Stick-to-the-ribs food for a rainy day lunch

It never rains but  it pours and today has been a downpour-all-day type of day.  Some hot stick-to-the-ribs food for lunch seemed just what was needed and, on opening the fridge, the remainder of last nights dinner winked at me from it's glass bowl.

I love veggie food and last night concocted a dish that everyone thought was delicious and rather moreish.

I must confess that until I opened the fridge to prepare dinner, I hadn't a clue what I was going to make, all I knew was that hub was going to grill up some pork steaks for anyone who wanted meat (I gave up years ago to get my family to become vegetarians along with me).

After rummaging around in the fridge and store cupboard, I dug out a large aubergine, a small courgette, and a bag of fresh spinach, followed by a large tin of white beans, a small jar of capers and some de-stoned olives... a few fresh tomatoes and a packet of pasta would surely give a very satisfying meal.

With a pan of water on to boil for the pasta, I cut the aubergines into chunks, the courgettes into thick slices and threw them into hot olive oil in the biggest pan I own.  I let them brown a little then added diced onion and a couple of crushed garlic cloves.  Once the onion was transparent, I added some freshly ground pepper, peeled and diced tomatoes, oregano, the spinach, a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste and a splash of water.  Once they were nicely mixed and hot, in went the beans, olives and capers to thoroughly heat through.  Somewhere around the time I the onion was transparent, the water for the pasta was boiling so I added a packet of penne (having a large family means using a whole packet at least - some dishes we get through two!).

For lunch, all that was necessary was to re-heat it all, place the pasta in a bowl and top with the veggie mix - yum!

To the Serra do Açor and back

We decided to take a two-day road trip which included lots of fun, too much good food and visits to a few interesting places.  I highly recommend a visit to the Universidade de Coimbra, especially the Biblioteca Joanina and the Chapel, if you ever find yourself in Coimbra.  The countryside and views from the hills are breathtaking (and pretty scary when going round the hairpin bends - our GPS lady kept saying "u-turn ahead"!!) so I took oodles of photos which I managed to whittle down into just three sets (four if you count the photos added to the "Clouds" set.

Conimbriga

Coimbra e Côja

Serra de Açor e Piodão

This was R's and my second visit to Serra de Açor and Piodão, the first time being in June 2007 when we were accompanied by my aunt and uncle.  Then, the village was recovering from flash floods which had gushed down the hill damaging roads and washing away everything in its path; it has all been rennovated and we were able to walk down to the river.  They have done a marvellous job and it was well worth this visit, even though it is now a bit of a tourist trap.  Mind you, this is August, the month when it seems the whole of Portugal takes their annual holiday!

Daisy wants a yoga lesson...

finishing with a kiss of thanks!

Nina wants to snuggle..

Tall Ships Race

All our plans to visit the Tall Ships stop over in Lisbon on Saturday fell apart which meant we weren't able to actually get on board any of them...  however, we did make it on Sunday to watch the ships move off on to the next leg of the race:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rambling_yogini/sets/72157630699018764/

Amazingly, we managed to be right at the water's edge.  The wind had the ships moving swiftly pass and also helped keep all spectators cool.  There was probably one person present who wasn't too pleased with it's strength as it whipped off his/her hat and plonked it into the water - no hope of retrieving it either!

(http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/)

Dyson animal

It's almost a year now since I bought the Dyson Animal - it's a vacuum cleaner for homes with pets - and I have to say I think the job it does is fantastic.  This is one of the attachments:

It lifts hairs of cushions like nobody's business and in a flash.

Once I'd finished the cushions yesterday, I noticed that in holding the cushions a lot of hairs had transfered to my trousers and top; for a reason that totally eludes me know, without hesitation I turned the head to vacuum my clothes.  I obviously didn't count on the strong suction or the whirring brush and two seconds later I gave a loud yelp.  My youngest, who witnessed the whole scene, roared with laughter (since when does a parent get sympathy when he/she does something daft?).  I am grateful that by dinner he had seemingly forgotten the incident and didn't mention it to the rest of the family.

Rejuvenate - detox day

Come spend the day at Flores de Cabo, Pé da Serra, Sintra!

Workshop in English and Portuguese - 49€

(Full programme - in Portuguese: https://www.facebook.com/events/426181527395448/ )