March 2016 – The Walrus Blog

It’s Madrid, innit?

The first day we were there, we went for a walk… click on the pictures to see larger versions. Offer me money if you want the full resolution ones…

This is a scene in Calle de Gran Via. There is a lot of traffic, but where it was hiding while I took this, I do not know.

Another impressive building, with what I suspect is a modern addition on the top.

This is the Town Hall, I think. I rather liked the “Refugees Welcome” sign on it.

I‘ve no idea what this building is, sorry. It has a sort of anonymous, Ministry of Certain Things, look to it.

The central parts of the city have a very pleasant, well kept, feel to them.

This is the main library and museum, which we visited another day.

The city has quite a lot of public art, including this stunning bronze frog.

More soon…

What would cause these cracks in the cheesecake, I do not know. Even more annoyingly, it turned out that I had the base of the springform tin upside down, so the cheesecake was very difficult to slide off it. Still, I managed to do that without too much damage.

I feel quite guilty that I just made do with a tin of cherry topping. It’s not too bad, but a lot of it is cornflour and sugar. Maybe next time I’ll do something a little more authentic…

Anyway, I have tasted it, and enjoyed it enough to have another slice.

Lessons learned: assemble the tin correctly, try not to get too much air in the cheesy mix, and now go for a long, long walk.

Risotto, and a dessert.

Nearly ready!

Last night’s risotto, which I made with arborio rice, red onion, garlic, white wine, vegetable stock, parmesan, fresh parsley, dried porcini, dried mixed mushrooms, and fresh shiitake mushrooms.

When it was finished, it looked like this. It was really quite good, as my wife said so.

I‘ve only just noticed that the spoon in the parmesan is one that was given to our son when he was a baby.

Yes, I really did make a dessert!

Nothing particularly fancy, really. Orange ice cream from a recipe by Nigella Lawson. One of Mr Tesco’s meringue nests, and some tinned mandarin segments.