Category Archives: gastronomy

and then josé happened

14 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

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! ❤

josephine

07 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours, travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

So this was fun! The other day Twitter mentions popped up with an introduction by the lovely Shaney Hudson @shaneyhudson to her journalist pal Josephine @_josephineprice (they both write for Nat Geo Traveller). Josephine is in town this weekend doing research for an article on Sevilla and so I took her around Triana, one of the barrios she is going to feature. As you can see, we had a very tasty time.

Shaney was first here in 2010, and has been back since. She was one of the first people to write about my tapas tours. Love that we are still in touch and I hope that she will make it back to Sevilla again before too long.

après oncology

06 Thursday Feb 2020

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

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!

fall in love with sevilla

04 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by in events, food & drink, gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, sherry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

chef Jorge Manfredi with Pedro Sánchez-Cuerda, director of Grupo La Raza

Enamórate de Sevilla (Fall In Love with Sevilla) is the name of the latest tasting menu being offered at Ispal (Grupo La Raza) created by their new chef Jorge Manfredi. I had been invited to try the original tasting menu when Ispal first opened in 2018 and while they have kept about 30% of the previous chef’s menu, the rest is new by Manfredi. Also new is a much expanded wine list, which now boasts over 400 Andalusian wines.

It’s a “kilometre 0” menu, with locally sourced products and reinterpreted dishes that are based on traditional Sevilliano recipes, and is divided into four parts: Vamos de Tapeo!, Vámanos a la Feria, Paseo por Sevilla and Desserts. We started off with a vermouth cocktail and had some wonderful wine pairings throughout.

The tasting menu is 59€ per person, 89€ with wine pairing and 109€ with the premium wine pairing. For more information have a look at their website. Photos of the meal below…

Restaurante Ispal


Continue reading →