Tag Archives: friends

william

03 Saturday Jun 2017

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, spain, tapas

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Juan, me & William

It’s been quite a week for meeting up with people, either for the first time or after a long time. William @madguide1 fits into the second category. We first knew each other via social media as he is a Spain expert for the very famous Rick Steves global tours. Then one fine day we had time to meet up while he was in Sevilla… that was a few years ago. Then I saw on Instagram that William was back in town this week with a tour group, he promised me that FOR SURE when he was back in September that he’d make time to meet up.

Later that same day I was having lunch with my dear friend Juan Tarquini @jmtalexeew, at his fabulous Vineria San Telmo, when a guy sits down at the table next to us. Suddenly I hear… SHAWN??? Heh, it was William. He was there to meet two other mutual friends, María and José who, along with their partner Victor, run the excellent Taller Andaluz de Cocina cooking school. I mean, what are the odds? I love when stuff like this happens.  🙂

William, José & María

clinchpics

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by in friends, gastronomy, instagram, photos, sevilla, tapas, twitter, twitter friends, wine

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Yet another online friend I’ve “virtually” known for years. Although Tim @clinchpics has passed through Sevilla many times en route to his photography workshops at Finca Buenvino in the beautiful Aracena mountains, this time he decided to stop off for a couple of days and take in the sights. And so, after meeting up for a quick manzanilla at Las Teresas, we headed over to La Sal for lunch. And WHAT a lunch it was…

[click on image to enlarge]

La Sal specializes in all things tuna (the original family-run restaurant is in Zahara de los Atunes) and as we are in the almadraba season – the annual sustainable tuna catch off the coast of Cádiz – it seemed like the perfect time to revisit the Sevilla location. Seriously, it was one of the most spectacular meals I’ve had in quite awhile, starting off with marinated sardines on toast, followed by tuna loin cured in pork fat (wow) and a delicious bite of “something tuna” which ingredients now escape me. After that some tuna in tempura with bonito flakes (delish) and a “bento box” of six delightful tuna bites. Finally we opted for the tuna morillo (collar) baked in salt and served with Japanese style noodles. You can watch Antonio serving it here…

The wine and conversation flowed and it felt like I’d known Tim forever. And as so often happens we stopped for a post-lunch Penúltima (or three) at La Azotea (aka The Office). Then it was time for me to get home, and so I left Tim with a tapas bar Plan of Action for the evening, feeling happy to have met a new friend and kindred spirit.

nancy & david

30 Tuesday May 2017

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

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About a million years ago I met Nancy Li on a travel forum called SlowTrav (now defunct) but we ended up having several mutual virtual friends, and I finally met her when she and her husband David came to Sevilla in 2014. Meanwhile we stay in touch on Facebook. Nancy is a crazy cat woman wannabe (she loves them but is allergic) and in fact it was Nancy who first told about wet-combing cats. Guess what? It rocks.

Anyhow, Nancy and David are back in town this week, along with Nancy’s old school chum Phillip, and they were happy to come out with me to do some Tapas Research (ie have lunch) at a new bar I hadn’t been to yet. Happily the meal was very nice, as was the company. It was nice to reconnect. HOWEVER, something Nancy told me was quite disturbing, which is that the woman she is renting her holiday apartment from informed her that The Dude is actually a lady (???). I have yet to investigate this matter further, but will definitely be checking out The Dude a bit more carefully next time we meet up.

martha & joe

29 Monday May 2017

Posted by in friends, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours, twitter, twitter friends

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I first met Martha @marthakimes when she joined one of my tapas tours as a solo traveller back in November 2014. She then came back on her own last November, which included a memorable evening out with Ania @ania_marchlik at La Azotea (I think that was the night I sold Ania my old iPhone…) and since then Martha decided that Sevilla is where she would like to live when she retires. To wit, this latest trip Martha dragged invited her husband Joe with her, hoping to get him to fall in love with her adopted city.

It’s quite impressive that Sevilla has won such an honour in Martha’s heart, since she has travelled pretty much everywhere, and has seen many amazing and beautiful places. And yet, this is where she wants to be. You can see how committed she is by the tattoo she had done between her last two visits.

NO8D0 … Sevilla’s official motto

Anyhow, Martha, Joe, Peter and I got together a few times during this visit, and we did our best to convince Joe that this is also where he wants to live when he retires. I hope we succeeded, because it would be great having M & J as neighbours.

roma

26 Friday May 2017

Posted by in andalucia, fiestas, food & drink, friends, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I went to Córdoba this week to see Roma @artsylife again, after finding out that she was back in Andalucía but wasn’t going to make it to Sevilla this time. This happily coincided with feria, and we spent a great day out together with Peter @SVQconcierge.

I first met Roma when she came on a tapas tour in September 2014, and saw her again when she returned for a second visit to Sevilla in October 2015. During that trip she also became an honourary We Love Tapas team member when she volunteered to be our victim guest on a practice run of the Oldest Taverns Tour. Good times. Come back soon, Roma! xx

Peter & Roma

Aside from going to the Feria we also did a fair bit of tapearing…

breakfast of champions at Bar Santos

an elegant pre-feria lunch at La Regadera

late night snacks at Taberna El Gallo

the Cordobés holy trinity at Taberna El Gallo:
salmorejo, flamenquín, berenjenas fritas