How is the post-holidays going?
This year we took some extra time off from work to visit my family in Madrid and spent with them the 2 key days of Christmas: Christmas night dinner (with some board games & lots of food), Christmas morning (with the crazy opening presents by the family kiddos) & the family lunch.
It really felt wonderful to be with them at this time of the year, after so many years with heartfelt cards telling each other that next year we should celebrate together. Of course, not everything is picture perfect, always there’s some typical stress involved, specially with the holidays that put so much pressure on everyone. However, I was in the best of moods and I really enjoyed it very much because I made the best of all the hugs with our nephews, auntie and cousins.
I can be very boring about this, but the relationship of Dani & my nephew Samuel always makes me smile so much, they are best buddies.
It was great to see Madrid once again (love the city!) and be able to visit some shops, cafés and restaurants that are on my never-ending wishlist. I was specially excited to visit HanSo Café, which people from Madrid in my Instagram was raving about and that I have to gladly report that exceeded my expectations (check below!). Although some extra hours (or days!) in Madrid would had been great, we focused on being more with my family, walking around to see the Christmas lights, visiting a Lego exhibit which my nephew Samuel was obsessed about and spending some quality time at home.
My auntie smiling also makes my day, she has so much work at home dealing with all her grandchildren everyday that when she meets with my mom they are like two little kids themselves.
If you read great reviews of Hanso café, please believe the hype, ha! This industrial meets Japanese café in Malasaña (one of the hip neighborhoods in Madrid) was delightful. Dani can report that the coffee was one of the best he has ever tasted, and so was the Matcha latte.
We came here after our lunch, so we finally had only enough room in our bellies to order a cake to share. I definitely need to visit again to taste more of them because the matcha one we took was up to our Usagui (our favorite cake shop in Barcelona) level, which, if you know me, is saying a lot. We also had a glimpse of their amazing-looking waffles with fresh fruit, from the table next to ours.
Grosso Napoletano was also a newer addition to our favorites list. This pizza place was recommended by a foodie Spanish blog I follow called O lo comes o lo dejas. They have several locations in Madrid, this one was in the Goya neighborhood, which I discovered that had lots to offer! The decor was top-notch, a good match to the amazing good Margherita Neapolitan pizza. I would skip the rest and choose the Margherita if you wish to have a better taste of their pizza dough.
My nephew Samuel is now 10, so he looks like a grown-up, but still he is a precious little kid that loves attention, which we give him heaps. When I look at him I try to guess how would he be in a few years, as a teenager. Crossing fingers the teen angst doesn’t come too bad, he is so very loving & affectionate right now. We took him 1 day-off by ourselves to the Lego exhibit and then for pizza & ice-cream (yes, doing our best to reach the aunt & uncle podium, ha!) and on our way back home he spontaneously gave us a super big thank you because he had a blast. My heart pounding, of course!
The Lego exhibit displayed 6 different dioramas created by Lego collectors. The most impressive was the city that included some hidden characters (mostly super heroes) that were a fun touch. All the kids tried to find all of them shouting: here Iron Man! look, Spiderman! The other dioramas included a Christmas town, Medieval Castle and a Greek temple. All of them with more than 90.000 pieces.
If you stumble by one of Mistura ice-cream locations in Madrid, please don’t skip it. They have artisan ice-creams and milkshakes, Daniel took Matcha and Red Velvet and believe me that you should try this combo. Then, you can choose a topping for each of your flavours. My toppings were butter cookie and white chocolate. Also, you can get good recommendations for the best mixings from the ice-cream scoopers, that’s what we did!
We couldn’t miss the opportunity to introduce my nephew Samuel to Ramen, it was his first time and he absolutely loved it (I knew it, ha!). Ramen Kagura offers an amazing tonkotsu soup ramen, and what surprised me this time is that you can choose the amount of ramen noodles (small – 100 gr, medium – 200 gr, large – 400 gr) which I think it’s a good way to go, sometimes I feel like there’s too much noodles in my soup. I ordered the medium, but I would go for the small next time. Also, we realized how much cheaper things in Madrid are (compared to Barcelona), a medium Ramen with two chasu pieces, mushrooms, bamboo & 1/2 egg, is merely a 7.8 euros ticket. In addition, they have Calpis soda! Can’t get any better for me.
Family time
On the Christmas morning we went to my older cousin home to open all Santa presents. The grown-ups had a secret Santa waiting for us, and the kids, well… all the rest of the presents you can see in the picture below, ha! They were super excited of course. I got from my secret Santa a Norman Bates Funko Pop (the exclusive one in black & white) and a DIY printer set. Dani got 2 Nintendo online store cards, definitely Santa knows him well *wink*
We ordered Santa a few presents for my family kiddos as well. We asked him to deliver to the little Oliver a vintage baby yukata from Kamakura (I don’t have a proper picture, but it was adorable!), a Lilo & Stitch house for Akane and (of course) a Lego for Samuel.
Afterwards, we went to a restaurant for the Christmas lunch, and then rushed to the train to go back to Barcelona to our Juno. I missed her so much!
This beauty on top is Akane, Samuel’s little sis. She is now 2 and a half and she makes the biggest pouting kisses. She talks so much as well, and knows all her colors & numbers (proud auntie alert, ha!). Below you can see Oliver whom is currently 9 months old, very sweet and calm.
Thanks for being able to scroll down until here! Just a last fun fact, can you see the cats on the Christmas lights? It is not because cats are the cutest, but because Madrid people are called “Gatos” which means cats in Spanish. Isn’t that a fun touch?
How did you spend the Christmas? I would love to see your pics as well! Do you have your Christmas haul pictures somewhere? Leave the link, it’s one of my guilty pleasures.
Can’t believe the year will be gone in 2 days, we’ll definitely be back to wish you a happy new year very soon. Hugs!
This was such a sweet post, the shot of you an your aunt hugging is so adorable! Also you guys with Samuel, reminds me of my relationship with my little bro (BIG AGE GAP!) he’s 14 now and I’d say the last couple of years we weren’t as close but I can see him developing into such a nice adult now that it warms my heart! I also love seeing Ben with my little bro, it’s very sweet and my little brother adores Ben and looks up to him! Eep! Also Damaris, you are killing the fashion game, I didn’t think anyone could make cold weather attire look good but you nailed it!!
Happy New Year!
Thank you so much dearest Fee! Oh! I also totally think about Samuel when I see your pics with your little bro, it had always reminded me so much of him and the type of relationship we have <3 I'm sure you would be a great advisor about how the teenage years will be with our nephew (always secretly wishing we could live next door and just casually stop by to talk). Big hug!
these places go to my bucket list for my next visit in Spain, definitely!
Specially remember to add HanSo! :) <3 hugs!
Oh that would be lovely! I think all you have to do is have faith that he will come out the other side of puberty a rad person, especially since he has amazing qualities now! I definitely stressed more than I should have, I think, hormones are tough and maybe most people become a little more self conscious which can be tricky to navigate. Okay my advice (which I’m still telling myself!) is not to worry :) he he!
Aww Samuel is so precious, and you and Dani are wonderful aunts and uncles! Akane and Oliver are super cute as well! I spent the holidays with my family as well, and I’m always taken aback by how much my youngest brother grows! I still remember him as a cute little baby, and now he’s in high school, arranging his own plans with his own friends! I’m glad he’s still a sweet kid and hasn’t had an angsty phase :) Also, all the eats you photographed look so delicious, and I love the size of your scarf — it looks so cosy! -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
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