28 Monday Nov 2016
Posted in cancer, diet & nutrition, food & drink
Well, it says just for 24 hours before an FDG PET, but I’m giving it three days. And frankly, after a full-on weekend in Antequera, I’d probably be doing this anyhow. So until Thursday morning I’ll be eating light, without wine, and BEING A NERVOUS WRECK. Scanxiety strikes again… fingers crossed!
26 Saturday Nov 2016
Posted in andalucia, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, travel, trips
This will just be a short getaway, and it came about just by chance when I saw this poster on Manni’s Instagram announcing a special Menú Cervantes at Arte de Cozina. Soon plans were made for a few of us to meet up, which has now ended up with 10 for lunch tomorrow!
I’m leaving this morning because I haven’t been to Antequera for awhile (in fact, over two years!) and thought it would be nice to spend some time there. I was actually going to spend two nights but the weather forecast for this weekend is solid RAIN, and my friends Angela & Mikel are going to be away, so it’ll just be for tonight and I’ll catch the train back home after lunch tomorrow. Right, gotta go catch my train!
18 Friday Nov 2016
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars
I first met Sylvie @sylviebigar in the spring of 2011. She got in touch telling me she was a food and travel writer from NYC, and that while in town with her family, she wanted to “escape” with me one evening on a tapas tour. So off we went on a special private tour for one, which ended up with us taxiing over to a unique place out on the inner road. Lots of fun. A couple of years later I briefly met up with her in Jerez while she was on assignment there, and we had a very quick “catch up”. Then I found out that Sylvie was going to be back in Andalucía this week, and that she had purposely taken an extra couple of days in Sevilla so we could hang out.
Hang out = tapear.
We spent two fun evenings together, visiting tapas bars and talking, talking, talking. Good times! Which we hope to repeat soon.
15 Tuesday Nov 2016
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, social media, spain
So THIS happened on Monday. Actually, it’s the second time I’ve been invited to this very meaty event, put on by Grupo Sagardi, experts in Basque country cooking. The Sevilla branch of Sagardi is located in the lovely Hotel Palacio Pinello, just up the road from me. As you can see, it was quite the feast, featuring massive t-bones from 10-year-old Galician oxen that had been aged for about 25 days and then grilled over oak. You can click on the image below to get a better look at it…
Aside from the MEAT my favourite dish was the simple char-roasted piquillo peppers, which were lovely smoky-sweet, but really it was all excellent (though I didn’t have any chocolate truffles). No need for dinner that night!
The menu (90€ per person including wine – a very nice Argentinian Malbec) is on offer at Sagardi’s until December 11th, and due to the massive size of the txuletón, they recommend booking in groups of 4.
12 Saturday Nov 2016
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
Tags
jerez, sevilla, sherry, sherry week 2016, tapas, tapas tours
Aside from offering my own Sherry & Tapas Pairings, and launching the new Sherry & Tapas tour with We Love Tapas during Sherry Week 2016, I went out with trusty sidekick Peter @SVQconcierge to sample a few of the Ruta de Tapas offerings by local bars. We only managed 9 bars, but oh well…
casa azahar 