comida

Whilst I continue to melt in the blazing hot Spanish sun in Madrid, there are few things I enjoy more than escaping into well air-conditioned cafés dotted around the city centre. Since I have been doing this a HELL of a lot, I thought it would be a nice idea to share my tasty experiences and big up some gorgeous places I rather like and would recommend to those living here or merely just travelling through.

Having friends who live a bit deeper into the city centre than me, I often find myself in the typically trendy area of Malasaña, dashing desperately into various establishments due to this area of many narrow, cobbled streets and traditional tall Spanish buildings trapping in all of the heat from a sunny day and thus eliminating any chance of a welcome breeze.

This of course is not an entirely negative thing, as it equates to sampling what Madrid has to offer in the way of a few of my favourite things; a good tea or coffee coupled with something yummy and sweet. And this particular area of the city does not disappoint.

One specific street, which I will certainly be mentioning in the future, is home to an array of delicious eateries and places to stop and cool down with some kind of tasty treat. Calle Corredera Alta de San Pablo, admittedly not the most elegant of streets, plastered with graffiti and inhabiting various garishly outfitted Chinese convenience stores, is actually a miniature goldmine for those wanting to sample something a little different from the typical Spanish offerings that are found on Gran Via, and areas as such that attract a high concentration of tourists.

This little gem, Afri's Cookies, had always been a place I'd wanted to try out since moving to Madrid, but I've only just tried it out recently when a friend of mine and I needed a sweet fix.

It's a small, bright, modern café, where you can perch onto one of a few stools at a wooden bar which faces out onto the street (and one of the many eye-catching stores commonly referred to in Spanish as chinos), listening to the dulcet sounds of indie and folk music whilst reaping the benefits of the air-con (amongst other things OBVS).

Being a proud British citizen, I think it's paramount that biscuits are of utmost importance when considering ones tasty treats, especially living overseas and not having quite the same variety of biscuits on offer here (oh how I miss the humble fig roll). The soft baked cookie offering of this establishment, therefore, adheres to this biscuit-shaped criterion perfectly.

Something, however, to which I wasn't particularly accustomed (for some horrifying reason) is the ice-cream cookie sandwich, which is the pièce de résistance of Afri's, a true rarity in the city. For those other poor folk not terribly well versed with the ice-cream cookie sandwich, it is admittedly rather self-explanatory and is shown in all its glorious goodness below; my choice was controversial, opting for what could potentially be regarded as the "healthy" ice-cream option, a very aesthetically pleasing raspberry sorbet (but then destroying any hope of a low-calorie snack by being brutally squashed and sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies, YUM). What it lacked in its ability to make consuming it even remotely elegant, it certainly made up for in sheer enjoyment; a delicious treat.

For round two (eek), we required some sort of bev, which ended up helping to wash down a few more of Afri's offerings. Paired with an excellent (and very reasonably priced) café con leche (the Spanish equivalent of a latté), these beautifully soft and delicious cookies, in a range of flavours, really hit the spot.

We decided to go for four different flavours and share them between the two of us, and the lovely owner even offered us a knife to cut them all in half for OPTIMUM sharing precision; (clockwise from top right) White chocolate and raspberry, Corazón de Nutella (interior anatomy of said cookie shown below), Kinder chocolate and Corazón de Dulce de Leche. They were all pretty divine but loving all things fruity, I was a big fan of the white chocolate and raspberry; a killer combo. The Nutella-filled cookie that I couldn't help but capture was also rather dreamy, albeit a little sickly, but for Nutella-philes - of which I know there are many - this is sheer perfection.

We found the decision making process rather difficult, though, as each cookie looked equally delicious! You can check out the entire range of flavours on the Afri's Cookies website, where you can also purchase them online. I highly recommend popping in if you happen to be in Madrid, whether on a trip or living out here, as it is quite a novelty in a city surrounded by - albeit lovely - traditionally Spanish sweet offerings, and it's always nice to find somewhere to avoid melting in the sun at least for the time it takes to sample a few cookies.

In the meanwhile, I'm making a conscious effort not to walk past too often as I fear it may be detrimental to my wobbly bits, and (hopefully) soon I'm going to need to squeeze back into my skinnies, eek...and on that note, hasta luego!
eleanorrosemary x

sweat

Well, this is embarrassing.

Of course what I'm referring to is yet another one of my hiatuses, this time lasting a bit too long for a legitimate excuse. Having said that, I should probably stop making excuses anyway, especially as my new(ish) life in Madrid has been rather bloody lovely! However, what I naively chose to ignore when I decided to relocate was that during the summer months, the services of a (highly talented and sickeningly humble) English teacher are not readily required, or not even half as much as during the academic year, and despite having a busy May and June, July and August so far have, in stark contrast, been quiet on the teaching front.

In theory this should have given me too much time to get back into the blogging swing of things – especially as the high street here is pretty spectacular – but one overwhelming factor with moving to Madrid, that I also rather naively chose to ignore, is that it's fucking sweltering. Apparently this is no problem for many a European blogger who all seem to look like beautiful shining bronzed goddesses, (I just don't understand how this lady does it) whereas yours truly, the “English rose” (which by the way is THE worst, backhanded compliment ever, because you're essentially highlighting the cruel fact that instead of getting tanned, one just gets gradually more pink), is more reminiscent of a pre-pubescent, post-Sports-Day-hater-of-all-things-Sports-Day who is decidedly swollen and sweaty. Hyperbole, admittedly, but you get the vague gist that the outfit has potential until stepping into the disgusting heat of inland Spain.

In the meanwhile, I took a little trip back home to Shrewsbury which was absolutely lovely, and picked up some new Doc Martens, which have made a brief appearance on my Instagram, if you fancied looking at my feet/things I put on my feet. I've also been getting slightly over-excited about AW14, and have already a purchased a lovely quilted pleather skirt and bubblegum pink jumper in the ridiculous sales which, at this rate, I will NEVER BE ABLE TO WEAR.

Winter clothing is just so much more fun, sigh. #whenwillthissummerend

I am so ungrateful.

Whilst I fervently try to stop whinging, hasta luego!
eleanorrosemary x