In The Cave Village

The seafront is very dark and dramatic on the east coast.

Yesterday we visited a couple of cave villages here on Tenerife.
Oh, what a nice day we had!
I didn't even know that we have got villages her on the island where people live in caves.
I think these villages are the most far from the tourism you can get on this island?

I took a lot of photos but, like you see, they have got many different frames when I'm now trying to learn how to use a photo/frame program, that I found in my computer.

If you like, you can click on the photos to get them bigger and you can better see the details.

The cave village.


Me holding the hair in place. It was very windy.


Brito.


The sign says; No Basura. (No Trash)...and look at the ground!


The cats of the village were having a siesta. (Siesta= Nap).


The beach front path.


The two first cave doors when you start walking the beachfront.


These houses are not very well.


Have a look at this one!
The pillar has got two tiny poles as a support.


One of the families have made a pool in front of their cave.


One more cave entrance.
If you like to take photos of old houses I recommend you to go here!
You will find nice old looking photo objects everywhere.


Brito at one of the 'street lamps'.


Me having a rest.
This cave house has got some renovation...


Up on the top of the cave homes somebody is building a new house.
Oh, I would be very scared if I had to live in a cave.
Is it called claustrophobia?


On this photo you can see the earth is round.
When you get a whole big ocean in front of you, you can see it's round with your own eyes!
Can't you? And the waves are rolling in the uphill slope!


A sun grilled crab.


There's a cave in the end of the beach walk.
Brito went inside and took a video clip.
I'll show you in next post.


Me and Tarajales.


Brito .
The tree is called 'Tarajales'. It's very big!


On the way to next cave village we saw this little cut boat.


And this house that must be the smallest 'home' I've seen.


Somebody in the area had made a real big pool. Looks nice!


This is also something like a cave village.
The only difference is that the houses are built in under the
ceiling of this big open cave.


We ended the trip having lunch at one of the best fish restaurants in Candelaria.
A very nice and different day. It's never boring to be along with Brito.

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Lewinskis 02.02.2012

This short video clip is from last Thursday.

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Lewinski 26.01.2012

These video clips are from last Thursday.

In the first one the line dancers dance 'Disappearing Bubbles' and 'Chrystal Chandeliers' and
in the second video clip you get to listen to the song *Viva España' sang by my friend Juanjo from La Gomera. He is at the moment dressed in the folklore outfit of Canarias because he had earlier in the night been singing Canarian music in a hotel.
In this second clip you also can watch the "Spanish Caballero" dancing the 'Rio' line dance with the other linedancers.

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A trip in the mountains

Today we have had a trip in the mountains. We just felt we had to get away and have a day doing no business. We have both been working hard and we know that if we don't leave the town we will just go on and on. There's so much to do!
We left about 12 in the noon and came back home about 7 in the night...

To be honest with you our 'cut off' didn't work very well. Our heads have been full of business the whole afternoon, but we feel like we have had a relaxing day!
Many times when we take time off it seams like we somehow meet people in the right time in the right place etc and then we soon are into business again.
This is what happened today, but Oh, how we like it!
I'm sorry I can't tell you right now what we have been into. I will only show you some camera shots that I took during our trip.

This day has anyhow been just amazing and we are both so excited about how everything just seams like it has been planned by a higher force. We didn't have any business plans today!
Before we left I asked Brito where were going and he didn't know.
I said we must think a little bit about what we like to do today and where we like to go to not just drive around in the car like to fools without a destination, but Brito told me to not worry.
He said ;- Let us just drive around and see where the Lord brings us today, and when I didn't have any ideas in my mind I agreed and we just started the trip without a destination.
The only thing we knew was that we have to go to a shop in the end of the day and buy some food.
Anyhow, we just 'happened' to stop at a place where we never have been before and there we met a man that we didn't know before and then we soon were into business again...This man had been thinking of going down to Los Cristianos and look for somebody like us...!

Now we know this was exactly what we had to do today.
Sometimes it's better to not have plans for everything, like it seams.
If we would have planned the day in details we for sure would have missed it out.
Oh, I'm so excited about this day!!! It has been a real adventure!




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Lewinski 19.01.2012

Thursday nights are the most crowded in the week.
Last Thursday it was over 130 people who visited Lewinskis.
Please click on the small arrow if you like to watch these video clips.

Line dances: Pot Of Gold and Cumbia.

The 'Barn dance' is many times a floor filler even when it's a partner dance.

