Roasting a chicken with pears and onion

So a good portion of my day today was spent preparing food! Just after waking up though Paddy and I took Una for a walk to Terradillos and back. We passed at least ten pilgrims on the way there. Come summer they'll number in the hundreds per day. It shouldn't be so busy when I make my pilgrimage, but there will surely be more people than there are now in March.

Arriving back in Moratinos, two of them men we'd passed were resting in the Plaza Mayor near the church. One was a Spaniard and the other an Austrian. The latter of the two did nothing but complain the entire time we talked with them: “There isn't a bar in Moratinos; This town is so small; There are too many dogs; I was too cold last night in our albergue despite my military sleeping bag; We've walked so far already; We haven't eaten yet today.” All this was rather unappealing, and Paddy'd noted that had he not been “such a whining asshole” we probably would have had them over for tea and a bite to eat. Instead he assured them that the bar in San Nicolas was just up the Camino. The best part is they're hoping to be in Santiago by this coming weekend. I don't even think that's moderately possible, especially if the 6km from Ledigos had worn them out already.

When we got back I went to work clearing up the courtyard, sweeping, moving some things to the workshop and backyard, and giving the basin next to the well a good scrubbing, while Paddy went off to Sunday Mass. After he got back he gave Una a bath, and she looks remarkably clean now and smells good. We'll see how long she can go without getting dirty. Not long I suspect. Paddy also says the weather is due to change this week, “winter coming back,” the newspapers report. I hope that doesn't happen, though to any extent it can't be as cold as it is in Ohio!

Over at The Alamo James and Marianne had constructed the frame for their huge arch that's going into the Great Wall being built. In the spirit of naming James' endeavors after historical places, I'd call it such. This Great Wall though is certainly of no Asian persuasion, and the arch he's planning to build – three meters, or six feet, across it's widest point–is pointedly (ha ha) Arabic/Moorish. All, including James, have agreed that they seem to be building the set for some grand school production of Arabian Nights.

So then, onto the cooking. For lunch I roasted the chicken that Paddy picked up in Sahagun yesterday. I coated it in olive oil, seasoned it, and stuffed it with quartered onions and pear. To go along with it I made homemade onion and sage dressing, green beans, and baked potatoes. After calling my mom for some help on timing the cooking, and some simple conversions between Fahrenheit and Celsius, the chicken cooked for about an hour and a half, and came out perfectly done. Very juicy. After we ate I immediately set the carcass in a soup pot, filled it with water and began to boil it down to make dinner for later.

I took a nap after our late lunch, and got back up to clean up the mess from cooking earlier. Seasoned the soup, removed all the bones and inedible bits, added some carrots, potatoes, and the leftover green beans then finished it up with a bit of rice. The rice ended up burning onto the bottom of the pot, but I was able to skillfully save the soup before it was burnt flavored. Not to mention, I'd used too much rice as is, and the soup resembled more of a thick chicken and rice stew! Nonetheless, we all ate, and shortly after I decided it was time to turn in after listening to a bit of my book, Return of the King.