Memorable songs in my life: Sabor de Amor (Danza invisible)

Pues nada , otra canci'on memorable para el recuerdo! Labios de fresa sabor de amor, pulpa de la fruta de la pasi'on!! Temazo!! Cuantas veces habr'e bailado yo esta canci'on en la feria de C'ordoba o de pubs por ahi en mi ciudad! Para aquellos que recuerden esta canci'on tanto como yo, os la dedico! feliz semana!

Y por supuesto que me decis del estilazo de la moda de la 'epoca o de los peinados? Ah! y si no habias nacido cuando sonaba esta canci'on, ni me lo comentes que me har'as sentir vieja y soy una chavalita!!!

Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera, Masterpieces of the Jaques and Natasha Gelman Collection

A small private collection but worthy of the 5 euros that cost the ticket at the exhibition in the Irish museum of modern art. To me it was the first time that i had the opportunity to see paintings & drawings from Frida and Diego. Both had different styles, both of them were very talented. Specially through Frida's paintings & drawings you could see what she was going through at that moment in her complicated love story with the famous Mexican painter : Diego Rivera. You could also see via Frida's paintings painful moments in her life such has the miscarriage she had (this can be seen in one of her surrealist drawings). Frida's peculiar appearance with her moustache , "unibrow" and colorful ethnic dresses was appealing enough but what was even more appealing was her unique way of painting, I personally liked the self-portraits she did with the assistance of a mirror from her own bed after she had a tram accident and she was immobile for 3 months. She said that she painted herself because she was the subject that she knew best. One good example of this self-portraits is "Diego en mi pensamiento" (Diego in my thoughts) or the self-portraits with monkeys from 1943 where the connection between nature and animals ,this one inspired by her monkey pet Fulang-Chang which was a gift from Rivera in way replacing the child that she could never have which will frustrate her throughout her life. Another remarkable painting of the Gelman collection is" Love Embrace the Universe, the earth, Diego,me and Sir Xolotl", This painting has been interpreted as Frida's acceptance of the numerous infidelities of Diego. Although the exhibition had Diego Rivera's paintings, i was more interested in Frida's ones that's why i haven't written much about Diego's paintings, there were 2 that come to my mind now: " Portrait of Natasha Gelman and Calla lily vendor" both of them had beautiful lily flowers in them. The exhibition had paintings on the ground floor , accompanied by Frida's and Diegos biography on the walls and on the first floor you could see Frida's unique drawings, full of symbolism and on the basement you had some photos and books. The exhibition has finished today in Dublin, you may be lucky to see some of Frida's pieces of art somewhere else in the world!

Mel gibson back in the game with "The Beaver"(2011) - I recommend it!

On a Thursday like today, I wanted to disconnect and I went to see a U.s. drama-comedy movie " the Beaver". Rotten Tomaotes audience scored it with 69% and critics 63%, i would give it a score of 75%. My respects to Jodie Foster in her role as an actress and as a director of this movie, at the same time! This film has some photographic moments that i have in my mind like the one when good-looking Porter Black (played by Anton Yelchin - cuteeee !) looks through the hole in his room (beautiful!). I didn't know what to expect from this film and i didn't even know what it was about so i let surprise myself! To me, it looked as if Mel Gibson was playing very well the role of an alcoholic, depressive ,executive family man, did it have some similarities so his life,maybe???

Whatever was the reason why he played so well the role, congrats to him, he won me over!! To put it in a nutshell and not to tell you the whole story, this film is about a depressed executive husband with 2 kids. He is mentally ill, has tried it all (pills, different therapies etc. )and nothing worked for him until one day he fins a beaver puppet which will be his means of communication with everybody from that moment on. The Beaver takes control of his life, sometimes you even forget that it is Mel Gibson talking because the Beaver becomes alive! Jodie Foster plays Mel Gibson's wife. She is very in-love with him and she is even able to sleep with her husband with the Beaver puppet on her husband left hand! Gee! You really have to love somebody to do that lol.

