Category Archives: tapas

dinosaur toes

26 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by in computers, food & drink, sevilla, spain, tapas

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They really do look like dinosaur toes, don’t they? They are actually goose barnacles, called percebes in Spanish, and I have been dying to try them ever since I first heard about them. Why? Well, why the hell not? Recently I heard that one of my favourite seafood tapas bars – La Moneda – has been serving percebes and I asked them if they could let me know the next time they got some in. Turned out that was today! Not the best timing as Peter and I had just stopped off for a couple of tapitas with my familia at Bodeguita Romero – celebrating my shiny new laptop purchase (more on that later!) – and after our second tapa I got a Twitter message from Isidro that the percebes had landed.

So we high-tailed it out of the Bodeguita and headed over to La Moneda, with new laptop slung over shoulder – luckily it was only about a five-minute walk away – and upon arrival a plate of steaming percebes were placed in front of us. My first reaction was “eep! now what?” but Isidro quickly instructed us on how to eat them. You grab them at each end and then give them a sharp twist and a yank, after which the “claw” of the toe pulls away with a delectible morsel of deliciousness dangling off the end of it. What Isidro failed to mention was how squirty they are! At the first twist water shot out everywhere (usually all over me!) and I never did manage to get as clean a severing between claw and toe as Isidro did. But man! These guys are very tasty – not to mention prohibitively expensive! – but Isidro gave me a deal since it was my first time.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

trial run tapas & market tour

25 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in food & drink, tapas, tapas tours, work

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So remember how I came up with the idea to start doing Market & Tapas Tours? This actually came about a couple of weeks ago after getting together with Lauren from Madrid who has just started doing food tours there. We spent an afternoon going out for tapas here in Sevilla and talking about our tours and various foodie projects, and that’s when I started thinking about doing something similar here, but as a combination of a market and tapas tour.

Last week Kathy came out with me to do some “market research” (heh) and it was after we finished and were out having tapas together that the Ronda weekend plan was hatched. Anyhow, even though I had figured out where I wanted to take people I still needed to do a “trial run” to work out timing and pricing. But of course I needed guineapigs volunteers who would be interested in doing a tour at cost price (just paying for what was consumed). But as almost everyone I know in Sevilla is away on holidays at the moment I reckoned I’d just do a trial run at the beginning of September, since so many market stalls are closed for summer holidays in August.

Then I got a request for a Market & Tapas Tour from someone who’d seen them mentioned on my website. Well, duh!  I had forgotten to say they’d be starting in September. And I was about to write Lauren back and tell her it wouldn’t be possible and then I thought… hey! Maybe they’d like to take the very first Market & Tapas Tour at “cost price” with me and Peter? And it turned out they thought this was a great idea and so off we went this morning. Kathy was also able to meet us briefly for a snack and a chat before leaving us at our second market stop.

I think it went really well, though of course there are things I want to fine-tune, and going out with visitors rather than residents was also a real bonus. Lauren and Peter were great company and were also very interested in the food culture here, and so asked loads of questions. So I think it was a win-win thing for everyone concerned, and I also realised that this new tour is going to be a LOT of fun!

market & tapas tours

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours

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 Are there no limits to my talents?  😉

Take a look at my latest venture… Market & Tapas Tours! I was out doing research on this today with a friend and plan on a “trial run” soon with a few willing “guinea pig” friends. Really very excited about this as it’s something that can be done in the morning and won’t leave me wasted so I could still do an evening tapas tour. And it’s also something fun and different. Whaddaya think?