Category Archives: sevilla

new wine tasting venue!

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by in sevilla, sherry, wine, work

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How cool is this? It’s the ceiling of the patio inside the uber-cool hotel where my friend Javi Abascal has just relaunched his restaurant Lalola Taberna Gourmet. When I was there last week we not only had a fabulous time trying his new menu, we also talked about the possibility of me giving my wine tastings there. Turns out it’s perfect because it’s quite central and there’s a section of the restaurant that can be closed off for me, though for the most part the tastings will be held outside of usual dining hours.

We talked about what wines I wanted to present and he is going to organise the food, so that we have great little snacks to go with the wines. I’m really excited about this. I would actually love to do more tastings. So fingers crossed that these will start taking off!

my accents

02 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in casa azahar, communication, sevilla

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Every now and then someone on one of my tapas tours, upon hearing that I have lived in Spain for more than 27 years, says to me “wow, and yet you still have your Canadian accent!”. And I am always puzzled by this. I mean, what am I supposed to sound like? If I were living in England or Australia/New Zealand then, yes, it is possible that I would pick up something of those ENGLISH accents… but in Spain? Is it expected that I speak with a Spanish accent now when talking in my native language?

Meanwhile, Spanish people are always, um, appalled when they find out I’ve lived here for 27 years and still speak like I do in Spanish. Apparently with a very strong Canadian accent. In fact, I’ve been told many times that my accent in Spanish is atrocious (!!!). Which of course makes me never even want to speak to anyone again. And I know, there’s really no excuse after all this time, etc etc. But there are a few reasons…

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sylvie!

31 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by in family, sevilla

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My lovely friend Sylvie @sylviebigar is back in town this weekend for a family wedding and happily found a bit of time to meet up for lunch today. She is not normally camera shy, but said she preferred not to be shown with her just-off-the-plane hair. For the record, she looked gorgeous, but I shall respect her wishes. And so, a nice chatty lunch, catching up – and we had a lot to catch up on! Missing her already.

lalola menu preview

29 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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I was so excited to find out this week that Lalola Taberna Gourmet had finally made the move from the far end of Los Remedios to the centre of town. In fact, just a short 11 minute walk from my house! It is located inside the very chic Hotel Palacio Conde de Torrejón, though it has its own entrance on the side. I couldn’t wait to try it out.

Then chef Javier Abascal sent me a message asking when I wanted to visit, and as I didn’t have a tour that evening I said I would see him then. I was expecting to just check things out, take some photos, maybe try a couple of tapas. But Javi had other ideas, and before long I was enjoying a private tasting menu with him, accompanied by lovely wines.

Being the Queen of Tapas does not suck.  🙂

  • Olive pâté with olive bread toasts
  • Ensaladilla with prawns, pimentón, fried eggs
  • Live lettuce salad with radishes, onions, lagarto Ibérico
  • Ravioli filled with gambas and setas, manteca sauce
  • Razor clams in Ibérico sauce
  • Braised Ibérico pork cheek with curry potato purée