25 Saturday Aug 2018
Posted in casa azahar, friends, holidays, home, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours
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Tomoko is here! She is going to be cat & house sitting while I am away, which will also be a nice holiday for her (she loves cats!). But we have a couple of days together to catch up – and for Tomoko to learn an the Stupid Cat Rules. 😉
Tonight I took her out on a preview of my new San Lorenzo Tapas Tour, which will be starting in September. I think it’s going to be great.
21 Tuesday Aug 2018
Posted in food & drink, friends
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I first met Becky, Scott and their 4 kids in December 2015, after they had taken a We Love Tapas Tour with the fabulous Delia. And that Christmas Day I spent a wonderful afternoon with them. Then in the spring of 2017 Scott came back to Sevilla with a friend and took a Sherry & Tapas Tour with me. The family has been back to Spain a few times since then, but this time Becky was passing through Sevilla with three of her brood (husband and eldest stayed home this trip), and we got to meet up for a lovely lunch.
Wow, what a difference 2.5 years have made, as you can see from the two photos above. Honestly, I love these kids (NOT a phrase you hear me say often 😉 ). They are so inquisitive and fun to be with. And of course, it was great to catch up with Becky. After lunch we stopped at Rayas for ice cream and then it was time to say “hasta luego”. Plans are afoot for a return visit to Sevilla in October. Can’t wait!
10 Friday Aug 2018
Every year Ramón and Mari Carmen of the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo host their San Lorenzo day celebration on August 10th, in honour of the patron saint of cooks and chefs, and namesake of both their barrio and bar. The first time I attended this event was five years ago and I’ve gone every year since then.
The martyr San Lorenzo was put to a slow and painful death on top of a large gridiron with live coals beneath it and, the legend concludes that, after enduring the pain for a very long time he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!”. And so, as always, different varieties of grilled flesh were on offer during the day at the Abacería, along with a typical white wine punch from Huelva called ponche alosnero. We also got to try cured pork tongue and tiny nécora crabs. Good times.
09 Thursday Aug 2018
Posted in sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars
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You know when you go to do a quick website update and it ends up taking three days?? Well, that. Here’s my update for finding tapas bars and restaurants in Sevilla by barrio…
18 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in food & drink, friends, getaways, tapas, tapas bars, travel, trips
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John, Peter & Finn
Unlike our first two action packed days in Granada, our final day there was entirely unplanned, other than we wanted to go back to a tapas bar that we had always loved, Taberna Gamboa. Which we did, after a nice pre-lunch walk down from the Alhambra, but we were sadly disappointed. The food wasn’t as good as we remembered and the service was worse. Gayle told us it had recently changed hands, so perhaps that’s the reason. Oh well.
Our friend John and his nephew Finn joined us for lunch, finishing with a penúltima at Alameda. In fact, Alameda was our penúltima stop each of the three days we were in Granada – somehow we never got around to actually having a meal there. But I have to say that the complimentary tapas there were some of the best we had.
Peter and I left Granada at the same time but in different directions. I headed to Málaga to continue my little holiday, and he returned to Sevilla to cat and house sit. It was a really good visit and, thanks to Peter’s planning, we got to do a few things there we had never done before.
disappointing food at Taberna Gamboa
excellent complimentary tapas at Restaurante Alameda
