Category Archives: friends

and then josé happened

14 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy

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So after yesterday’s hospital experience, followed by a lovely long walk with Paz, and then a snack and a glass of wine at Eslava, I got home and put the PJs on,  ready to flop for the rest of the evening. But then I got a whatsapp message from my gorgeous friend José Pizarro @jose_pizarro… there were no words, just a photo of THOSE papas aliñá at Bodeguita Romero. And I was like WHAAAAAT?? Yep, José was in town.

He was on a flying visit with friends from the UK who are in the process of turning their Norfolk pub into a Spanish tapas bar, and José was helping them get some inspiration. They had already been to visit the Ibérico pigs, and to a sherry bodega, and for one day only they were in Sevilla. OMG.

I mean seriously OMG.

After the pig of day I’d just had (basically saved last minute by having Paz keep me company at the hospital) I was ready to crawl into bed again. But suddenly José was in town! With friends! And he wanted me to come and meet them! What can I tell you? He totally made my day.

José with Simone, Ivor & Stuart

So I met them mid-tapeo and we had a lovely time drinking, eating, laughing, hugging… all that good stuff. We finished up on the rooftop of the EME Hotel (which seemed like a good idea at the time, another drink?, hell yeah!). And then just like that they were gone, like a dream. Honestly, what were the odds that one of the people I love most would show up on one of my shittiest days and make everything better? Well, it happened, and I have photo evidence. 😉 Gracias José! ❤

one down, two to go…

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, hospitals

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So there I was, up at 6.00 am in order to prepare for the prep… which began at 6.30. Four fucking litres of this vile solution, downed in 250ml doses every 15 minutes over 4 hours. After the first hour is when the fun starts. I was amazed that I was actually able to down all 16 doses, but after awhile nothing mattered anymore, so what the fuck, what was one more disgusting oral and anal experience? After that I had to spend 4 hours not drinking even one drop of water. You’d think that by this point I’d have had enough liquid to last me, but as I’d also lost a lot of liquid I was actually quite thirsty, and I’m not used to going that long without water.

Anyhow… got a taxi over to the hospital with my friend Paz. These days I go to as many hospital visits on my own as possible, but this one required that I be accompanied because they administer a mild sedative. In this case it wasn’t that mild! A dolantin-valium cocktail totally knocked me out and I woke up again an hour later going – wut? By then it was all over and they were wheeling me into the recovery room. Seriously I don’t ever remember being knocked out so completely during any previous colonoscopy/endoscopy procedures. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation? Whatever, it was done and – YAY! – I was told that there were no signs of cancer and I was good to go.

And so I went, with Paz, for a long walk over to the Huerta de Rey Moro, a community garden where some of her family were having a birthday party for one of her many nephews. Grabbed a cold beer, hung out with the family for awhile and then decided – fuck I’m hungry! I mean, it had been over 36 hours since my last bite. So I wandered over to Eslava for a snack and also to just feel normal again. These hospital things really take it out of me, so I got back into my element, chatting with the barmen, doing a bit of Instagramming… and after that I was ready to go home. It was such a relief to open my door to three hungry cats, feed them, put on my PJs and get ready for a cosy evening at home. BUT THEN THIS HAPPENED… (stay tuned)…

après oncology

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in cancer, friends, gastronomy, hospitals, sevilla, tapas bars

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I mean, what the heck, right? Have to say that I always look forward to après oncology when I have a midday appointment. And of course it’s always extra nice to have a friend come with me to see the oncologist, especially a bilingual friend who can help me out with any language “issues” (like totally forgetting how to speak or understand Spanish…). This is the second time Claudia has come with me and I appreciate it so much. She and Paul also accompanied me for the endoscopy and Claudia will come with me for next week’s colonoscopy. I’m usually fine going for tests on my own, but the ones where they drug you up require that I have someone with me. Anyhoo… this time we stopped over at the fabulous Yebra for post-hospital tapitas and had a great time.

The upshot of this oncology visit, after reviewing the results of the barium enema from a couple weeks ago, was that… they still don’t know if I have a fistula (leakage from my intestine into my abdoman) or not. So I am now going to have more tests, this time a barium x-ray taken of my upper gastro area (so will have to drink it this time – ick), another colonoscopy, and yet another CT scan, plus more blood work. They don’t think anything cancerous is going on, but so far they still haven’t been able to prove there isn’t. At this point I reckon I’m going to die of radiation poisoning before anything else gets me. Wish me luck!

mirror mirror…

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in friends, health & happiness

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So there I was having lunch with Lucy @sparkybakewell the other day and she happened to mention how she spent a Christmas gift card from El Corte Inglés on an 8x magnifiying LIGHT UP make-up mirror. At first I thought… whaaaat? I barely wear make-up and so don’t inspect my minimal make-up that closely… but then I went …. oooohh! Because I suddenly remembered THE FUCKING RANDOM SPROUTING HAIRS.

This first started about 15 years ago (?) when I would be happily going about my morning “getting ready to go out” routine – which is seriously basic, I have never worn much make-up, etc – and then would spot ONE MASSIVE black hair growing out of my chin, wicked-witch style, that FOR SURE hadn’t been there yesterday. Anyhoodle, out came the tweezers and – out damn hair!

Fast forward to now. I have next to no body hair anymore, possibly a result of my genes (my maternal grandmother was Cree Indian) or perhaps a combination of that and being OLD along with all the post-chemo stuff. Whatever. I have no visible body hair on my arms, legs, pits… which is fine by me. BUT… wtf is it with me suddenly noticing I have “cat whiskers” growing out the sides of my mouth, or rando hairs above my lip and on my chin?? NOT okay.

And so I got this magic mirror (on sale now! 20% off! the cheaper 5x version). And I have to say that the ol’ tweezers got a good workout the first day. Lucy did warn me that it’s knowing when to stop that may cause problems. Ha. I am actually a bit shocked at what I couldn’t see in my normal bathroom mirror. Anyhow, all gone now!

calçots 2020

27 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, spain

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Last year Ania @writtenfromseville and I began a new tradition when we went to experience La Calçotada at La Quinta, a local restaurant that also started this tradtion last year. It’s actually a Catalán thing, with the harvest of these tasty spring onions in mid-late January. Traditionally they are roasted over coals, then served with romesco sauce, and the trick is to remove the blackened outside layers to expose the tender delicious centers.

This year it was raining cats and dogs, so we didn’t get to stand outside in the patio like last time. But it was still fun – and delicious – and so this now qualifies as a Shawn-Ania Tradition. The first tradition we came up with was visiting Málaga at Christmas time to see the lights together, which we managed twice, but sadly not this past December. And now it looks like a new SA Tradition is going to be me going out at ungodly hours to cheer my girl on while she runs her 10kms and half marathons, god help me. 😉
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