Digital camera

In the little poll to right I was asking if I should by a digital camera or a sewing machine if I get a tax rebate. Well, it looks like I'll be buying a sewing machine, as my prayers for a digital camera have been answered! The lovely Christina had given me one! Mainly so I can take photos of my progress (too scary to post on the blog), but it will be great for holidays and uploading photos of the house- will have to clean up first though... Maybe I should start putting up other polls to see if my wishes come true- New York or Bali for this year's holidays?

Bell's Palsy

5 weeks and no change :-/

Cloves and hydrangeas

Today has been all about nature. I read somewhere that cloves could be good for BP, so I've been chewing them all day! I used the rest to make a pomander (I'm so WI). It's a lovely day in Madrid, sunny but not to hot, and on the way to the doctors I passed the most beautiful florist which had the best hydrangeas ever - they're so nostalgic looking, I'm going to get some for the balcony- then I'll dry some a la nan for the rest of the year.

Drip, drip, drip...

My kitchen is leaking into the neighbours below... Sorry to moan, but arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! This house is cursed.

Update

Well this morning I went to see the doctor about rehabilitation... She was really nice, but came back a bit deflated as although she said I had a good chance of recovery because I'm young she couldn't promise me I'd make a full recovery... I guess I'll just try to stay really positive and patient, that's all I can do for now, but it's sooo frustrating.

Nice ideas for walls

I love these ideas... not sure if the embroidery ring one would be a bit folksy for me, but I'll definitely be replicating the gallery idea in my hallway (perhaps on a lilac background)

Clear CAT

Great news, the CAT scan came back clear! So that means no evil ear tumour :-) Still have to have the MRI scan, but the doctor says it should be absolutely fine. In the meantime I have to have hearing tests (don't know why, as my hearing as actually improved since having this), and she's gonna try to make me go to rehab (And I said yes, yes, yes). Doc also says she sees a slight improvement- I can't see it, but others have said the same, so there must be some truth in it...

Graham & Green

I love these coat hooks and mirrors from Graham & Green...

Brunch & Apartment Therapy

Brunch was lovely. I think we should make it a ritual. I can see that the risk with blogging is that you're tempted to write about every.little.thing. that happens. Catherine and Rachael's idea for poaching the eggs in ramekins in a pan was great for keeping their shape ;-)

Have a look at this online competition for the smallest, coolest apartments- some of the entries are truly inspirational... I'll definitely be entering mine next year if I can ever get it finished: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/small-cool-2008-news/small-cool-update-83-entries-so-far--048487

Perfect armchair

Obsessing about the house again. This 'slipper chair' would be perfect in my tiny living room as it's low and armless and therefore visually eats up very little space... Want it!

Sleeping on the floor

Don't do it- or you could wake up with Bell's Palsy. I'm going to have a little moan now, because this happened 4 weeks ago yesterday and I've seen no real visible change. The only improvement has been getting my sense of taste back- which is a good thing. I'm trying not to worry, but it's hard when you know that there are some people (albeit very few) who never really get over this condition. I get the results of the CAT scan on Tuesday, which I'm pretty sure will be ok (fingers crossed), as even the doctor says it's probably sleeping in a draught that caused this and not anything beginning with the letter C. On a brighter note, I've just made a batch of scones for brunch at Catherine's today, loosely followed a Nigella recipe, but as usual had to tweak quantities and ingredients to get it right (Does she ever test her recipes?).

Original art for 20 dollars

Just had to post this. The concept behind http://www.20x200.com/ is that you can buy original artwork online- the smallest pieces (batches of only 200) sell for 20$.

This weekend

What miserable weather! Hail and rain all over, so think it's going to be a quiet weekend... Plus the doctors said to stay out of the cold, so a great excuse to curl up on the sofa with a nice cup of tea and some DVDs. Since Sayda told me about project TV and alluc (free streamed series and films online) there's no getting me away from the sofa. Have become addicted to Dirty Sexy Money and the Sopranos... There's a temporary Picasso exhibition on at the Reina Sofia, so might wander down there if the weather gets better. Sunday will probably be dedicated to brunch, and work in the afternoon. Speaking of brunch, I'm dying to try out this recipe for eggs with cream, spinach and country ham:

Ingredients
1/4 cup thinly sliced country ham, finely choppedScant 3/4 cup heavy cream1 tablespoon finely chopped onion2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided3/4 teaspoon finely chopped garlic10 ounces spinach, coarse stems discarded 8 large eggs
Equipment: 8 (6-ounce) ramekins or ovenproof teacups

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Bring ham and cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, then remove from heat. Let steep, uncovered, about 10 minutes.
Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and season lightly with salt and pepper, then cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add spinach, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, turning with tongs, until spinach is wilted.
Drain spinach in a colander, pressing to remove excess liquid, then coarsely chop. Divide spinach, then ham, among ramekins, spooning 1 tablespoon cream into each serving. Crack eggs into ramekins and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spoon 1 teaspoon cream over each egg. Cut remaining tablespoon butter into 8 small pieces and dot each egg with butter.
Put ramekins in a shallow baking pan and bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 15 to 20 minutes, removing from oven as cooked.
Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 45 min
Servings: Makes 6 (side dish) servings

Yum.

Nice ideas for walls

Was thinking about one of these ideas for my hallway, i love the embroidery ring one, but a maybe a bit too folksy for my house- but will definitely try out the gallery idea...

I think they'd look great in my hall, and would be finished off to perfection with an art deco lamp like the one below.

The flat

Well, here I am recovering (I hope) from Bell's Palsy, 4 weeks now and no real discernible change... Fingers crossed something will happen soon. The only advantage to this whole nightmare is that I've had plenty of time at home, so I've had the chance to settle back into the flat and make it look all nice and cosy... So I've gotten rid of a load of cumbersome junk, which of course makes room for new junk! As I'm working from home, I've set up a little office space in the corner of the living room, and all I need is a work chair, but being being me I want the perfect chair! (I currently have an obsession about Danish furniture from the 50's so something that looked like either of the ones below would be great)

Carl Jacobs Jason chair - I want it for my desk!

The Hans Wegner round chair would also do quite nicely...

Had a very nasty surprise when I went into the kitchen this morning to make a cup of tea. A massive c-o-c-k-r-o-a-c-h lying on its back wriggling in the throes of death. I think the only reason it came in was because I've set loads of traps 'just in case' - the weather's not even hot, I can't believe it set foot in the house (which is spotless at the moment), it was gross. I hope it's a one-off., I couldn't even bring myself to pick up it's dead body, euugghhhh!