Gooooood Morning, Madrid // Philadelphia // ROBOTS IN INDIA, UKRAINE, and SWEDEN!  (An incredible number of bots visit my site every day and while I would like to say that I’m happy to be so popular in the bot community, the truth is that I rather the bots get as far away as possible from my site)

Anywhoooo, how is everything?!  (Some would consider my tendency to speak candidly with no one borders on insanity.  Could be true, though).  I’m doing great!  This week was amazing and now it’s Saturday and I am typing this post from my living room with the sun shining in while I eat my banana oatmeal (usually I eat plain oatmeal, but I had a banana that was so black it barely had a spot of yellow and…waste not, want not, verdad??).  I am also drinking coffee that keeps scalding my tongue but I can’t stop.  Too good.  Everything is quiet in the house since my roommates are all away on their respective vagabond trips around Spain and Europe.  Actually, it’s not quiet, something in the house keeps creaking, but it’s just the wind.  I hope.

I don’t really have any grand plans for the day, but seeing as how the step-roomies are away, maybe I should throw a party? Kidding, kidding.  I don’t know what I will do…probably drink more coffee, watch the second episode of Fuller House (Netflix spinoff/ continuation of Full House, 29 years later).  If you saw any of it, what did you think?  I saw the first episode yesterday and, well, it’s awful.  It’s so bad and if it weren’t for the fact that I grew up watching full house, then I would have turned off this cheesy show after 3 minutes.  I am giving it a solid chance, though.  After Fuller House, I will probably work out (for once in my life), shower, and then….the world is my oyster.  Not sure.

This has been the most long-winded opener to tell you about other random things that you definitely don’t care about.  But I’ll tell you anyway.

I cooked a little bit this week!  I made:

Butternut Squash-Carrot Soup

Saute one diced onion with 3 ish bulbs of garlic, 5 ish minutes.  Add a lot of squash and a lot of sliced carrots.  Cover with a mix of chicken broth and water (if you don’t want it to be too salty).  Add some pepper and paprika if you want.  Cover and let it boil and then turn it down to simmer until the veggies are super soft.  Mash it with a potato masher or use an immersion blender.  Leave some chunks if you want.  Top with roasted squash seeds (10 minutes on med. heat in the toaster oven with olive oil and spices) and parsley.

Apple Sauce

5 apples, washed and diced (I left the skin on).  Add them to a pot with about a cup of water and a few healthy shakes of cinnamon.  Let it boil/ simmer (I don’t know) until the apples are soft.  Blend with an immersion blender or a potato masher.

Raspberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars via Averie CooksI made these Thursday afternoon and let me say, they are so, so good and SUPER simple to make.  She describes them as a “healthy dessert or breakfast” and while I wouldn’t go as far as to call them healthy, they are delicious and incredibly simple.  The key is a good jam and the jam that I buy here in Madrid is awesome.  If you want the recipe, it’s HERE.

HummusPut one jar of no-salt-added chick peas in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon, some salt, garlic (if you want), 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup tahini, paprika, or hot pepper.  Blend with food processor or immersion blender.  Add water to get things moving.  Store in fridge.

Other yummy things I have had…Via Instagram, this was the perfect lazy Saturday breakfast.  Toasted bagel (hand delivered all the way from Philadelphia!!)… parts with cream cheese, cream cheese and jelly, or butter.  And coffee.  And writing a blog post.

Lazy Sunday breakfast- toasted bagel, half with cream cheese and the other half with a fried egg and cheese with jelly.

This was dessert one night this week-  First I melted chocolate chips with peanut butter and then I topped it with banana-caramel ice cream.  I’m such a girl haha. (obviously)…but it was so good.

Discovered a cafe near my house that not only has books IN ENGLISH, but also makes a nice little cappuccino.  I ended up buying a book from them so that I have something to read on the metro and it has made my metro rides 100x better.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo– have you read it?  I’m almost finished it.

Lastly for my Lately…While I was out on a walk the other day, I stopped to take a picture of this building.  You can’t really tell from the picture, but the sky was all different colors and the building was lit up in a really pretty way.  I stopped for one second, just to look at it, and remembered that I live in such an incredibly beautiful city.  It’s super easy to forget that.  Life becomes ordinary, doesn’t it?

Off to do…things.  Have a great weekend!