Category Archives: andalucia

feria by day

18 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by in andalucia, fiestas, flamenco, sevilla, sherry

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The April Feria in Sevilla is not my favourite thing – in fact it’s not even my favourite feria – but I do like stopping by for at least one afternoon to see the splendid horses and the lovely flamenco dresses. By chance this year it has also coincided with the azahar, which is still (just barely) on the trees. It also suddenly became summer yesterday, with beautiful blue skies and temps of around 32º or more.

So here are a few pics from yesterday, with possibly some “feria by night” ones to come. It’s been years since I’ve been to Feria in the evening, but I have an invitation to go tomorrow, so we shall see.
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singular wines

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in andalucia, restaurants, sevilla, sherry, wine

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As soon as I saw the line up for this sherry tasting I knew I’d have to attend. I was already familiar with Velo Flor by Bodegas Alonso, one of the most unique (and delicious) manzanillas I’ve ever tasted, but the Pedro’s Almacenista Selection range by Singular Wines were new to me.

The tasting was at BaQvs in the Hotel Casas de la Juderia, and was led by fellow sherry educator Luis Gutiérrez, who is also the owner of the restaurant. Along with the five fabulous wines – fino, manzanilla, amontillado, palo cortado, oloroso – we were given a  history lesson on the origins of wine making in the Sherry Triangle region, and also taken through the sherry making process. It’s clear that Luis really knows his stuff, though I would have liked a bit more tasting note info and discussion on what actually makes these wines “singular”. But it was a pleasant evening, and thanks are due to BaQvs restaurant for the organising and hosting of the event.

semana santa 2018

02 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in andalucia, culture, religion, sevilla, spring

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Well, that’s it for another year. Semana Santa was quite a different experience for me this year as it was the first one since moving to the new Casa Azahar. From this location other processions were closer to me, so I found myself seeing a few I had never seen before. And my mission – to get a few pics of at least one or two processions each day – was accomplished. In retrospect I should have edited and filed the photos every evening because going through them all now was a bit overwhelming. Anyhow, here are some of them (unlabelled and not in chronological order)…
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cádiz getaway march 2018

08 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, spain

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A bit of a déjà vu experience, as Peter and I were just in Cádiz a couple of weeks ago during Carnaval Chiquito, but other than a couple of the “must dos” we ended up having quite a different experience. Also it was the first visit for Jane and John, and we were happy to show them around. After a quick trip to the central market, this was the rest of our day…

cold beer o’clock at La Sorpresa

snacks and sherry at Casa Manteca

tapas at Antonio Del Palillo and El Faro followed by a walk to La Caleta Beach

picatostes at Café Royalty

bodegas luis pérez

07 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, sevilla, travel, trips, wine

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I had been wanting to visit Bodegas Luís Pérez for a while, and finally got my chance on this trip to Jerez with friends Peter @SVQConcierge and John and Jane Bachner King. Although firmly inside the Marco de Jerez, it’s not, in fact, a sherry bodega, but rather produces red wines, once just as important as the white Palomino Fino sherry grape, but lost long ago for a variety of reasons, the coup de grace being delivered by the phylloxera virus that devastated European vines at the end of the 19th century.

The bodega was founded in 2002 by Luis Pérez, former enologist at Domecq and professor of chemistry at Cádiz university, when he bought the Hacienda Vista Hermosa, a farmhouse on the hill at the top of the Pago de Corchuela outside of Jerez, and began the work of planting the new vineyards with red grapes. These days the bodega is mostly run by the Pérez children, Willy and Fátima. Willy’s new project is producing vintage unfortified sherries, as they used to be made before the trade and shipping demands of the last few centuries that led to the development of the present day solera and criadera ageing system. I tasted some of these sherries at the Cuatro Gatos Wine Fest a couple of weeks ago and they are very special indeed.

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carnaval chiquito

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, gastronomy, getaways, tapas, tapas bars, trips

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To be honest, you couldn’t pay me to go to Cádiz during Carnaval, so when Peter and I made a last minute decision to ditch El Puerto for a Sunday afternoon in Cádiz I was relieved that the celebrations had finished the previous weekend. Or so I thought! When we got to Hostel Casa Caracol to drop off the suitcase (a great service, and just a short walk from the train station) the guy at reception informed us that we had arrived just in time for Carnaval Chiquito, a kind of “last hurrah” until next year. Oh boy…

