The wonderful Julie & Steven (AKA Julia & Esteban) are back in Sevilla to celebrate Steven’s 75th birthday, which is next Tuesday. We got Birthday Week off to a rip-roaring start with an (ahem) 8 hour lunch (!!), which may or may not be a personal record. Started off at Manolo Cateca for a cheeky sherry before having a super delicious lunch at Palo Cortao, along with Julie’s friend Susan, who just happened to be in town for a weekend getaway.

Of course after our leisurely lunch we had to go for a Penúltima and we chose the rooftop of the Gourmet Experience as Susan was really wanting to sit in the sun. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the sun was too low to reach us, but we enjoyed a lovely bottle of cava, and then Susan had to leave us to meet friends for a Flamenco show. By that time we were starting to feel a bit peckish again and Julie remembered how much she loved the pavía de bacalao at Palo Santo, so we strolled over there only to find out that the kitchen still wasn’t open. Undeterred, we decided to have a little pulpo ensaladilla along with yet another penúlitma, but then Eslava’s honey ribs started to sound like a good idea, so we popped over there for a snack while we waited. An hour or so later we were back at Palo Santo for our final snack of the day.

Then it was back home to Netflix with the cats. Looks like it’s going to be a crazy week. The actual birthday dinner will be at Eslava Restaurante on Tuesday, with a few other Sevilla activities between now and then. And then on Thursday I’ll head off to Cádiz with Julie and Steve to spend a couple of days there before they head back to Málaga on Saturday to catch their flight home. Phew!