Category Archives: food & drink

who invents stuff like…

10 Thursday Jan 2008

Posted by in food & drink, home, weird

≈ 12 Comments

cleaningslippers.jpg … slipper genies & tatermitts? tatermitts2.jpg

And that’s not all – Amazon offers a special deal if you buy both the slipper genie cleaning slippers and (are you ready?) dust mop plaid dusting slippers. I mean honestly, why plaid? According to the customer reviews they work quite well, the main downside being that if you pick up any sort of sharp object you’ll end up scratching the shit out of your floors. Considering the amount of stray bits of cat sand flung about casa az I don’t reckon these are going to be a future purchase.

The tatermitts looked rather interesting – check out cheezy 50’s style ad here (my favourite line is “the possibilities are endless!” 🙂 ) – but then a quick googling turned up some very unsatisfied customers. And the “peel a potato in 8 seconds!” claim is pretty misleading as you have to boil the potatoes for five minutes and let them cool before using the scary nubbly gloves on them (which are basically rubber gloves covered with bits of sharp stone – maybe cat sand?) . Too bad they don’t work because it’s really a good idea.

Awhile back Lori wrote a post about inventions she’d like to see. How about you? What would you like to see invented?

~ tatermitts first seen on Boobs Radley ~

saturday at the saffron bar

29 Saturday Dec 2007

Posted by in food & drink, holidays, photos, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 1 Comment

tapas.jpg

And a new tapa experience…

For ages my friend and student iskenderum has been telling me that I MUST go to Taberna del Azafrán (azafrán means saffron) and today was the day. Kind of impromptu as it was around 12 o’clock and I was still in my pj’s so we decided some serious motivation was required to get me dressed and out the door. Being a gorgeous sunny day I suggested we hop on a couple of Sevici rental bikes and finally try out this place. And so that’s what we did, arriving just before 2 and getting the last free table in front of the bar.

So okay, it ended up being a lot more expensive than we’d planned on since at the tables you have to order raciones (you can only get tapas at the bar, which was jam-packed) but we decided what the heck. Especially as we didn’t go to Lisbon. And so we ended up having quite a substantial and delicious lunch. Which would have been really lovely had the waiters been even remotely friendly, which they were not (according to iskenderum this is always the case with the waiters there, but he says the owner is very friendly and pleasant). Anyhow, the food was very nice so maybe we’ll go back sometime and give the tapas a try … and hopefully the bar staff will be friendlier than the waiters.

The best part was the monogrammed plates with a stylized AZ on them. 🙂

Check it out on the Sevilla Tapas blog…

christmas open house! (2007)

25 Tuesday Dec 2007

Posted by in christmas, food & drink, friends, holidays, home

≈ 8 Comments

tree.jpg

For anyone who would like to drop by. . .

Nog & I will be out mid-late afternoon, having lunch at Casa Robles and then stopping by our friend Eric’s place for a drink, but other than that it’ll be a quiet day at home (famous last words – last time we stopped by Eric’s for a drink we ended up lurching home around 6am!). We were actually invited to Eric’s ‘Christmas orphan’s’ lunch out on his huge rooftop terrace, but somehow we feel more like a quiet meal together this year, and then joining in on the party ‘ambientation’ later, picking up our friend Maria Paz on the way, who will be working.

Anyhow, all the puters will be on in case anyone wants to say hello by IM or Skype:

Yahoo IM – azaharh2g2
Skype – azahar.sevilla

And look! Matt has made it possible to snow in Sevilla!  🙂

f_holly.gif

potato salad

01 Saturday Dec 2007

Posted by in food & drink, home, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 2 Comments

patatas.jpg

Well, it’s not just any potato salad. . .

For years now I’ve been going to Bodequita Romero and one of the very lovely things they do is give you a complementary tapa of fabulously garlicky marinated potatoes as a starter. And I have tried copying this very simple dish at home, time and time again, yet it never turns out just how Pedro Romero makes it.

And so today Nog & I stopped at Bodeguita Romero for our usual Saturday pre-shopping snack (around 1pm) and it turned out that Pedro was just about to mix up the potato salad and I asked if I could watch … you can see the pics here (photos 8-11).

It was very simple, yet also methodical … not at all how I’d tried doing it at home, which was mixing up all the marinade together first. Clearly I’d been doing it all wrong! And so, this is how you do it right. . .

First you sprinkle on some coarse sea salt and toss the potatoes. Then some more salt and toss some more. Then you add finely chopped garlic and do a bit more tossing, likewise after adding very finely chopped spring onion bit by bit. And toss, toss, toss – by toss I actually mean flipping the pot outwards and upwards. No spoons, no stirring – I reckon this is also where I was going wrong.

Then pour over some dry sherry vinegar, once, twice, three times, and after each time flip the potatoes so it’s all mixed up together. Finally pour a whole whack of very green virgin olive oil over the salad, let it sit for a few minutes and then tip the entire mixture into a large bowl. Then gently mix with a large spoon, backside of the spoon up … and then serve to extremely appreciative customers who have been watching you and taking photos. f_drool.gif