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Lewinski 12.01.2012

Last Thursday was a crowded night.
About 150 people visited the Lewinski terrace.
Please click on the small arrows if like to watch these video clips that
I took during the night.


The first hour...
Line dances: Rio and Caballero

The second hour...
Line dances: Telepathy and Crystal Chandeliers

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Lewinski 05.01.2012

Please, click on the small arrow if you like to watch this video clip.

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Polvorones

We have started the new year eating a lot of Polvorones.


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Una Tartaleta Rellena a la Brito

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He made a snowman of two grapes and the eyes are made of caviar and the hat is half a cherry.

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Datiles Con Bacon

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Dates inside bacon, is a typical snack among the Canarians

Brito has surprised me again;
This are my favorites now. I just love them!

You can have them warm or cold.
You can have them for breakfast, as a snack in the afternoon or as a tapas in the night.

I recommend you to try them.

Recipe:

20 dates from Palm tree
a package of bacon (20 slices)

Take out the seeds that are inside the fruits.
Roll a slice of bacon around every date fruit.
Lock the roll with a toothpick. Put them in a gratin dish and bake for
10 minutes in 225 C (425 F).
Enjoy.


(I don't know if you can buy the right dates in every shop, but we have bought ours at the Carolina shop here in Los Cristianos. They sell them there at the bread desk.

Ready.

The dates you buy in the shop look like this.


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Happy New Year

Photo; Our kitchen this afternoon.

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Lewinski 29.12.2011

Please, click on the small arrow if you like to watch this video clip.

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Nice Work Partners

It has surprised me lately how well the Canarians work with us.
As you know there's a saying that they normally are moving on very slowly
just thinking 'mañana, mañana...'.
My experience is the opposite!

The ones we work with are always on time, -so far. Even the shops that have delivered mattresses, laundry machines etc. It's only a couple of apartment owners who have messed around with us, but they will not get much help finding tenants next year.
Normally when Brito call somebody about something they start working on the problem directly.
They quickly make decisions and full fill them.
My experience is they are faster than many other nationalities here on Tenerife.
But, it may be said that Brito also have told them 'the rules' directly in the beginning.
They all know they have to be on time. If they, without reason, are more than 10 minutes late they fall out and have to wait til an other day to get a new appointment.

I've lately tried to get in contact about some business with a couple of people from
XXXXXXX (i will not tell you the nationality).
They haven't been answering me even when they know I like to buy something they have for sell.
They haven't answered the calls, not responded to my sms message. Nothing!
People who act like this will never get a big business. A person who can't take responsibility for small things in the beginning will for sure never be able to take care of bigger things later on.

Let's say they have changed their mind or sold the stuff to an other person..?
No problem! But if they are people or a business worth of respect
they would anyhow tell me as it is.
Just disappearing is very childish and I wonder; - isn't it many times
uneducated people who act like this?
I will anyhow not spend any more time on them!
They are not professional enough to be in my interest of doing any business with them.

Brito thinks the same. We decided today to skip them. We must move on to get things done and if we let people like this be like anchors that hold us back we better cut the line.
If you like to co-work with us, and get a piece of the cake, you must get on a higher level!

There was a man some time ago who made an appointment with us 12 o'clock in the noon.
He liked us to help him finding tenants for his apartment.
We went over there on time.
10 minutes after 12 he called, without telling us any excuse or reason, and said he will be late
and promised to be there within 5 minutes.
We waited for 10 more minutes and then we decided to leave to not cause
other people having to wait for us.
The man called us after additional 10 minutes (i.e. all together 30 minutes too late!).
Brito told him we couldn't wait for him any longer.

We decided to move this man down to the last number on our "priority list". He's still there!
We haven't yet been visiting his apartment when we think he probably will mess up our schedules by not being on time if we start co-working with him.
Imagine if he would refuse to bring us the keys the day before and we get them in the last minute...and when we open the door we discover no cleaning has been done...and the guest is on the way in from the airport...Oh Dear what a mess that would be!!!

The people we like to work with must be, in case of possibility, available for us.
They must be willing to work with quality, keep their promises etc.
If they don't they will soon fall out.

Maybe I sound like I think I'm very important?
No, I don't think I'm more important than anybody else. Neither Brito!
The problem is only we can't spend our days waiting for people who never show up.
It would drive us crazy! That's why we have decided to work like this.
And believe me or not; IT WORKS!


