How I spent my 17th 'park tall' anniversary

I have longed shared with him that I would like to revisit Toledo on our special day. As usual, it was not fulfilled. How many of you have the same experience as me? Maybe not too many, I guessed.

After so many years together, I know him too well. As I am also down with flu and cough, I had no energy to bother about this anymore. My approached was 'take it easy' and see what he has in mind on this day.

Our Special Day

In the early morning, our children woke us up and hopped on to our bed for the weekly weekend family bonding. I must say, it felt so good as all of us spent quality time talking, playing and cuddling each other. That's HAPPINESS.

At 10.00am, we headed for our breakfast near our place. Nothing special, children had their churros and we had donut and toast bread with tomato and olive oil.

While we were walking back home, Eduardo said 'kaka, kaka' (poo poo). We were immediately in panic mode as he is undergoing toilet trained for the last two weeks. I carried him and walked as fast as I could and the two were trying to catch up. I kept telling Eduardo to hold on and asked if he wants to pee or poo. He replied poo two times and I am almost sure that he really meant it as he was on his track to toilet trained. When we reached home, he did his business. I am glad that he is able to differentiate the difference between pee and poo now.

Closed to lunch time, my man suggested that we go the style outlet for shopping and have our lunch. It was a good suggestion! I thought he would suggest to go to the park or something.

With the children, it is impossible to have couple time, so Eric suggested that for dinner  I should cook Vongole for us and he will fried the lamb chop. I prepared spaghetti with sausages for our lovely boys.

Personally, this is happiness, blessing and wonderful feeling. Doesn't mean going to a posh restaurant or receiving an expensive gift is happiness. Sometimes, simplicity is joy and happiness.

Oh, by the way, my man showed his initiative to set the table with wine and candles but my boys love to blow them and .......yes, we have candle light dinner but just a short while.

Cheers to both of us and wish many good things will come and our life and all will be smooth when we get back to Singapore in the coming months.

Our anniversary dinner, Vongole and lamp chop
A gift we prepared for each other

The boys using their new plates and cups bought just now

Real Jardin Botanico, Madrid

We have lived in Madrid for so long and yet we have not visited the Botanical Garden of Madrid.  It was not in my 'to visit' list actually but last Sunday, we were bored and running out of ideas to what to do on a lazy Sunday. I was thinking of doing something get closed to the nature as the weather is good. Botanical Garden just came to my mind and off we GO.

It is located at Murillo Square, just in front of the Prado museum . The entrance fee is 3 euro.

As expected, it was not really worth a visit for me as there is nothing that WOW me. We spent about an hour and decided to walk around the perimeter of Prado museum since we never been there. Overall, at least my kids got to see the plants of Maize, tomatoes, chillies and etc. Therefore, it meets my 'Get to the nature' theme for the day.

If you are looking for a very relax and quite place to read or past time, you may find it pleasing compared to the bustling Retiro park.

Mid Autumn Festival in Madrid 2014

Yes, we do celebrate Mid Autumn festival in Madrid. We did a pot luck session last night and I have also invited my british friend to join us. 

We had fried bee hoon, tofu patty, curry chicken, pork stewed, jamon and paella. Not forgetting our star dessert- the moon cake from Bengawan solo and chinese tea.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to Everyone!

。祝大家中秋节快乐。

France (Bordeaux and Saint Emilion)

In June, I wrote about our road trip to Sans Sebastian. From there, we continued our journey to France, Bordeaux and we returned to Madrid passing through Bera then Pamplona.

We reached Bordeaux in the afternoon and spend the day walking around the town centre. The next morning, we drove to Saint Emilion for a unique wine experience. The small town is incredibly beautiful.

Above: Bordeaux

Above: Bordeaux, France

Above: Bordeaux

Above: shopping street, Bordeaux

Above: Bordeaux

Above: Bordeaux

Above: Foie

Above: Duck confit

Above: Saint Emilion

Above: Saint Emilion, Wine deliveries to all over the world

Above: Saint Emilion

Above: Saint Emilion

Above: Saint Emilion, took this train to the Chateaux

Above: Saint Emilion, Chateaux visit

Above: Saint Emilion

We left Bordeaux, and stopped by Bera, Spain for lunch and then to Pamplona for a peep and tapas before heading back to Madrid.

Above: Bera

Above: Pamplona

Pasion Mudejar,Olmedo

Two weeks ago, we decided to visit Olmedo with our friends. Well, it took us nearly two hours to this small and quiet town.

Pasion Mudejar is a very small park with about 10 minitures of some ancient buildings. The park was not as attractive as the lunch we had. If you are traveling in the direction, its worth to eat at this restaurant - El Caballero de Olmedo. We had cochinillo asado,steak, fish, soup and tiramisu. Its was simply delicious. Even the children menu, my kids finished them all- which they don't usually do so.

Address of Pasion Mudejar: Calle de Arco de San Francisco 47410, Olmedo, Spain

Get into the nature with Grapes

Last Saturday, we decided to check out the grapes at Bodegas Portia in the Ribera del Duero region. 

In April, we had done a wine tour in the La Rioja region but the grapes are too young to be seen. We wanted to bring the kids to see how the grapes grow so getting to the nature, is the best for them to learn. Harvesting usually starts in end September or early October so its a good time to check out the grapes now.