Seville Snapshots: Bartering at the Plaza de España

November 19, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The first (and one of very, very few) feeling I ever had of notoriety was from one Cassandra Gambill, who started following my blog way back before I knew theat people were actually reading. Naturally, I was thrilled when she chose to come to Spain a few years ago and blog about, so I gladly accepted her submission from her most recent trip to Seville.

Rediscovering Sevilla after a brief trip south in 2007, I had to rectify my image of this Andalusian town. When I had originally visited, preparations for the subway system left the city dirty and dusty. Whenever I saw photos of iconic Sevilla, I couldn’t recognize them as anything I’d seen, including the beautifully tiled Plaza de España.

Even though the day was overcast when I finally made it back to Sevilla, I immediately appreciated the grandeur and color of this sophisticated square. Speaking of color, there were plenty of local characters who also made the place a feast for the eyes and ears. In this corner alone there were lovey-dovey locals, backpacking-toting tourists, a scarf-and-abanico vendor, and a wandering woman hoping to plant rosemary sprigs on unsuspecting sightseers.

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Going on her third year in the Spanish capital, Cassandra Gambill is now working towards a Master’s in Bilingual Education at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. Her motto? Where there’s a will there’s a way, and where’s a puente, there’s a trip in the making.

 

You can follow Cassandra via her blog and twitter:

Blog: www.geecassandra.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/geecassandra

Filed Under: Andalucia, Andalusia Tourism, El Centro, Europe, fashion, Feria, guiri atope, money, photo post, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots, shopping, Things to do in Sevilla · Tagged: , , , ,

Tapa Thursdays: Carillada (Braised Pig Cheek)

November 15, 2012 by · 10 Comments

When I say I’ve eaten every part of the pig, I seriously am not joking. While my family is more about beef and chicken than pork, having a partner whose family business revolves around the acorn-munching cerdito means that we’ve often got a small gama (offering) of swine in our fridge.

While I don’t eat all of it for knowing better, Kike did trick me into eating carrillada, and I’m all the better for it:

Pig cheek is lean, tasty and quickly becoming my favorite party of the pig. In fact, it reminds me of coming home to pot roast after school during the harsh Chicago winters I grew up with.

While various versions exist (including a tasty Christmas thought-provoking version with dried cloves that Kike makes), my favorite is traditional carrillada with potatoes and carrots, perfect for a chilly winter day.

Lasaña de Carrillada with mashed potatoes at Barajas 20

What it is: The lean cut of pig cheek, often called the carrillera in a butcher shop or meat section of the supermarket. It’s often cooked on low temps for hours to make sure it’s tender.

Where it’s from: Carrillada is typical all over Spain, though the pork-producing regions of Western Andalusia, Extremadura and Gijuelo are rumored to have the freshest cuts.

Where to get it in Seville: This dish is about as common on menus in Seville as salmorejo is, so new ideas for incorporating the meat have become popular. At Pura Tasca (Calle Numancia, 5 in Triana) and Barajas 20, you can find ravioli filled with the meat, oft served with mashed potatoes as above. If you’re looking for the traditional version, I recommend Barra 20 in Bellavista or Zahora in Los Bermejales.

If you’re willing to make the drive, there’s an unassuming roadside restaurant on the A-92 highway near Antequera with carrillada so tender and braised with sweet Pedro Ximénez wine. This is, without a doubt, the best carrillada I’ve ever tried.

Goes perfectly with: A robust glass of red wine. If you’d like to make carrillada in your own kitchen, try this recipe by Lauren of Spanish Sabores, and enjoy the smells as you wait for it to slow-roast!

If you like tapas, tell me which ones you’d like to see featured on Sunshine and Siestas? Here are my picks for the Five Must-Try tapas in Spain. Alternately, there are more pictures on Sunshine and Siestas’s Facebook page.

 

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, Andalucia, Barajas 20, food, gastronomy, ham, La Bulla tapas, recipes, Seville, Tapas, Tapas Thursday · Tagged: , , ,

Seville Snapshots: Librería Babel and the Joy of Books

November 12, 2012 by · 9 Comments

As anyone who has lived in Spain will know, a shop that carries the -ía at the end is a place that sells a certain kind of product.

