19 Wednesday Mar 2025
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This week’s Substack offering is a visit to eight (count em… 8!) food markets in Sevilla. I also hit 200 subscribers this week (!!!) which is quite exciting and I think not bad for an almost three-month-old newsletter. So if you like what you read (and would like to make me happy 🙂) please consider becoming either a free or paid subscriber. And leave a comment!
06 Thursday Mar 2025
What a week. I had so much research planned for my next Substack article on local markets, which meant visiting some further-out markets I hadn’t been to for a while, plus one I have never visited. BUT the forecast was (and still is) for pretty much non-stop rain for at least the next ten days or so. And as we all know, walking with crutches AND an umbrella is basically impossible.
But… it’s turned out that other than on Wednesday the rain has mostly been happening from mid-late afternoon until morning, leaving midday free for me to get out there. And so I have been, wielding my old lady bus pass (I’m really getting to know the bus routes around here). Just a couple more markets to visit to finish up. Here’s a pic of the clouds heading back in as I hobbled home today.
24 Tuesday Mar 2020
Posted in coronavirus, food & drink, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars
Today I went out for my weekly supermarket run (and rubbish dump). My last time out was on Wednesday, when I noticed changes since the previous visit to El Corte Inglés supermarket at the beginning of the lockdown. Staff were all wearing gloves and masks and we were handed plastic gloves on our way in. Today security had been stepped up, with gloves and sanitiser left out for our use on a table on the way in, and cashiers were being protected behind plexiglass.
All this time I’ve been feeling bad about not supporting local independents more but the sad truth is that the small guys aren’t able to offer the same protection for both staff and customers that the bigger supermarkets can. Being in a high risk demographic – over 60 with autoimmune shit going on due to previous stage 4 cancer & chemo – I just don’t want to take the extra risk.
Meanwhile, last week my friends Jeanine & Juan who run the amazing La Azotea, started offering daily menus for home delivery, along with selected items from their regular menu, and also wines. This is a great option for people who haven’t had time to shop, don’t like cooking, or simply miss their favourite La Azotea dishes. You can follow them on their Instagram stories to see the daily specials.
And today I found out about a new iniciative started by four friends, including my pal Javier, chef and owner of Taberna Lalola, called El Mercado de Sevilla, offering an online platform for local independent food shops and suppliers to provide home delivery. It’s free of charge for suppliers to join and there is no delivery charge. It’s still early days, but the website is up and runnying as of today.
30 Saturday Jun 2018
Posted in azahars kitchen, casa azahar, cooking, home, homecooking
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azahars kitchen, home, home cooking, markets, recipes, sevilla
Saturday at the market is not usually my favourite place to be (too crowded), but I was in search of swordfish and ended up going to two of them. As it was late in the day none of the fish stalls at either Feria or Encarnación markets had any left, and so I bought some tuna instead. I asked for two pieces but didn’t expect them to be cut so thick, so Peter took one off my hands and we both headed to our respective homes to see what we could come up with. A couple of nights before we had tried this lovely atún encebollado (tuna with onions) at Bodeguita Romero, so I decided I’d like to try making it.
As usual, I looked on line and found several recipes, which I then adapted. Though apparently (as I was informed later on Instagram) I should not have left out the vinegar! In fact, I used manzanilla sherry instead of vinegar, which was delicious, but next time I’ll try it the more traditional way.
Season tuna with salt & pepper and brown in a pan with a good amount of olive oil. Then set tuna aside and add sliced onion and crushed (or sliced) garlic to the oil, sauté slowly until nicely browned, then turn up the heat and slosh in some manzanilla (or vinegar!). Let bubble for a bit, the turn heat down and return tuna to pan.
Peter opted to make fish and chips (with non-mushy peas). Which also looked tasty.
22 Thursday Feb 2018
Posted in culture, gastronomy, markets, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
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José, Delia, Cinta & Ana
About a year or so ago I started also offering my Market & Tapas Tour on We Love Tapas. Since then Cinta, and now José, have joined the WLT team and so yesterday we did a “walk through” training session so that they could also start doing this tour. There have been a couple of changes since I first started doing these, including a lovely collaboration with Ana, the owner of Lama La Uva, one of the most unique wine shops in Sevilla. Delia has been doing the market tours for awhile now, but it was great that she could stop by the shop for a glass of sherry with us. It’s a total pleasure – and honour – working with these guys.
casa azahar 