Our plan had been to do a three-stop tapeo at some of our favourite bars, as well as take a walk along the beach, and then stop in at the splendid Cafe Royalty before catching the train home. And well, we did manage all that, but both the streets and the bars were absolutely heaving (though to be honest, the bars are probably that busy on a Sunday anyhow). We totally lucked out with the weather, with the predicted rain holding off until after we got home, and warm enough to walk around in shirtsleeves. So it turned out to be a great afternoon and made me realize that I really have to visit Cádiz more often.

one perfect lacy tortillita de camarones at El Faro

three-bar tapeo: chicharrones de Cádiz at Casa Manteca
chocos & prawns at El Faro
grilled presa and stewed abanico at Cumbres Mayores

fabulous picatostes at Café Royalty

La Caleta beach and the Cádiz Balneario

madrid fusion 2018

17 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in andalucia, events, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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Madrid Fusión is an international gastronomy fair aimed particularly at chefs, but also at other industry professionals. As well as the main exhibition area, the highlights are the cooking demonstrations and master classes, wine tastings and competitions, and seminars on a wide range of topics from new cooking techniques to environmental issues.

This year’s event is the 15th edition and runs from the 22nd – 24th of January, and is extra special for Sevilla because the City Council and Tourism Board is promoting the city and its tapas, including a Tapas Jam Session “show cooking” on the opening day. This fabulous video features the four bars taking part in this presentation and I am so proud to be able to say that they are not only four of my favourite bars, chefs, owners and teams, but they are also my friends. I’d love to be there to cheer them on, but I have a previous work obligation so will be there in spirit instead.

The featured bars are: La Azotea (chef Santiago González) Cañabota (chef Marcos Nieto), El Gallinero de Sandra (chef & co-owner Nacho Dargallo) and Lalola Taberna (chef & owner Javier Abascal). Watch the video – it’s gorgeous.

[also posted on Azahar Sevilla]

a day in jerez

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, getaways, sherry

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Sometimes the best plans are the ones that are barely planned at all. I had started thinking about last year’s Birthday Month, when I took a short getaway trip each week of January to celebrate my big 6-OH birthday on the 7th (one day is never enough 😉 ). Anyhow, it seemed a bit much to celebrate 61 in the same way – but wait until I turn 65! – and yet I still wanted to do something special. So I decided that taking a day trip each week this month would be a fun thing to do. Then I realized that I was already in the middle of the first week and still hadn’t planned the first day trip!

Then by chance I got a “follow” on Instagram from Bodegas Fernandez Gao, an up and coming winery in Jerez I’d been interested in learning more about and, although I knew they still weren’t offering tours, I asked if I could pop by for a visit – and they said yes! So that sealed it. I decided to go to Jerez for the day. And of course I immediately got in touch with my friend Tomoko to see if she wanted to meet up. It turned out that there was already a little party planned at one of my favourite bodegas and I ended up getting an invite. But after our visit to Fernandez Gao we decided to stop off at Las Bandarillas for a quick lunch before heading over to Urium.

I can’t remember the number of impromptu fiestas I’ve stumbled upon at Bodegas Urium. At this point that place really feels like my second home in Jerez. This time expat pals Paul & Anne had arranged a little “sherry and Christmas cake” thing at the bodega, that ended up growing… and eventually included me and Peter.

It was a fabulous bodega party, with everyone (I think maybe 25 of us?) all standing around a long food-laden wooden table with sherry glasses in hand, all talking, all catching up. Some people I met for the first time, but it was mostly meeting up with old friends. Afterwards Paul, Ann and Tomoko joined us in the center of town for a “penúlitima” before we had to catch our train home. A perfect day out.

christmas lunch in málaga

16 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in andalucia, christmas, Malaga, malaga getaway, travel, trips

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The traditional Málaga Christmas lunch has taken place at many different locations and with different people over the years, but the one constant has always been these two, my lovely friends Arpy & Fred. This year it was just the three of us and we managed to get an early table at the fabulous Mesón Mariano, which was new to A & F. The place has been booked solid for holiday meals for over a month, but we got there right at opening time (expecting to sit at the bar) and were told we could have a table if we left before the booking came in. Which gave us an hour and a half, which was plenty of time to enjoy the following…

Garlicky clams, braised artichokes “montillana”, albondigón in almond sauce, and baby goat chops al ajillo. Because we had started lunch early I realised that I could probably comfortably catch the earlier train home, so I would arrive at 8 pm instead of 11 pm, and so that’s what I ended up doing. But we still had time for a penúlitima outside on the terrace of Mesón Cofradia. It all worked out perfectly and was a great way to finish my short-but-sweet Málaga getaway.