I hope some of you have discovered the sepia function on your cameras since my last sepia-tinted post. Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy while I tend to some housewifey chores in preparation for our next visitor; my third B-I-L (brother-in-law) who arrives on Friday.
Piazza della Repubblica, Milano
Paris
Deux cafés à Paris…
I have a very cool photo in sepia of my beautiful French friend S smoking from this “fika” in Paris, but as I have as a principle to not publish photos of non-bloggers and as she has since then quit smoking, you won’t get to see that photo. However, I love it as it is “très French”.
Juleboda, Skåne
The Golden Gate, San Francisco
The Golden Gate from Chrissy Fields, San Francisco
Casa de Doña Lupe vineyard, Baja California
Ales stenar, Skåne
What is very interesting with these photos are the different shades of sepia – the first photos were taken with my old camera and are more yellow-ish, while I took the last two with the new camera and they are more pink! Strange…
TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts with your preferred cocktail or beverage
HOT APPETIZER CART
A demitasse of morel mushroom soup accompanied by a grilled rosemary shrimp skewer and beef empanada, with Amazon sauce
SALAD and warm breads
Mesclun salad mix and romaine lettuce with roasted yellow tomato, cherry tomato, red onion and fresh mozzarella cheese
Your choice of Italian herb vinaigrette or creamy Thousand Island dressing
Freshly baked garlic bread and assorted rolls with butter
MAIN COURSES
The Chef’s Selection
Grilled tenderloin steak with chimichurri sauce, grilled carrots, mushrooms, red bell pepper, broccoli florets
and spicy rice with corn, jalapeño peppers, sour cream and cheese
Herbed breast of Chicken with creamy mushroom sauce, grilled yellow squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and sweet plantains
Poached salmon and Lobster with shellfish sauce, presented over steamed jasmine rice, with grilled cherry tomato and green asparagus spears
Pasta Bowl
Tortelloni with marinara sauce, eggplant and bean confit, fresh mozzarella cheese and freshly grated Parmesan cheese
FRUIT AND CHEESE cart
Select American and imported cheeses, grapes, assorted gourmet crackers and bread, served with Port wine
DESSERT CART
Vanilla ice cream with choice of toppings or an assortment of petite pastries
Fresh gourmet roasted regular and decaffeinated coffee made exclusively for Continental Airlines or tea with your choice of milk or lemon
pre-arrival REFRESHMENT
A selection of juices
Fresh seasonal fruit and yogurt
Swiss cheese, pepper-coated salami and ham cold plate
Assorted breads including cinnamon and crusty rolls and warm croissants with butter and strawberry preserves
Fresh gourmet roasted regular and decaffeinated coffee made exclusively for Continental Airlines or tea with your choice of milk or lemon
It’s tough flying business But I do realise that it is really a question of “enjoying it while it lasts” because once we move back to Europe there won’t be anymore free business travels across the Atlantic!
Leaving Puerto Rico by sunrise in January
Joking aside, please keep your fingers crossed for me – I have one hour in Newark so I can’t have any no delays between San Juan and the mainland… or I might have to wait 24 hours to catch the next flight to Copenhagen!?
A new month and the Friday themes have been chosen by Västmanländskan:
3rd April: Yellow
10th April: Slowly
17th April: Spring signs
24th April: Abandoned
The first thing I think of when I hear “yellow” is the song:
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called yellow
I have a very vivid memory of this song from… well, if I should freak you out a little bit with my memory for dates, I think it was around the 27th April 2001 in Copenhagen! I had arrived that day by night train from Austria and was catching up with a Swiss friend, M while listening to Coldplay… After an hour or so, I realised that we had been hearing the same song over and over again!! My Irish friend O absolutely loved “Yellow” and had put it on repeat, and then left the room!
I really do like yellow, both as a song and as a colour. It can be very bright and cheerful but I wouldn’t really wear yellow, if it wasn’t a very pale shade. Here are some of my examples of yellow:
A yellow house in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.
I grew up in a yellow brick house (that’s almost a song as well, “Yellow brick road”). Our house was built in the former brick yard (tegelbruk) and the houses were grouped according to colour – red, brown and yellow
A Swedish Ikea inspired dalacarlie horse in the beautiful gardens of Keukenhof, the Netherlands
Yellow tulips in Keukenhof – I really miss tulips, they are such a symbol of spring for me!
A blurry yellow and red spider in the rainforest El Yunque, Puerto Rico – unfortunately I haven’t been able to find what it is called
Yellow doors, yellow table runner and some yellow flowers
What I want to show here is not the yellow flowers, nor the yellow table runner, but the yellow doors in the background! My apartment in Brussels had apricot (!?) walls in all the rooms and yellow doors… Straaange combination! In our apartment in Puerto Rico all the walls are yellow!! I am longing for white walls…
The yellow walls of our apartment in Puerto Rico + a hideous yellow leather sofa in the guest bedroom!
