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Category Archives: sevilla

13º celsius

06 Thursday Dec 2007

Posted by azahar in health & happiness, home, sevilla

≈ 16 Comments

the-heater.jpg

At least that’s what the new bedroom heater thermostat says.

Which means that is the usual temperature in casa az during the winter – and believe me, that is cold! Hence this new heater stuck on the wall next to the bed, plus another one in the living room. To paraphrase Scarlett … “As Bob is my witness, I will never be cold again!” (obviously paraphrasing, as anyone who has seen recent(ish) photos or the Sevilla Tapas blog can confirm that I clearly don’t ever go hungry).

So after about 14 winters of shivering at home, even after putting on three sweaters, it has been decided to heat casa az as much as is possible, given that the balcony doors don’t close properly (all six of them – double doors with several single-paned glass panels each) so that it’s often warmer outside than inside, especially at midday. And hang the expense!

Last winter Nog and I often stayed warm in the evenings by watching films on his laptop in bed, which was quite cosy. But now that we have the nice big television we’d rather watch stuff on that. Then yesterday we were both feeling a bit under the weather (I think I’m getting the cold that he’s almost recovered from) so we made up the Ikea sofabed in the evening, brought out the extra duvet and piled up cushions and pillows behind us … and it was fabulous! Really comfy being able to stretch my legs out in front of me and the cats loved it too. And so we did it again tonight – I think this is going to become a new cosy winter habit.

What do you do to stay warm?

potato salad

01 Saturday Dec 2007

Posted by azahar in food & drink, home, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 2 Comments

patatas.jpg

Well, it’s not just any potato salad. . .

For years now I’ve been going to Bodequita Romero and one of the very lovely things they do is give you a complementary tapa of fabulously garlicky marinated potatoes as a starter. And I have tried copying this very simple dish at home, time and time again, yet it never turns out just how Pedro Romero makes it.

And so today Nog & I stopped at Bodeguita Romero for our usual Saturday pre-shopping snack (around 1pm) and it turned out that Pedro was just about to mix up the potato salad and I asked if I could watch … you can see the pics here (photos 8-11).

It was very simple, yet also methodical … not at all how I’d tried doing it at home, which was mixing up all the marinade together first. Clearly I’d been doing it all wrong! And so, this is how you do it right. . .

First you sprinkle on some coarse sea salt and toss the potatoes. Then some more salt and toss some more. Then you add finely chopped garlic and do a bit more tossing, likewise after adding very finely chopped spring onion bit by bit. And toss, toss, toss – by toss I actually mean flipping the pot outwards and upwards. No spoons, no stirring – I reckon this is also where I was going wrong.

Then pour over some dry sherry vinegar, once, twice, three times, and after each time flip the potatoes so it’s all mixed up together. Finally pour a whole whack of very green virgin olive oil over the salad, let it sit for a few minutes and then tip the entire mixture into a large bowl. Then gently mix with a large spoon, backside of the spoon up … and then serve to extremely appreciative customers who have been watching you and taking photos. f_drool.gif

hate mondays?

26 Monday Nov 2007

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, health & happiness, home, life stuff, nablopomo, retail therapy, sevilla

≈ 9 Comments

ihatemundayz.jpg

Actually, I don’t hate Mondays at all. In fact, I have quite a nice Monday schedule these days, starting with an 8.30 yoga class, followed by a bit of food shopping and then home to do the marathon cooking thing for the week that I first talked about here (still doing it – it works great!). I don’t have any English classes on Monday morning, which makes it possible. Then after I’ve done cooking and Nog has finished his morning classes, we might go out for a pre-lunch beer or vino. After lunch Nog goes off to his afternoon classes and I have an hour or so to obsess on the internet take care of a few things before my first class of the afternoon. On Mondays I usually work from 4.45 – 9-15 pm.

