Tag Archives: wine

tapeo extremo II

06 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in food & drink, restaurants, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours

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So this is what I did yesterday! Met up with some Twitter pals and fellow bloggers for a Tapeo Extremo, a term coined by travel writing legend and hardcore tapeo phenomenon Annie Bennett. Taking part were Fiona (Scribbler in Seville), Kate (Tales of a Brit Abroad), Kate’s friend Nicki, and Kim (Becoming Sevillana). I’ve known Fiona for quite awhile now, and Kate and Nicki had been on a tapas tour with me last summer, but it was the first time meeting Kim. Everyone knew that this was going to be pretty darn demanding and they had a lot to live up to if they were going to reach “extremo” standards. And well, the girls did good.

MY challenge was that nobody in the group ate meat, and one only tolerated fish in small amounts, so it had to be a pescatarian/vegetarian affair. Was I daunted? Hell no. Though it has to be said that the tour focused more on fish and seafood until the fourth and final tapas stop. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

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más málaga!

27 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in friends, Malaga, work

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[click to enlarge]

So this is a bit of what I’ve been up to. I met two Twitter pals in person for the first time – had lunch with David on Monday and with Lisa yesterday. And I had two very productive meetings with Victoria. In between I mostly hung out at the apartment getting some other work done. Manolo has new sofas, a lovely neutral colour, making me want to move in here more than ever. But if things go as planned I’ll be making monthly trips down here, which is almost as good.

I’m heading back to Sevilla this afternoon, but first will take a wander into the centre and dip my toes in the Mediterranean on my way back in to pick up my suitcase. It’s been a great visit.

botani vendimia tour

14 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by in Malaga, photos, wine, work

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The main reason for going to Málaga last week was to be able to get some face-to-face work done with Victoria, as we have a few projects on the go and I thought it would be easier for me to meet her on her home turf. And well, okay… I also love going to Málaga! Then I thought that, as one of the projects was to take photos of the vendimia (grape harvest) and make a few videos, it would be a lot more natural if I could catch Victoria “in action” talking to people, rather than just speaking into the camera. And so I organised the Botani vendimia tour.

I invited a few journalists and one amazing photographer. It was great to see Michelle and Chris Chaplow again, and to finally meet Ben Cooper and his wife Philippa. And although it was a shame that Annie Bennett and Eduardo Blanco couldn’t make it, we still ended up making a nice group of five, including me.

Then *almost disaster* struck when Victoria was suddenly called away to a very important meeting out of town, which meant my “face time” with her just wasn’t going to happen. But luckily she only postponed the vendimia tour to the next day, something I know was very generous on her part as this is the busiest time of year for her and losing time going out of town meant she was going to be backed up when she returned. But she still spent all of last Friday with us, taking us to a a couple of the vineyards, then to see some sites in Almáchar and, after a quick trip to the bodega to talk to the winemaker there and see the grapes being pressed for Botani 2011, she invited us all to an amazing lunch at a beachside seafood restaurant in Málaga.

It was a fabulous day – hope you enjoy the pics.

zahara de los atunes cata

29 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in food & drink, summer, tapas, trips, wine

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Remember how I was supposed to go to Vejer and Zahara de los Atunes a couple of weeks ago. Then what with a sick kitteh and other issues, I decided it would be best to stay home. But not this weekend!

Azar has been doing great the past couple of weeks and so I am going to join two of my clients (and friends) for a fabulous food and wine tasting (una cata) with tuna almadraba from La Sal and the amazing wines from Jorge Ordoñez & Co. in Zahara de Los Atunes on the Cádiz coast. Will be going on Saturday and probably coming home again sometime Monday. Agustín says I can stay at their place so it’ll just cost me bus fare and a meal or two. Really really looking forward to it!

weekend plans and other stuff…

16 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in food & drink, friends, restaurants, spain, summer, tapas, travel, trips, work

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So what the heck.

Have been invited to Vejer to participate in a cooking class headed by the fabulous Annie B, and I am to stay over in the “yellow guest suite”, which sounds delightful. The next day Annie is going to drive me down to Zahara de los Atunes where we will have a delicious lunch in the village before she drops me off in Atlanterra so I can get down to work.

Said work involves taking photos and lots of notes about my Seville client’s sister restaurant in Zahara, which I already know well from my visit there two years ago. You may recall the time my friend Agustín asked me to look after their old pup Mini while they were away in Mexico. Not sure if this time I’ll be able to stay over at Agustín’s because he’s having work done on the place, but if not my client Charo says she can put me up. So why not?

And since you’re probably wondering… no, it never occurs to anyone to pay me extra for going out of town or spending days at events with them. At least, not so far. And so far I am more or less okay with that because I am trying to prove myself to them, that I really am a valuable asset. And, it must be said, a lot of the extra work is actually quite fun. But it doesn’t pay the rent.

There will be another trip to Zahara in early July – just overnight again – to make a video of a wine and food pairing evening with two of my clients. Which I think is going to be amazing. Stay tuned…