reprieved & relieved

24 Thursday Jul 2025

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Signed my new contract for Casa Azahar today and so… phew! At least one more year here (and hopefully many more). But every year it’s the same thing, getting all stressed about maybe having to move and I really really really don’t want to have to do that, frankly ever again. Anyhow I promised myself that if I didn’t have to move this summer I would splash out on a new mattress while the sales were on. Looking back, I bought my present bed back in October 2012 so it’s probably overdue by now, plus there’s a noticeable dip in the centre. Peter’s isn’t quite as old (March 2016) but his mattress wasn’t that great to start off with, so that’s it. We’re both going mattress shopping! No idea what I’m looking for. The IKEA one I bought with the frame was fine but I can’t remember anything about it. This could take a while… any tips?

cat stand upgrade 2025

23 Wednesday Jul 2025

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, home

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So this year Luna not only got a new cat stand (as she does every year) she got an upgrade. I usually just get the same model as it’s cheap and doesn’t last long anyhow. But this time I was looking around online, saw this slightly taller one (with more dangly bits) for about the same price and decided what the heck. As soon as I got it unpacked and on the table Luna was all over it, glaring at me as if to say… WELL, GET TO WORK. So I did and, once finished, she showed her approval by immediately ripping the shit out of it.

more tomato madness

22 Tuesday Jul 2025

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Well, look at these! Went a little overboard at the market on Saturday, but I loved those gorgeous tomatoes from the other day so much that I had to get some more. Then I saw they had more varieties so I ended up with the mar azul (asurcado antociano) again, cherokee, tomate rosa and also some cute little kumat & cherry-plum hybrids.

The only way I’ve ever enjoyed cherry tomatoes has been roasted so I decided to do that with these baby kumats and found a recipe online for “upside down” tomato puff pastry thingys (three mini pastry tins fit in the air fryer perfectly). I added roasted shallots and garlic, and some herb cream cheese, which made them tricky to flip over as you can see on that messy plate below, but they were delish. The others I just ate sliced with evoo and maldon salt. So much flavour there it would be a shame to miss out.