Anyhow, today it turned out that two of my afternoon classes had to reschedule so I was free from 6pm, and so after obessing on the internet doing a few chores I sent a text message to Nog asking if he wanted to meet me at the half-way point between his classes and home, as I had a couple of things I felt a sudden need for (comfy slippers and a new sweater). So I hopped on a rental bike and was at the mid-way point shopping centre in about 15 minutes. Found both comfy slippers and a gorgeous Liz Claiborne 100% cotton sweater (that I couldn’t afford, but I also almost never find 100% cotton sweaters here so I decided – ah, fuck it), and then met up with Nog to do a little pre-Christmas digital camera reconnoitering.

The plan after we finished was that we’d take rental bikes back to Catalina for a glass of wine before going home for dinner, but for some reason Nog’s card wouldn’t work, so we decided to have a race (me on the bike, him taking the bus) to see who’d get there first. Nog was there about two minutes before me because a bus came straight away and I had to stop for a red light. I’m totally loving this rental bike thang, especially as the first half hour is free.

Anyhow, got back home and I went – eek! I haven’t posted anything today! And so, here I am.  🙂 Just heating up some stew I made this morning (which was inspired by this one we had at La Estrella the other day) and then we’ll curl up on the sofa with hot stew, fresh country bread and a couple of cats to watch an episode of The West Wing. Then it’ll be a nice hot shower before getting into fresh sun-dried sheets (Monday is also ‘clean sheets day’ at casa az) . . .

How was your Monday?

y más tapitas!

22 Thursday Nov 2007

Posted by azahar in food & drink, home, nablopomo, sevilla, tapas

≈ 8 Comments

tapas.jpg

Last night Nog & I went to La Estrella.

This is the sister bar of Cervecería Giralda, which re-opened last July after being sold in May. La Estrella was also sold a couple of months later (to the same new owners of the Giralda) and re-opened sometime in September, but last night was our first visit since the change over. As with the Giralda Bar, the staff and menu have remained pretty much the same (though unlike the Giralda, La Estrella also has the same old prices).

We used to go to La Estrella quite often because it is at the end of Agustín’s street and it was part of our ‘Wednesday night tapas’ routine. Nog would pick me up at 8.30 when I finished my class with Agustín and then we would stop somewhere for a tapita and some rioja. This still happens but Agu has relocated to the Plaza Nueva for six months while his house is being renovated and so La Estrella is no longer en route.

Anyhow, last night’s outing was more of a proper meal than a tapita snack, which is good for getting tapa blog pics but not especially good for trying to get my waistline back. Ah well . . . off to pilates class soon.

Oh, and a question. What does the background yellow look like on the tapa blog? On SB it’s quite a nice pale yellow, on Nog’s laptop it’s kind of a light ochre – but on the Jaguar it’s an awful, very bright ‘Simpson’s yellow’. I’d like to do a bit of a survey to know if I should tone it down a bit. If you don’t get much background colour on your screen, it’s the same yellow that’s in the google ads on the sidebar. Thanks!

todos los santos

01 Thursday Nov 2007

Posted by azahar in holidays, nablopomo, religion, sevilla, spain

≈ 8 Comments

all-saints-day-fra-angelico.jpg

Today is Todos Los Santos (All Saints Day), which is a public holiday in Spain.

Traditionally, people visit the cemetary and decorate the graves of their loved ones with flowers. Apparently this Christian holiday was moved from its original date in May more than ten centuries ago to offset the pagan autumn festivals.

Here at casa az it’ll be just a pleasant day off, with plans to go out for lunch and finally my swap summer/winter wardrobes. It also means I get a four-day long weekend! f_wow.gif

Nog isn’t so lucky as he has to work on Friday. He says that in England they always move bank holidays (other than Christmas, New Year and Good Friday) to the nearest Monday in order to avoid long weekend ‘bridges’. Is it the same where you are?

It’s just after midnight so this is my first NaBloPoMo post. Off to sleep now and looking forward to checking in from my cosy bed in the morning . . . f_zzz.gif

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