José de la Montaña
Even after having lived in Sevilla for almost 19 years I am still taken by surprise by “impromptu” processions popping up here and there. Of course they aren’t impromptu at all, it just seems that way. Though I’m not alone in not knowing what’s going on. The other night on the way to pick up clients for a Sevilla Tapas Tour I came across this procession. None of the people I asked knew which one it was so during a stop I decided to ask some band members … and even they didn’t know!! Finally someone at a nearby bar filled me in and when I got home I looked up “José de la Montaña” on google, which led to me finding the ArteSacro website that lists what is going on in Sevilla procession-wise. It may or may not come as a surprise that there seem to be processions almost daily. Now I need never be caught out again! I can just check ArteSacro before going out and impress clients and friends with my vasty knowledge of obscure Sevilla cultural events. 
ArteSacro.org
Yes I know, it’s traitorous, disloyal, blah-blah-blah to say this, but the Feria del Caballo in Jerez beats the heckity out of the more famous and much larger Feria de Abril in Sevilla. It just does.
First of all because most of the casetas are open to the public. You know, like a fair ought to be. And instead of being in a massive parking lot like here it’s inside a pretty park with palm trees and flowers. Then there are the horses! Without a doubt the most spectacular in all of Spain.
I’m hoping to spend an afternoon there this week. If you’re interested in going there’s an easy train connection from either San Bernardo or Santa Justa stations, just over an hour for about 20 euros return. Though if you want to see the fairground lit up at night you’ll have to stay over as the last train leaves at 20.48 and accommodation may be scarce. But it’s a great day trip!
Feria del Caballo
Jerez de la Frontera
May 7th – 13th 2012
I blame my iPhone. Used to be that I would polish off at least a book a week, but ever since I got Pippin that number has dwindled to an embarrassing handful a year (!). Which is why it’s taken me a couple of weeks to get around to enjoying Kerstin Rodger’s Supper Club.
You may recall that Kerstin (aka @MsMarmitelover) visited Sevilla awhile back and was my houseguest for a fun & food filled weekend. Well, she also very generously risked going over her RyanAir baggage weight allowance and brought me a copy her fabulous book Supper Club – my own signed copy!
And it is truly a delightful read.
Sandwiched between an extremely useful step-by-step section on how to start up your own underground restaurant and a fun collection of themed dinner ideas are lots and lots of scrumptious recipes with beautiful photos. Being pretty much vegetarian (the occasional bit of fish is becoming even more occasional) Kerstin invited other “secret supper” chefs to share their favourite meat dishes. It’s a book full of heart and humour and I can’t wait to try out some of the recipes. I am also now extremely envious of all those people on Twitter talking about what an amazing time they had at this or that Supper Club evening…
For more foodie fabulousness check out Kerstin’s blogs:
The English Can Cook
The English Can Eat
Supper Club by Kerstin Rodgers
A few photos I took on a grey Feria Wednesday…
The slideshow works best for landscape shots,
to see the full photo click on the thumbnails below.
[click on image to enlarge]
Apparently this video made the rounds last year. Somehow I missed it – thanks to Mike at Lanzarote Information for reposting it on FB this morning. All of us who have had to deal with the Spanish paperwork system have been here…
After a whirlwind week I ended up having a whirlwind weekend. And all because of Twitter.
About a month or so ago a Twitter pal suggested to @MsMarmitelover that she get in touch with me about an upcoming visit to Sevilla. So she did, and I tried to help her find accommodation for a couple of nights. But as it was the weekend before Feria there wasn’t much available that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. So I offered her the option of the sofa bed at casa az. And then the fun started!
Turns out that MsMarmitelover (aka Kerstin Rodgers) is one of the pioneers of the whole underground “pop up” restaurant scene in London, and in fact had asked me if I knew of any such “secret suppers” going on in Sevilla. Well, I didn’t at the time. But a few days later I happened to meet Fourat (@Lebanicious) and then a whole lot of magic happened.
Not only did Fourat inspire me to get my upstairs room set up for sewing projects, along with me getting her set up on Twitter and starting a blog, but various other projects started taking shape. And so when I told Fourat about Kirsten looking for a Sevilla “secret supper” she said she would be happy to organise one of her fabulous Lebanese feasts during the weekend Kirsten would be here. As for who else would come, that was kind of up to me.
And so Kirsten arrived around 7 pm on Friday. Of course I had already picked out a few places to try out for that evening’s tapeo, but was also playing it by ear. We ended up stopping at four different tapas bars (Casa Moreno, Enrique Becerra, Bodeguita Romero, Vineria San Telmo) all very traditional other than the last one. The extra challenge for me was that Kirsten doesn’t eat meat (though she does eat some fish and seafood) so obviously I couldn’t do the obvious – jamón, chorizo, pringá, caña de lomo, carrillada…
On Saturday we visited a few specialty shops in town, including Patricia Buffana (hatmaker extraordinaire) and Bazar Victoria (Sevilla’s most eclectic hardware store) and at lunchtime we went to a non-traditional place which was a total hit – La Azotea – amazing food and service. Then back home to rest up for “Lebaniciousness”. Although a couple of the people invited couldn’t come due to prior commitments we ended up with a fabulous group including restaurant owners Juan Tarquini and Reyes Moreno, bespoke holiday organiser Sam Lister and Sevilla’s Queen of Tapas (that would be me). Along with Fourat’s amazing family. It really was a family affair and the selected guests fit right into the very cosy ambiance as if everyone had known each other forever. And MsMarmitelover had no idea – ooops she does now! – that this whole beautiful evening had been arranged for her visit here.
The next day (today!) I thought it might be possible to take Kerstin to one more fabby tapas bar before she had to catch her afternoon flight home. Of course this morphed into “tapeoexpress” during which we attempted to – and succeeded in – getting to three tapas bars in two hours (Eslava, El Rinconcillo and La Giganta) and having a special snack at each one. Then it was a quick sprint back to the apartment to collect bags and get a taxi to the airport.
In the end we managed to hit eight tapas bars in two days. And four out of my Top Five Tapas Bars in Sevilla.
Seriously? I LOVE Twitter for all the amazing people it has put me in touch with. Makes living as a weirdo semi-recluse in Sevilla *way more interesting*!
[also posted on the casa az blog]
Starting today until April 18th you can visit this Cajasol exhibit of furnishings that were removed from Sevilla’s landmark Alfonso Xlll Hotel during its recent makeover.
These items will later be sold at an auction on Wednesday the 18th and I’ve been told that the starting prices are going to be quite reasonable. In any case, it’ll be fun to stop by the exhibit and pretend to be pre-shopping for the auction…
Centro Cultural Cajasol
April 9th – 17th
C/ Laraña 4
11.00 – 14.00 / 17.00 – 20.00
Sundays 11.00 – 14.00
Auction
April 18th
Lots 1 – 68 at 10.00
Lots 69 – 109 at 17.00
Some images from this year’s Semana Santa
[click on pics to enlarge]
