Category Archives: friends

the haggis

01 Sunday May 2011

Posted by in cooking, food & drink, friends, home

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When my friend Del (aka @WeeRascal) came for his third visit to Sevilla last month he brought me not just a haggis but The McSween Haggis, which I was assured was the very best haggis in Scotland. The proper accompaniment to a haggis dinner is tatties & neeps and luckily I was able to find some small turnips at the market. And so last night was the night! I had been waiting for flatmate Jessica to be in town long enough to join Nog and me for dinner and so, although I’d spent a pleasant afternoon tapearing with Rebecca from Jaén and wasn’t sure if I was up for another meal, there was nothing for it. The time had come to finally cook The Haggis.

A traditional haggis consists of lamb, beef, oatmeal and onions, plus a special blend of spices and seasoning, which are all cooked together in a natural casing, so all that is needed is to wrap it in foil and heat it through in the oven for about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, the potatoes and turnips were put on to boil and afterwards were mashed with a bit of butter (didn’t know at the time that I was supposed to mash them together but they ended up being mixed on the plate anyhow). I had been “warned” by Del that I may want some ketchup or HP sauce as haggis tends to be a bit dry so, as I had no HP and can’t stand ketchup, I made up a batch of salsa az. Turns out it wasn’t necessary and most of it was left on my plate because the flavour and texture of The Haggis was simply wonderful and went perfectly with the mashed veg (and also with the excellent Ribera del Duero that Jessica had picked up that afternoon).

We all loved it and were reminded of Morcilla de Burgos, which is a delicious black pudding & rice Spanish sausage. And a big part of the fun was being able to share our first haggis experience with Del on Twitter, with other joining in too.

Thanks again Del – it was fabby!

what did you get in the post today?

26 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in food & drink, friends, wine

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I got this!

From a very silly and totally adorable Frenchman who lives in Germany, and who I am lucky enough to call my friend.

Thank you honey, both for the surprise wine and for making me smile.

Maison Louis Latour
Grand Ardèche Chardonnay 2008
Vin de Pays des Coteaux de L’Ardèche

The Grand Ardèche Chardonnay comes from Southern France. The grapes are treated as if they were grown in one of the Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte d’Or. Fully-ripened grapes are selected and pressed lightly before being aged in oak barrels made at the Latour cooperage in Beaune. The result is a full-bodied wine that is smooth with notes reminiscent of exotic fruits and vanilla spice imparted by the oak.

I wonder if it would pair well with The Haggis…

easyjet az

06 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by in blogging, computers, culture, fiestas, friends, internet, iphone, sevilla, social media, spam, twitter, work

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Yesterday evening I was thrilled when I got an email from Annie Manson saying that while flying from Geneva to Málaga she’d seen me mentioned and quoted in the EasyJet’s April Inflight magazine, and congratulating me on such a great PR coup. At first I was totally flummoxed as I had no idea why I would be in there, then when I saw the article (about the Feria in Sevilla) written by Derek Workman, I remembered meeting Derek for tapas a while back and spending a pleasant leisurely lunchtime chatting about Sevilla stuff. He was in town doing research for this article as EasyJet was about to launch a new London-Sevilla route in April. So that was quite exciting! If you want to read the article (which starts on page 50) you’ll have to register, which is a bit of a pain but only takes a minute.

Anyhow, after a few emails back and forth to Annie I got into bed with my iPhone to read a few last tweets and emails before sleeping and saw that one of my favourite tapas bars was mentioned in an article by Shaney Hudson, an Australian travel writer now living in Holland who was here on a research visit last autumn. Then I saw that my tapas tours got a personal recommendation from Shaney in her Essential Guide to Sevilla (!!!). How cool is that?

All of which has me thinking this morning about all the amazing connections I’ve made, and continue to make, via my blogs, Twitter and – okay I admit it – even Facebook.  I’ve made friends and biz contacts, and have also found work, as a result of not only sitting in front of my laptop (or with iPhone in hand) several hours a day, but also by going out to meet many of these people when they are in town. Which of course I love as one of my favourite things to do is show people “my Sevilla” and especially take them out for tapas. So anyone who still thinks social media is silly is, well, silly.  😉

 

 

new flatmate!

01 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by in friends, home

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My new flatmate Jessica moved in today, so now I have two. Jessica will be here until September, though kind of part-time as she is away a lot, either working in Doñana or visiting her real home in Paris.

Meanwhile, Nog hasn’t had enough work to live on for some time now and as a result may have to return to the UK, but for now he’s staying on for another month or so to see if he can get things to pick up. If he ends up leaving I’ll wait until the summer is over and then look for someone to rent Jessica’s room.

The apartment is actually big enough for all of us to share comfortably, though Nog doesn’t have a bedroom (sofa bed in the living room for him) and the bathroom is way too small. But the rest of the space, and having two floors and the terrace, allows for either cosy evenings in together, or each of us hanging out on our own.

Sure has been a year of changes. And so for the next four months until the next PET scan I want to focus on my work, my friends, my cats and my home.

I’m happy.  🙂

a day in the country

27 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by in culture, food & drink, friends, photos, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas, wine, work

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[click to enlarge]

One of the reasons I occasionally wish I had a car (and a valid driving licence) is to take day trips to the many little villages near Sevilla. So I was delighted the other day when my Twitter buddy Eduardo got in touch to ask if I wanted to go with him and his girlfriend Mercedes to an olive oil & wine tasting in El Viso del Alcor. The tasting was held at the magnificent Basilippo hacienda in the countryside amongst their olive groves, and the snacks we enjoyed during the event were catered by Más Que Tapas. I was keen to go not only to learn more about olive oil (and, as it turned out, caviar!) but also to meet Aurore and Eduardo, who run Más Que Tapas, as they have often asked me to come out and see their place.

After a presentation on the different types of olives oils (we sampled three) inside the museum, we went out to the gardens to sample five different wines, paired with delicious snacks prepared with the olive oils we had just tasted.  But first we were in for a special treat – some local caviar and sparkling wine. We had a great time and I got to meet some new people, as well as a small pregnant cat which I ended up feeding chunks of bread dipped in my carrillada gravy. By the time the tasting finished we were informed that Más Que Tapas was offering a special “after hours” lunch menu (it was way past lunch time) and so we made our way over for something a bit more substantial.

[only click to enlarge if you’re not hungry]

In the end we didn’t go for the fixed menu and just (just!) ordered three dishes to share. Above you can see owners Eduardo & Aurore in the top corner, and at the bottom that’s Aurore again with Eduardo & Mercedes. In between some fabulous food: risotto with mushrooms, cashews & raisins, a burger of goat cheese, a slice of apple and foie, and some grilled scallops and chorizo on puff pastry with carrot purée. As if that weren’t enough we were given a couple of hot desserts to sample and I found myself wondering how on earth I was going to manage to eat anything on my tapas tour that evening…

It was a fabulous day in the country with lovely people. We got back to Sevilla around 6.30 and so later I wasn’t too concerned to discover that my clients were delayed getting into town from Lisbon which meant the tapas tour was rescheduled for today. In fact, I have to leave in a few minutes – see ya!