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Tag Archives: life

cooking class!

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by azahar in food & drink, sevilla, work

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

cooking, life, twitter, work

cooking class
So this is what I did yesterday! For ages I have been looking for a Spanish cooking class in Sevilla that is offered in English because so many of my Sevilla Tapas Tour clients ask me about this. Then a couple of weeks ago I happened to mention this to my friend Sam @AndaluciaSam and he told me about a local company Travel & Cuisine, who have recently moved to new premises. And as another friend Fiona @Seville_Writer also has a client interested in cooking classes we arranged to take a class with T & C to see if we would be comfortable recommending them personally. And we not only had a great time – and a great lunch – but we were also very happy with the quality of the class and the great space they have. I’ll be writing more about this on the Azahar Sevilla blog, but for now here’s a sneak photo peek.

Later on yesterday evening I had a last-minute Gourmet Tapas Tour and ended up rolling home around 1.00 am. So today it was a bit of a recovery day, with a trip to the gym and a nice salad for dinner. How’s your week going?

[update: the Azahar Sevilla blog post is up! Travel & Cuisine Cooking Class]

change ahead

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by azahar in diet & nutrition, health & happiness, home, hope, sevilla, work

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

health, life, mondays, stuff

Change-Ahead
Nothing like spending most of a week stuck in bed and feeling like crap to focus on… other things. And as 2013 is still young, it’s also a good time to think about change and goals for the year to come. My main goal, of course, is to stay cancer-free, though there’s little or (I think) nothing I can do about that. Next PET scan will be in March. Will she get another 6-month reprieve? Stay tuned folks.

In other news, I may have to move! Not because I want to but because I don’t think I can afford to stay where I am. When I first took this place with Peter two years ago the understanding was that he’d be paying half the rent and bills, but unfortunately this isn’t happening. And no, I’m not going to try sharing with a total stranger (been there, too old for that now) so finding a smaller place I can afford on my own might be necessary. It would mean “downsizing” considerably, getting rid of furniture and probably my books – at least two rooms full of “stuff” – but at this point I’m ready to do whatever I have to. My food tours are really taking off but, you know, I don’t want to work my butt off and then still end up going into debt just so Peter can have a roof over his head. And the truth is that I don’t use the upstairs room or terrace much, since I spend most of the day working in the “livingroom office”. Anyhow, I’m just getting myself psyched up for this in case I have to move. There will be no rash decisions. So again, stay tuned.

On the bright side, I discovered this morning that I lost 2.5 kilos this past week! Which more than takes care of the “Christmas excess”, and kinda inspires me to keep on with the light eating thing. I’m still not quite ready to get back to the gym but, considering I lost this weight while mostly being curled up in the foetal position, I’m beginning to think there’s something to the theory that exercise, while good for maintaining general health and fitness, really isn’t such a big factor when it comes to weight loss.

So it looks like another day mostly at home, although it’s very blue and shiny out there and I’d love to get out. But I now have The Cough (which apparently happens around Day 6) and my chest feels like a fat dwarf – or Loki – is sitting on it. And without warning I start hacking away, which I do my best to stop, and have been pleased to discover that by careful breathing I’m actually able to stop it a lot of the time. But sometimes not and it feels like I’m going to turn myself inside out. A friend told me he coughed so bad during the Coughing Stage that he pulled a muscle in his armpit! Anyhow, I have two meetings tomorrow morning and am giving a friend a blog class in the evening, so I reckon another day at home is prudent.

What’s new with you guys? Have you got any plans happening?

hope 2014

03 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by azahar in cancer, friends, home, hope, life stuff, love

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

hope, life

hope 2014

Continuing the “tradition of hope” started on January 3rd 2009 when I posted my first ever Photohunt entry. The theme that week was “hope” and I put up a photo of my daybook turned to January 3rd 2010 with the words “STILL HERE!” written on it. Since then I have posted a similar photo on this date and hope with all my heart that I’ll be here to do the same next year.

remembering to love

09 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by azahar in animals & pets, cats, change, death & dying, home, love

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

cats, death, life, love

Remember Azar having a drink out of his special glass after brekky a couple of months ago? That was before things (literally) blew up with the tumour and it seemed like he’d still be around for a good while. He always took care to make sure he got lots to drink and for the past couple of years he’d had a few different drinking glasses, but this was his last one.

After he died it was so hard to let go of little things and so when it came time to either toss this glass or find a new use for it I decided to fill it up permenantly and leave it on the top shelf in the bathroom where I always used to keep it, waiting for Azar to come and ask for a drink.

Sometimes seeing it makes me sad, other times it makes me smile, but it always makes me remember how much I loved bringing him a drink and telling him what a clever boy he was. Nothing else I was doing would ever be more important and it was always good to stop and have those few precious moments. I think it’s good to be reminded of that.

grave matters

29 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by azahar in cats, change, death & dying, home, hope, life stuff

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

cats, death, life, love

When Azar died I said in another blog post that I finally understood why people want to believe in Heaven, and I also finally understood the concept of graves. Ever since I made the somewhat rash decision to bury Azar in a square near my house I realised that I actually took comfort in him still being “close to home” and that I can see the trees from my bedroom window and know that he is resting below them. I know it doesn’t make any sense, and I know it’s just his remains there, but I somehow need him to be nearby.

I actually waited almost two weeks before I revisited his grave, in case it had been disturbed, because I didn’t know what I’d do if Azar was no longer there. But I found it just as we’d left it, and since then I’ve wandered by many times and stop to say a few words.

My most beautiful boy.

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