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Christmas Food

Oh, we have been eating and eating.
To be honest with you I became ill and got fever on Christmas day and then I didn't eat much, but before that I had a lot of everything, every day . .. Just too much!
Sorry if I make you loose your apatite in this post.
I'm just blogging about it to convince myself about how sick this is.

I have plans to get into a diet about the 10th of January. We'll see later if it works or not...
I would like to try out the diet that the English princess went into before she married the prince last summer.
I read somewhere that the diet specialists say it's more or less the answer for
the overweight problems of this earth.

I must loose at least 2 stones to be able to sing and dance in the same time,
i.e. without loosing the breath.
They say some people loose half a stone the first week which sounds very interesting for me.
I would like to see a quick result of my suffering and if I just get into it and start seeing the difference I will for sure make it. That's my thought at the moment...
I've made it before!!!

Oh, I just wish these weekends will get to an end so that I can start.
I'm not a fan of gaining more only because it's the New Year! But I also know the freezer must be emptied of cakes and pastries to make it easier.
This means I must continue eating for a while.

Poor Brito, after the 10th of January there will probably not be much delicacies in the freezer any more, neither in the refrigerator...but he can always sneak into a restaurant and have something yummy if he like...We'll see!

A Christmas plate.


Typical Finnish "sill sallad" with sour cream sauce.


Eggs filled with caviar and big Prawns.


Salted salmon with Swedish mustard sauce from Ikea +
Swedish herrings.


DESERTS:

Apple pie that we had with vanilla sauce or ice cream.
I've made two pies so far during Christmas.


A "Kladd kaka" for 8 people.
This is a typical Swedish brownie that we have with whipped cream or ice cream.
It's dark brown and sticky inside.


A nice cake for "fika".
It has got a layer of crispy caramel mass in under the chocolate.
Very delicious!!!!
We have made 2 cakes so far within two weeks, Brito has helped me out.
One cake has got 20 pieces.
Isn't this sick, please tell me!

This world is anyhow not fare. Brito can eat as much as he likes without gaining weight.
His body is always perfect. I grove bigger with every piece I eat! :-(


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I wish You all a Merry Christmas,
Susanne


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The White Carpet

He avoids stepping on the carpet...


He,he! Poor Brito!
For Christmas I have bought some new stuff for the bathroom.
Brito thinks the white carpet on the floor wasn't such a good idea.
He says it will very soon get dirty and yesterday, when I passed the bathroom door,
I saw him standing like this while he was brushing the teeth.

I know he's right, but I have plans to just throw it into the laundry machine, when it gets dirty + out on the line for a while.... and then it will look clean again.
For me it's more important how the bathroom looks.
I thought a white carpet would make it look nicer than a colored one...and
the price was anyhow only 10 Euros.
I will throw it away when it gets too dirty.
But then I probably will buy a bigger one, also white, because
this one is too small in my point of view.
But, there's one question...; -How will he stand if I buy a bigger one?


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Jealousy

Oh, I'm s-o-o-o.... tired of jealous people at the moment. They just make me tired!
There are people on this island who can sit all day, drinking beer and making fun of Brito and me and our business. I can't understand it!
We have both been working hard the whole autumn and there's no excuse to be jealous.
Nothing comes to you for free! It's sweat and hard work every day!

I believe many people get opportunities during the lifetime and they could make a great success and become very successful themselves, but when many see the work that it demands to get there they regret.
They are in fact too lazy to make it and they don't like to solve all the problems that probably will take place during the path. When they get the opportunity they sit and dream about it, without doing anything, til it has passed and the door is closed.
Because nothing happened the opportunity was passed to somebody else.

Some might think the right way of living on this island is sitting in the sun with a beer wasting the time away talking sh*t, but I don't like to use my time in this earth that way, neither Brito.
We both like business and enjoy working hard and nobody can steel that from us.
At the moment we, every day, face a lot of problems that need to be solved.
We take them one by one til they are solved and there's no word in this world to explain the feeling we have in the night when the day is over and everything is under control. It's just a lovely feeling and we thank God for every new day we can live this exciting life.
Last night we just stated;
"Tougher days bring greater victories in the end. Quiet days don't take us anywhere".

To everybody who is working hard; Good Luck!


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A nice snack

We are both working like crazy at the moment and tapas like this is what we
eat in the afternoons when we meet up on the balcony to update each other.
Quick and easy to prepare and so delicious!