A carnerceía sells meat, a papelería sells paper goods, though as Lisa hoped, a bar is not called a beerería, but a cervecería. Among my favorite –ias? The liberería, a place where books are stacked high and hours can be lost among the pages. I tend to avoid the big chains, like FNAC or Beta, and head to the small, musty, off-the-Avenida shops. Some of my preferred stops are Un Gato en Bicicleta on Calle Regina for its workshops and mountains of books, La Extravagante in the Alameda for its array of travel books and memoir and La Celestina near Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid.

When I can’t travel, books become my companion. I’m nearly finished with my 20th book of the year, and books about travel line my bookshelf, products of giveaways, the American Women’s Club sales and the evil one-click button on Amazon. This picture of Librería Babel, a forlorn little place right off the main tourist drag, still far enough to go unnoticed, reminds me of the Old World book, long before TV, Internet and e-readers became mainstays.

One great travel memoir I’ve read recently is Dancing In The Fountain: How to Enjoy Living Abroad by my fellow sevillana Karen McCann. She’s been gracious enough to give me a signed copy of the wonderfully breezy and fun book for my readers. Visit the original post for easy entrance, and be sure to follow her here.

What types of books do you prefer? Got any other scoops on bookstores in Andalucía? What are your prefered -ías in Spain?

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, Andalusia Tourism, Books, contests, Enjoy Living Abroad, Featured, moving abroad, Places with Encanto, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots, shopping, travel books · Tagged: , ,

Tapa Thursdays: The Gambas Blancas of Huelva

November 8, 2012 by · 3 Comments

When people ask me where my favorite spot in Seville is, I can give an answer quicker than I can name the president of the Spanish parliament: La Grande. You could say that I fell in love with Spain, with the Novio and with langoustines here, all things that have made my life over the past five years what they have been.

For the price of 1,10€ at La Grande, you can get a beer and three boiled shrimp, as long as your middle finger, littered with coarse sea salt and picos. These gambas blancas were part of my Christmas meal and have made their way into my diet at least once a week.

…and this for a Midwestern girl who used to hate seafood!

What it is: The parapenaeus longirostris is a common prawn. At its most simple, they are boiled and sprinkled with sea salt, though it’s common to see shrimp in dishes such as paellas and pastas, and like potatoes to Anglos, can be served in many styles: boiled, fried, in garlic, in tempura, etc.

Where it’s from: These crustaceans are captured off of the Atlantic Coast of Huelva and Morocco, making their arrival to Seville quite quick.

Where to eat it: While I love gambas just the way they are from La Grande (Lopez de Gomara, 18), you can get them just about anywhere. Try a marisquería for many varieties, or a local frieduría for gambas rebozadas, which are battered and fried in olive oil. I also had a friend try tortilla de camarones, which is a smaller shrimp fried in batter. She would have liked it, had she not seen their faces.

HOW to eat it: I once told my friend Alfonso to come meet me at La Grande and bring his mujer gamba. Oops. Female shrimp is to Spaniards what Buttherface is to Americans. To really master peeling a shrimp, you have to have practice, and maybe a beer or two first.

First, rip the head off by placing your index finger and thumb at the base of the skull. My friends say that the brains are the best part, but I can’t get myself to suck it! Then, pull the tail off. Discard both shells. Carefully remove the outer casing of the body by pulling off its legs and peeling off the upper case. The shrimp should look more or less like your curled pinky finger.

If you like tapas, why not tell me which ones you’d like to see featured on Sunshine and Siestas? Alternately, there are more pictures on Sunshine and Siestas’s Facebook page.

 

Filed Under: food, gastronomy, Huelva, money, Seville, Seville Shots, Tapas, Tapas Bars, Tapas Thursday, typical Spanish · Tagged: , ,

Dancing in the Fountain: Enjoy Living Abroad Book Giveaway

November 7, 2012 by · 21 Comments

I’m five minutes early, and there’s just one table left. It’s in the sun and cramped between two groups of German travelers. Karen strides in with just a moment to spare, wearing her signature animal prints. While there’s a gap in age between us, Karen is the type of friend you can have who personifies “Age is just a number.”

