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Category Archives: food & drink

on being proactive

28 Tuesday Nov 2023

Posted by azahar in food & drink, hospitals, sevilla, tapas

≈ Leave a comment

gamba taco

What does a gorgeous looking gamba taco have to do with being proactive? Well I’m here to tell ya.

Today I decided to stop waiting around for my upcoming appointments with my oncologist and also the breast ultrasound that was ordered after my mammogram… last spring!? So off I went to the hospital to talk directly to the Oncology secretary. And well, damn good thing I did too! After more than an hour wait – with next to nobody wearing a fucking mask IN THE FUCKING ONCOLOGY WAITING ROOM – I managed to secure an appointment for two weeks from now. The hold up, it seems, was that they were waiting for me to do the second colonoscopy, which I did in August, but blah blah… it somehow wasn’t registered in their files.

Then it was off to the Women’s Hospital to ask about the ultrasound but by the time I got there the office had closed, so now I will have to call. I hate calling. But I will.

After that, given the location of the Women’s Hospital, I suggested to Peter and we go to a cosy local bar about ten minutes away for a beer and a snack. Well, it wasn’t ten minutes, more like twenty after having to go under rail tracks and and back up, whatever… we got there to be told the tables were all reserved for members. Fuck. So we kept walking… until Tradevo Nervión.

Tradevo is one of my fave places, though I usually go to the central location, and well, we literally stumbled in really needing to SIT DOWN only to see the entire bar and restaurant jam-packed full. Then someone said “Shawn, is that you?” and we were whisked out to the back patio with a little heater beside us and all was well. There was a quick cold beer, followed by a couple of tapitas, a glass of wine, and after that lovely experience it was just a ten minute walk to the Tram to take us five minutes from home.

And so… appointment secured, a lovely light lunch and almost 10,000 steps!

arbequina amontillado

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

Posted by azahar in andalucia, food & drink, olive oil

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

jaen, olive oil

arbequina amontillado (1)

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!

arbequina amontillado (2)

cheesy!

10 Friday Nov 2023

Posted by azahar in academia sevillana gastronomy turismo, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, spain

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cheese, quesarte, quesos, sevilla, spanish gastronomy

cheesy

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.
cheese jamón

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.

pulpo

24 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by azahar in food & drink, sevilla

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Tags

octopus, pulpo, sevilla

pulpo (2)

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.

lizzie, helen & chris

23 Monday Oct 2023

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, social media

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Tags

friends, sevilla, tapas

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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.

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