I met up with Paula, Paul, Ryan and Angela on the Alameda for lunch at El Disparate, at the Corner House Hostel. Company was great, food not as good as other times we’ve been in my opinion. This was the day after the Three Kings Parade which Paula and Paul attended and got pelted with candy. Angela’s solution to this, stand behind someone very much taller than yourself, wouldn’t be hard for me…
After lunch we went back to Parceria mentioned in previous post and had coffee and sweets. The cheesecake there is fabulous served with blueberries and blueberry coulis (sauce). Gil did a couple of demonstrations of making coffee for tasting, one with a cone and filter, which is a common way of making it but the difference here is that the ground coffee is done to maximize the result and the water is weighed to the same end. The real “science experiment” though was done with a gas burner and two beakers. How to describe this? Here is a picture or two… “a thousand words” and all that.
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| Water gets heated with the bunsen burner |
I got the impression this way of making coffee doesn’t happen often, the owner was videoing it and all were very careful during the process.
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| Heat makes the water pass between the two beakers, voila, tasty coffee! |
The table we were sitting at, we decided, had a weird vibe. Sugar was spilled, forks dropped off the table more than once, it just seemed strange that these things would happen to us, none of us is overly klutzy.
The bars around the city were packed with people, families with their dogs. Good day out with friends.
Next day, Gil had the day off so Ryan asked him and Pablo, another friend from Friday night social club to come to our hood to meet for breakfast at Granado, and they did and I did but sat outside, they inside and I didn't look, Ryan, the early morning fellow slept in, so meeting was later but we did. Paulo is from Sevilla but spent quite a while in Amsterdam so he speaks great English with a very unique accent. We talked about Christmas traditions and I hadn’t realized that my “creative” first Christmas tree hadn’t been seen by Ryan and Angela, they arrived after. Here it is http://bevbrucelexi.blogspot.com/2014/12/funny-christmas-tree-and-part-one-of.html
Paul and Paula's blog.
Paula and Paul left a couple of days ago to go to their winter spots in Morocco, (Essaouira (say that twice!) and Fez) I had them and Ryan and Angela over for lunch. We used that grill/fondue contraption. I had bought mushroom filled tortellini, pesto, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese all put onto a bamboo skewer, very colourful, tasty and different. We also had chicken bits, three kinds of cheese, baked carrot, potato and onion, kalamata olives, sweet peppers, cucumbers. I did up devilled eggs but forgot them in the fridge. Angela brought banana bread “on crack” with the added chocolate chips.
The links are to blog posts from Ryan about their visit with me in September.
Ivan and I went to a furniture store in Santa Cruz barrio. They had some nice pieces but they weren’t “my cup of tea” much of the finishing was that faked aged look which didn’t wash with me (pun intended). But the walk there was good, getting into a neighbourhood I haven’t been to in a long while and then, of course, lunch. We dined at Zelai www.restaurantezelai.com which Ivan said was the first modern, trendy restaurant in Sevilla.
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| Light cod fritters with yummy sauce. |
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| Cappuccino mussels! Their signature dish. |
They have now been there for ten years so it’s a milestone in a city with 3000 bars and restaurants. He had never been there when it wasn’t packed with people but it was pretty much empty when we went. In January people have spent their money on gifts or on sales and don't eat out very much. Nice day out, felt like I’d left the city for a day.
Next day and Ivan has an Ikea gift certificate burning a hole in his pocket so we decide to go. Wrong!!! The line up on the off ramp to the parking lot was long, it’s Saturday, raining and what better thing to do would be to shop the sales at Ikea? Not us! Ivan goes to close to his father’s office, changes the van for the car, more comfortable, then we go to Vanadela to look at furniture www.vanadela.com I found a credenza and a coffee table which is exactly what I was looking for, no crowds there either.
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| Coffee table pictured is too large but they can custom make one for me. |
Then we go to Lola’s tennis club, Bernier, for lunch, yummy, more casual than yesterday, but equally good. https://www.clubbernier.com/
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| Cloudy day but I liked the palm trees, Lola said they grow fast, these are sixteen years old. |
A bit about it, indoor and outdoor restaurant, tennis courts and paddle courts. I'd not known about paddle tennis before, here is a link that explains it well. https://familylifeinspain.com/2018/01/what-is-paddle-tennis-in-spain/ The club has a Pro shop so I purchased a pair of sneakers!
Walking on air now, but since I’ve had the old shoes for so long it will take a bit of getting used to. The day certainly turned out differently than planned but we are both flexible about outings.
I've cleared out one of the bedrooms upstairs, made up the bed properly and moved all the left over wood from construction on the elevator to one corner. We hadn't made any changes up there so it was overdue.
All for now, Cheers Bev and Lexi Cat
All for now, Cheers Bev and Lexi Cat
