Monthly Archives: January 2022

31.01.22 — Journal

Resolutions for 2022

I’m not usually one for making New Year’s resolutions as I’m not know for keeping them for very long, but after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic it felt like it was time to start to make some changes. That, alongside an energy and optimism gained whilst home for Christmas and then in Tenerife for the New Year, drove me to throw together a list of ten resolutions for 2022.

Of course I wasn’t going to start the new year by trying to change ten aspects of my life all in one go, and so I chose a selection of resolutions, some of which I’d start right away and some that I could complete later on in the year. Also, as I was on holiday in Tenerife until the 6th of January, I decided to put my plan into action on the 7th upon my arrival back in Madrid.

I’m sure you’ll be wondering what my resolutions are in the end, and I shall include them here, not only for informative purposes but also as a way of holding myself to account by exposing myself to the world – or at least those of you who read my blog:

  1. Cook and eat better food
  2. Begin to do exercise
  3. Stop biting your nails
  4. Walk at least 10,000 steps a day
  5. Advance with learning Irish
  6. Launch my new website
  7. Get a Spanish driving license
  8. Begin calligraphy classes
  9. Save up some money
  10. Travel more

As mentioned, some I’ll start as the year goes on, such as driving lessons and calligraphy classes, but some I’ve already implemented since day one. The first one of the list was perhaps the most challenging for me personally, as I’ve a turbulent history of trying to eat better and lose weight, a lot of which stems from my tendency to use food as a crutch to deal with any stress I might be experiencing.

This year I’ve decided that the key lies in drawing up a meal plan, planning when to buy food, and investigating new recipes in my spare time, which usually involves me asking friends, family, and colleagues for ideas as I grow bored of other plates that I usually make. As you can see below, I’ve been making some healthy yet tasty dishes these last few weeks.

These pretty ingredients formed part of a vegetable soup recipe I made up on the spot.

I mention the word ‘tasty’ as for me it’s paramount that I still enjoy my food – it’s one of the things which I genuinely probably enjoy the most about the human condition. This way, I’m still managing to stick to my new health habits, and beginning to really enjoy the challenge of cooking everything in between my work and social lives. It also has the added benefit of helping with the penultimate resolution in my list, as I’m spending a lot less money on eating out or pre-made meals.

Alongside this newfound attitude to food, I’ve also become somewhat obsessed with the measurable resolution in my list: the 10,000 daily step goal. After a while using my phone to count my steps, I finally caved and bought an activity band to better track my steps and activity, and so every day since the 7th of January I’ve diligently walked my ten thousand steps – even after a late night at work and one particularly hungover Sunday morning.

One particularly nice benefit of this little lifestyle change has been the chance to see much more of the city than I ever did before, with my evening walks home after work pushing me to explore little streets and routes that I’ve never walked down before. I do still take the fastest route home sometimes, however this route still takes me past some of the prettiest sites the centre has to offer, such as the royal palace and the Viaducto de Segovia, a huge bridge offering views over the west of the city.

It’s not all bad when I get to pass architecture like this every evening.

It might sound silly, but this combination of eating better and moving more has really changed my outlook on everything, and the extra energy it has given me has motivated me to start doing some things I’ve been unconsciously putting off doing for a while now. One such trip took me to the north of the city and to the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, the National Museum of Natural Sciences (an easy one to translate, come on now). This was incited by a dream I had about dinosaurs, and so I decided I would drag myself up there the following day in order to snoop at some models of dinosaur bones.

I’ve also been more proactive in organising things with friends, including a trip to Hugo’s new flat for an evening of tacos and enchiladas prepared by him and his friends. It was a lovely evening, with friends from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Spain all coming together to inaugurate Hugo’s new place. Being on the sixteenth floor, the views from his new place are quite something!

I’d also arranged to spend one Sunday at Sara’s place, where we were joined by her boyfriend, her other flatmate, and another friend to share a long afternoon lunch. Dessert was provided by yours truly, and took the form of a Victoria sponge with fresh cream and strawberries. It may look very nice, but the texture and the rise on the cake were a bit off, as I’ve still not found a good ratio of raising agent to properly substitute self-raising flour. If anyone out there has any idea, please let me know!

The lack of self-raising flour in Spain may actually be my biggest gripe about living here.

Obviously this cake didn’t exactly align with my new healthy eating plan – even if it did contain quite a bit of fresh fruit. This didn’t bother me, however, as my mum rightly pointed out that if I don’t allow myself the odd treat from time to time then I’ll get frustrated with eating well and give up on the whole thing entirely. That means I’m still allowing myself drinks out with friends, my Wednesday lunch out with my colleague Esther, and the occasional sweet treat to keep my sweet tooth at bay.