I found the plot very original and very real at the same time, there are many people out there who have a depression and do not know how to get out of it, you can have a very good job, a very good house and money and still don't be happy with your life. Others pretend to have a perfect life and ignore the problems but mind is powerful and when one gets out of one's mind all can get out of control ! However, when you have people who really love you by your side there is always a way out! I hope that even Mel Gibson has learned something after having done this film, gee and i thought his career was over, well he is back in the game!
!!

I felt i had something in common with some of the characters of this film, i think it's easy to identify yourself with some aspects. I walked out of the cinema a bit sad because I was a bit emotional in some parts of the film but I felt happy at the same time because i invested well my time watching a movie which made me believe in the story and actually it also has some funny moments (i loved the part of Mel Gibson having a tuxedo for the puppet to go out for dinner with his wife !). People watch out !!! no puppets close to your husbandsssssssssss!!!!!

Where is Wally record attempt in Merrion Square Dublin! The whole Story!

As my oldest sister said when she saw the pictures of the event " Que familia mas loca tengo!" (what a crazy family i have!). Well it was not only Andres,Raquel,my mum and me the ones who were nuts dressed in a wally suit , there were 3563 more people who also found the idea of breaking a world record in Merrion square on the 18th of June in Dublin, appealing! It was the most positive, funny and happy-go-lucky experiences i have had in my entire life! This will be something i'll never forget, we made history (even if the record was beaten again the next day lol)! People from all ages and generations who did not know each other hug and sang in the rain to the rhythm of Gene Kelly "singing in the rain". The event organizers kept us dancing with "jump around", Beyonce, Queen "we are the champions", YMCA and even the Beatles. We arrived there at 17.00 pm to be one of the first wallies and hell yeah, we were because the Irish take their time and most people arrived close to 18.00 and we were already dancing and taking photos for an hour!

The official photo was to be taken at 18.30 and just at 18.00 it started raining like hell, i felt sorry for my mum and for Raquel who was already sick , at the beginning they let us open our umbrellas but then they said " close your umbrellas" and my mum didn't want to lol i had to convince her after a while, then they said no rain jackets and this was tougher to achieve lol, then the organizer said if you see any outsider (not wally) boo them and everybody was "boooooooo". In the end i have yo thank my mum because it has been easy to spot ourselves in all the photos i have found on the net and different newspaper, every time a blue jacket was in the first row, i was by it lol thank you mum!! Even the rain didn't ruin the day, people were so happy doing the different poses they told us to do for the photo shoot: doing some waiving, then only kids looking up and adults looking down,then only kids shouting wally , then men and last women (we were the winners!).

The event organizer was a funny guy telling jokes all the time, he had the brilliant idea of keeping our wallies outfits to do more wally events so this will not be the last time you see me as wally in Dublin! The organizer said : Imagine if the next time Obama comes , we all come dressed as wally, what a nightmare for the FBI or the CIA! lol actually yes!! what a great idea lol And at one point we all had to sent a text message to the same guy ,we wrote a random message and then they gave us the phone number, i guess this guy's phone should have been blocked.

One thing i did not understand is that they gave 2 different dates to attempt the record in Dublin one on the 18th of June and the other on the 19th, it would have been better one day with all the people in it, right? it would have been doubled! On Saturday we were 3567 beating Corks record holder of 2500 wallies and on Sunday the record was broken again with more than 3800 wallies!

All around the media it was very confusing, they talked about Sunday attempt and pictures and videos of Saturday were posted, actually i would say that there was much more coverage on Saturday. It was easy to spot because on Sunday it did not rain and hell yeah when we were there it rained cats and dogs!!! My poor mum lived the true Irish experience!! I have to say that i'm really proud of her,not any 66-old mum would be standing for an hour and a half surrounded by thousands of wallies and in the rain! She also had a good time ! Even if you don't believe me , i have a bit of fobia of crowded places, so the way i handled so many people was , being in the first row and not looking back!!

