Monday, March 7, 2016

#1618 simple pleasure Monday: my dog, lotion and tortilla de patatas

When I got home from work this evening, I came upstairs to my bedroom, opened the curtains to take a look at the street and the sunset, and laid down on my bed. Osi took her spot at the foot of the bed, looking out the window. My feet were cold and I pushed them gently underneath her warm furry body. Her fur is so soft and she is just heavy enough to not mind that my feet were under her. It was great until she got annoyed with me wriggling my toes under her and she shifted away from my feet. She didn't move too far away though. I was still able to rub my feet on her soft warm fur.

I that point I sat up and looked at my feet. My skin is so dry, not just on my feet, but on my hands and my arms and my legs. I put plenty of moisturizer on my face, but I neglect the rest of my body. The dry air is one of my least favorite things about Utah. I decided to take a few minutes and put some rich creamy body butter with a wonderful fragrance on my feet and my hands. That's when I decided that the dry air in Utah was a blessing in disguise because it is essential to have lots of lotions around to fight off the dry skin. Of course, having lots of lotions around isn't beneficial if you don't take the time to smear some on your body. At work I do a good job of moisturizing my hands, but for some reason, at home, I rarely take the time. It feels so good to put the lotion on my dry skin. It's like my skin is taking a big long drink of the sweet smelling lotion.

One last simple pleasure: I had several small potatoes that I decided to cut up and boil. I like to boil the potatoes until they are slightly soft, fork-tender if you will. I saute some onion in canola oil until they are sweet and fragrant, then I add the potatoes to the onions and oil. I sprinkle some smoked paprika on the whole thing, add a little cracked pepper and let it cook until there is a little crispiness to the spuds. Tonight I decided to make a tortilla de patatas - a potato omelet.  I put some of the potatoes and onions is a small pan, then beat two eggs and poured them over the potatoes. I cooked it at medium temperature until the eggs were set on the bottom. I put a plate over the top of the pan and flipped the omelet over, then pushed the omelet back into the pan, uncooked side down. It only took another minute for the omelet to cook through. I sprinkled a little hot sauce (Marie Sharp's green) on top and dug in. It was wonderful - not as good as my mom's or grandmother's tortilla de patatas, but it will do. Bonus part - I have plenty of cooked up potatoes left over to do it again this week!

1 comment:

Kteach said...

A tip from my mother. When you put lotion in your arms or legs. get a wet hand towel and rub your arms and legs, and feet so they are not wet but damp, then apply the lotions. It's supposed to make the lotion work better than just put it on dry skin, which is to say, the best time to moisturize your body is after a bath/shower. Mi mama had amazing skin, so it must work.