Category Archives: casa azahar

labneh!

20 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in andalucia, casa azahar, food & drink, friends, home, homecooking

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So the first (and to be honest ONLY) time I had labneh was on a visit to Ronda in July 2012 and stayed at a small guesthouse run by a Lebanese woman called Anahid. She prepared breakfast for us which included fresh coffee and toasted rolls, gorgeous tomatoes with basil and olive oil… and labneh! I was so taken with it that I vowed to make it some day. And well, better late than never.  🙂

The inspiration came when I finally bought a Melitta coffee cone the other day, as I remembered it was very handy for straining yoghurt when I used to make tzatziki back in Toronto. I have since heard from friends on Instagram that paper towels in a colander @panepanna or a bra cup (!!!) @sledpress work just as well as the more standard cheesecloth method, but I like my little coffee cone.

After a couple of days in the cone, today the yoghurt looked ready for the marinade (olive oil, chopped parsley, lemon zest, s&p) and now it will spend another couple days in the fridge. I’m so excited! If it turns out I’ll put the recipe up on Azahar’s Kitchen (though I kind of just gave it to you already). Stay tuned!

km 0

10 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by in casa azahar, sevilla

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For all those years I lived in the barrio Santa Cruz I thought I was living in the CENTRE of Sevilla. Turns out I was just living next to the Cathedral. The actual KM0 is not far from Las Setas in Plaza Encarnación. Which means I now live more central than ever. And I really notice the difference, in terms of how quick and easy it is to walk pretty much everywhere. Including to my old barrio. This physical centre is also a lot more vibrant and – so far – still a place where locals can afford to live.

How close do you live to the KM0 in your town?

trial run

09 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by in casa azahar, health & happiness, homecooking

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So this morning I did a trial run – going to the supermarket and back – to see how The Leg is doing. Because after a couple of housebound days it was actually feeling better, though of course shuffling from room to room isn’t the same as actually WALKING. Anyhow, after about ten minutes the pain was back, but more localized, basically in the AAAAARRRGH area that the doc found on Tuesday, rather than random shooting pain all over the place.

Luckily Peter did my Triana Tour today, so I didn’t have to cancel it. Because it was clear that there was no way I could have (or should have) spent five hours walking around town. And I got so sad because DAMN it felt good to be outside again.

Anyhow, I picked up a few things to make a nice comfort food lunch. It started off as pollo al ajillo, but then I added some baby spinach leaves and made some peppercorn basmati to go with it, and then topped it all off with some chopped toasted almonds. Bit of a mash-up, but a delicious one.

What did you do today?

stuck at home

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, health & happiness, home

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So after two whole housebound days I’m kind of going crazy. The good news is that The Leg is actually feeling a bit better. Not so good news… I came down with sudden nasty cold complete with killer sore throat and ALL the mucous. Seriously, where does this stuff come from? Anyhow, am going to give myself one more day at home, though I might go out and do a bit of shopping tomorrow.

It’s helped that these past couple of days have been cold and rainy, so not as difficult to stay in and curl up with the cats. In fact, have spent quite a lot of time Netflixing with Morcilla. I’ve also got a lot done on a couple of work projects I have going, so that’s good. And it was lucky that Peter was able to take my tours out. But it’ll be nice to get back out in the world again. Let’s hope by Saturday I’m able to walk again!