Category Archives: work

cata habla

12 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by in tapas, trips, wine, work

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So this is what I did last nigh!

It was another free wine tasting (cata) at La Azotea Vinos & Más, this time put on by Bodegas Habla from Extremadura. I like to go to these because I always learn something and meet new people, and it’s a free night out! I invited María Paz from Bar Campanario and that ended up being a great choice for many reasons. First of all because she is very sociable and talks to everybody, and of course knows a lot of people from being in the biz. And as I’m also rather chatty we ended up getting invited to the bodega by the owner, who said we could stay there and they have horses and blah, blah… and María Paz said no problem, we could go in her car (!). And she repeated that offer when we went over to the bar for some tapas and ran into someone she knew who invited us to Córdoba (!!). Then her two sons Emilio and Alvaro showed up and they got to reminiscing about when they used to take English classes with me (they were 6 & 8 then and are 20 & 22 now), which ended up with them deciding to start classes with me again next week (!!!). So all in all, a good night out, plus I got to catch up with María Paz, whom I haven’t seen in ages. Also got lots of photos and stuff to put in my Seville blog.

The bad news is that I got into a big argument with my landlord as I still can’t pay the rent, which totally stressed me out, but I’m choosing to think about all the positive stuff that happened yesterday and the other good things happening, as it looks like quite a busy week coming up.

How was your day?

done! for now…

11 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in internet, sevilla, spain, travel, work

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Squeaked in with two hours to spare last night, meeting my first SimonSeeks deadline. Got all 25 hotels up and, although there will probably still be a bit of tweaking to do (waiting to hear back from my editor), the first leg is finished and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Also very importantly – I can now send in my first invoice!

Two more deadlines to go: November 5th for restaurants and November 26th for all remaining copy (museums, attractions, nightlife, shopping, etc). Anyhow, check out the hotels page and let me know what you think – feedback, constructive criticism and suggestions are most welcome.

Seville Expert’s Top 25 Hotels

cata de jerez

08 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by in friends, sevilla, tapas, wine, work

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[click to enlarge]

Last night Jessica and I went to a fabulous sherry tasting (cata de jerez) at La Azotea Vinos & Más, which was both fun and educational. I’ve never known much about Spanish sherries and so it was great that José Argudo from Bodegas Gonzalez Byass took us through the whole sherry-making process while we sampled ten – yes that’s right, ten!! – different sherries. From the palest driest mosto to sweet musky fino/oloroso blends, we sipped our way through it all, even sampling some lovely 30-year-old wines.

Afterwards Juan brought over a jamón from their La Azotea restaurant across the street and we all had a bit to eat, though not nearly enough for the amount of wine we’d had, so Jessica and I went off to the Alameda for a late night snack, ending up at Al Aljibe.

We had a great time catching up on all our news and I’m really glad that Jess is going to be in town for awhile and not out doing field work in Doñana so much. It’s nice having her “home” again.

[also posted on azahar’s sevilla blog]

on fire

07 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by in internet, work

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Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said I didn’t have time to be so busy? Well, things just got busier. Not only am I working like crazy to meet my SimonSeeks deadline on Sunday (just six more hotels to go!) but, as well as having a tapas tour this week and writing blog posts for Victoria, a couple of translations have come in – that also have to be done by Monday! – and on top of that I’m taking out a visiting UK travel writer tomorrow and will be attending a sherry tasting this evening (research for an article – honest!). This is where Nog is really getting a chance to shine because I know I wouldn’t be able to handle all this work on my own and he has really been helping out a lot. Now all we need is to get paid…

Still loving it, even though sometimes it feels like both me and my laptop are on fire.

las casas del rey de baeza

06 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by in holidays, restaurants, sevilla, spain, work

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As you all know, I don’t get to travel much, and certainly not nearly enough as I’d like to. But the other day I got to take a “day trip” to a beautiful hotel (with the longest name ever – try tweeting that several times a day!). The hotel Las Casas del Rey de Baeza is part of a chain called Hospes Hotels, but they are a very exclusive chain of luxury hotels, most (all?) of which are restored palaces. I have to say that it was interesting to see – and experience – how the other half lives…

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