yay! visitors!

My blog pal healingmagichands and her husband Jim are in Sevilla.

I first met hmh on h2g2 almost two years ago and she started her blog here on WordPress shortly after I did. Given her love of photography and writing, the blog format suits her much better than h2g2. I like it better too.

Anyhoo, they arrived in Lisbon early yesterday morning when their cruise boat landed and then drove to Sevilla … got here just in time for a late lunch at Modesto (those are post-lunch photos up there). Then a visit to casa az where they got to meet ‘da boyz’ and afterwards we took a short walk around the centre so that Ellie and Jim could work out where they were and how to get places (important stuff like the supermarket and where to find Mephisto sandals) …

Looking forward to a very nice week. It’s great when friends visit.

six feet under

Thanks to Pipocas I am now addicted to Six Feet Under.

She lent me the first series a couple of weeks ago, which I devoured pretty quickly. Then I picked up series 2 when we met for lunch yesterday (and did another dvd/book swap) at Casa Roman - missed a couple of good photo ops for the tapas blog that I’m still kicking myself about .

Also inadvertently spoiled a couple of upcoming surprises in the series by glancing through that Wiki link. But after getting through a slightly drunken post-lunch recuperation English class yesterday evening I made some Orville’s (hey - new popcorn mule coming in on Sunday!) and watched a couple of episodes. Does anyone else like this series as much as Pipocas and I do?

[Note to self: do not schedule classes after lunches with Pipocas]

friday’s lunch…

. . . was very yummy

Went out with Pipocas again, this time to Modesto for a fabulous Friday afternoon lunch. Pipocas had never eaten there before and we eschewed the more touristy (though very pretty) outdoor terrace and upstairs dining room in favour of sitting at the bar, which is my favourite place to eat there. It’s so much cosier and you get to chat with the barmen and the guys in the kitchen. I love that.

We started off with a fritura, then had some grilled pork tenderloin in mushroom sauce and finally tried the razorback clams. Meanwhile, our neighbours were having some interesting looking things and they were very nice about letting me take some pics of their food too.

The new pics are here (photos 17-22)

birthday, etc…

Today is Nog’s 55th birthday and it was also exactly five years ago that he & I first ‘met’ on h2g2. So it seemed a good excuse reason to go back to Eslava , this time to check out their restaurant. I’d first visited the tapa bar there just a short while ago.

It was a very nice meal. . .

~ photos 10-18 ~

pipocas

Meet Pipocas - popcorn mule and international woman of mystery . . .

the best laid schemes…

. . . o’ mice an’ women, gang aft agley

Boy, do they ever! Yesterday I thought I had it all planned. Yoga first thing in the morning, then two ‘recuperation classes’ with a couple of students who’d missed classes this past week, then lunch with my new friend Traci and later on I was going to meet up with my other new friend “S” (aka Pipocas, popcorn mule and international woman of mystery) to catch up, have a couple of vinitos, and pick up my Orville’s. But then . . .

enrique becerra

This is turning into one of my very favourite tapa bars, thanks to guspemar (though he’s actually never been there himself). The thing is, Wednesday evenings are typically when Nog & I go out for tapas. Places are usually not as busy mid-week and I finish my evening classes with guspemar at 8.30, which is also early enough to still find either a table or space at the bar, depending on where we go. And it’s always so nice to come out of class and find Nog waiting for me. . .

tapas update - las golondrinas

As I mentioned on the crackberry post, I was heading out for tapas on Friday with a new friend I’d met at the AWC lunch. First Traci and I met for a drink and were later joined by T’s husband and Nog. Las Golondrinas (which means The Swallows in English) is one of my favourite tapa bars. And the new second location we went to on Friday night had the very same excellent food. But what was missing for me was the charm and cosiness of the original place. Still, a lovely time was had by all and you can check out the photos here…

Las Golondrinas II

[updating a few hours later...]

I thought I’d also add photos taken at ay Maricrú yesterday afternoon when Nog and I went out for lunch before going to see No Country For Old Men. (photos 15-17) . I don’t know why but I get a lot more blurry pics with the new camera, even though it has an ‘anti-shake’ option. I wonder if it’s because it’s so small and not as solid as the old one to hold onto. I almost never got blurry photos with the old one. 

ladies who lunch

Further to yesterday’s post on the AWC, and also ian’s comment about me now falling into the ladies who lunch category…

I guess I’m feeling a sudden need to ‘broaden my horizons’ this year - in many different ways. And developing new contacts and friendships in Sevilla has now become one of them. Funny how you wake up one morning and realise that your life has kind of been shrinking without you having even noticed …

awc of sevilla

The American Women’s Club of Seville is a non-profit organization for any English-speaking women.

The object of the Club is to:

• promote friendliness and common interest among American and other English-speaking women in Seville;
• to provide recreational and cultural activities for members;
• to become acquainted with the city in which the members live as guests;
• to participate in charities and organizations; and, finally
• to be a support network for expatriate women of all nationalities.

The club was founded in March of 1956 when a group of American women (wives of American servicemen) residing in Seville decided that the time had arrived to establish a club primarily for the purpose of getting together once a month and comparing notes on their findings in Seville. Later, many other women who had no connection with the armed forces, were invited to join the organization. Today´s organization includes women of many nationalities who live in Seville or its surrounding areas. We enjoy a diverse membership of Americans, Canadians, Spaniards, British and other nationalities.

Today I went to my first ever lunch put on by the AWC.
You can read all about it below…