Once again, today I spent some time at the crime scene. Palm trees, sea, promenade and of course, pebbles. Wait, I almost forgot to mention the sun, the much-needed sun to warm us and give us energy, and optimism. No wonder so many Dutch and Norwegian retirees have found their place right here, on the Mediterranean coast.
Many Spanish actors have also been given a place on this promenade - in the form of a star on the pavement. Every year, a film festival is held and the award-winning and most famous actors who participated have their names carved on this promenade. Those who can walk there probably feel privileged.
And what about those who decide to have lunch right there, with the stars?
With much more modest demands, I went down to the shore and set up the dining area of this stretch of beach. Sunbathing and having lunch - could I even ask for more? The menu was also peculiar. On Tuesday evening, I saw a post by @theworldaroundme. She made a cottage pie, and I loved the recipe and the idea of preparing by myself something similar the very next day.
Psst, you will see that my version was much more different 😂
I went on Wednesday morning to buy meat (in the end, I didn't buy minced meat but a piece of turkey breast that I ground myself at home) and vegetables so the fun could start. I spent way too much time in the kitchen as I was somehow slow and it was the first time I was preparing this dish. I didn't have all the ingredients so some I left out but added some other things that I had at home. For example, I also ground a piece of eggplant into the filling.
The mashed potato topping was also slightly different; it contained boiled carrots and a pinch of paprika - that is why the colour is more orange than yellow. I hope Mariah will not get a heart attack now, seeing that her recipe suffered so many changes and the final result doesn't even look like a pie. 😂
I can say in my defence that it was an exercise in improvisation and that in the end, it's the taste that matters, not the appearance and the way it's served. ...in a plastic container... 🤐
There on the beach, I thought about the reason why I still come to this area... I moved. Full stop. The most logical thing would be to stop coming here for work, but I still want to honour the place where I worked for many years until they find another teacher, but that's not so easy for them. Honestly, I'm also sorry to completely cut off all ties with all my students here, so for now it's the way it is - a transition that could last for a long time, at least throughout the entire school year. But I also want to find my place (professionally) in our new place, it would be good to focus more on that and have faith in myself.
On the other side, coming here is great as it also means finding pebbles for that activity I want to pick up again. Kindness rocks... So, I brought home some of these with the hopes they would not sleep in my backpack for weeks or months. I need to find inspiration again for my rocks.
A tiny yellow shoe?
How it ended up here a few steps away from the beach, I have no idea, but it was cute so the shoe wandered into this post. This is how I am now, a traveller, a walker in a tiny shoe through this life, as we all are. And if our paths crossed one day, what would we say to each other?