That’s about it for this blog post, in which I’ve given you a bit of an update as to what I’ve been up to this January through the medium of a rather rambling explanation of my ten resolutions. This weekend, however, I’ve some more interesting plans lined up, and so I’ll be back soon with all the antics from my first trip outside of Madrid for 2022…

21.01.22 — Travel

New Year in Tenerife

Epilepsy Warning: This post contains a video which includes flashing lights.

I ended the last blog post on a mysterious note, and I’ve begun this one with a title which gives everything away – I did indeed spend the New Year on the Spanish island of Tenerife. I celebrated the arrival of 2022 with my friends Cami, Sam, and Cami’s family, who have always welcomed me with open arms since the first time I visited.

My trip to England ended with Danni giving me a lift to the airport, where I headed to security at Terminal 1 just to be sent wandering all the way to Terminal 3, something my back did not appreciate as I lugged my two heavy bags with me. I did eventually find my gate in the otherwise abandoned T3, and I was soon on board the long 4-hour flight to Tenerife.

At the airport I was greeted by Sam, who drove the two of us up to Cami’s parents’ place so I could leave my stuff at theirs ready to head back to sleep later in the evening. Once Cami finished work, the three of us then headed down to a local Asian fusion restaurant, where we enjoyed a much-needed catch up over a lovely meal of sushi and other dishes.

I then partook in a spot of stargazing before heading to sleep, as the isolated location of the Canary Islands make for a great view of the heavens above, and the bedroom that I stayed in at Cami’s parents’ place has a lovely little balcony perfect for a moment of reflection before bed. This brought me into the next day, which was already New Year’s Eve, and so we’d stuff to do!

We first headed to the supermarket so that I could buy the ingredients needed to make a carrot cake for the New Year’s celebrations, after which we rejoined Cami’s family for a lovely lunch at a local grill. Full of soup, grilled cheese, and a selection of meats, I then headed back to the house to start work on my cake.

The carrot cake was thus completed with the help of Miguel, the son of one of the family friends who had invited us to see in the New Year at her house. With the culinary adventures over, I had precious little time to decorate the cake with a santa and his sleigh (slightly late, but never mind) and get changed ready for the evening meal.

Arriving at the house of Eva, a close friend of Cami’s family, I chatted to my family for a bit to wish them a happy New Year, and then we were all called to be seated ready for the feasting to begin – and what a feast! I finally learned how to eat langostines, discovered the virtues of marinated salmon, and sampled some of the most delicious seafood soup that I’ve ever tasted.

With the meal over, midnight was encroaching, and so we all got into position in front of the telly with our streamers and cup of 12 grapes. These are part of Spain’s Nochevieja tradition, which dictates that you have to eat one grape for each chime of the bell at midnight. It sounds like a doozy, but one misplaced or mistimed grape can see you coughing your way into the new year!

Once Miguel had smashed a plate outside as per the family tradition, we all finished our last glass of champagne and then headed back home to sleep before the next day.

The first day of 2022 treated me rather well, as me and Cami headed down to Los Cristianos for lunch, a wander around, and a bite of dessert. We ate at a lovely little Italian restaurant that Cami had found, and then headed down to the beach and to a ice cream and cocktail bar to spend the afternoon in style by the sea.

The 26° of Tenerife made a lovely change from England’s rain and Madrid’s biting cold.

The two of us then headed back to the car and up to an observation point to watch the sun set. Cami had noted that the calima – the haze caused by dust carried on the wind from Africa just 250km away – had subsided quite a bit, meaning we could see some of the surrounding islands from the shores of Tenerife. The hope was that we could see even more of them from high up and catch some lovely views of the sunset.

As you can see, the sunset and the views thereof did not disappoint one bit, and so Cami and I sat down for a good while to take in the views. We had a good chat up there, enjoying some crisps and beers that we’d grabbed from a petrol station on the way up to our vantage point atop the roof of an abandoned hillside café.

The next day we hopped back in Cami’s car and headed for a day out in the north of the island, stopping for some breakfast along the way. Our road trip took us first to Puerto de la Cruz, where we had some cocktails and snacks before heading to Santa Cruz for lunch. The names of these two places are quite confusing – they both have the word cruz (cross) in them!

After lunch, we then headed to Santa Cruz’s big central park for a drink and to relax in the greenery until the sun began to set and the lowering temperatures became too cold to bear. Being full of Korean food and as generally lazy as I am, I insisted that we take a taxi back down to the car, which we took back home and settled in for an early night as I’d to work the next day.

