hope 2022

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in hope, life stuff

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hope 2022

Wow, it’s been 12 years already! Way back on January 3rd 2009 I posted a photo of my battered old daybook turned to January 3rd 2010 with the words “STILL HERE!” written on it, as a weekly Photo Challenge I was doing at the time – the theme that week was Hope. Having just finished a second stint of chemo a few months previously this felt like a very bold – and hopeful – thing to do.

I have continued the “tradition of hope” since then and have posted a similar photo on this date each year. So, as always, here’s hoping that I will still be here January 3rd 2022, and will see this page in my book… and then post my hopeful wish for 2023.

mission accomplished!

31 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by in azahars kitchen, casa azahar, food & drink, home, homecooking

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nye

New Year’s Eve dinner was AMAZING. Inspired by the wonderful presa al palo cortado that I’d had at Bodeguita Romero earlier in the week.  It was the first time I’d slow-cooked a whole piece of presa Ibérico de Bellota (pork shoulder) and so I got some cooking tips from my friends, the family at @bodeguitaromero and chef @jose_pizarro. It wasn’t that much different than making my (now famous!) carrillada al oloroso but this sauce was made with palo cortado sherry, LOTS of sweet onion, portobellos, garlic and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. I think I maybe overcooked it a bit as the sauce ended up VERY reduced and had a fair bit of meat in it, that had fallen off the shoulder. So I added more broth and sherry to it and wow, so tasty. Side dishes: roasted potatoes, courgette and spring onion, and Yorkshire puddings. What did you have?

nye dinner