Hey there friends!
Happy Monday to you! I’m here writing to you after quickly making some bagels for a delivery this morning, while eating a bowl of banana oats and drinking a bit of coffee. I haven’t really been into coffee lately, which is strange because I’ve been so tired! I wanted to pop in and tell you about my super fun weekend, since I love looking back on these posts. This was one of those weird weekends that feel extra long and luxurious because I don’t have class this week AND Luis and I are heading to Philly on THURSDAY and we are so looking forward to it. We will be in Philly for a few days with my lovely parents, and then we are heading to NYC and then he will be coming back to Madrid while I head to Minnesota for a work training. Right after that, I fly back to Madrid and the NEXT DAY my parents will be flying this way and we are all heading to MALLORCA! Phew! Lots of traveling coming up and it’s going to be amazing!
THURSDAY
On Thursday, I had dinner with some friends from the Synagogue at Pinati, a local Kosher restaurant in Madrid. The food was delicious and it was fun chatting with them, but by the time we were finished I was more than ready to fall head first into bed. I had been up since 4.45 am to prepare for an office catering I did! It went really well and people seemed to be happy with everything, so I was happy about that.
FRIDAY
Despite being absolutely exhausted, I had to be up at 7.30 on Friday to bake cookies/ bagels/ and a cookie cake. I had to be at a tour at 1 in the afternoon, so to be sure everything had time to be baked and cooled, I had a schedule I was following. First cookies (45 minutes for 48 cookies), then bagels (30 mins), then cookie pie (30 mins), then 36 more bagels. I felt frazzeled, but it all got done and since I took an Uber, doing the deliveries before my tour wasn’t bad. I arrived with 10 minutes to spare and it was perfect.
The tour itself was great. The family was SO nice and I felt super releived to not have to run home and do any baking or meet anyone. After Thursday, I was feeling a little burnt out, so it was nice to just chat with these people and we all had a good time. Oh, and they were Americans- I love the tours with Americans!!
After the tour, I walked around the center of Madrid for a few minutes, but then I did have to go home to make another 36 bagels (just the dough). I was able to organize it so that I could use the computer and get some things done while the doughs mixed, but as soon as 6:00 rolled around, I was ready to be DONE. Oh, I also made this enormous bagel lol
And I sliced it to make this delicious sandwich!
I am legit going to seel this next year during 3 Reyes as a Roscon de Bagels.
I met Luis at his office around 7 and we decided we would have dinner in Sala de Despiece, a place we have been TRYING to go to for months, but every time we go, there is a huge line outside!!! 
Absolutely insane. So we went right at 7.30- when it opened- and before we even opened our mouths, they spoke to us in English just ASSUMING we were tourists there for an early dinner. RUDE! I should have complained 😉
Sala de Despiece is completely designed like a butcher shop, with harsh lighting, the menu written in a very technical way, and most of the food served on trays with paper liners and sort of looking like a science experiment.
We ordered 3 things to shared and while we both thought the food was good, we agreed that it’s more of the show they put on and (for me) not worth the wait….but….I am glad we went!
I was wiped after our early dinner, so we went home and put on pajamas!
SATURDAY
Saturday was another early day, but I peeled myself out of bed with the thought of being able to take a sweet, sweet nap in a few hours. I had 48 bagels to make for various orders on Saturday, so from 6.45-9.15 am, I worked. At 9.40, Luis left to do the deliveries while I (sort of) cleaned up and then high-tailed in back into bed. I was only planning to sleep for an hour, but it turned into two hours, which was fine. Once I was up, we headed to the gym for our Saturday workout which always includes a 20 minute run (for me) and then a joint TRX or NTC workout that we do together. It was a a good one and we were both extremely sore the next day so…. mission accomplished.
As soon as the workout was done, I ran home, made 6 bagels, and then hopped in the shower and got dressed. I had a tour that started at 3 and I cut it very close to being late, but I made it on time and it was another good tour with a sweet (American) family.
When the tour finished, I decided- since I had some time to kill before meeting Luis – that I would donate blood. There is a donation bus in Sol 7 days per week and ‘donate blood’ has been on my to-do list for months, so I thought why not? I squirmed like a baby, but all went well and I didn’t kick the doctor (remember that, Dad? Fun times for all of us!).
When I finished, I walked to Retiro where Luis and I met. We were planning to read and watch the sunset (aw), but we ended up sitting on a bench, eating quiche we purchased on the way and drinking a soy coffee drink they gave me for donating blood. We stayed for about an hour, and went on a long walk through the park and it was so nice to have nothing to do and no where to be and to be enjoying the beautiful afternoon.
When we finished walking, we exited the park near Atocha train station and I asked Luis what we should do and he said ‘want to drink???’, so drink we did.
We started at 100 Montaditos for a couple pints, and then went to a craft beer place in Anton Martin that got me feeling very tipsy. We were there for awhile, chatting all about our future business plans and our upcoming trip. We left around 11 and went on the hunt for food so we ended up at Al Sur, which used to be a favorite because they have THE MOST bangin’ mushroom risotto, but they took it off the menu!!!! I cried into my beer. The other food we had was good though.
After that, I crashed so hard into bed. I was the dictionary definition of exhausted.
SUNDAY
I slept for 11 hours on Saturday night and felt like a new born baby when I woke up. I actually woke up around 8 in a panic of omg I have to make bagels!!! But then I remembered I have NO bagels to make and went back to sleep. Once I did get up for good, Luis and I had a leisurely breakfast (oatmeal with strawberries and my first ever torrija!!! So good) on the terrace, and then buckled down and cleaned the whole entire apartment which has been absolutely vile all week thanks to neither of us having a moment to catch our breath, let alone clean the dishes or sweep the floor. Also, thanks to so much baking, there was a fine flour dust all over the place. The newly cleaned apartment might have been my favorite part of the weekend 😉
After cleaning, we did our other weekend tradition: go for a run but end up somewhere where we can EAT! We ran from home to Chueca to check out a few places and then from Chueca to Mercado Vallehermoso to eat at some of the market stalls. We had a couple tacos, some black beans, and some yummy sushi. Neither of us were thrilled with the Mexican food, especially the tacos that were full of fat, but the sushi was awesome.
We biked home and then got a few to-do things done before settling into a cozy Sunday in front of the TV!
The rest of today (Monday) involves a tour, then hopefully working on my project a bit, and then dinner our at 80 Grados! Lots of eating out lately, but…whatever.
