el bichero with anne & paul

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anne paul 24

Met up with Anne & Paul at the Vinos de España event in Jerez yesterday and afterwards Paul treated us to a splendid lunch at the new El Bichero location just outside the city. El Bichero is famed for its fish and seafood and used to be in the centre of town just off the Plaza del Arenal. This new place has a distinct country club feel to it with sweeping views from the terrace (where we ended up enjoying an after-lunch penúlitima). After that it was back to theirs for yet another penúltima before heading home.

Thanks again for such a great afternoon and for treating us Anne & Paul. See you at Vinoble!

el bichero

vinos de españa una pasión 10º aniversario

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vinos españa pasion

The 10th anniversary of Vinos de España Una Pasión took place back where it all began, in Jerez de la Frontera. Each year a different city is chosen for this event and I went to the only one (so far) held in Sevilla back in 2016. But how could I miss this special anniversary, especially being held in Jerez? And especially after I saw the lineup of bodegas! Holy moly. Top wineries from all over Spain in one place for one day only.

And this is the man who makes it all happen… Juan Manuel Hidalgo, who I had the good fortune of meeting many years ago at Eslava. We were just hanging out at the bar and then Eslava owner Sixto introduced us because he knew I loved sherry wines. Anyhow, we’ve known each other since then and it’s always a pleasure to meet up.

vinos españa 24 (2)

The chosen venue chosen is always somewhere spectacular and this time it was in the beautiful Palacio de la Atalaya. What a wonderful time. I got to see bodega owners I’d visited years ago in Galicia, catch up with old friends and meet some new ones.

vinos españa 24

There were two sessions: morning (11am – 3 pm) and afternoon (5 – 8pm). I prefer going to the early ones as they tend to be less crowded. In this case we didn’t even arrive until 12.30, but a 2.5 hour wine tasting is plenty of time. Above are a few pics I took but I was having such a great time talking to everyone that a couple of special friends are missing. Oh well. They know who they are. Cheers!

traumatised

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trama doc

Yesterday I finally got to see a traumatology doctor about my goddamn knees. To recap… it was less than a year ago that I was doing my (almost) daily 10,000 steps and suddenly last May my left knee decided to give out on me. Then it all went downhill with trips to Heartless GP, then an MRI and later a visit to emergency when the pain in my right knee became unbearable. I was dismissed by the ER doctor saying I didn’t have a Bakers Cyst (though all symptoms pointed to that) and was given a prescription for Nolotil, a painkiller that has been banned in 20 countries because one of the many side effects is DEATH.

So fuck that shit. I got back in touch with Heartless GP and she said she would book an appointment with a traumatologist, which finally happened today. To be honest, since my serious disappointment after seeing The Endo last summer I was preparing myself for the worst. And hey, that’s what I got.

This woman was dismissive from the start. Barely looked at me other than to tell me to not move my chair closer to her desk. A good 6 feet away, I also noticed the window was cracked open, but of course she was not wearing a mask IN A FUCKING HEALTH CENTRE FULL OF SICK PEOPLE. But I digress…

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martha 2024

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marta 2024

She’s baaaack… this week Martha is in town with husband Joe and their friends and they invited Peter and I to join them for lunch. Martha and I first met back in 2014 (ten years ago!) when she came on one of my Sevilla Tapas Tours as a solo traveller and she has been back multiple times since then, sometimes on her own, other times with Joe or en famille with their sons. She’s also had a couple of holiday meals at my house. And it’s always great to meet up again. We had a fabulous lunch at Salmedina and spent a great afternoon together. Come back soon! 💙

so that didn’t work…

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fan

The last ditch effort to repair my number one fan was not successful. So after 20 years I had to retire the old girl and get this new model. Which in fact is quite nice! It was supposed to be my new bedroom fan but, as it looks much nicer than the one that was in the living room, I’ve swapped them. So now we’ve got fans in every room again. I honestly don’t know how people live without them (also, saves on AC).