Category Archives: food & drink

and speaking of fish…

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in books, food & drink

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mediterranean seafood… this was delivered yesterday!

It was recommended awhile ago by my friend Fiona (aka Scribbler in Seville) when I was trying to find the English name for a fish I only knew the Spanish word for. It’s a great illustrated catalogue of fish and shellfish that includes several translations, and it also includes over 200 recipes. I have to say that the recipes came as a bonus because I thought I was just buying a reference book. It’s also the first book I’ve bought in ages. What was the last book you bought?

shed likes food

04 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in food & drink, friends, tapas, tapas tours, twitter, twitter friends, wine

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shed
Just over a couple of years ago I met Nicola Swift @ShedLikesFood on Twitter when she got in touch about taking one of my Sevilla Tapas Tours. It turned out to be a memorable evening as not only is Nicola a true foodie, as well as charming and fun to be with, but I showed up for the tour on crutches. In fact, it was the tour I mentioned in this post. I didn’t know at the time that Nicola and I would stay in touch on Twitter nor that two years later she’d be back, this time with her parents, for a week-long visit in Sevilla. And so of course we had to do another food tour! This time it was the Market & Tapas Tour on Friday, which you can see was a great success. Especially because Nicola actually tried two things she’d never had before – caracoles (small snails) and fried ortigüillas (anenomes). So now the challenge is on for her to eat something “weird” every day she’s here.

Sevilla day one: some new things

Of course I’ll be helping Nicola in this endeavour as much as I can. We’ll be going out for lunch on Sunday and then to the Feria in Jerez on Wednesday (her last day in town). Stay tuned…

pat’s tapas tour revisited

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, tapas, tapas tours, video

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ellen and hilaryJust over a month ago I got an email from a woman called Ellen who said she was an acquaintance of Pat’s from the Colon Club forum. Ellen had seen the video I’d made for Pat and, as she was going to be in Spain soon with her partner Hilary, asked about the possibility of doing Pat’s Tapas Tour. And well, I was delighted to do this.

So on Tuesday I met them at the Cathedral and we headed off to the first stop. It was quite an emotional experience talking to someone who had known Pat, even a little (Ellen had only had contact with Pat on the CC forum, looking for advice about her then partner, who has since died of cancer). But it was also fun to see how both Ellen and Hilary recognised the places we went to, as well as the food, and also some of the waiters and owners. And of course we talked about Pat… brought back so many feelings and memories.

Still miss you, Pat. And I always will. xx

a day off

13 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in food & drink, retail therapy, sevilla, spain, tapas, twitter, wine

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tio pepe en rama
So this is what I did on Friday! It was supposed to be a day off but my friend Fiona (aka Scribbler in Seville) asked if I was going to this very cool wine tasting event, which led to us both going there and then going for tapas afterwards, followed by a visit to a pop-up store that was taking place in a lovely boutique hotel, which included having rooftop drinks. After that I met up with Peter and as it was such a beautiful warm evening we just strolled around, eventually stopping for more tapas. I think I do less on working days! How do you like to spend days off?

For more info about this limited edition wine have a look here: Tío Pepe en Rama 2013

a lot of bull

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla, tapas

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toro de lidia jornadaI went to this press conference last week that announced a promotion of “bull meat products” by way of a competition by about 30 bars and restaurants in town, the challenge being to create a special tapa using the meat of the Toro Bravo (aka Toro de Lidia), which are the bulls raised to fight in the ring. Thing is, a lot of these bulls never make it to the ring and, as they are all free range and healthy as heck, they are a very good source of animal protein.

So I wrote up a blog post on Azahar’s Sevilla and thought that was it until I got a call from the Sevilla Tourism office asking me to be one of the judges. I was given a list of four tapas bars to visit and a form to fill out for each one, rating the tapa. I need to have this done by Sunday and hand in my results on Monday and then, if I want to, attend the awards presentation on Tuesday that will take place on the Feria grounds (the famous Feria de Abril starts at midnight on Monday).

Now I just need to find the time! Honestly so busy these days I barely have time to turn around. Not complaining though. I think this is the life I’ve always wanted! 🙂