Category Archives: friends

my prezzie!

25 Thursday Dec 2008

Posted by in cancer, christmas, friends, gadgets

≈ 19 Comments

my-iphone

My very own iPhone – can you believe it? f_somersault.gif

Yes I know that I was supposed to wait until I had well and truly overcome the cancer, but here’s what happened. A couple of weeks ago I received two text messages from my mobile phone provider.  One said that I had received 22,000 points for ‘customer loyalty’ and could use them before the end of December to upgrade my phone, and the other said I was being given an extra 50,000 points to use towards the purchase of an iPhone (or Nokia 5800, or Samsung Omnia), again until the end of December. So the other day I went to the Telefónica store to see exactly what this meant, dinero-wise…

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sprouts

24 Wednesday Dec 2008

Posted by in blogging, food & drink, friends, games, holidays

≈ 16 Comments

sauted-sprouts

Sautéed sprouts with pancetta & pine nuts.

Don’t these look fabulous? (click on image to enlarge) They were prepared by the lovely and talented Wandering Coyote as part of a sumptuous solstice feast. You can check out the entire dinner menu on  Retorte , WC’s  blog of culinery delights (warning: do not go there when hungry).

For those of you who (like Nog) would rather stick hot pins in your eyes than eat a sprout, knock yourselves out with these…

Attack of the Sprouts

The Sproutifarts

christmas giving

24 Wednesday Dec 2008

Posted by in christmas, friends, health & happiness, holidays, home, life stuff

≈ 6 Comments

christmas-presents

A few last minute Christmas gift ideas …

“… mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologise if you were wrong. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it out still once again.”

getting that christmas feeling…

23 Tuesday Dec 2008

Posted by in christmas, food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas

≈ 17 Comments

cuarenta_y_tres1

It’s all been feeling rather Christmassy lately, even mundane stuff like getting my hair cut.  The photo above was taken on my way home from the hairdresser’s yesterday, when I stopped in at Bar Campanario to do some bloggy research for a virtual Christmas dinner being planned over at FFE’s.  At one point Sledpress mentioned a Spanish liqueur called Cuarenta y Tres (43), which I had never tried. So I asked my friend María Paz if she would let me have a wee taste, which led to her offering me & Nog free drinks and tapas … and well, we couldn’t say no.

Last weekend Nog & I had gone to pick out my Christmas prezzie (which is still a secret) and on the way home passed a tapa bar that – gasp! – we had never been to. After checking out the menu we decided to stop in at Pando for a snack, and look at what we got for just 12 euros (including two drinks!)…

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slow travel

22 Monday Dec 2008

Posted by in blogging, culture, food & drink, friends, holidays, photos, trips

≈ 7 Comments

slow_snail
slow

Slow Travelers go to Europe to experience different cultures and lifestyles, but they do it differently than most tourists. Instead of staying in hotels or B&Bs, they stay in vacation rentals – apartments, cottages or houses that you rent by the week. Staying in your own temporary “home”, even if just for a week or two, lets you experience a place more intensely because you get involved in the community where you are staying. You shop for groceries and supplies in the local shops, stop at the same cafe every morning, see the people in your village or neighborhood each day.

About a year ago I was looking at the Live Traffic Feed on Sevilla Tapas and saw that someone had visited from a place called Slow Travel. So I went and checked it out …

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