09 Tuesday Mar 2021
Posted in welcome
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As always happens I smelled it before I saw it… even through my mask! It was a soft warm spring afternoon and I was walking back to the centre after having had lunch in Triana and suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks because THERE IS WAS. That gorgeous fragrance of azahar (orange blossom) that always takes me to a happy place. I’d been noticing buds on the trees for the past week or so but today was the first time I actually saw and smelled the blossoms. Oh my god… so happy.
05 Friday Mar 2021
Posted in covid, restaurants, sevilla, tapas bars
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First off I want to say that of course I support the bars and restaurants here, many of which I love like my own second home and the people who own and run these places are like my family. And there are plenty of others that I respect and enjoy visiting. BUT… I have always felt it was my right to express my personal opinion about any of these places because, well, why not? It’s not like I’m anybody important.
But the ironic thing is that, since Covid, you are suddenly not allowed to say anything critical about any bar or restaurant because they are suffering, under pressure, doing their best, etc, etc. Well, I call bullshit.
26 Friday Feb 2021
Posted in welcome
It’s that time of year again. From December to March calçots are in season and La Quinta Brasserie brings the Catalan tradition to Sevilla during this time. Basically the calçots (similar to a large spring onion) are roasted over coals, then wrapped up in newspaper and served with a wonderfully nutty romesco sauce. Delicious and also messy as hell. The trick is in getting the non-charred delicate centre out. First you peel away a bit of the charred bit at the end until you see the green part of the onion. Hold onto that! Then tightly grip the tip of the calçot with your other hand and pull.
After that you dip the calçot into romesco sauce, another Catalan dish made with tomatoes and roasted red peppers, puréed and thickened with toasted crushed almonds and bread. Heaven. You can see that La Quinta provided us with a paper bib and also latex gloves for this procedure, as after dipping the calçot into the romesco you are meant to hold it high over your mouth and slowly lower it in. My friend Peter shows us how it’s done (more or less, it was his first time).
This dish is usually served with the traditional porrón, local Catalan wine served in a peculiar wine carafe, which you also hold well above your upturned face as you pour wine directly (or otherwise) into your mouth.
It was great fun doing this again. La Quinta offers the calçots either a la carte or as part of a set menu that includes the calçots, grilled butifarra with creamy butter beans and alioli, a selection of char-grilled meats, desserts and wine. We opted for a la carte and frankly after the calçots and sharing the butifarra dish we were practically dead. Though we did see a couple the next table over polish of the entire menu. RESPECT.
24 Wednesday Feb 2021
Posted in coronavirus, covid, sevilla
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So I just saw this article about Dr Fauci predicting that people will be wearing masks well into 2022 and all I can say is…
DUHHH?
Because of course we will. And should. And for possibly forever. At least during the usual “cold and flu season” from October – March. I mean, why wouldn’t we? It’s been shown that mask-wearing prevents not only coronavirus contagion, but also regular flu and the good ol’ common cold.
This has been the first year ever that I haven’t had my annual Christmas Cold. And anything that would help with not contracting ANY kind of flu is pretty much okey-dokey with me.
Meanwhile we have some government officials saying that we will be “back to normal” by April, others still trying to “save summer” tourism (because “saving Christmas” went so well?)… but Dr. Fauci maintains we will see nothing close to “normal” again until next year. How do you feel about that? I find it’s almost reassuring to have a more realistic “end” in sight, even though it’s going to be tough going.
23 Tuesday Feb 2021
Posted in sevilla
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Adiós Endesa and bienvenido a CYE Energía. I should have done this ages ago but, like with most things, it helps when you are helped by someone who knows what they are doing. For those who don’t know Endesa is the largest electricity utility company in Spain and I think most people just sign up with them because they always have done. At least that’s what I’ve always done. But then something weird happened between living in the Alfalfa and then moving to my present Casa Azahar. I put in for a transfer of service but somehow got stuck with a “maintenance” fee of about 7.50€ a month – a separate contract from the one I’d actually applied for. I didn’t think much about it, but after a while I started to think this wasn’t anything I wanted to have and so I tried to cancel it. No way. I tried by phone and on the website, but somehow there was always something impeding the cancellation. And each time I gave up in frustration thinking, well it’s only 7.50€ a month and maybe one day I’ll use the service. Well, I never have. And I have yet to find a way for these fuckers to cancel this thing, which actually amounts to close to 100 euros a year, and frankly I could use that money elsewhere.
Aside from that, my electricity bills have been outrageous this year. And okay, I understand it’s partly to do with me BEING HOME ALL THE TIME and so using a lot more heating or aircon. And then there’s that oven of mine that seems to be constantly in use these days. But when I had lunch with Pablito the other day (he is a contractor specialising in electrical stuff) and told him how much my last electricity bill was he said WTF!! and then said he would find me a better deal. Normally I wouldn’t know where to start with something like this, but Pablo took care of everything. All I had to do was digitally sign the new contract and it was done. So now I should be able to expect less terrifying electricity bills with this new provider.
Meanwhile, fucking Endesa is still dicking me around about this maintenance thing. They still refuse to cancel it, and they also refuse to show me the original contract. For my part, I have cancelled the bank payments to them. Now we’ll see what they do next. Assholes.
casa azahar 