Category Archives: twitter

katie parla

30 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas tours, twitter

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katie parla (1)I continue to meet wonderful people thanks to Twitter. This time it was Rome-based food goddess Katie Parla. On Friday morning I was doing my usual social media stuff and attempting to catch up with my massive To Do list of reviews, photos and blog posts before the big #LondonGetaway next week, and up popped a Twitter notice from @jengonroff suggesting that @katieparla get in touch with me. I’d heard of Katie and was keen to help out, thinking she might be coming to Sevilla soon. Turned out she was in Sevilla in that exact moment and was STARVING, so we made plans to meet up later in the evening. What followed was a fun (and sherry-filled) impromptu Sevilla Tapas Tour...

katie parla (2)I immediately felt at home with Katie and was pleased to discover we share a similar philosophy when it comes to our food & wine tours (Katie also offers Art History & Archeology tours in Rome), which is to keep it simple and real. We’ve both noticed the recent influx of food tour opportunists showing up where we have lived and loved and worked for so long. It’s sad to see these people ruining what we have helped to build with them scheduling regular touristy-scripted tours that clog up and destroy the natural ambiance of the places we love. Progress? I don’t think so.

But we had a great time, starting off with sherry and jamón at Las Teresas, then moving on for some fusiony-fun at La Azotea in barrio Santa Cruz (with unexpected guest appearance by Ania – see silly selfie). Then a quick stop at Casa Morales – Katie had to see the tinajas! – before finishing up at Bodeguita Romero. And finish up we did, closing the joint sometime just before 1.00 am! Loved watching Katie experience her first pringá, and we were totally spoiled by Alejandro, offering special sherry pairings. Pretty much a perfect night out.

It’s always such a pleasure to meed kindred spirits like Katie and I look forward to visiting her in Rome soon.

thane & bob

09 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas tours, twitter, twitter friends

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with jamonAnother reason to keep on loving Twitter. After at least a couple of years, maybe more, of mutually following the fabulous Thane Prince @ThanePrince on Twitter we finally got to meet up. Which only seemed right after I actually stayed at Thane & Bob’s fabulous Málaga flat last December. Which obviously also came about via Twitter, and because we have so many Twitter and RL friends in common.

Anyhow, since Thane & Bob are in Málaga this week they decided to do a short getaway to Sevilla, spend the night, and basically eat loads of tapas with me. And drink sherry. And then eat and drink some more. Which we did.

So much fun. I felt immediately at home with them… two very distinct personalities, but somehow perfectly matched. And both funny as hell. I especially felt like I’d scored big points every time I made Bob laugh. So it was a wonderful day of lunchtime tapas, followed by a siesta, and meeting up again later that same night for more tapas and wine, finishing off with midnight drinks on the rooftop of Gourmet Experience. And then a farewell jamón snack the next afternoon (because you can never have too much jamón).

Now I can’t wait to repeat this in Málaga with our mutual friend Victor @welovemalaga. We also might meet up in London this summer! More on that later…

the corner house

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in hotels, sevilla, tapas, twitter

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corner house (1)co-owners Sandra & Nacho

Yesterday morning as I was scrolling around Twitter I saw a friend’s post about a new hotel and bar that had just opened in Sevilla. So later on when I was looking for a destination for an evening stroll I decided to wander over to the Alameda and check it out. Turned out I walked right into the hotel’s opening party!

The Corner House boutique hotel and adjoining El Disparate tapas bar are the latest from dynamic duo Sandra and Nacho, co-owners of one of Sevilla’s better restaurants, El Gallinero de Sandra, which they founded in 1993. The Corner House took just nine months from conception to reality (“Just like a baby!” said Nacho) and it looks like a fun and stylish addition to the barrio. I’ll be back again soon to take a tour of the hotel (just 12 rooms), the rooftop and – of course – try the tapas. Meanwhile, it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday evening.

corner house (2)

fiona & kate

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in andalucia, friends, getaways, sevilla, sherry, tapas, twitter, twitter friends

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fiona kateAKA beer-drinking blondes from Bristol basking in the sun

I was happy to finally meet UK food & wine writer Fiona Beckett @food_writer at Vinoble the other day. She just happened to be standing behind me waiting for a tasting to start (I was buying an It’s Sherry Time button…) and I recognised her from her Twitter pic. So I said hola and introduced myself, mentioning that we had some friends in common from my Bristol days, one of them being Kate Hawkings @katehawkings, who I last saw back in October 2013 when she came to Sevilla for a visit. Which was actually the first time we’d seen each other since we worked together at the infamous Rocinantes tapas bar back in 1992.

Anyhow, the next day I ran into Fiona again as she was leaving the Vinoble site with a tiny blonde woman who looked remarkably like Kate. Turned out because it WAS Kate! What a lovely surprise. So we all went off for a beer break in the sun because sometimes you can actually have too much of a good thing (sherry). Later that evening we went for a cosy tapas dinner and had a fab time. I was even thinking of staying another day in Jerez so I could see a bit more of Kate (Fiona had to leave early the next day) but the visiting UK group had such a jam-packed itinerary that getting together again wouldn’t have been possible. So it was back home to cats and my own bed. But how wonderful to meet up with an old friend and also meet a new one. Plans are afoot for another meet up either in Sevilla or Málaga… #TapeoExtremo. Or maybe even in Bristol. You never know.

josé & pedro

07 Saturday May 2016

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, twitter, twitter friends

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jose pedro (1)It was Saturday morning, a rare weekend day off, and so I posted on Twitter… “what to do today…?” About an hour later I got a text from the most wonderful José Pizarro saying that he and his partner Peter Meades were still in Jerez and thinking about heading to Sevilla. And then it happened.jose pedro (2)José called to say they’d be arriving at their hotel around 2 pm, so I met them there and we embarked on a Tapeo Extremo, starting off at Bodeguita Romero, where José and Peter had their first ever pringá. We had a lot more than that, actually, with José saying I should order the food and then he would order the sherry to go with it. Talk about matches made in heaven.

jose pedro (5)It must be said that Bodeguita Romero has a new – and amazing – sherry list. We finished off with a 20 year old VOR Cream from Bodegas Traditción, and even though I’m not crazy about creams I totally fell in love with this one, perfectly paired with aged manchego in manteca.

jose pedro (3)Then it was time to wander a bit. So we wandered into Barrio Santa Cruz and I showed José and Peter where I used to live, and P snapped this photo of us outside my old house. I think this set a personal record for the number of photos ever posted of me on the internet… EVER. This one and the one above. But somehow Peter has a very gentle eye and a knack for catching the spirit of the moment, not just faces. Love this pic of me and José. jose pedro (4)During our stroll around Barrio Santa Cruz we stopped into another of my favourite places, Las Teresas. And I got a pic of these gorgeous guys “hamming it up”. Then it was off to Gourmet Experience atop the central Corte Inglés in Plaza del Duque. I can’t actually remember why we did this, but we ended up eating oysters and drinking pink champagne.

jose pedro (6)

And then like Cinderella I returned home after my magical lunch with these two wonderful guys, while they went off to finally check into their hotel and later on go out for dinner. Meanwhile I was happily in PJs by 8 pm and Netflixing with Morcilla. But what a wonderful day!