It was very well organized and at the end of it , we could get out easily, there were many volunteers helping and it has been easy to find photos of the event posted by the championship of world performers. One thing i'm disappointed of is the rip-off of the Irish times when they said that they would put a poster of the record, they only put a cropped photo of Sunday event and no mention of Cork attempt or Saturday..,after all the propaganda..boooo Irish times...

Well I leave you now with some photos of the event, for those who did not want to spend 12 euros on the outfit or for those who did not manage to register, i'm sorry for you.. this is truly an unforgettable experience..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2005471/Wheres-Wally-Street-Performance-World-Championships-attempt-break-Guiness-World-record.html?fb_ref=LikeButtonTop&fb_source=profile_oneline

A summary of all our dances in the rain !! If you look for the blue jacket dancing "singing in the rain" ,totally worth it!



on the tv in Brasil:

http://terratv.terra.com.br/videos/Noticias/Mundo/4201-369233/Multidao-se-veste-de-Wally-e-bate-recorde-na-Irlanda.htm

Dancing we are the champions:



and more photos in case you haven't had enough:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/5846708140/in/set-72157626991634240/

Gracias mam'a, Raquel y Andresillo por seguirme la corriente en mis locuras!

Recetas de mi madre: ¡Albóndigas! uhm!! Si hay hambre no leer esto ahora..

Pues nada otra recetilla en los últimos días de visita de mi madre, que conste que cocina porque ella quiere que yo soy muy "apañá" y suelo cocinar a menudo!

Esta es una de mis recetas favoritas y aviso que aunque se tengan los ingredientes justos y se sigan las instrucciones, nunca van a quedar como las de mi madre..(¡lo siento!)

Empecemos con los ingredientes ( porción para 3 o 4 personas ):

• Cerdo y carne de pavo picada (una bandeja) --- ( si no hay mezcla, se pueden hacer de pavo o sustituir el pavo por carne de pollo y cerdo)
• Medio limón
• Pan de molde blanco (dos o tres rodajas, quitándoles la corteza)
• Leche
• Perejil
• Un huevo
• una Cebolla
• Un vasito de vino blanco
• ajo picado (de bote)
• Sal
• Aceite
• Una hoja de laurel
• Harina (una cucharada)
• y piñones (para la salsa)
• y un vasito de chupito (sin alcohol chicos,que es sólo para darle forma a las albóndigas!) junto con una cuchara
• Tomate frito

Tiempo total de preparación : 60 minutos

Manos a la obra:

La masa:

1-En un bol de cristal grande ponemos la carne de pavo con el zumo de medio limón, sal,ajo picado y la dejamos reposar unos 10 minutos.

2-Batimos un huevo en otro bol y lo añadimos al otro bol grande con la carne.

3-Preparamos las 3 rebanadas de pan sin corteza y lo remojamos bien con la leche que necesite para que se quede húmedo.

4-Una vez que el pan esté humedecido, lo añadimos bien al otro bol con la carne y el huevo y se remueve todo con un tenedor para que se mezcle bien la masa.

¿ Cómo hacemos las bolas de las albóndigas?

Primero se necesita mucha paciencia , tómate tu tiempo :

Preparamos la harina , cogemos un vaso de chupito y se va añadiendo un dedo de harina al vaso lo cual nos servirá para hacer las bolas de las albóndigas.

Para hacer la primera bola , con una cuchara grande cogemos un poquito de masa y la  ponemos en el vaso de chupito ( que se llene hasta arriba) al meter la masa y mezclarla con la harina se tapa con la otra mano y se mueve de arriba a abajo para que se haga una bola.
Una vez que tenga forma la sacamos del vaso y le damos más forma con la mano y las vamos poniendo en un plato grande. Se recomienda no hacer las bolas demasiado grandes.

Así iremos haciendo todas las albóndigas hasta que se acabe la masa. Advierto que es un trabajo arduo y lleva tiempo y la masa parece no acabarse nunca! Pero el resultado final lo merece!