Although I do enjoy the flexibility of working from home, I’m usually a fan of going into the office – but when ‘home’ consists of a terrace in sunny Tenerife, I’ll definitely take that any day! Thanks to the revolution in our way of working that we’ve undertaken at Erretres, I was able to work just as efficiently from the garden of Cami’s parents’ house as I do in the office.

Once work was over, though, I was keen to get back out to see some more of Tenerife with what was left of the daylight hours. As Cami was working, me and Sam headed down to the beach together, watching some paragliders descend gracefully onto the beach framed by the beautiful sunset. It was quite the sight!

The two of us then headed down to that same beach, perching ourselves down on some deck chairs on the sand at a lovely little beach bar. We ordered a bite to eat and a cheeky cocktail – I was half on holiday after all – and poor Sam had to put up with me jumping up every two minutes as I spotted yet another photo I could take as the sun set.

My favourite photo I managed to bag that evening has to be the following one, as I managed to catch just the moment when a father and son were playing together in the last rays of light, with another of the Canary Islands visible in the background. It was a lovely time to be down on the beach, the noise of the day’s visitors had died down and people were relaxing and enjoying the sights.

One the cold crept in, we headed back home, and then the thought of another evening down on the coast got me through another nine hours of work the next day. Sam faithfully granted me my wish, and that evening we headed back to Los Cristianos to have a wander around and find something to eat for tea.

There was no better way to start the new year and reflect on my resolutions than a walk on the beach.

Our evening meal was eventually had at a Japanese restaurant that Cami and Sam are fond of, and the reason for which I soon discovered after a variety of delicious sushi dishes. After cramming so much into one day I was soon tired, and so we headed back home so that I could get an early night.

The next day was much more of a quiet affair, as both Cami and Sam were working in the afternoon after I’d disconnected from work. I was expecting to be alone for the evening, but Cami’s parents Nati and Rodrigo invited me to have pizza with them and Nati’s brother who’d swung by for a visit.

After this came an important day in the Spanish calendar, perhaps more so than the 25th of December. The 6th of January is celebrated as Día de los Reyes Magos, the day of the three kings. It’s the day that the three kings (or wise men as we know them) bring presents to all the well-behaved kids in Spain, and as part of the traditions a sweet bread called roscón is cut. Hidden within this halo-shaped bread are both a figurine of a wise man and a bean – if you bite into the wise man you are crowned as king, and if you bite into the bean, you’ve to pay for the roscón!

We celebrated this day with a breakfast including bread, meats, avocado, hot chocolate, and – of course – roscón. This jovial get-together was to be my last of the holiday, however, as I was soon wishing Cami and Sam farewell as they’d to head off to work, a few hours after which I’d to head off to the airport for my trip back to Madrid.

As you can see, the airport of Tenerife Sur is quite unique in it’s lovely views over the beach, which took some of the sting out of the whole leaving thing as I boarded the plane headed back to the mainland…

As ever, I’ve to end this blog post sending my heartfelt thanks to Cami, Sam, Nati, and Rodrigo, who graciously took me in and ferried me around between them. Tenerife is a beautiful and unique place to visit, but my visits wouldn’t be half as fabulous without their generous hospitality. I’ll be back again soon!

06.01.22 — Journal

A British Christmas

Just like last year, the end of December saw me take a flight from Madrid back over to Manchester and my parents’ house to spend Christmas with my family. After all the concerning news about COVID cases, I was worried that I might not make it, but my test came back negative and I hopped on board my early morning flight headed northward.

The weather wasn’t certain what it was doing when I arrived in Manchester.

Landing in Manchester, my dad came to pick me up and I completed the first of three tests that I’d have to complete during my stay in the UK. I was confined to the house for the first five days at least, but it wasn’t an issue as I’d four days of working from home lined up before Christmas Eve came around.

Working from home was quite pleasant, and in the evenings I made the most of our comfy sofas to read Becoming by Michelle Obama (my current book) and help out around the house. After disconnecting from work on the 23rd, I took a celebratory bath with a glass of wine and thus began to wind down and get ready for Christmas.

After me and my mum had conducted a Bake-Off-style round of baking (she made a lemon drizzle and I presented a Victoria sponge with fresh cream to boot), it was Christmas Eve, and me and my sister were treated to a little bag of presents as has become the family tradition. The best gifts were definitely the new pyjamas, which were immediately put into service!

