stuffed summer squash. But while in Belgrano we walked past this cute shoe store that caught my eye. Who wouldn't want to try on shoes in a place smart enough to install a comfy couch?!

Wednesday our friends arrived and we took a walk down to the river which, thanks to thunderstorms the night before and that morning, was churning with debris. You may remember the fires a few months ago. Some of those were up river and massive amounts of soot washed down with the rains. Not a pleasant sight.

Happy to report that by Friday the river was once again running clear.

Also seen during our walk: this humongous mushroom. Those are Ivan's size 11s standing next to it.

Magdalena is a vegetarian and showed me how to make several dishes during our time together. One of them was bombas de papas (mashed potatoes wrapped around some cheese and other yummies, breaded and then deep fried). Here she is demonstrating how to make the bombas.

She came prepared with all the ingredients as well as this rather large tin cup she uses specifically for frying the bombas, two at a time.

¡Muy rico!

Ivan and Julio enjoyed looking at photos and plans of airplanes online while they waited for dinner.

Another thing Magdalena introduced me to is a product that tastes like really good coffee -- only it's not coffee at all; it's made from barley and contains no caffeine whatsoever. This made me SO HAPPY because I've missed having the occasional cup of coffee in the evening. The concept of decaf is almost nonexistent here; there are two brands of instant decaf available and they're both DISGUSTING. This stuff tastes amazing! (I'm having some even as I type this.)

It was good to get home and today while we dead-headed the rose bushes I snapped a few photos to share. First up: our trumpet vines. Ivan cut them so far back this year that I was afraid they weren't going to do anything. But lo and behold, just look at them!

Progress continues next door. They've framed up the front porch/car port area.

Only three weeks left for Project 365. Part of me feels a little sad because it's been such a fun project. But it also takes a sweet forever to upload photos and generally requires a couple hours to get a post ready. That I won't miss.