El Meson de Cervantes, Malaga

 Art Opening Celebrations

We haven't been out in ages as we tend to cook at home and eat on the terrace which seems much safer than eating in some of the busy restaurants on the busy streets of Malaga.

However, with the successful opening of the PIGSY exposición in La Casa Amarilla, we booked in to El Meson de Cervantes for dinner to mark the event a week ago Saturday night. 

El Meson de Cervantes

It is a great restaurant that is normally very busy but with no tourists in town it was quiet. We were sat in a lovely corner with no one seated beside us. It was also quiet because we like to eat early compared to most in Spain and had booked the table for 7.30pm - however, we did manage to stay out until 10.30pm which is late for us!

Here's some pics of the great food. It is only "some" pics because as soon as I have a glass of wine in my hand and as the food keeps coming to the table, I quickly forget to continue taking pics!!

"I Went to Mass" by PIGSY

The original finish date of the PIGSY exhibition was April 6th but it now extended until April 20th which is great. The gallery also stayed open over Santa Semana which was also great to allow for more people to visit! 

We are now planning and thinking of where to go out for another celebration meal when the exhibition ends on April 20th - watch this space!

Siesta in the Square

I should mention that the opening day of the show, while very busy, wasn't all work. During siesta the gallery went very quite (very typical here as no one goes to shops during the long lunch) so we took the opportunity to go for a glass of wine and some cana's of beer with author and journalist Tony Bryant of the Sur in English. He's such an interesting guy and great company to hang out with. He has given PIGSY some great write ups in the paper.

Easter Sunday

I'm writing this today on a not so typical Easter Sunday for us. We didn't get each other an egg as we are both on Keto and usually we would have a nice restaurant booked (see here & here) for a special Easter lunch......but not this year. But to start the day we are heading for a stroll down the marina and will stop for a coffee somewhere to enjoy the ambiance and chill and chat!

Where ever you are in the world, Happy Easter to you and yours - have a great day!

Exciting times in Malaga

PIGSY Exhibition opening in Spain!

Well it sure has been exciting here in Malaga over the past few days.  The PIGSY art exhibition opening on Saturday after two publications picked up on the story leading up to the show. On Wednesday an article came out in The Gloss which is an Irish Times publication And then on Friday there was an article in the SUR in English newspaper here in Malaga (it is circulated in the Costa Del Sol area).

La Casa Amarilla, Malaga

The previous exhibition came down on Wednesday and PIGSY then started the hang of his exhibition in preparation for opening on Saturday. They run a tight ship in La Casa Amarilla and they have an excellent hanging system for the old brick wall in the gallery - paintings are hung on metal suspension cables away from the wall. 

Here's a pic of the window the night before opening:

PIGSY "I Went to Mass" Solo Art Exhibition Opening

Here's a few pics from the day. There was a great buzz in the gallery and a very large audience of people viewed the exhibition throughout the day from 12pm until 8pm.

Sponsored by Cervesas San Miguel

Back home in Ireland, PIGSY's previous exhibition was sponsored by an Irish craft beer maker. But here in Spain it was sponsored by San Miguel Beer!

Here's a pic of the main man and myself:

PIGSY face mask

During the exhibition, I wore my PIGSY art face mask. I'm happy to let you know about a 10% off code for face masks to mark the opening of the exhibition.

Keto Butter Chicken

Keto Indian Food

I got a hankering for Indian food this week so looked up whether there were any keto recipes. I found this Keto Connect recipe for Butter Chicken (click here) which seemed easy enough so decided to give it a go.

Here's the ingredient list

There were a few ingredients that I didn't have so I walked to Corte Ingles in the afternoon and bought them. I had to search around for the ground ginger and cinnamon but was happy to have found them and not to have to visit another shop.

I already had a big bag of chili powder so I was glad to use some of that up!

Here's my spices all ready to be mixed up with the chicken and then the next picture is of the finished dish which I served with cauliflower. There is also enough left over for tomorrow.

It was really tasty and delicious. I'm looking forward to cooking some other Keto Indian food. Let me know if you have any recipes by leaving a comment below.

Hans Christian Andersen

In other news, Bones hung out with author Hans Christian Andersen in the city today!

PIGSY Exhibition!!

And the final piece of news and perhaps the most exciting is that we begin the hanging of PIGSY's solo art exhibition tomorrow in preparation for the opening on Saturday at 12pm.

It's on in La Casa Amarilla Galerie on Calle Santos. If you are in the area hopefully you can come along.....or if you know anyone who lives near Malaga let them know about it!

Website art preview

And if you can't get to see the physical show, don't worry. He will be giving everyone a sneak preview of it on his website at 8pm on Friday night. 

Saturday in the Charity Shop

More tales from my volunteer job!

When I arrived in to volunteer in the charity shop on Saturday I saw a lovely rail of clothes with a sign saying they had been donated by singer Diana Novarro. There was also a stunning white dress on display in the window.

There had been a full rail on Monday but by Saturday there was only a few items left.

