08 Saturday Aug 2020
Posted in casa azahar, cats, caturday, home
My present cat family… Luna, Morcilla and Loki as kittens on top,
below are the beautiful Lua, Azar and Sunny, still very much missed. ❤
It’s International Cat Day (and also Caturday!) so here I pay tribute to all the cats I’ve loved before, and also to the ones who are in my life now.
07 Friday Aug 2020
Posted in casa azahar, cats, home
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This morning I found a (thankfully dead) MASSIVE COCKROACH on the guestroom floor, just to the right of where Loki is sprawling in that photo. And even though it was dead – cats must have done it in, those heroes – it took all of my everything to pick the fucker up in a handful of paper towels and flush the dread thing down the toilet. And then of course it wouldn’t go down. Took four flushes to stop it from bobbing back up like an evil hallowe’en apple. For one mad moment I thought the water might revive it and it would come back to life. Aaaarrgh.
After the first two summers here without a sighting I thought this latest Casa Azahar was somehow magically protected from these horrors. But then last summer there was not just one, but two instances. After the second one I spent the rest of August sleeping with the living room lights on. I mean, I know they are “just bugs” and I that am way bigger than they are, but I am totally irrational about them. I used to feel this way about large spiders but that was before I met Periplaneta Americana.
Anyhow, hours after The Incident I am still suffering from PTHB (post traumatic heebie jeebies) and jumping at any slight something I see out of the corner of my eye. Probably a good time for a glass of wine, or six…
06 Thursday Aug 2020
It’s taken three months to get here (don’t ask) but I have finally received my copy of The Wines of Northern Spain written by my friend Sarah Jane Evans MW. I ordered it back in April when the publisher had a special offer going and I had this rather naïve notion that I would be spending LOCKDOWN doing a lot of reading. Ha.
Have just had a quick look through and, man, this would have been so useful before I went up to Galicia last summer to do research for that Decanter article (in fact, it was Sarah Jane who first recommended me to Decanter, bless her!) but I had very short notice for that trip so there wasn’t time to order it then. Especially with a more than three month delivery time.
Actually, that was a mix up with my address. Three times. When I got in touch with the publisher after a month he wrote back saying the delivery company had come to my place twice and left notices for me to pick up the book at their drop off point. Well duh. Not likely since I was home all of May and June. Anyhow I got in touch again and they offered to give me a refund, but I was really keen on having this book, so they sent it a third time. This time they also took my phone number (don’t know why they didn’t do it in the first place) and last week I got a call from a guy who lives down the street saying his cleaning lady had taken in a package addressed to me. At his address. Duh. Anyhow, I finally got round to picking it up today because the guy said they were only at home in the evenings, and I don’t go out in the evenings, so we worked out a plan whereby he’d leave it at the shop across the street from me. But then it turned out they were leaving on holiday today and would be at home at midday… and so I finally have my book. Now I just have to get my brain out of lockdown mode…
05 Wednesday Aug 2020
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Well this made my day! And made me laugh out loud. Gary Larson has come out of retirement and is producing new material on his website. While it isn’t a return to daily cartooning (at least not yet?) it’s great to have him back. Also didn’t realise he had this website, so I can go there anytime now for my own daily fix.
I actually “met” him once (for all of 30 seconds) at a book signing in Toronto. He looked a bit like a cornered wild animal sitting at that desk, but hey, he spelled my name right. If you’re not familiar with his work then have a look at the website’s front page.
04 Tuesday Aug 2020
Posted in sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, triana
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So I hadn’t been to Triana since just before LOCKDOWN, and I hadn’t seen my friend Peter @SVQconcierge in ages, so it seemed like a good time to do both after hearing that Las Golondrinas II had not only reopened after lockdown, but also had a swish new look. First stop was Triana market, antoher place I hadn’t been to since February. As it is now pretty much 50/50 bars and market stalls, it was pretty quiet, with most of the bars still closed. But good to see the market area busy as well as a couple of the original bars there. Interesting that the old bars were the only ones to reopen.
Las Golondrinas was fabulous as always, and *mostly* good with the Covid stuff, though they are still re-using their plastic bread bowls without washing them first. Otherwise good distancing and care taken with hygiene. Menu was printed on single-use sheets.
Next stop was Blanca Paloma, and had also undergone a bit of a makeover. Interesting take on distancing along their ample bar with new “tables” that jut out so you can sit across from your friend and still feel comfortable. Re: cutlery (a thing of mine!), brought to the bar on a clean plate on top of napkins. Food was delish. Menu on Q-code.
On the way home (back in Sevilla!) we decided to stop for a penúltima at Castizo, which I hadn’t been to since just after Christmas. Nice touch is that they’ve put tall potted plants between pairs of bar stools to ensure proper distancing and the rest of the space is also carefully organised. One good thing about an open kitchen is that you can see everything being prepared in front of you so you know every precautions is being taken.
And then it was home again. This sort of afternoon would have been a usual part of my week on days off when I wasn’t taking out tours. Going out for lunchtime tapas, meeting up with friends and the people who run the bars, taking pics for updating my website, checking in on what’s new. Sadly now this is now down to about once a week. But hey, better than nothing! Photos below…
casa azahar 