Category Archives: friends

african getaway

06 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in books, cats, friends

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Shortly after Azar died there was a knock on the door and a delivery man handed me a package from Amazon. This isn’t a particularly unusual occurrence here at casa az, except that in this instance I hadn’t actually ordered anything from Amazon. Turned out it was a prezzy from the lovely Deb. She’d seen this book on my wish list and sent it along, saying how reading can sometimes be a good escape from life, and that she hoped the book would help.

And well, I only opened it today! I suddenly found myself with an hour to kill before a tapas tour and was good and tired of sitting in front of the computer. And then I remembered my book! I have to say the whole process was wonderful. Opening a fresh new book (when was the last time I did that?) and turning to Page One. And then laughing out loud before I even got halfway down the page – good ol’ Bill Bryson. I hope this means I am going to go back to reading Real Books again. I remember when I used to read a book a week…

Thanks again Deb. It was a lovely gesture and a perfect gift.

a happily hectic week

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in friends

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Just a fly-by post as things have been pretty hectic this week. But happily hectic!

Here are the Londoners with Peter up on the roof after a lazy tapas lunch out. After lunch we had gone over to visit Azar’s grave (at Sara’s request) then over to casa az so everyone could see the new place and meet the kittehs. You can just about make out Loki on the small table next to Sara. Luna was lurking around the edges pretending to be nervous. Anyhow, it’s been great seeing the gang again and once again I find myself wishing that my faraway friends didn’t live so faraway.

How’s your week been?

the return of sara & steve

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in cancer, friends, restaurants, sevilla, tapas

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And this time they brought Sheila and Greg (Sara’s parents)!

Last time I saw Sara & Steve was three years ago, though they’ve both been coming to Sevilla for ages and I’m the one who got them started doing that. You may remember when Sara and Sheila (both cancer survivors) did a London Race For Life and Sara wore this fabulous sign during the race. Just to give you an idea of how fabulous they both are.

Anyhow, the gang got in this evening around 9.30 and I was at their holiday apartment to meet them, which turned out to be in the same building of my first home in Sevilla! Talk about a walk down memory lane (actually it was up three flights of stairs). And then we went out for tapas (it was a treat not to be working while out for tapas – I actually got to just eat, drink and relax). So it was a lovely evening and we’ll be seeing each other during the week as they are here until Saturday. Now I must hit the hay… a busy busy week. But it’s nice thinking of my friends just a few minutes away in my old house.

20 years in spain party!

01 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends

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Yesterday was Party Day, celebrating my 20th anniversary of moving to Spain.

The festivities started off with a fabulous lunch at the Vineria San Telmo with friends who had come into town specially for the party. After that there was a short break to freshen up and then Peter and I went off to Bar Chinkoa to help set up. You may recall that my first plan had been to have the party on my rooftop terrace but then thought it would be more appropriate (being the Queen of Tapas and all), not to mention way less hassle, to have it at a tapas bar. Happily Manuel and Ana at Chinkoa said they would open up that evening (they’re normally closed on Sunday) so I could celebrate there with my friends. Of course I was a nervous wreck by the time we got there because I never throw parties. I worried that hardly anyone would show up and also had a last-minute extra worry when it occurred to me that people might think the party was “on me” (Spanish style) when my idea had simply been to simply shift the venue from my roof to a bar. But despite my concerns it turned out to be a lovely time.

The best part was that many of the friends who came met other friends for the first time, though they had heard of each other, either from me or via Twitter. And the general concensus was that I have some pretty wonderful friends.

Many many thanks to the gang at Chinkoa who looked after us so well, and also to all you wonderful friends who came to celebrate this very special occasion with me.

Party pics below…

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thursday in málaga

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends, Malaga, tapas, travel, trips, twitter

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The original plan had been to stay in Málaga two nights and return on Thursday. But then I found out that long time Twitter friends Fred @fredshively and Arpi @Andalucinda were actually going to be moving to town that day, so I made arrangements to stay one more night in order to finally meet them in person. But Peter still had to get back to teach a class and then take out a tapas tour, so we spent his last morning here going out to the Automotive Museum. Seriously. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’m not exactly an old car buff, but it had come highly recommended by several people so off we went. And what fun it was! I especially liked the hat collection. After that we picked up his bag at the apartment and went out for a last drink together before he caught the train back to Sevilla.

By then it was lunchtime and I wasn’t sure what to do as I don’t especially enjoy eating on my own, and I wasn’t sure where to go. So I took a wander around the centre and, after spotting a couple of likely candidates, I finally settled on one called Souvi Tapería because it just had a nice feel to it. And what a good choice that turned out to be. The food was amazing (that tapa in the collage is warm potato & truffle coulante filled with foie, served with boletus icecream) and it turned out that my waiter was not only from Sevilla but also from my barrio! When he found out about my tapas blog he said he’d introduce me to the chef & owner. I also ended up meeting the chef’s mother who was sitting at the bar and we had a great chat about Málaga, and swapped contact info. So it wasn’t a lonley lunch after all.

Then I came home to catch up on emails and do a bit of work and before long it was time to meet up with Fred and Arpi (Arpi is a writer and Fred takes fabulous photos). I really appreciated them coming out at all after spending the whole day moving here from the Alpujarras. And I really really appreciated that, when our first restaurant choice turned out to be a dud, Arpi let us drag her down the street to a cool little tapas bar “for one more” as that ended up being another delightful “discovery” for me. Anyhow, it was great meeting them after knowing them on Twitter for so long, and now I have two more lovely reasons to visit Málaga.

So it ended up being quite a wonderful Thursday. How was yours?