Tag Archives: 20th anniversary

sevruga

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, food & drink, friends, restaurants, sevilla

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sevruga
A week ago today was a bank holiday and my fabulous friend Eduardo invited me out to a 20th anniversary lunch at a fabulous restaurant in a small village just outside Sevilla called Coria del Río. And so we spent a lovely afternoon at Restaurante Sevruga (named after a local caviar). When we arrived Edu introduced me to the owners, Pepín and Irene, a lovely couple who’d opened their restaurant and tapas bar eight years ago. After pouring us some wine Pepín asked what we wanted to order and Edu said – “just bring us some stuff”. What followed was a wonderful tasting menu of some of Pepín’s favourite dishes: crispy fried quail thighs in a soy-teryaki emultion, grilled langoustine and monkfish brochette with green apple reduction and paprika potato purée, sole fillet wrapped around white asparagus and then fried in squid ink batter…. you get the picture.  The rolled slow-roasted lamb served on lemon potato purée with garlic confit and aubergine compote wasn’t too shabby either.

Afterwards we waddled up to the top floor bar for some lemon and cava sorbet (and caramel cheesecake for Edu) and, if it had been a pleasanter day, instead of grey and pissy, we might have taken the little ferry back over the river. Instead we went back to Sevilla the usual way and had a late afternoon cocktail at Lab4 before heading home. You can see more of our Sevruga experience on Sevilla Tapas…

It was a great little day trip, in wonderful company.

20 years in spain party!

01 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends

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Yesterday was Party Day, celebrating my 20th anniversary of moving to Spain.

The festivities started off with a fabulous lunch at the Vineria San Telmo with friends who had come into town specially for the party. After that there was a short break to freshen up and then Peter and I went off to Bar Chinkoa to help set up. You may recall that my first plan had been to have the party on my rooftop terrace but then thought it would be more appropriate (being the Queen of Tapas and all), not to mention way less hassle, to have it at a tapas bar. Happily Manuel and Ana at Chinkoa said they would open up that evening (they’re normally closed on Sunday) so I could celebrate there with my friends. Of course I was a nervous wreck by the time we got there because I never throw parties. I worried that hardly anyone would show up and also had a last-minute extra worry when it occurred to me that people might think the party was “on me” (Spanish style) when my idea had simply been to simply shift the venue from my roof to a bar. But despite my concerns it turned out to be a lovely time.

The best part was that many of the friends who came met other friends for the first time, though they had heard of each other, either from me or via Twitter. And the general concensus was that I have some pretty wonderful friends.

Many many thanks to the gang at Chinkoa who looked after us so well, and also to all you wonderful friends who came to celebrate this very special occasion with me.

Party pics below…

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sunday song – don’t stop believing

30 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, music, sunday song, video

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Thought this was appropriate for Party Day. 🙂

Today is the “official” party to celebrate my 20th anniversary of living in Spain. First I’m meeting some friends who are coming into town – we’re having lunch at Vineria San Telmo – and then I’ll head over to Bar Chinkoa around 7 o’clock to help Ana set things up. Should be a fun day.

party!!!

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary

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Next Sunday I am having a party to celebrate my 20th anniversary of moving to Spain. The actual anniversary date was May 25th and my idea was to spend the rest of the year taking trips here and there, but it also seemed that a party was in order. I chose the last Sunday in September a bit randomly (though I wanted it to be on a Sunday so friends who own restaurants could come), then Sledpress told me it was also the night of the Harvest Moon, which I think adds a nice serendipitous touch. If any of you will be around and would like to be invited just drop me an email. And if you’d like to join the “virtual” party then be sure to follow me on my Sevilla Tapas twitter account that evening.

At first I was going to have the party on my rooftop terrace but then thought it would be more appropriate (and way less hassle!) to have it at a tapas bar. Happily Manuel and Ana at Chinkoa said they would open up that evening (they’re normally closed on Sunday) so I could celebrate there with my friends. I think it’s going to be quite fun!

thursday in málaga

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends, Malaga, tapas, travel, trips, twitter

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The original plan had been to stay in Málaga two nights and return on Thursday. But then I found out that long time Twitter friends Fred @fredshively and Arpi @Andalucinda were actually going to be moving to town that day, so I made arrangements to stay one more night in order to finally meet them in person. But Peter still had to get back to teach a class and then take out a tapas tour, so we spent his last morning here going out to the Automotive Museum. Seriously. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’m not exactly an old car buff, but it had come highly recommended by several people so off we went. And what fun it was! I especially liked the hat collection. After that we picked up his bag at the apartment and went out for a last drink together before he caught the train back to Sevilla.

By then it was lunchtime and I wasn’t sure what to do as I don’t especially enjoy eating on my own, and I wasn’t sure where to go. So I took a wander around the centre and, after spotting a couple of likely candidates, I finally settled on one called Souvi Tapería because it just had a nice feel to it. And what a good choice that turned out to be. The food was amazing (that tapa in the collage is warm potato & truffle coulante filled with foie, served with boletus icecream) and it turned out that my waiter was not only from Sevilla but also from my barrio! When he found out about my tapas blog he said he’d introduce me to the chef & owner. I also ended up meeting the chef’s mother who was sitting at the bar and we had a great chat about Málaga, and swapped contact info. So it wasn’t a lonley lunch after all.

Then I came home to catch up on emails and do a bit of work and before long it was time to meet up with Fred and Arpi (Arpi is a writer and Fred takes fabulous photos). I really appreciated them coming out at all after spending the whole day moving here from the Alpujarras. And I really really appreciated that, when our first restaurant choice turned out to be a dud, Arpi let us drag her down the street to a cool little tapas bar “for one more” as that ended up being another delightful “discovery” for me. Anyhow, it was great meeting them after knowing them on Twitter for so long, and now I have two more lovely reasons to visit Málaga.

So it ended up being quite a wonderful Thursday. How was yours?