09 Thursday May 2013
Every other time I’ve gone to the Feria in Jerez I’ve spent almost all my time taking photos of the gorgeous horses. This time I spent most of the day drinking sherry in the Gonzalez Byass tent with these lovely people. Well, it was different! And really nice to meet up with old friends again, as well as meet some new ones. But I’m kind of sorry I missed the horses (sorry Beth!). Hope I’ll be able to go again next year.
07 Tuesday May 2013
After a long Sunday afternoon of serious tapas & wine indulgence, visiting London foodie friend Nicola came back to casa az for – what else? – more wine. It was then and there that Loki turned this unsuspecting “non-cat person” into his belly-rubbing slave. The remotes are for when he wants to control us from a distance. Wouldn’t want him to have to get up…
04 Saturday May 2013
Posted in food & drink, friends, tapas, tapas tours, twitter, twitter friends, wine
Just over a couple of years ago I met Nicola Swift @ShedLikesFood on Twitter when she got in touch about taking one of my Sevilla Tapas Tours. It turned out to be a memorable evening as not only is Nicola a true foodie, as well as charming and fun to be with, but I showed up for the tour on crutches. In fact, it was the tour I mentioned in this post. I didn’t know at the time that Nicola and I would stay in touch on Twitter nor that two years later she’d be back, this time with her parents, for a week-long visit in Sevilla. And so of course we had to do another food tour! This time it was the Market & Tapas Tour on Friday, which you can see was a great success. Especially because Nicola actually tried two things she’d never had before – caracoles (small snails) and fried ortigüillas (anenomes). So now the challenge is on for her to eat something “weird” every day she’s here.
Of course I’ll be helping Nicola in this endeavour as much as I can. We’ll be going out for lunch on Sunday and then to the Feria in Jerez on Wednesday (her last day in town). Stay tuned…
02 Thursday May 2013
Posted in cancer, food & drink, friends, tapas, tapas tours, video
Just over a month ago I got an email from a woman called Ellen who said she was an acquaintance of Pat’s from the Colon Club forum. Ellen had seen the video I’d made for Pat and, as she was going to be in Spain soon with her partner Hilary, asked about the possibility of doing Pat’s Tapas Tour. And well, I was delighted to do this.
So on Tuesday I met them at the Cathedral and we headed off to the first stop. It was quite an emotional experience talking to someone who had known Pat, even a little (Ellen had only had contact with Pat on the CC forum, looking for advice about her then partner, who has since died of cancer). But it was also fun to see how both Ellen and Hilary recognised the places we went to, as well as the food, and also some of the waiters and owners. And of course we talked about Pat… brought back so many feelings and memories.
Still miss you, Pat. And I always will. xx
18 Monday Mar 2013
Posted in food & drink, friends, home
Yes, it’s those Jets Like Taxis guys again, Ang & Ryan, this time enjoying a rainy day BBQ on my rooftop. This BBQ had been “in the making” for weeks and was originally going to include two other couples, but in the end I had to cancel twice because of The Rain. Then we got to talking about it during our Macarena day trip and, as this was Ang & Ryan’s last weekend in town, decided that we could sort of half-organise a BBQ for just four people (including Peter) so if we had to cancel last minute then no big deal. Basically it would be burgers & dogs, with Ang in charge of making her famous flavour-packed burgers and me getting some nice chorizo criollo to fill in as hotdogs. Of course – you know me – I had to be sure there was “enough food”, so I also made a nice spinach tortilla and some bacon & cheese croquettes as starters. Next to nothing was left over.
Everything was looking great until Peter lit the charcoal. Suddenly large black clouds swooped in and threatened to, well, threaten our BBQ. But we decided WTF and went ahead with it anyway. And it was fabulous! We sat under one of the large awnings in the rain (the BBQ was under the other one) listening to Paco de Lucía, drinking beer and wine, and seriously eating. There was something quite cosy about sitting out in the rain but being all dry and comfy and warm. How was your Sunday?
casa azahar 