The 25th then came around and with it the opening of presents, which took up most of our morning – we weren’t in any big rush. As an extra Christmas Day miracle gift, my test-to-release came back negative, and so I was allowed to end quarantine and head out of the house! To celebrate this, my dad and I headed out for a walk, battling high winds on the country roads to make our way to a nearby reservoir that I’d somehow never been to.

After having a good poke around the place for a while, we then headed back home as the light faded, which wasn’t a problem thanks to the beautifully decorated cottages that we passed along the way. When we arrived, the traditional Christmas dinner was almost ready, so we all sat down to fill up on turkey with all the trimmings.

Boxing Day was then a pretty chill affair, with the main event being our traditional lunch of cream of cauliflower soup which my mum makes with the recipe of an old family friend – it’s always a delicious part of our Christmas routine.

The day after I was keen to exercise my newfound freedoms, requesting that we make a trip to “Big Tesco”, the huge supermarket in our town. After so many years away, I am always fascinated to see what is sold back in the UK, and how many strange new products have been launched since I left – I’m not sure why we need so many flavours of everything, but someone must be buying them!

As one of my dad’s presents from me and my sister, I’d brought over some meats, cheeses, and other extras to put together a Spanish food hamper, and so I put together some nibbles for him that afternoon. I was quite proud of my meat platter of jamón and lomo, I never get them to look this good back in Spain!

We then went for another walk after lunch, heading up to the reservoir I’m most familiar with, Hurstwood, before stopping back off at the pub on the way back. I took the opportunity to have a nice cool Guinness, drinking it was too quickly in hindsight: I was quite giddy on the way home.

With another negative test result the following day, I headed off for a much needed catch up with Amber and Jess. Our little reunion took place at Amber’s new flat, where she put on a beautiful spread of cheeses and other nibbles. We chatted for hours over a glass of wine each before I had to head home in order to be whisked off to my next destination: my grandparents’ house, where I saw them again for the first time in twelve months. How time flies!

The next day I headed to the Trafford Centre with my mum and sister, where I met up with Danni to have lunch together and a snoop around at the sales. Abi couldn’t make it as she’d contracted the virus, but the two of us had a lovely lunch together finished off with some delicious cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites.

I then had to wake up relatively earlier the next day, as it was suddenly my last day on British soil. After saying goodbye to my family, Danni came to pick me up, as we’d one last thing to do before I jetted off back to Spain.

The two of us then headed so Salford and Media City, where we’d booked tickets to see Van Gough Alive, an interactive exhibition showcasing his life and works. We had fun at the exhibition and even had time to nip by the Cadbury’s outlet shop afterwards, but all too soon we’d to head back to the car and up to Manchester Airport.

As you can imagine, it was lovely to be back in England and to celebrate Christmas with my family once again, especially as the last time I was over wasn’t such a jovial time. As you’ll notice, I haven’t mentioned anything about my New Year’s celebrations, and that’s because I did something a little different to see in 2022 – but that’s for the next blog post!

01.01.22 — Journal

December in Madrid

After a lovely long weekend in Porto, it was back to Madrid for me to spend the last few days before Christmas. Much of my time there was taken up doing my last few bits of Christmas shopping, but I also made time to decorate my flat, including adjusting all the LED lights to a new, festive color scheme…

In between getting my second dose of the vaccine and organizing myself ready for my trip back to the UK for Christmas, I spent plenty of evenings with friends, from pizza evenings with Napo to a hilarious evening of ice skating and traditional Chinese food with Luis and Yaewon.

As you can see, the meal consisted of a central heated bowl with three types of broth, in which we dipped a series of different ingredients for varying times so that they were perfectly, freshly cooked. We also had the option of creating a series of sauces and other adornments – it was all delicious and great fun!

The low winter sun makes for the occasional aesthetically pleasing scene despite the cold.

Work has also been quite busy, with plenty of projects to wrap up before the new year and some events to attend to. I can’t go into too much detail, but one was a presentation of a new brand at an international event for one of our clients, and the other included a trip to the headquarters of another to tour their offices and chat about new projects in the pipeline.

The Friday before I flew back to the UK took me to my third and final event, as I’d been asked to give a presentation at Referentum Talks, a celebration which brought together design students and Madrid’s most important design studios. There I gave a talk about how I went from design student to design director, talked through how we work at Erretres, and explained the process of our branding for Seedtag.

Here I am, probably making a joke about how I was going to do the talk in English.

It was lovely to be back representing Erretres on the design scene after the last talk I gave just before the pandemic, and it was a fitting end to a busy month of work before I flew back to England for a big family reunion – but more on that in the next post!