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plum cake

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

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plum cake
Last month I helped my friend Reyes get set up on Twitter and Facebook as well as create her first ever blog Gollerías (a “gollería” is a frivolous but exquisite delight). You see, Reyes is the woman behind all those amazing desserts I keep posting on Twitter from the Vineria San Telmo, including the best lemon meringue pie in the universe. You know the one I’m talking about. She is also the woman behind Juan and the reason he left the life of a rootless world traveller to become one of the most successful restauranteurs in Sevilla.

Anyhoo, after the initial set up we had planned to get together again soon for a couple of “blog classes” so Reyes could get the hang of putting stuff up there on her own, but with Christmas holidays and then me being sick in bed for a week, that day was put off and put off until we finally managed to get together yesterday at my place. Reyes breezed in carrying a massive shopping bag and telling me all about how she’d somehow managed to throw out her iPad with a stack of magazines the other day and then stopping when she realised she’d also forgotten to bring her laptop to “class” (this is Reyes, a genuine force of nature, witty, intelligent and beautiful – and so nice that you can’t even hate her for it). So I showed her how to do some Twitter and FB stuff on her iPhone and explained a few blog things using my laptop, but we’ll still have to do one more class with her computer using her own photo files, etc.

Which leaves what was in the massive shopping bag. Yep, it was this massive plum cake. Thing must weigh at least 2 kilos. And well, you know I’m not big on sweet things but I did really appreciate that Reyes had brought this for me, all prettily wrapped up and all, and so I thanked her for the gift while thinking that Peter was going to be eating a lot of plum cake over the next week. Should’ve known better. We’re talking Reyes after all. First taste of this gorgeous cake this morning and it became clear that Peter will be lucky to get any at all. Turns out it’s perfect for breakfast with a nice hot cup of coffee. A true gollería.

sir and m’lady

16 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in blogging, food & drink

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top_hat_&_tiaraAs you can imagine, since I can’t seem to get out of bed for more than an hour or so at a time, I’ve been spending far too much time on the iPhone and iPad the past couple of days. So you can imagine my delight when links to this blog popped up again on Twitter (it’s been mentioned there quite a bit lately). And so I thought I would share it with you because it’s immensely entertaining, riddled with quotable quotes and soooo… well, you decide. Do share some of your favourite bon mots here, if you like.

Betcha can’t stop at just one. 😉

Sir And M’Lady Dine Out

6th blog anniversary

16 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in birthdays, blogging, friends

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So, this is NOT my 6th blogoversary.

That was on May 1st, but for the first time since I started casa az I completely forgot it. How odd. Though no doubt I was distracted by this beautiful boy that day and posted a pic of him instead.

Anyhow… six years!

We’ve sure been through a lot together, haven’t we? 2178 posts, as well as over 25,000 comments and 630,000 visitors.

Thanks for sticking around guys (and welcome to new visitors!). I couldn’t have done it without you.

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marmite

22 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla, spain, travel, twitter, twitter friends

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After a whirlwind week I ended up having a whirlwind weekend. And all because of Twitter.

About a month or so ago a Twitter pal suggested to @MsMarmitelover that she get in touch with me about an upcoming visit to Sevilla. So she did, and I tried to help her find accommodation for a couple of nights. But as it was the weekend before Feria there wasn’t much available that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. So I offered her the option of the sofa bed at casa az. And then the fun started!

Turns out that MsMarmitelover (aka Kerstin Rodgers) is one of the pioneers of the whole underground “pop up” restaurant scene in London, and in fact had asked me if I knew of any such “secret suppers” going on in Sevilla. Well, I didn’t at the time. But a few days later I happened to meet Fourat (@Lebanicious) and then a whole lot of magic happened.

Not only did Fourat inspire me to get my upstairs room set up for sewing projects, along with me getting her set up on Twitter and starting a blog, but various other projects started taking shape. And so when I told Fourat about Kirsten looking for a Sevilla “secret supper” she said she would be happy to organise one of her fabulous Lebanese feasts during the weekend Kirsten would be here. As for who else would come, that was kind of up to me.

And so Kirsten arrived around 7 pm on Friday. Of course I had already picked out a few places to try out for that evening’s tapeo, but was also playing it by ear. We ended up stopping at four different tapas bars (Casa Moreno, Enrique Becerra, Bodeguita Romero, Vineria San Telmo) all very traditional other than the last one. The extra challenge for me was that Kirsten doesn’t eat meat (though she does eat some fish and seafood) so obviously I couldn’t do the obvious – jamón, chorizo, pringá, caña de lomo, carrillada…

On Saturday we visited a few specialty shops in town, including Patricia Buffana (hatmaker extraordinaire) and Bazar Victoria (Sevilla’s most eclectic hardware store) and at lunchtime we did go to a non-traditional place which was a total hit – La Azotea – amazing food and service. Then back home to rest up for “Lebaniciousness”. Although a couple of the people invited couldn’t come due to prior commitments we ended up with a fabulous group including restaurant owners Juan Tarquini and Reyes Moreno, bespoke holiday organiser Sam Lister and Sevilla’s Queen of Tapas (that would be me). Along with Fourat’s amazing family. It really was a family affair and the selected guests fit right into the very cosy ambiance as if everyone had known each other forever. And MsMarmitelover had no idea – ooops she does now! – that this whole beautiful evening had been arranged for her visit here.

Next day (today!) I thought it might be possible to take Kerstin to one more fabby tapas bar before she had to catch her afternoon flight home. Of course this morphed into “tapeoexpress” during which we attempted to – and succeeded in – getting to three tapas bars in two hours (Eslava, El Rinconcillo and La Giganta) and having a special snack at each one. Then it was a quick sprint back to the apartment to collect bags and get a taxi to the airport.

In the end we managed to hit eight tapas bars in two days. And four out of my Top Five Tapas Bars in Sevilla.

Seriously? I LOVE Twitter for all the amazing people it has put me in touch with. Makes living as a weirdo semi-recluse in Sevilla *way more interesting*!

What did you do this weekend?

[also posted on the azahar sevilla blog]