17 Tuesday Jul 2012
Posted in food & drink, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours
Are there no limits to my talents? 😉
Take a look at my latest venture… Market & Tapas Tours! I was out doing research on this today with a friend and plan on a “trial run” soon with a few willing “guinea pig” friends. Really very excited about this as it’s something that can be done in the morning and won’t leave me wasted so I could still do an evening tapas tour. And it’s also something fun and different. Whaddaya think?
04 Monday Jun 2012
Posted in culture, fiestas, food & drink, social media, spain, travel, trips, twitter, work
Tags
granada, Holiday Apartments, sevilla, travel, trips, veoapartment
So tomorrow I’m going to Granada and this is where I’ll be staying!
As with my recent day trip to Córdoba this trip to Granada will be part of my 20th anniversary celebrations but will include doing some research for my own websites and also for my friends at veoapartment.com. Markus very generously offered to split the cost with me by providing the accommodation, and well, just look at it! Small and perfect and in a dead-centre-of-town and easy-to-get-to-everywhere location. I couldn’t be happier.
At first the plan was to just stay overnight but it turns out that not only is it Feria in Granada this week, but also Corpus Christi, which is apparently a huge deal over there. Seriously, even more than here where they spend weeks erecting a couple of elaborate arches for a 3-hour procession…
Anyhow, I now have two nights in Granada! So I’ll be leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow (it’s a three-hour train ride) and will spend the day meeting old Twitter buddies John (aka @benzo8) and his wife Gale. I’ll also be meeting a new Twitter friend and travel writer Molly (aka @piccavey) and possibly also with fab photographer Fred Shively during my stay. Peter is also coming but will be taking a later train tomorrow because he has an English class in the morning. He’ll also be leaving earlier, on Wednesday evening, because Azar really can’t be left on his own for more than one night. Still, it will be a nice break for Peter, and he can also help me with some of the research stuff. Win-win!
If you want to feel reallly envious check out the veoapartment “apartment tour” video of my fabulous get-away place here…
30 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in art, food & drink
Tags
image © Christopher Boffoli
LOVE this series called Big Appetites by artist Christopher Boffoli.
Check it out.
03 Thursday May 2012
Tags
BIG surprise when I got a text message from Jessica asking if I’d be free for lunch today! Turns out she’s been in town doing research and, with that out of the way, she was free to play for an afternoon. We met early because I had to go to the hospital to get my chemo port flushed out and Jessica offered to come with me – nice! So we taxied there and back and then got caught in a massive downpour, ducking inside a cosy doorway just in time. I have to say it’s not everyone you can actually enjoy being trapped by the rain with. Finally we made it to our lunch destination – a new place called La Brunilda. Very nice kinda gourmet tapas but without the gourmet prices. In fact, I’ll be taking my tapas tour group there this evening for our last stop to see how well it works as another “less traditional” option (Jessica’s suggestion).
After a lovely lunch and lots of catching up we stopped by La Azotea so Jessica could see their new location and we ended up having a nice chat with Juan. Then I stopped by the Bodeguita Romero to take a photo for their blog and reserve a table for the second stop on tonight’s tour. And as Jessica had asked me where I got my hair cut we went by so I could show her where it is and I was surprised to find it open (it was just after 4pm). So we decided on the spot to both get our hair cut . Such a girlie thing to do! I treated myself to a dye job, which I usually do at home, and had a wee trim. But Jessica had about 10 inches cut off! She ended up with a feathery just below chin length bob that looks amazing on her … and I forgot to take her photo! Damn. Because after we were done at the hairdresser we walked a bit until I had to head home and she went to do a few errands before going back to Paris tomorrow, and I got a bit choked up about saying goodbye and so totally forgot about taking a pic. And so you get these cute barrels from La Brunilda instead.
Now I have to quickly change, fluff up my perfectly salon-dyed and blow-dried hair, and go meet my clients for a fun evening out.
Life is good…
02 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in food & drink, quizzes, restaurants
Tags
Denmark’s Noma won first place for the third year in a row at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, which took place in London the other night. Three Spanish restaurants made the top 10: El Celler de San Roca, Mugaritz and Arzak.
Want to test how much you know about restaurants and their signature dishes?
Take the BBC Restaurant Quiz.