Brito is just too sweet! Look what I found in my desert...


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Lewinski 15.12.2011

Here a video clip from last Thursday at Lewinski terrace.
Really many line dancers showed up and it was so fun to sing.
Please, click on the small arrow if you like to watch it.

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New Agenda for December

During December I will also have Friday nights off .
My new agenda is:

OFF: Monday, Friday, Saturday
WORK: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday , Thursday

In January I will go back to the normal schedule and sing Fridays.


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Gingerbread Biscuits

Brito is making a heart for me.

I have started baking for Christmas.
Yesterday I made gingerbread biscuits and the day before I made
cinnamon buns and cream buns.

Brito likes my cream buns and he eats at the moment 3-4 per day.
The gingerbread biscuits also turned out to be very delicious.
The receipt was quite big and we will have to bake for some more
hours before they all are ready.
I guess we will get about 100 biscuits from it.
I eat them with a piece of blue cheese + Swedish glögg and it's very delicious.
Brito is not a fan of glögg and prefer to eat them as a snack.

Before the baking.

Ready.


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Sardinas Frescas

Yes, I know I'm too spoiled! He made fresh sardines with
papas arrugadas and batas + mojo verde.
Delicious!


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Lewinski 01.12.2011

Here's a video clip from last night.
During the clips where you can see me singing, Eric Hill was behind the camera.

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Christmas Tree

Me.

I have bought a big Christmas tree in Sta Cruz, for the balcony.
It looks very nice. Almost like a real one.
Yesterday, late in the night, we started putting it together to be sure we
would not get a big audience.
I will show you a photo later when it gets ready.

Brito.

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Lewinskis 24.11.2011

Please, click on the small arrow if you like to watch the video clip.





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Painting, Painting and Painting

Maybe somebody has been wondering what I've been up to when I haven't said anything on this blog for a long time.
One reason, why I've been quiet, is that I've been busy painting (with Brito).
The apartment almost looks like brand new now.

We started the project by paining the balcony furniture earlier in the autumn. Then we figured out we must paint all the flowerpots too...
A couple of weeks ago Brito started thinking everything would look better if he would paint the balcony walls, so he started doing that...

When it finally was ready we started thinking we ought to paint the walls in the kitchen too. That was not the easiest thing because we had to change the color a few times before we were satisfied...

Then Brito started looking at the other rooms and he thought the walls looked so dirty and he started paining them as well...

One night when I got home from work and sat in the kitchen I figured out the golden mirror had to change color too, and all the furniture in the kitchen was in a need of a restoration painting and next day we started painting them all in the same color like before....The mirror turned into a color called "piedra" that is light beige-grey.

When this was ready Brito thought the curtains didn't fit any more and I went out on town and bought new ones...

Like this we have been going on the last 3 weeks! I think it will never be ready!
Every time we sit down and look around we get new ideas of things that have to be done.

Yesterday when it was my day off we took a trip to Sta Cruz and I bought a lot of stuff for the house. I have plans to make a video clip later, when the home is ready prepared for Christmas...


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Lewinski 17.11.2011

Please, click on the small arrow if you like to watch this video clip.

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Lewinski 10.11.2011

Please click on the small arrow if you like to watch the video clip.

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The Volcano

One of the latest photo of the volcano.

The most of you have probably at the moment heard about the volcano outside El Hierro.
It started about a month ago and is situated down in the water outside La Restinga where
Clas and I used to go for vacation.
The volcano is more quiet at the moment but it can very soon take of again.
They don't know yet if there will be a new island born but a lot of magma and lava have been spitted out and it has created a "mountain" down in the water that is over 100 meters high.
It's about 300 meters down to the seabed where it's situated.

Click HERE if you like to watch an all around photo that
has been taken in the area.
You can zoom in and out with the plus(+) and minus(-) keys and
look around by clicking on the different arrows.

The volcano a couple of days ago.



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Lewinskis 08.11.2011

We have been very busy at Lewinskis terrace lately.
Tuesday night it was 105 guests that visited us during the night.
A sad thing though is that I've caught a cold and yesterday I lost the voice
so that I couldn't sing at all.
Tonight (Thursday) I will sing a couple of songs but the most line dances will be
played as original tracks from the computer.
I've still got a soar throat and a hoarse voice and it's better to take it easy.

Please, click on the small arrow if you like to watch this video clip from Tuesday night.