Had lunch in Sanlúcar de Barrameda yesterday.
It was the first time I’d been out of the house in a week (not including the hospital visit last Wednesday) so I was quite looking forward to getting out and going somewhere nice for lunch with Pipocas. I was also feeling cautious of overdoing it like I did on my first day out after the liver op. And so of course I ended up going on a six-hour trip in order to eat the famous langostinos of Sanlúcar…
Just to be on the safe side I texted Dr A before I left, asking him if it would be okay for me to make the trip to Sanlúcar (he’d already given me permission the day before to have ONE glass of wine at lunch) but I hadn’t heard back from him by the time Pipocas came to pick me up. So we decided that sitting in the car wasn’t overly an strenuous activity and off we went, arriving at our destination about an hour and a half later. As we were walking towards the Bajo de Guía (which the parking attendant told us was five minutes away – the liar!) I checked my mobile phone messages and there was one from Dr A telling me it would be best for me to stay in and take it easy this weekend. Oops.
I was feeling pretty tired by the time we got to the restaurant area on the waterfront but we found a nice looking place called Casa Juan and got an excellent table on the terrace with a nice view of the beach and Doñana Park across the water. Next dilemma was to decide how much wine constituted ONE glass, which was a bit like answering the old “how long is a piece of string?” question. Pip finally decided that it was exactly the size of the rather generous wine glasses on our table, which was better than her other suggestion that we have several lunches and I have one glass of wine with each of them. And so we ordered … and everything was wonderful.
langostines with garlic
fried baby squid
monkfish brochette
After lunch Pip went to get the car while I sensibly waited for her at the waterfront, and when I got into the car I put the seat back and rode home in optimum comfort. Though I had to admit I had once again overdone it a bit. Still, it was great to get out and also fun to visit Sanlúcar again. Last time I was there was about 12 years ago with my alcoholic millionaire ex-boyfriend (but that’s a whole other story). Pip had never been there before and she really liked it. It was a bit disappointing that I wasn’t able to walk around much – sorry, Rain, I hardly got any photos at all – but we both want to go back. There’s a manzanilla fair in May and they have horse races on the beach in August. You can also go horse riding on the beach there. In fact, we saw a group go past while we were eating but I wasn’t quick enough to get up and get a shot of them.
I’ll do better with photos next time…
Sanlúcar pics
casa azahar 
Again with the food! But I love looking at it. However, I now confine you to quarters until next weekend unless Dr. A says you can go. Well, OK, maybe a half hour walk a couple times a week, but NO 3 hour treks. Got it?
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If I ever get over that way, you MUST take me there. I’m all about the horses…used to be a groom. And good food.
And yes, don’t overexert yourself. Get used to getting dropped off and getting the table while your friends find parking. It works very well as a system.
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I hear ya, Silverstar. I did learn my lesson from the last time in that as soon as I got home I put myself to bed for a couple of hours. Not to sleep (I was reading), but just lying down for awhile helps relax the incision area. When I went back to bed later on I slept for a solid eight hours, which is NOT usual for me. Must have been the sea air. 🙂
I’ve been wanting to go horse riding there myself, Rain. It’s a date!
While we were looking for parking yesterday we saw that there was an outdoor Feria de Tapas going on. That would have been fun to go to, but I couldn’t have walked around that long. We also didn’t get to wander around the old historical centre … next time!
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the fried baby squid look scrumptious
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Food, food and more food…
Don’t you do anything but eat in the South…?
*envy*
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A girl’s gotta eat lunch, dq! 🙂
It was very pleasant sitting outside on the terrace at midday. And this morning the thermostat on the bedroom heater said 18º (instead of 12º). So maybe that cold snap is finally over.
Everything was scrumptious, nursemyra, but I agree that the puntallitas look especially good. We also really enjoyed dipping our crusty bread into the hot garlicky olive oil that the langostines were cooked in … mmmm…
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STOP IT!
I can’t take anymore of this…. *wah*
*walks out to have a look in her rather empty fridge*
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Wow, that looked delightful. Seafood is my favorite.
I’m glad you got out a little bit, that looks like a neat place.
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I don’t have time to email you, az… My Mom has had some sort of “turn”, again and is at the hospital. She had JUST got the all clear from her cardiologist to keep driving. At least this happened (as have all the others) on solid ground rather than behind the wheel. She was at church.
I’ll let you know what the outcome is.
Love ya….
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yum.
I hope you recovered quickly from the trip, sounds like it was good for the soul even if not strictly advisable for the old stitches/staples 😉
I had the most delicious japanese meal with friends on Saturday night and thought of how much you would have enjoyed it!
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Mom is okay. She did one of her fainting things, again and they called an ambulance. They checked her heart and her blood sugar and found nothing untoward. Her blood pressure was very low when the paramedics tested it and then it went a bit high but was fine at the hospital.
She had dinner and was sent home. She is fine, now.
One good thing to come out about this was that I was able to have a quiet talk with the doctor at the hospital about her memory which he noticed, He has written a letter to her doctor to suggest that she be tested for her memory.
I am very concerned about her driving if she continues to have passing out spells. There didn’t seem to be any real reason for it but that doesn’t make it any less worrying.
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The cold snap has ended here in the Irish midlands. After a few days of solid frost, we’re back to the rain. It was really dreary this morning. Not quite so bad now, but the skies are still grey.
TRiG.
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We are in the middle of a very nasty cold snap. Temperatures are hovering between -1 and 5 degrees C.
The food looks wonderful. I guess I’d better go make some breakfast.
A “serving” of wine generally is considered to be 6 fl. oz., which would be right around 175ml.
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I meant to say that when we were at the hospital, I mentioned to my Mom that I should have brought my camera along to take a photo of the meal they gave her. It was relatively good as hospital meals go, here, but nothing on the near-gourmet meals they have at the hospital in Seville!
A thin slice of chicken (it might have been turkey), mashed potatoes, peas and carrots (rozen), a small serving of fruit crumble (very sour, said my mother. It was a diabetic meal), tea and a small carton of milk which I noticed was only half full when I opened it(!).
She said that it was, on the whole, better than the meals they served at the QCH which is the hospital she normally goes to. This was the Civic Hospital.
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Glad your mother is okay, Anneke. She really ought to stop driving!
That sounds about right, hmh. I usually get 4-5 glasses of wine out of a bottle.
Must be that warm front from Scotland, TRiG. 🙂
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