22 Wednesday Nov 2023
Posted in andalucia, food & drink, olive oil
Arbequina Amontillado by Castilla de Canena in Jaén. A young extra virgin arbequina olive oil refined in Bodegas Lustau amontillado sherry wine barrels more than half a century old. I first tried this at the Auténtica Food Festival in September and it blew me away, crazy gorgeous flavour, the best of two worlds. So excited to finally have some at home. Also hoping to visit the producers soon. Been missing Jaén a lot!
10 Friday Nov 2023
Posted in academia sevillana gastronomy turismo, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, spain
Tags
The Quesarte artisan cheese fair is taking place this weekend and I was invited to the inauguration, which included a VIP tour of all 26 stands (!!!) to talk to the producers and taste their products. Obviously there were far too many to actually sample them all, but it was both educational and very tasty. This was followed by drinks and snacks upstairs but, you know, it was all I could do to manage a little jamón after all that.
There have been a lot of these amazing gastronomy & wine events lately, most of them taking place outdoors. I don’t think the organisers had counted on 25º and blazing sun in November though as awnings and umbrellas only offered partial protection, which is not great for either the products or consumers.
24 Tuesday Oct 2023
Posted in food & drink, sevilla
Walking through Triana Market the other day this stopped me in my tracks and I was reminded about how, back in the spring of 2021, I found myself suddenly unable to eat octopus anymore, while I was actually eating octopus. I wrote about it here. Anyhow, here I was looking at this rather forlorn sight and wondering, once again, why this moves me so much more than seeing lamb heads, whole rabbits and game birds hanging up, as well as various body parts from all kinds of other animals on display at the market.
More than a year and a half later I still don’t want to eat octopus. And more than a year and a half later people still think it’s because of that creepy Netflix documentary. Whatevs.
23 Monday Oct 2023
Posted in food & drink, friends, social media
I have known Lizzie (@hollow_legs) for years, both virtually and in person, and last saw her in London in 2016. So I was thrilled to find out she was going to be visiting Sevilla this month with two other London foodie friends Helen @foodstories and Chris @chrispople and so of course we had to get together and do SOMETHING. That something was to take them out for an afternoon to taste Triana.
It was so lovely catching up with Lizzie, and also meeting Helen and Chris in person for the first time. Whenever people dis social media I always think of all the wonderful people I’ve met, and continue to meet, there. It’s like any useful tool… you have to know how to use it.
I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back to London again (I’d love to!) but I know that if I do I won’t lack for lovely friends to meet up with.
18 Wednesday Oct 2023
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars
These two! 💛 Susie & James first came out on a tapas tour with me in November 2016, and were back in town for a quick visit so we met up to reconnect and reminisce. Fabulous afternoon out at Bodeguita Romero and Salmedina. Now that they are (mostly) living in Portugal perhaps I’ll see them more often?
casa azahar 