It is not that I have something against yellow walls in principle – I think it can make a room seem warm and bright. However, I don’t understand why all the rooms have to be yellow – especially here in Puerto Rico where we have lots of sunlight and heat anyway. I have understood though, from HGTV, that Americans seem to have almost a fear of white walls!? Nevertheless, yellow leather sofas are just plain awful!
Guineos de manzana or apple bananas – they really taste like apple! and another fruit, unfortunately I can never remember the name – but we didn’t like the taste
A yellow sunset over El Yunque, the rainforest, seen from the Puerto Rican island Culebra
Tomorrow Annika in Virginia and her family are coming to Puerto Rico! We are planning to take them to the rainforest for a walk, and then have dinner in our favourite restaurant, Café La Princesa in the Old San Juan. It will be so much fun to meet again, it will be the third time actually – first time was in Virginia in August last year and then in NYC in November. I am really looking forward to showing them around our beautiful island, even if it is just for one day. On Sunday they will be off on a cruise around the Caribbean – and it will be interesting to hear about their experience afterwards.
People in Puerto Rico keep telling us that cruises are the best way to travel in the Caribbean and to see the other islands. We have been quite anti-cruise but since I am not too keen on travelling by the small planes I see passing our windows every day, I think that we will definitely consider a cruise holiday!
Mia D is chosing the Friday themes in December and I already missed the first one, which was “Cookbooks”. Nevertheless, today I am participating – and the subject is a good one; “A dream trip”. The themes for the next weeks are “Christmas traditions” and “New Year resolutions”.
The entrance to Petra through the rocks
So, which is my dream trip? Actually, my dream trip has already come true – when I visited Petra in Jordan two years ago! It had been a dream to visit the city for obvious reasons (the name!) but also because I had been told [by various friends who had already visited it] that it was a beautiful place. I was not disappointed, the visit to Petra was wonderful and it truly is a magical place.
Children with two camels and a donkey in Petra
However, I do dream about making some other journeys – to Egypt, Vietnam, Greenland and Vancouver in Canada. My interest for all of these places have been inspired by people I have met who come from / live there.
There is an additional reason why I want to visit Vietnam – the food! I haven’t actually been to many Vietnamese restaurants but I have been served home-cooked [by Vietnamese friends] food several times and it is so yummy! I still remember the first time I ate Vietnamese food; on Boxing Day in England 1988! My parents and I were invited to my father’s German colleague’s house when his Parisian Vietnamese (and Swedish-speaking) girlfriend was visiting and she had made a lovely meal for us. That was the day I decided that I wanted to visit Vietnam – 20 years ago and I still haven’t made it there!
I am Swedish and lived in Brussels for 5,5 years before I moved to Puerto Rico in November 2007 with my Spanish love O. I write about my life as an expat, my travels and sometimes just general thoughts.
Please feel free to comment on my posts.
Right now I am…
READING: El capitán de los dormidos by Mayra Montero * Lving history by Hillary Rodham Clinton *
CHECKING: house & job ads in Brussels *
LOOKING FORWARD TO: the cruise holiday in December * Christmas & New Year's in Spain * Sweden beginning of January *
MISSING: the autumn back in Europe *
PREPARING: for BIL No 3's visit over Thanksgiving *
Countries I have lived in so far…
Sweden (1975-2000)
England (1988-89)
Switzerland (1994-95, 2002)
France (1998)
Italy (2000-01)
Belgium (2002-2007)
Puerto Rico (2007- )
The P&O B&B…
NOVEMBER: my 2nd cousin E & boyfriend M *
DECEMBER: My family *
JANUARY 2008: French C *
FEBRUARY: Swedish P & Cypriot M * Finnish P *
MARCH: We are off to the East & West Coasts (US) * English A *
APRIL: Spanish friends LC & A *
MAY: My parents (again!!) *
JUNE - JULY: CLOSED - we are off to Europe *
AUGUST: O's mother, sister & niece
OCTOBER: Irish MT & B * Flemish S & I *
NOVEMBER: closed, we are on holidays *
JANUARY - MARCH 2009: we are going back to Europe (Spain, Belgium & Sweden) *
APRIL: Annika & family *
MAY: Mexicans J & D * Desiree and her C *
JUNE - JULY: closed for European holidays *
AUGUST: O's brother C & German girlfriend G * my aunt K *
SEPTEMBER: Saltis & her family * French S *
NOVEMBER: O's brother J-I for Thanksgiving *
DECEMBER: closed due to a Caribbean cruise + Christmas in Spain
But I do realise that it is really a question of “enjoying it while it lasts” because once we move back to Europe there won’t be anymore free business travels across the Atlantic!
