for raincoaster
19 Sunday Oct 2008
19 Sunday Oct 2008
15 Monday Sep 2008
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, spain, tapas

Yesterday Nog took me out for a real treat – my first proper Greek food since I left Toronto in 1990! It was at a place called Helas that I’d read about on a few different websites and apparently it was also written up in El Mundo as one of the 15 best international restaurants in Spain (not just Sevilla).
My original idea had been to go there for lunch the day before I check into hospital for my operation, but I actually think I’m going to spend that weekend eating light and drinking lots of water to prepare my system a bit … and so we went yesterday instead. And it was fabulous. My favourite olives are kalamatas and although the spanikopita pastry was a bit tough (I suspect they heated it up in a microwave) the meal was a success, especially as Nog hadn’t tried Greek food before.
The photo above shows a starter of metitzanosalata, tzatziki, dolmades, feta cheese and taramousalata, served with freshly baked hot pita bread. To see more have a look below. . .
[looks like this is going to be a week of special lunches as I’ve been invited out almost every day this week – another reason to take things easy this coming weekend]
01 Monday Sep 2008

That’s Sara, me and Steve
They arrived late yesterday evening and we did the usual looking around for somewhere to eat that usually ends up with an extensive tour of the Barrio Santa Cruz until we find a place with a free table. We were eventually seated at Casa Roman and had a very nice meal there. And later on we went for a nightcap on the rooftop terraza of the Hotel Doña Maria.
I’m so happy they’re here … for two whole weeks!
27 Wednesday Aug 2008
Posted in culture, food & drink, spain, video, weird

According to this Wikipedia article…
La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. Tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a brutal battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.
The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks. On the night before the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest.
So today is the day, and here is a video of it from the Grauniad…
Does this sound like fun to you?

24 Sunday Aug 2008
Posted in food & drink, sevilla, spain
Or ‘toad skin’ melon – my latest food passion!
Remember way back in March when I solved my fruit dilemma by making fresh fruit purées? Well, that all went by the wayside when I went into hospital in May and somehow I never got back into the habit. Then the other evening I was out for a walk with Nog and I was so hot and tired and wishing I could have an icy cold granizada de limón … and suddenly I thought of melons. Lovely crisp and juicy piel de sapo melons. And so I told Nog that we had to get to a supermarket immediately.
And I was right. It wasn’t cold but it totally quenched my thirst and tasted so fresh and delicious … and well, I’ve been eating melon daily ever since. The trick is to find one that is perfectly ripe and, since I have no idea how to do this, I ask someone at the fruit stand. Personally I don’t think they know either but they’re quite good at looking like they do.
Am thinking melon would also go well in a frozen vodka drink …