Una vez que están todas las bolas en el plato , nos disponemos a poner en una sartén de tamaño mediano, al menos dos dedos de aceite para que cubran las albóndigas de manera parcial y se puedan freír bien. Le vamos dando vueltas en la sartén hasta que se doren y se van sacando a un plato.
Una vez que estén todas fritas, nos dispondremos a ir haciendo la salsa.

La salsa:

1-En una cazuela ponemos el aceite mismo que hemos usado para freír las albóndigas , sin pasarse! Picamos media cebolla y la vamos friendo en el aceite a fuego medio.
Cuando la cebolla está blandita , añadimos una cucharada de harina y lo removemos con una cuchara de palo.

2-Cuando se dora se añade un poco de agua (un vasito), un chorreón de vino blanco (o dos según gusto !),una hoja de laurel y una cucharadita de tomate frito.

3-Se remueve todo y lo bates con una batidora y vamos incorporando las albóndigas y añadimos un puñado de piñones.

3-Cubrimos con agua todas las albóndigas , se añade sal y se deja cocer a fuego lento de 10 a 15 minutos , se van removiendo y se comprueba que no se peguen porque con la harina tienden a pegarse a la cazuela.

Ahora me ha dado hambre..,os dejo con una foto de las últimas albóndigas que ha hecho mi madre en Dublín, ya me diréis como os salen!

Recetillas de mi madre : Pollo al chilindr'on

Yo no suelo escribir sobre recetas pero al haber tenido a mi madre en casa unos dias, no me pude resistir. Esta receta no es que la haya creado mi madre,ni nada pero es un plato que ella suele hacer y me lo ha recordado al venir a mi casa a Dublin: Pollo al chilindr'on (uhm! me lo tuvo que hacer dos veces!).

Ingredientes:

Un pimiento rojo

Una bandeja de pechugas o de muslos/alitas (seg'un la preferencia)

Aceite, sal,perejil

un lim'on

una cebolla

1. Se rehoga el pollo en lim'on, ajo picado, sal y perejil y se deja unos 10 minutos.

2. Se pica una cebolla muy fina y se pone en una olla con un chorre'on de aceite y se pone a freir a fuego lento.

3. Mientras tanto vamos cortando un pimiento rojo.

4. Se colocan las pechugas de pollo con la cebolla antes de que se doren y se deja cocinar.

5. Se a~nade un vaso de vino blanco y los pimientos.

6. Se a~nade por 'ultimo un chorre'on de tomate frito

7. Se deja cocinar ,dandole vueltas de vez en cuando , se echa un vasito de agua y se deja cocinar a fuego lento hasta que se vea que la carne est'a hecha.

8. Seg'un preferencia se le puede a~nadir un pu~nao de pi~nones y un poquit'in m'as de sal!

Y ya est'a!!

Seg'un mi madre este plato sabe mejor al d'ia siguiente , no s'e si lo dice para hacerme sentir mejor porque ser'a mi comida de ma~nana o porque realmente es cierto jaja

RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Summer concert : The joy of music!

What a marvelous evening! One mexican Tenor: Jesus Leon, the well-known Irish soprano: Celine Byrne accompanied by the majestic Irish RTE national Symphony Orchestra (I was trying to count how many musicians were there but it was impossible, i stop counting after number 50..) in the National Concert Hall in Dublin! What a combination! The beautiful and powerful voice of the soprano Celine singing in Italian, Portuguese , French and even in Spanish! Isn't it fantastic? An Irish soprano singing in Spanish with Andalucian accent? She pronounced the Spanish "j" stronger than me! (in the South of Spain that sound is specially deep and it's not easy to learn how to pronounce it for foreigners and Celine did a pretty good job!). Can you imagine? An Irish soprano singing a Spanish Zarzuela " Canci'on espa~nola del ni~no judio" (Luna) saying: "de Espa~na vengo, de Espa~na soy" (I'm coming from Spain , I'm Spanish). It was funny the way she pronounced the "r" "morrrrenaaaa" lol. The best moments of the evening for me where when Celine and Jesus sang together in Spanish : Caballero " Duo y Jota" at the end he told her in Spanish "vente, vente (come with me,come with me) and Celine said " no, my Mexican tenor (in a cutting tone)", the whole audience in the auditorium, which by the way it was totally packed, laughed. At that moment, my mum and I knew where he was from, we were trying to guess all the time with no luck since we thought he was from Peru due to his Indian looking.

