06 Saturday May 2017
Posted in food & drink, seasons, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars
Tags
You can find snails year-round in some Sevilla bars, but the best time (apparently) is NOW when they are in season. The secret is in the sauce, as the snails are cooked in a broth that is unique to each bar that serves them. I don’t mind them, but I’m not a huge fan, so I don’t have a photo of a big plate of snails to show you. And so this fabulous snail sculpture by Chiqui Díaz will have to do…
25 Saturday Mar 2017
10 Friday Mar 2017
Tags
As always, I smelled it before I saw it. And then I had to search around until I found the source. The FIRST AZAHAR OF THE YEAR was spotted in Plaza Nueva at dusk (which explains out of focus, dimly lit shot) and marks my happiest time of year in Sevilla. Wish you could all smell it too.
08 Wednesday Mar 2017
Tags
So there I was this afternoon, just hanging around after lunch and wondering what to do next, after having spent the entire morning in front of the computer… and then I picked up my phone to check on Instagram and BAM! I saw that it was 27 DEGREES outside!!! It sure didn’t feel that warm inside. So it was time to dust off the ol’ sandals and take them out for a stroll.
I must’ve known this was about to happen soon, because on Monday I found a new nail colour for this year, and this morning I decided to try it out. Thus, I was all set to just slip on the sandals today. We went out in search of azahar, but so far it seems there is still none to be found in the city centre. Instead we ended up having a beer with our friend Juan at La Azotea (AKA The Office) before heading home again. So this is it. It will be difficult to get those happy toes back into shoes if the weather cools off again. But it’s actually looking pretty good for the time being. Happy me with happy toes.
27 Tuesday Dec 2016
29 Saturday Oct 2016
I love Christmas, and I am particularly looking forward to THIS Christmas because friends Julie & Steve (aka the Cheeky Pigs) are coming to Sevilla to spend the holidays with ME! 🙂
But this… this is way too early Butlers. It’s not even November! I actually liked the good ol’ days when the Christmas street lights were turned on every year on December 8th (Immaculate Conception) and turned off again on January 6th (Epiphany), and even El Corte Inglés didn’t light up until December. But it gets earlier every year.
12 Wednesday Oct 2016
Tags
Well okay, it’s not COLD here yet, but I did have to start using a light blanket this week instead of just a top sheet. And I’ve started cooking again, rather than mostly making salads, tortillas, etc at home. This pollo al ajillo actually has lots of garlicky sauce under the rice and chicken… made this batch with just thighs. Am beginning to think that chicken breasts are highly over rated. Plus am totally hooked on courgetti…
11 Tuesday Oct 2016
13 Tuesday Sep 2016
On the way home from a doctor’s appointment today the skies suddenly opened up and began chucking it down. Luckily we were next to La Doma Nervión when this happened, so we scooted inside to take shelter from the storm and Sergio was quick to pour us a couple of restorative manzanillas.
Neither the photos taken nor the video below show just how hard the rain was pelting down, which it did non-stop for over two hours. This left us no option but to stay and have a nice relaxed lunch at La Doma while watching people hurrying by outside who’d been caught out and were soaked to their skin. It was the first rain since May, but even now just an hour or so later, the sun is out again and the ten-day forecast calls for nothing but sunshine and temps between 26-33ºC. Weird weather.
13 Wednesday Jul 2016
Posted in health & happiness, home, seasons, shoes
HAPPY FEET
One of the many joys of living in Sevilla is that I get to wear sandals 8 months of the year. Which means I still have to wear shoes for 4 months, each day of which makes me feel somehow TRAPPED, especially when I also have to wear tights (socks are bad enough). My toes were meant to wriggle around free, so of course the first thing I do when I get home is kick off my footwear and go barefootin’.
Well, okay, in summer I also give my feet a nice cool wash after being outside in HOT SANDAL WEATHER. And in winter I need to wear slippers to keep my feet warm, but always opt for the soft “fluffy sock” kind of slipper, rather than the ones that are basically shoes with hard soles. In short, whatever is or feels closest to being barefoot is when I feel the most comfortable and my feet are happiest.
And so today, while taking a nice long afternoon break to watch a film (hols at home!) I was struck by a couple of scenes with people at home WEARING SHOES and it occurred to me that this is always happening in films and television programmes. People wearing shoes at home. Like, while they’re cooking or relaxing… today it was a guy lounging on the sofa reading the newspaper and WEARING SHOES. I mean seriously, do people in real life actually do this?
While I was in the throws of The Torcal Incident a couple of weeks ago, Victor asked me if I wore shoes at home or went barefoot. Perhaps he was just trying to take my mind off possibly having to be airlifted out of the place with two broken ankles, but he said that he’d heard that older people (presumably ME) had way better balance if they didn’t wear shoes at home. And again I thought “who the hell wears shoes at home?”
So I ask you… do you wear shoes at home? And if so… WHY?
Springing forward tonight – the bonus being that when the cats start pestering for brekkie tomorrow at 7am it will actually be 8am. Sort of…
One of the many many fine things about living in Sevilla … sitting outside on a terrace at the end of December, enjoying a glass of wine and people watching, all toasty warm. And in the daytime it’s still warm enough to sit out in the sunshine.
It’s cooling down over here (though still sandal weather).