Yes, it feels to us like this renovation business has been going on forever, so I dread to think how it feels for you my patient readers. But we’re so very close to to finishing our own place. Not totally you understand, a home can’t be created in a month or two. That takes time, love and memories. But the construction is almost there.
By Wednesday the bathroom will be fully installed. It will have gone from this…
To this…
To finished.
The kitchen will be complete too, so I’ll show you what they look like soon.
In the meantime I’ll recreate a simple cold charcuterie dish we ate with my parents over Easter. A platter of prosciutto, salami, pancetta, coppa covered with baby rocket, toasted pine nuts,shavings of fresh parmesan and tomatoes then drizzled with olive oil. Perfect for sharing.
As I say…not long now!
Chica Andaluza 
I’m sure it must feel longer for you than for all if us in the back seat- thanks for taking us along for the ride!
Ah, thanks!
Glad the renovations are coming on well. This looks wonderful – I’ll be trying something like it with the wild rocket when I get home!
Simple dishes like this are perfect now that we are moving away from the heavier winter food 🙂
that would be the most perfect food for me too, especially right now. Every sunday johns mother cooks lunch and it is always some big hunk of boiled meat and potatoes with a bowl of chopped up iceberg lettuce called a salad. She tries so hard but today i am feeling a little under the weather and could not face it so john has gone in by himself.. now ofcourse i am deeply envious of your salad and your almost finished bathroom and kitchen. It does take such a long time doesn’t it.. c
Oh dear, I guess your back is getting you down today. I know what you mean…often in Spain we have to go to family at the weekend and it’s usually meat heavy with a tiny salad drenched in too much vinegar and when I’m feeling under the weather I crave light fresh vegetables and food that appeals visually too. Rest up, hope you’re running round the farmy again soon 🙂
Very true, all I want to do is curl up, but i cannot curl up as I will not be able to UNcurl! I sent john in to have lunch without me and she very sweetly sent me out a plate..It makes me SO MAD when i cannot get around at a decent pace and there is so much to do, but it is easier for me to do it at a slow pace rather than shout from the verandah. c
Celi I do hope you’re feeling better today. Am off to see what you and your bees have been up to. Take care 🙂
That is one amazing transformation. Not long now….
It’s a critical few days for some big changes 🙂
I love scattered salads…they make me think of grazing :). I wouldn’t have any pine nuts on the salad though (only because I ate them before dinner time 😉 ). I LOVE the excellent use of tiny space in that bathroom…using the same tiles on the walls and the floor certainly makes that teeny tiny bathroom look a whole lot bigger :). Removing bathtubs is the only way to get more room in teeny bathrooms. We did it in our house in town where the girls live. The bath took up most of the room and although it was lovely to have a bath…who has time to waste soaking and who can feel righteous about all that water? (and who can be stuffed bucketing it all into the garden after it cools and a nice grey line forms around the bath as a bonus? 😉 ). Glad you are almost finished and bet it feels like you are on the home straight :).
Grazing is the way to go for sure! Pine nuts are delicious but quite “heavy”…they always taste very creamy to me, so you can’t eat too many. We’re thrilled with the shower (still waiting for the doors to go on)…we do have a lovely bath in Spain but to be honest, rarely use it (especially there where water is a precious commodity). In the UK we’ve had a water meter installed which makes you extra conscious of what you’re using. Will be interesting when I need to bath the dogs…we’ll all have to get into the shower together!
My daughters bribe their dog into the shower ;). Earls only experience with water is when he goes in up to his neck down in the river (salt water this end of the Tamar), gets too curious near the hose in summer and when he gets rained on outside…I wouldn’t even DARE to try to get him into the shower!!! 😉
Ours tolerate the bath in winter (they just sit there shivering and glaring) and in Spain it’s the hose in the garden in the summer…this will be an interesting experience for us all! Poor earl, ours only like puddles but so far are not interested in rivers or the sea.
Earl isn’t interested in water full stop! We can’t keep Bezial out of it…must be that 1/64th labrador that he has in him (the same bit of labrador that makes him a “hearty eater” 😉 )…Earl is a different kettle of worms. Worms suits him better than kettle of fish by the way. Up to his little armpits is about as far as Earl gets and only on a nice hot day ;). The rest of the time he loves to smell…preferably BAD! He found a dead Tassie Devil on the road the other day…well technically “I” found it and was trying to coax it’s semi putrid carcass over to the road verge so that I could collect it’s skull once the ants do their business…one day they might be extinct and this might be all that I can show my grandkids to prove it BUT Earl decided to take advantage of my concentration and hurled himself upside down onto the rotting carcass…sigh…”HOSE TIME EARL!” 😉
Eek, that must have been stinky! In Spain ours like rolling around in goat’s poo and here it’s seagull s**t! The other day it was sunny and I put their bed outside in the sun. A seagull must have thought “aha, a sitting target” and managed to get the two of them plus their bed in one shot…:( They didn’t seem that bothered but I wasn’t too happy!
