Author Archives: azahar

antequera getaway 2023

18 Tuesday Apr 2023

Posted by in andalucia, getaways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

antequera (1)

My last trip before Covid lockdown was March 11-12th 2020 when I went to visit some wineries in the Axarquía and also near Antequera, culminating with a visit to Bodega La Capuchina before heading home. Little did I know while I was coming back on the train that evening that the world was about to change.

Then a few weeks ago my friend Jeffrey and family moved to Marbella from LA and since then he’s been foodie-ing up a storm visiting bars and restaurants all around Andalucía. He hadn’t heard of Arte de Cozina (and I hadn’t been there since 2016 with Victor) so when he invited me for lunch I leapt at the chance to go back. As we had some extra pre-lunch time I got in touch with Susana at La Capuchina and she very generously offered to pick us up at the train station to visit her bodega and her assistant Mercedes took us to Antequera in time for lunch, dropping us off right in front of Arte de Cozina.

And what a lunch it was! Our friend Victor was supposed to meet us there but was a last minute cancellation, which was a shame not only because I was looking forward to seeing him again, but also because we really could have used an extra stomach (!!!). Jeffrey and I did the best we could but couldn’t finish everything. Chef Charo Carmona and her somm son Fran took excellent care of us, as they do with everyone, and it was a crazy delicious experience (listed below).

Afterwards we had to find our Victor-less way back to the Santa Ana station by taxi (he was going to drive us) and both of us ended up missing our connections, so a long wait ensued in the most charmless middle-of-nowhere spot imaginable. Even the Sad Café was shut. Oh well… it was still a fab day out. Lots of good memories.

antequera (2)

•Selection of porras: tomato, blanco and orange
•Croquetas de la casa (with ensaladilla): puchero, bacalao, gambas, espinacas y piones, queso de cabra, setas, chorizo
•Baby artichokes with crispy garlic and Pedroches jamón
•Pork-filled calamares a la malagueña with potato purée
•Traditional lomo de orza – a MUST HAVE
•Choto malagueña (baby goat) a la pastoril

gente en rama

17 Monday Apr 2023

Posted by in sevilla, sherry, wine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

tio pepe en rama 23 (1)

This year’s Sevilla presentation of the 2023 Tío Pepe en Rama took place at the glamourous Villa Luisa. Each spring this limited edition selection is chosen by Gonzales-Byass master wineblender Antonio Flores from two of the oldest Téo Pepe soleras, Rebollo and Constancia, and it is then bottled without filtration or clarification to ensure the freshest “straight from the barrel” fino sherry experience.

I had a great time meeting up with so many friends and colleagues. The sherry community here is quite a special one. My only “complaint” is that we weren’t given a bottle of this year’s en rama to take home as on other occasions. Time to go shopping…

tio pepe en rama 23 (2)

caturday april 15th 2023

15 Saturday Apr 2023

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, caturday, home

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

caturday april 15 2023 (1)

Happy Caturday everybody. It’s been two and a half weeks since Morcilla had her surgery to remove the mystery lump on her little head. As you can see she has made a full recovery and at this point you can barely see the scar over her right eye any more. A shout out to Sonia and her fabulous team at Centro Veterinario Triana for taking such good care of us this past month or so, first for helping with Loki’s sudden illness and death and then getting Morcilla back to health. Not only super professional and capable, but also very compassionate and caring.

Please don’t take it the wrong way when I say that  I hope I won’t have to see you again for a long while but I am so grateful knowing you are there. Thanks again for everything! 🧡🐈‍⬛🐾

caturday april 15 2023 (2)