Mirinda has a bit of a problem with restringing her guitar. Last night found her sitting on the floor of the library, stringless guitar on her lap, a YouTube video playing and the dogs looking on. I was cooking and every now and then there’d be swearing.
This morning I asked Mirinda if she’d like her second cup of tea in bed. She said she’d be coming downstairs. “A plague of Austrians!” she unexpectedly proclaimed.
I thought this was some sort of medieval curse and wondered what I’d done to warrant it.
Speaking of Austria, Mirinda is wanting to attend a conference in Vienna in May and, given our new no-fly policy, we are looking forward to trying the re-instituted Paris-Vienna sleeper. The Man in Seat 61 recommends it highly and that’s good enough for us.
Mind you, May is a long way away and who knows if we’ll be allowed out of the country by then. It would be fair to say that I am not looking forward to next Friday.
I wasn’t looking that forward to the weather as I strode out, trolley obediently behind me. It looked like it could rain and the weather report had been a bit hesitant. As it turned out, it didn’t rain but maintained a might rain look all day.
Healthwise, I’m almost back to normal. I don’t normally get colds that last longer than a day so this one has been really annoying. And not just for me. I’m sure I’ve annoyed Mirinda with it as well. I did wonder if that was why she cursed me this morning.
Back at home, Mirinda returned from guitar class (David showed her, again, how to restring her guitar) and almost immediately declared that she was going to bed.
I spent the afternoon compiling an economic report for our inaugural weekend fiscal meeting and did some research. The house was very quiet apart from Radio 3 broadcasting various pieces of game soundtracks.
For dinner, I decided to make something new.
I have a fabulous Spanish recipe book which includes a lot of old home style recipes. One of them is a chicken and red pepper stew. While it doesn’t sound particularly exciting, it is delicious. It was so successful that when we left the dining table Mirinda jumped up and wrote it on the menu in the library.
The menu is the Chez Gaz regular meals and to be included on a first outing is unusual. I guess this won’t be the last time we see it for dinner.
Pollo al Chilindrón is a classic Spanish recipe for chicken. It originated in Aragón or Navarra or the País Vasco, depending on whether you ask, as I did, people from Aragón, Navarra and the País Vasco. I’m going to have to go with Aragón, because that’s where my mother is from and I lived there myself long enough that it felt like home. So make of it what you will, but Chilindrón is definitely from Aragón.
Spain by Mike Randolph: https://www.spainbymikerandolph.com/pollo-al-chilindron/
I didn’t use green peppers.
Oh, and what Mirinda actually said this morning was that she was going to “play with my strings!” referring to the guitar lying on the floor in the library. And in the interest of full disclosure, she actually managed to restring most of the guitar herself before class.