Hee hee! “Hose time dogs!” 😉 (and seagull if the water will reach that high 😉 )
Hi , Chica, thank you for sharing your renovation business with your co-bloggers….!
I’m looking forward to seeing the photos of the final result and clapping in admiration….
Thank you…we can all congratulate each other on the infinite patience you have all shown with me!
Love this kind of food! As you say – perfect to share.
Your place is looking great, Tanya 🙂
Thanks Marianne. I think Spain really taught me a lot about plates of food designed to share with others!
That’s truly my idea of a perfect salad….or a topping for a pizza, depending on my mood! Love seeing how it’s all coming together, the tile, and the fact that you added the window at the top of the space in the bath. I know you can’t wait to be done and dwelling! 🙂
Yes, wouldn’t it be a wonderful pizza topping! The borrowed light in the bathroom is working well…it’s never going to be a bright room but during the day when just “popping in” we don’t need to put the lights on anymore!
I’m enjoying the renovations and food. Great shower! 🙂
Thanks MD – the shower doors still have to go on and the loo etc…but it’s looking like a proper bathroom now 🙂
Love the goodies’ covered charcuterie plate: oh boy, have not seen coppa here forever and i love i!! Lovely bathroom walls . . . methinks all the time spent will be forgotten in a flash once it is all ready 🙂 !
We can’t get coppa in Spain but here in the UK delicatessans it’s fairly readily available.
Excitement abounds!
You can almost smell the excitement here!
You’re so right, renovating a home is a never-ending process. I like it because I become interested in my home, it feels new again. You’ll have a beautiful space when it’s finished and I can’t wait to see. I’m loving the look at this dish.. my stomach just growled, lol, so I think it must agree:D
It’s easy (well, relatively) to do the building stuff, it’s the little details that evolve over time that really make a house a home…never ending, but I a good way!
Good luck with everything. Can’t believe it’s almost done
We’re oh so very close…the kitchen is being tiled on Thursday and then we can think about moving all our stuff in 🙂
Your place is coming along very nicely, Tanya. If your kitchen looks at all like your bath, your guys have done an excellent job. I smiled as soon as I saw that platter. I’ve seen one very similar to it at countless family get-togethers when I was a boy and today I associate them with good times. 🙂
Yes, the antipasti were always so tempting…the trouble was you had to pace yourself to leave space for the pasta (ravioli in your case) and then the meat and/or fish, then the salad, cheese and dessert!
I feel your remodel pain. But the end result is worth it…almost.
Yes, now we’re onto number 3, the pain has dulled a little 😉
Perfect renovation food – put it on a plate, then eat!
Looking forward to the finished product – as I know you and Big Man are 😀
Counting the days now!
I’m so envious. I have no ability at home improvements whatsoever, and I love the look of that simple shower. We’ve been wanting to tear the bath out of our bathroom and replace it with a shower but the estimates are insane.
Shall we stop off on our way home and sort it out for you?!
Awesome – your home is looking fabulous – can’t wait to see the end result and that platter is SCRUMITY!
🙂 Mandy xo
Thanks Mandy! Just trying to get the shower door in right now 😦
I think the new bathroom looks way better. Your Easter meal is our standard Christmas fare 🙂
Thanks Tandy – our antispasti is a staple at a lot of our family celebration meals!
So exciting to be on the brink of finished! That salad looks delicious by the way.
It’s a great time, hard work, but very exciting!
Can I hear the corks popping, nearly there, so very nearly! Well done to the two of you!
Yes, must get a few bottles on ice!
Hola Tanya! Me alegro mucho de que ya casi este lista vuestra casa. El baño está quedando fantástico.
Voy a echar un vistazo a tus post anteriores porque me temo que me he perdido mucho…
El plato de fiambre tiene una pinta buenísima, no se yo sí estaría dispuesta a compartirlo… 😉
Un abrazo
G
No te preocupes Giovanna, estás muy liada…Un abrazo 🙂
Oh the near-end of the construction – how wonderful. You know, I kinda think a home is never competely finished. We tweak and then rearrange and then move stuff always, within the boundaries of the main walls etc. Its one of the wonderful things about owning a house I think. Oh, and collecting stuff lol.
I so agree – things are always added or taken away, gifts given and received… furniture moved, memories made!
Wow, what a transformation… how long as it been now anyway? Quite some months, right? When you say “our own” house, does that mean you’re moving there for good? Maybe you told us about that already and I missed it? What about your lovely place half-way up the mountain? 🙂
Never fear! “Proper” home is Spain, this is our holiday place, probably for the winter months and for when we come to visit in the UK. It will also be our base for our renovation works – which has turned into rather a little business now, but this will only be for a small part of the year! Back to Spain soon 🙂
perfect food,…
i like it
even home renovation is almost the same as building a new house that is to be put on a new concept and some thing different from the previous