Since yesterday night i can't stop singing " Nessun Dorma from Turandot" , to me this was one of the moments to remember from the night, I felt joy, I disconnected from the world, not only me but the whole audience, i kept looking at the faces of the people of the second row where we were seated and everybody had a smile on their faces. We were lucky to have the tenor, the soprano and the conductor of the orchestra just in front of us. Another moment I liked was the singing of "Granada" which brought me back to the South of Spain.

It was also impressive to see the RTE orchestra playing "William Tell" Overture! "ta,ta,taran,taran,tan,tan!!! tiiii, ti, to tiiii"

Celine's sweet and strong voice gave us the goose pimples! She even sang one part of a song without opening her mouth, only with her throat and controlling her breathing. Tears came to our eyes when she sang " Un bei di vedremo" from Madame Butterfly. It was also very original to see a Brasilian piece sang by her surrounded only by 8 cellos called: Bachianas Brasileiras N.5 (Villa Lobos).

This was the full programme for the evening:

Rossini : il barbieri di Sevilla, Overture

Puccini: Un bel di vedremo from Madame Butterfly

Britten: Soir'ees musicales

Puccini: Nessun dorma from Turandot

Puccini: Vogliatemi bene from Madame butterfl

Rossini: William Tell, Overture

Villalobos: Bachianas Brasileiras N.5 Soprano and an orchestra of cellos

Rossini: Il signor Bruschino Overture

Lara: Granada

Luna: Cancion espa~nola from el ni~no judio

Caballero: Duo y jota from el duo de la Africana

At the end of the 2-hour concert the whole audience was clapping so receptively that Celine sang another song with the orchestra and in the end She and Jesus end up with a piece from La Traviatta called " Brindisi" ,what an amazing way of finishing off the evening! 20 more minutes of delight! We didn't want it to end!

I'm very happy to have bought these concert tickets for my mother, i think this will be one of the things she will remember in her life and me , too. Dubliners , if you haven't seen the RTE orchestra yet, i think this is the second time i recommend you to go and see them!!! and if you have the chance to see Celine Byrne in Ireland, don't miss it either, she will take you to another world with her voice and her smile! Evenings like this make me think that I'd not be able to survive without music, even if i can't play a single instrument, i have the ability to enjoy so many types of music , this makes me grow as a person !

See below a couple of videos i have found of the soprano and of the tenor, unfortunately i couldn't find any video of both of them singing together but at least you will get an idea of what we felt when we listen to them live:

Johnstown House, hotel & Spa in County Meath (Ireland)

Hey friends, I wanted to recommend you this hotel & Spa where we have been to last bank holiday weekend. Ideally, take the advantage of an offer to go , otherwise it may be a bit expensive since it has 4 stars. We went with an offer I got online and for only 70 euros, we had a bottle of wine on arrival, breakfast included, stay in the hotel for 2 people and we could use the spa facilities: swimming pool,steaming room, sauna, jacuzzi and rest area. You could also get spa treatments from 50 euros but we didn't go for those. Unfortunately, without an offer it can get much more expensive so check first on their web page (google it people!! google it!)

You will need a car and a gps to find Johnstown house since it's in the middle of the countryside in County Meath and it's not on common maps!! The closest town was Trim and Maynooth (I recommend a trip to Trim which is 30 mins away by car)!

If you need a break to rest and you can't get way from the Irish rainy weather, this is the place to be! Facilities , service and staff are top quality. Buffet breakfast was average but you have all you need to recharge batteries!! Here you are some pictures of the place,judge for yourself! No pictures of the room , i'm afraid but they are just like the ones on the website the hotel has! elegant, cozy with a big double bed, big bathroom, a kettle and a big tv with international channel!! and no i dont get any money from the hotel!!!