Desigual

Out of the selection that was left I found a gorgeous little Desigual top. Size small and fitted perfectly as it is a light roomy top. It's extremely light weight and will match a pair of pink Banana Republic shorts that I plan to wear in the Summer.

How cute is it?!

And seriously comfortable!

I look forward to some hot weather to wear it about town here in Malaga....

Happy St Patrick's Day 2021

St Patrick's Day 2021

Just another strange day in this life that we are living.

No celebrations or parades in Ireland.

However, world over, we wore green and we ate green food and we played Irish music. Buildings and monuments went green. We marked the day.

We marked the day in a different way. We connected virtually.

We will be together again. There are better days ahead. And we will parade in future St Patrick's Day.

Here's the Irish President's St Patrick's Day message.

And for posterity, I'll link my last year's St Patrick's Day blog here. A lot has happened in the year since then. But from reading back over my blog, I don't think I realised at that point what was going to happen. Strange, scary times in a lot of ways. I try to stay positive as I know I am very lucky as I have not lost anyone close to me from Covid. 

Here's to St Patrick's Day 2022. It will be a big celebration if this pandemic is all over. We must stay positive and believe that it will be over.

Hotting up here in Malaga!

Sun's Out!

It's been really sunny with temps over 20 degrees here in Malaga for the past few days. Because of this we said we better get some sun cream. Of course, by buying sun cream we will probably jinx ourselves and it will go back to cooler weather for another month or two!! Well probably not, given that it is Spain that we are talking about!

Parasol

For the past few years, we have been using a really great brand of sun cream that you only need to apply once a day. On our last few sailing trips this has worked out really well as you just put it on after breakfast and then you don't have to think about it again during the day. At home in Ireland, I order it online from Inish Pharmacy. However, when we came out to Malaga last August I picked up a bottle in Dublin Airport - but of course that's long used up.

It's expensive but well worth it as it does a great job at protection. I've never burnt but still get a great tan while using it.

Unfortunately the shipping costs to Spain from Ireland are too high so we ordered an alternative.

P20

The alternative we ordered is Riemann's P20 which is actually the brand that we always swore by before we started using the Parasol. P20 was available through Amazon so we ordered a few bottles in different SPF's and also one specifically for the face.

I'd imagine it will arrive tomorrow or the next day (after ordering yesterday evening) and I will be glad to start using it while I am out sun bathing. 

The P20 has a very unique feel tonight and is unlike any sun cream product I have used before. Like Parasol it is a once a day application and I find it to be very effective. The only issue I have with it is that it can stain clothes, towels, sheets, etc. So you need to be careful not to use it if you plan on wearing a nice white sundress or your best white shirt. Parasol on the other hand does not seem to stain and this is one of the reasons why it is my preferred sun protection.

Unfortunately all of the products are coming from different Amazon stores so will all be delivered a different times. Ciaran also ordered Lyons Tea so they will arrive at another time too. We weren't offered the option to get them delivered to a local pick up point so hopefully we will be in when the different couriers arrive at our apartment. We will see.

What sun protection do you use? Do you know of any other once a day application sun protection products? Let me know in the comments section below.

Fun Day Friday!

Back at the beach!!

And we had our first swim of 2021!

It was due to be about 23 degrees Celsius today so we made a plan to head to the beach first thing with a flask of coffee for a swim and then a cup of coffee sitting in the sand. Just as we were loading our bikes in to the lift, Ciaran got a call from a friend who lives in San Pedro. Himself and his wife were switching their rental car out in Malaga Airport and were going to come in to Malaga if we were free to meet. 

We had our swim - cold, cold, cold!! To say the least....

And then Trevor and Marion met us on the beach where we walked to the marina for a coffee and a good old chat. Hopefully they will be back for the opening of Ciaran's exhibition in 2 weeks time. 

Working Afternoon

And then it was home to the office where we did a ton of work on the PIGSY website and also ordered some supplies for the upcoming exhibition. Ciaran gave the website a complete overhaul (another one!) and I am now updating all of the SEO....which will take awhile - but it is a work in progress and it is fine to have the 

For the exhibition we ordered stickers with the PIGSY logo on them. They can be used as seals for sold paintings when they get wrapped in brown paper. 

The new PIGSY business card arrived during the week and I am very happy with those. And today the decal for the gallery window also arrived. I'm pleased with those also - they have a scannable QR code which links to the PIGSY website which should be very helpful for anyone at the exhibition to find the PIGSY website easily. 

After-dinner walk

For dinner we had bunless burgers with fried egg and bacon which I cooked on the barbecue. It was so sunny and warm that we ate on the balcony about 7pm.

And then after dinner I suggested we take a walk around the city with Bones as he hadn't been taken out for a walk as normal in the morning time. We walk to Constitution Plaza where I picked up The Sur and then wandered around passing La Casa Amarilla Galerie and giving a wave in to David Burbano the gallery director.

The city was very busy and there was a great atmosphere. I guess a combo of hot sunny weather and it also being the start of the weekend.

All in all it was a great fun Friday for us!