Category Archives: food & drink

red meat kills!

14 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in cancer, death & dying, diet & nutrition, food & drink, health & happiness, wtf?

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First of all, read this very silly article – supposedly Health NEWS – from the BBC:

Red meat increases death, cancer and heart risk, says study

Now I ask you… who out there with even half a brain doesn’t know that eating a balanced diet is the healthiest option? Who hasn’t heard (all their lives) that it’s best to eat red meat in moderation? Same goes for fried food, rich sauces, bacon, butter, pâté, fatty cheeses … you know, all the good stuff. And so when I read that a study of over 120,000 people over almost 30 years “suggested red meat increased the risk of death from cancer and heart problems” I clutched my head in despair. In all seriousness, there is probably more “risk of death” every time you cross the street. And, although I don’t eat much red meat myself, I still ended up with colon cancer. So go figure. I honestly don’t see how articles like these are beneficial to anyone – must’ve been an especially slow news day at the BBC.

Meanwhile, that tasty looking dish up there is a divinely decadent combination of perfectly fried eggs (with slightly runny yolks), grilled spicy chorizo Ibérico and potatoes, topped with thin slices of gorgeous jamón Ibérico. But as delicious as it is, I wouldn’t dream of eating that every day. Why? Because I’m not stupid.

I still can’t believe that after years and years of going to the Vineria San Telmo I only tried that dish for the first time during my marathon tapas tours the other day. It truly is to die for. So to speak…

extremo… or posible?

11 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in food & drink, hope, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas tours

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Yesterday was a bit of a blur as I had – for the first time ever – two tapas tours in one day. Talk about Tapeo Extremo! First a regular Sevilla Tapas Tour at lunch time and then a Gourmet Tapas Tour in the evening. And both went fantastically well. Met lovely people, had an amazing time with great food & wine & conversation. Ended up quite zonked but happy. Very happy.

So I now have a new goal, which is to set up this gastronomy tour biz properly, inspired by Twitter pal Gabriella Ranelli who runs Tenedor Tours in San Sebastian. As most of you know, I’ve been testing the waters since getting off chemo and back to work, but haven’t felt quite ready to bite the bullet and start up a new company with all the extra time and expense that would entail, especially as so far it’s just been a very part-time gig. But if things keep going well I think it may be time to start doing this as a proper full-time job.

Tomorrow I have another double-whammy day coming up with both lunchtime and evening tours – for the second time ever!! – but then nothing for a couple of weeks. Still, it’s quite exciting to think I could actually make this work. Will keep you posted…

upstairs

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in change, food & drink, friends, home, work

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For over a year now my fabulous upstairs room has barely been used. This is about to change.

It’s funny how chance encounters can make such a difference. The other day I stopped by my friend Maria’s shop and found her chatting with a rather exotic looking woman called Fourat. A few minutes later all three of us were sitting at La Azotea up the street ordering wine and tapas, and an hour or so later I was over at Fourat’s house (turned out she lives on the same street) setting up a Twitter account for her and talking about our various projects.

One of the many things that came up was my now sadly abandoned clothing biz and I mentioned how I hadn’t sewn anything in ages although I still had TONS of fabric. And so this morning Peter and I cleared off one of the tables upstairs and set up my sewing machines so that they are there and ready to go whenever I feel inspired, as one thing that always puts me off sewing is having to set everything up and tear it all down again afterwards. The other thing is that I don’t actually like sewing, but that’s partly to do with the first thing.

Anyhow… it’s such a perfect room for sewing because of the lovely natural light and it’ll be great to actually be using that room. Until now it’s mostly just been Peter’s classroom for the couple of students that come to the house, even though there’s a comfy chair for reading and a music system set up. I’m sure that once I’m spending more time up there it will also inspire me to start doing more with the terraza. And all because of one chance meeting. Fourat (who gives classes in Lebanese and Mediterranean cooking) and I are also planning a project or two together, so stay tuned for that…

“skinny girl” wines? wtf?

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in culture, food & drink, wine, wtf?

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So I came across this today, which I thought was quite vile. A brand called “skinny girl” (bad enough in itself) that is promoting “skinny wine” at – gasp! – 15% fewer calories than a regular glass of wine. WTF?

Apparently this is the brainless-child of someone called Bethenny Franklin, who previously marketed a range of “skinny cocktails”…

This supposed “Food-Health-Lifestyle Guru” appears to be promoting more alcohol consumption with less guilt about getting fat, as none of her wine products are lower in alcohol than other wines, and are only slightly lower in calories. According to this Wine Spectator article, most dry wines are about 100 calories per 5-ounce glass, though may vary up to as high as 120 calories. So what Franklin seems to be marketing is the opportunity of doing the same amount of liver damage with only the tiniest bit less damage to one’s already anorexic figure…


…because who the hell else would care so much about 20 extra calories a glass???

pigging out in style

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in food & drink, restaurants, sevilla, tapas, twitter, wine, work

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One of the perks of having run the Sevilla Tapas blog for almost five years now is that I occasionally get invitations to interesting (usually food-related) events. What’s also interesting is that – as a blogger – I am getting acknowledged as “press” and even – gasp! – as a writer.

Yesterday I was invited to Restaurante Alcuza by gastronomy photographer Manolo Manosalbas, to preview their “Iberian Pork Days” menu, which will be available to the public starting today until March 3rd. Everything from starters to dessert featured cerdo Ibérico de bellota, the best of the best, made from acorn-fed blackfoot free-range pigs.


I have to admit that I wasn’t crazy about the ice-cream, but everything else was sensational and was perfectly accompanied by wines from Bodegas Torres. After six tapas I was quite happily stuffed! I was also glad to have a chance to revisit Alcuza as I had first gone there almost two years ago but hadn’t been back. Question of too many tapas bars, too little time and money. But I will definitely be back to Alcuza again soon.

Looks good, doesn’t it?