I’m eager to catch up with Karen over coffee and talk about her new book, Dancing in the Fountain: How to Enjoy Living Abroad. I devoured the book on a trip this summer though the Eastern seaboard, often subjected to gut-busting laughter and the wise head nods. The book was, in short, delightful.

As someone who loves travel books, Karen’s story of how she and her husband, Rich, moved to Seville is what Maria Foley calls a “love letter to the Andalusian capital.” Indeed, Karen captures the essence of Seville – its people, its food, its quirks that drive every single one of us crazy, all while deepening our love for this enchanting place. The perfect book for dreaming about getting away, of starting over in a new country and making it all work. 

As we are getting ready to part ways, I reach into my bag to find my wallet is empty. In an oh-so-Spanish move, Karen shoes my hand away and offers up a five euro note. “This will more than take care of it,” she says with a slight smile.

After getting back home later that day, I write my friend to apologize again about the coffee. Her reply is quick and telling: It’s happened to all of us.

Photo by the man in the hat himself, Rich McCann, at Karen’s book party

Just like your friend from toda la vida might say on any other sunny day in Seville.

The Contest

Karen has graciously agreed to donating a paperback copy of Dancing in the Fountain: How to Enjoy Living Abroad to one of my readers, and I’m willing to ship it anywhere.

In order to win, I’d like you to tell us, in 25 words or less, why you’d like to live abroad, or why you chose to if you’re already here. You can earn more chances to win by following Karen and I on twitter or liking our Facebook pages, but we’re both interested in hearing what you have to say about packing up and moving to unknown lands.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest begins today and will run two weeks. I’ll send the winner, who will be generated randomly, the signed book to any corner of this great big Earth. But wait! I’m also going to give away a $15 Amazon gift card to the reader with the best answer, judged by and agreed on by both Karen and me.

For more information about Karen and her book, visit her webpage or follow her on twitter at @enjoylvngabroad. If you’ve read this book and enjoyed it, let her know! You can also find the book in both Paperback and Kindle version here: Dancing In The Fountain: How to Enjoy Living Abroad.

Filed Under: Books, contests, culture shock, Enjoy Living Abroad, expat, expat life, Featured, guiri atope, languages, living abroad, moving abroad, Seville, Spain, Spanish Flats, Spanish Language, travel books · Tagged: , ,

Seville Snapshots: The Quiet Hours

November 5, 2012 by · 8 Comments

My life has undergone a huge overhaul in the last four months. When I think about the first half of 2012, it almost makes me shudder: I wasn’t happy with my job, was barely sleeping, had a badly battered outlook on my life in Spain.

Whatever isn’t broken shouldn’t be fixed, but when something is so, so badly broken (namely, my confidence in myself and my love affair with Seville), the major overhaul is necessary.

So, I quit my job. In this economy? Being a tenured teacher? You must be crazy, Cat! they all said, but in the end, I was the one with enough guts to do it. I walked out on my last day and didn’t feel any effect, just crazy relief. Camp followed, then a five-week trip home to give me some perspective while I enjoyed central air and a new pup at home.

Since coming back to Iberia two months ago, I’ve started a new job, a master’s in PR, redesigned my blog (which is a longer process than I thought), bought a MacBook Air and have started enjoying, actually savoring, Seville again.

 

One benefit of working in the afternoon is being able to enjoy the quiet hours in Seville, when the sun paints the city center golden, before Constitución fills with people. I’ve often staked out breakfast spots by less conventional terms, like the way the sunlight spills over the outdoor tables or by quirky decor. But, sitting right in front of the Giralda with a menu boasting poorly translated English, German and French (I’m assuming) was this character.

One of the most lovely feelings of living in Seville is the sense of being transported back to another era. As I listened to the horse carriages behind me and the whirr of a coffee machine, I watched him scribble notes in a small, leather-bound book while sipping a bloody mary.

Let’s face it: I love a man who isn’t afraid to have a drink before noon.

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Filed Under: Andalucia, El Centro, expat life, Featured, living abroad, Places with Encanto, Sevilla Center, Seville, Seville Shots · Tagged: , , ,
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