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~ my life in sevilla

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Category Archives: food & drink

radish fever

11 Tuesday Feb 2025

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, sevilla, substack

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

radishes, sevilla, substack, tapas

Jeffrey was in town over the weekend and on Saturday he invited me out for THIS AMAZING LUNCH at La Carmela. But before that we had to stop in at Las Golondrinas so Jeffrey could get his radish fix. This is a guy who regularly eats out at Michelin starred restaurants, as well as having his own place in Marbella called Andala, so it’s kind of cute how giddy he gets about these radishes. But they really are simply spectacular.

Somehow we both ended up starting on Substack at the same time last month and it’s actually been quite fun and helpful having a Substack buddy. We give each other encouragement and – really important at the beginning – helped each other figure out how the damn site worked (many whatsapp chats and calls). It’s quite a steep learning curve but works great once you get the hang of it. Anyhow, here are links to both our publications so go have a look and, if you like what you see, please consider subscribing for free, and if you REALLY like what you see you can opt to become a paid subscriber.

Substack – Bitesize Sevilla
Substack – Xtreme Foodies

lunch with reyes

08 Wednesday Jan 2025

Posted by azahar in birthdays, food & drink, friends, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

birthday, casa morales, la barra de inchausti, sevilla

birthday reyes (1)

It’s always a great time with Reyes. It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to meet up sometime during Birthday Week so today we met at her iconic bar Casa Morales, founded by her great grandfather in 1850. We started things off with a glass of Codorníu rosé cava and a bit of exquisite jamón Ibérico de Bellota from renowned producers Sierra Mayor before heading out to our lunch destination.

birthday reyes

This was to be La Barra de Inchausti just around the corner. Another family-owned spot, now run by siblings Isidro, Concha and Jorge Inchausti.  MORE fish and seafood and that was totally fine by me. We got there early enough to get “my” table next to the window and it was perfect. Afterwards Reyes suggested we have a penúltima at Morales as that was also on my way home.  So a little more cava rosé, a bit more jamón and I think I got home from lunch about 8.00 pm. One more birthday lunch planned this week. Stay tuned!

birthday reyes (2)

We had…

  • Codorníu Ars Collecta Blanc de Noirs Cava 🥂
  • Tortillita de camarones
  • Bodegas Santa Marta Godello Viñaredo 🥂
  • Albóndigas de choco
  • Alubias with prawns
  • Breaded monkfish liver
  • Garlicky grilled monkfish
  • Torelló Special Edition Costa Brava Corpinnat 🥂

bitesize sevilla

06 Monday Jan 2025

Posted by azahar in culture, food & drink, gastronomy, music, podcasts, recipes, sevilla, spain, substack, work

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bitesize sevilla, sevilla, substack

bitesize

So remember when I started off the New Year last week by saying goodbye to Twitter and writing my first Substack post? Well, I am just now coming up for air. I had no idea that one post was going to turn into its own publication and brand and open up all kinds of ideas and possibilities. Also Substack is the most unintuitive platform I have ever participated on, and so a lot of time this past week has been spent just trying to figure it out. I think this is because it is trying to be too many things. Aside from being a publishing platform for writers it has various other features such as the aforementioned separate publication option, plus posts, notes and chats (don’t ask). And there is also a podcast option, which I have yet to look at.

As a result of all this STUFF there, there are at least three “HOME” pages and two “SETTINGS”… plus you have to set everything up, which is tricky to do when you can’t remember which home or settings page you need, or even where you last found them on your dashboard. Anyhow, things are pretty much operational now and happily it’s not tricky to navigate simply as a reader, so please have a look if you’d like to… Bitesize Sevilla (two posts up so far!). And if you like what you see you can subscribe for free.

And so how is this different from all the other platforms I am on? Well, I’m glad you asked, because although Substack may seem like more of the same, the hope is that it will start generating some much needed income. Not only because of still being sidelined due to THE KNEE, but also just because it’s exciting to have a new project and do something a bit different. The writing for Bitesize will overlap with my other blogs, websites and social media, but the aim is to create an essential guide to all things Sevilla… all in one place.

For the moment the posts are all free to read as I am getting started by publishing a series of basic info posts, but once I start researching and writing more in depth pieces then people will be able to access those by subscribing to one of the payment options (monthly or yearly). I’m also considering a podcast for a bit later on. My feeling about most podcasts I’ve been listening to is that they’re just too long. I plan to make mine “bite sized”, maybe half an hour. And again, some will be open and others for paid subscribers only. But first things first. I have a LOT of writing to do now and so I’d better get to it!

a dantastic afternoon

28 Thursday Nov 2024

Posted by azahar in christmas, food & drink, friends, restaurants, sevilla, spain

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

christmas, dan jamon, friends, lalola, restaurants, sevilla

deb graceDeb & Grace

Deb is back! This time with her friend Nina. And so we met up at Manolo Cateca, along with Grace (who is soon to be neighbour) for a pre-lunch sherry and to also delivery their Sevilla L’Armanaques. Peter also joined us as I wasn’t actually able to carry the two almanacs on my own (they’re quite heavy this year!). He then took home all the lovely loot Deb brought for me from London: mince pies, the latest Decanter mag (with my article in it!), a lovely card to add to my collection and a mystery gift which I am trying not to open until Christmas Day. Afterwards Deb, Nina and I went on to have lunch at the fabulous Lalola Restaurante. And oh my, what a lunch it was.

This is becoming a lovely tradition that I hope continues, with Deb returning to Sevilla every year to revisit the places she and her late husband Dan (aka Dan Jamón) used to go to in their favourite city. Today, as in the past three December visits, we met for what inevitably ends up being a very long, very boozy and very emotional lunch, and this was no exception. The restaurant choice was perfect because Dan loved his jamón, really anything Ibérico, and so going to Lalola, and having chef Javi Abascal, El Rey de la Casquería (the Offal King, sounds better in Spanish) prepare a special Ibérico tasting menu just for us was… well, Dantastic.

lalola (1)🐷 starters: buñuelo de bacalao, jamón croqueta, chicharrón de cádiz topped with scallop tartare

🐷 sautéed boletus topped with seared foie

🐷 arroz Ibérico with jamón, presa, asparagus, topped with papada

🐷 grilled abanico Ibérico with potatoes

🐷 jamón baklava with pistachio ice cream and white chocolate crumble

🥂🍷 Sumarroca, Ossian Wines, Cortijo Los Aguilares, Bodegas Baron

lalola (2)chef Javi Abascal

mixing it up

13 Wednesday Nov 2024

Posted by azahar in azahars kitchen, casa azahar, food & drink, homecooking, sevilla

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

azahars kitchen, casa azahar, homecooking, sevilla

bowls

My first ever mixing bowls! Well, just the two smaller ones. I can’t believe I’ve never owned actual mixing bowls before. I usually just use whatever… pasta bowl, soup bowl, popcorn bowl… but I didn’t have anything the size of the middle one and lately with some new recipes I have been needing that option (been making do with pots or tupperware). Love the non-slip silicone bottoms and useful lids, and they fit into each other like russian dolls, so easy to store. I didn’t get the whole set because the popcorn bowl serves the same purpose as the large one and is seldom needed.

And that was a blog post, folks! I still don’t know why any of you follow me here (but I’m glad you do). 😅

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