17 Tuesday Sep 2013
Monday and Tuesday this week were happily spent at Andalucía Sabor, a fine food exhibition featuring Andalusian products and chefs along with cooking demonstrations and food and wine tastings. It was great fun but the best part was finally meeting cookbook author Janet Mendel in person, who came up from the south coast for the event. More on Andalucía Sabor (and Janet) later on azahar’s Sevilla blog, but for now here are few pics.
05 Thursday Sep 2013
Posted in food & drink, friends, work
A very long time ago when I was in my twenties and still not sure what it was I wanted to do with my life, what sort of work I wanted to do, the only thing I did know is that I wanted my work to be the same thing I’d want to do anyhow when I got out of bed in the morning. And finally it is. This was a typical work day (but without a tapas tour) in which I mixed business with pleasure. I got up early and did some work, still catching up from being away in Málaga the previous week. Then I headed out to the gym before meeting my friend Eduardo (left) for lunch at the Vineria San Telmo, owned by my friend and client Juan (right).
Edu runs a private travel and concierge service called Different Spain and we were just catching up, though we all ended up talking business a bit because for all of us our work has become a part of who we are. There are no specific work hours and no weekends and I know we all like it that way. After our leisurely lunch (which was also “work” in a way as I took photos to use later on blogs, twitter and FB) I got home around 5 o’clock and worked on social media stuff and photo editing for about three more hours. And then I had a rare evening in, putting my feet up to watch a bit of telly with the cats. I think what I like best is that there aren’t any typical work days for me, and that my job is also my social life. The only thing missing is that I’d like to travel more, but that may be happening once my trip planning project gets off the ground.
What do you like best about what you do?
What would you change about it?
28 Wednesday Aug 2013
27 Tuesday Aug 2013
Posted in animals & pets, food & drink, friends, Malaga, spain, tapas, travel, trips, twitter
Woke up this morning with a very cuddly Morcilla purring all over the place. I think she misses her playmates a bit and has become a bit clingy here, so I’m giving her lots of extra attention. Then while I was having coffee and having a look online I got a message from twitter pal David @IrlandesnMalaga about maybe meeting up today, something we never managed to do the last time I was here. And it was looking like we might not manage it this time as David kept suggesting early morning coffee somewhere since he is busy in the afternoons but – you know – I’m on holiday! And my lazy slow mornings are so lovely…
Finally David reorganised his schedule so we could meet at noon for a “quick beer” and a chat, which ended up stretching out for almost four hours and included a walk over to the market for some seafood at Cafe-Bar Atarazanas after we’d had some snacks at my “local” bar Los Gatos. David brought along his rescue pup Nina, who is such a sweetie. Her background is a sad one, first with an abusive owner, then spending two years at a shelter, before David took her home. And you can tell she is well-loved and happy now, lucky girl.
Anyhow, David and I were trying to figure out when we first met and turns out it was three years ago, one of the times I was here doing some work for the Málaga winery. Three years! So we had a nice time catching up and sharing all our news. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Twitter? I mean, yesterday I’d stopped in at Los Gatos for a quick beer before lunch and suddenly got a tweet from Mark & Jo saying they were in town shopping and that I should stay put – five minutes later they met me for a quick drink and visit before they had to head home to Estepa! And most of this week will also be filled with going out with friends I mostly met on Twitter. Nice.
Now I think I’ll take an evening stroll and stop for a tapita somewhere. It’s supposed to get all stormy here this week so I want to get out as much as possible while the lovely warm (but not too hot) weather holds.
What did you do today?
22 Thursday Aug 2013
Yesterday I spent the day in Córdoba with Twitter friends Jo @JoBW and Liam @AnFearBui, their daughter Cáit and friend Sean. I’ve “known” Jo and Liam for quite awhile and so was thrilled that I finally got a chance to meet them in person as they were holidaying in Granada and Córdoba this summer. And as is so often the case with Twitter pals, it felt just like meeting old friends.
As many of you know, I love Córdoba, so I don’t actually need much of an excuse to hop on a train (round trip ticket 21€) even if it’s just for the day. But I almost bailed when it turned out that this week we were in the middle of a crazy “orange alert” Heat Wave – not really the kind of weather you want to be out and about in. But then I reckoned that we’d probably be inside cool tapas bars most of the time, and I really really wanted to meet Jo and Liam, so off I went.
Previously I’d been in touch with the Palacio de Viana, which I’d visited last year. I wanted to know if they could arrange a tour for me and a friend (I thought Markus from veoapartment was coming but it turned out he couldn’t make it) and they were very happy to provide me with two free passes for the patios and the upstairs tour, knowing I would be writing about it both on my azahar’s Sevilla blog and also on Twitter. Then I told Jo about it and they all wanted to come too. So it was very kind of Viana to invite us all in when I showed up with four friends instead of one. We spent about two hours wandering through the patios and then taking the tour, which we quite enjoyed in spite of The Heat (those old palace rooms are not air-conditioned!). And so after that it was clearly time for a Very Cold Beer.
Years ago on my first ever visit to Córdoba I “discovered” the Plaza de la Corredera totally by accident and it turned out to be a perfect spot to stop for a pre-lunch cold beer. Since then it’s become a bit of a ritual… I cannot go to Córdoba now without a cold beer stop in the Corredera. So that is where we ended up yesterday, and afterwards we took a quick tour of the little market on one side of the square. Then it was time to find the restaurant I’d booked for lunch.
This was another accidental find and it turned out to be wonderful. A Sephardic restaurant called Casa Mazal in the old Jewish quarter. We shared huge plates of battered aubergines, chicken in spicy paprika sauce with bulgur wheat, couscous with duck confit, grilled tuna belly, falafel… all in a gorgeous setting and in great company with lots of lovely wine. And then all too soon I found myself wishing I’d booked a later train! But there was just enough time after our long “sobre mesa” to take a quick trip over to the Victoria Market, a new gourmet food court, where Sean ended up having an impromptu sherry tasting at one of the stalls. I had ordered a manzanilla for him but the barman insisted that he try some of the local “sherry” (you can’t actually call it sherry if it isn’t from a small area in Cádiz) which ended up with Sean, me and Jo trying about six different wines, all on the house (!!) while Liam and Cáit wondered where we’d gone off to. Then we all had one final drink together before it was time for me to lurch over to the train station… and I’m happy to report that I made my train with a whole five minutes to spare!
I’m still smiling thinking of all the wonderful memories we made together. And I am already looking forward to seeing my new Dublin friends again, hopefully soon as they do come to Spain quite often. Meanwhile we’ll stay in touch on Twitter and by email, but it’s extra nice now having faces and voices to put to the names. I really feel like my life got a lot richer yesterday.
casa azahar 