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I’ve stopped asking why…
19 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in casa azahar, cats, home
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I’ve stopped asking why…
07 Thursday Jun 2018
Posted in animals & pets, birthdays, casa azahar, cats, home
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#TBT… When Luna first came to live with us she was all eyes and ears – remember that poster? She was so tiny that I thought she was only a few weeks old, but it turned out she was more like 3-4 months old. The closest the vet could determine was that she was born sometime in June so (just like with Loki) I chose the 7th for her birthday. That way all us cats have the 7th for our birthdays (Morcilla in April, me in January).
Luna is the least demanding of the cats, so I have to make a special point of remembering to pick her up and cuddle her. She’s also the one that is most like, well, a cat. Loki is a dog, and Morcilla is in a class of her own. But Luna is all cat.
Happy Birthday my pretty girl!
30 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in casa azahar, cats, home
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When you realize you have interrupted a private meeting of the triad…
28 Monday May 2018
Posted in casa azahar, home, sevilla
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When I moved into the new Casa Azahar last summer one thing was immediately clear – that I have a great landlord. He’s a very practical no-nonsense “get things done” kinda guy and doesn’t try to shirk responsibility. Case in point, shortly after moving in the entire central heating/cooling system died. And no problem – it was replaced and up and running within a few days. He also sent someone to install all the new ceiling lights I had bought, though this wasn’t really his responsibility. And whenever there has been any other issue he is always quick to send someone over to fix things. For my part, I take care of things I know are my responsibility and never bother him about “tonterías”.
BUT… one thing I’ve wanted to remedy was to replace the hob and oven that came with the place. They were both just very old and didn’t actually work well. In fact, the old oven didn’t really work at all, and ended up almost spoiling NYE dinner. So after a chat with my landlord we agreed that I would install my old oven from the old place, and he would buy a new hob. I cheekily asked if it could be an induction cooker, and he said okay! Yay!
To cut a longish story short… there was a problem with the first hob, but hey no problem, because I have a fabulous landlord. We met up last week and he asked me to choose the induction hob I wanted, and then today everything was installed. And I couldn’t be happier. Because even though there were issues with the first hob, it became very clear that if you can’t cook with gas, the very best next thing is induction. And now I have my new hob and old oven all properly installed. Very happy.
15 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in azahars kitchen, casa azahar, cats, home

They’re heeeeere…. lovely locally grown asparagus. Probably my favourite vegetable (if I had to choose). I’ve been reading about asparagus steamers lately, long tall pots especially made to perfectly cook your long tall asparagus. Seriously? Imagine having enough cupboard space for this sort of thing. I have always lightly steamed my asparagus lying down in a frying pan, with just a bit of water and a perforated lid. And of course char-grilled asparagus is also fab.
Then recently I saw a couple of recipes mentioned about braising asparagus, which seemed to me like the best of both worlds. You get the freshness of steaming with the extra added flavour of the braising liquids. So I decided to give it a try. Here you see asparagus tossed with a 50-50 blend of butter and olive oil and cooked with garlic, salt and a bit of crushed chilis. Heaven. I ended up with a bit too much butter/oil but will know better next time.

The only drawback with this delicious dish is that it’s too rich for the cats, who also happen to ADORE fresh asparagus (the same as Azar did). When they smell it cooking they start going into a very vocal frenzy, so while I was braising my asparagus in garlic and whatnot, I had to steam a few stalks in water just for the cats.

What’s your favourite vegetable?