My blog has migrated to a new host and is being painstakingly reconstructed here. Please bear with me as I iron out wrinkles, hammer out the dents, and apply enough spit and duct tape to hold it all together.— Karen
I often see newcomers blinking in confusion over Seville menus offering “lard of heaven” (the eggy dessert tocino de cielo) or “green Jews” (a mistranslation of judías verdes, meaning “green beans”). But generally Spanish restaurants describe their dishes with admirable clarity, and we are spared the kind of pretentious nonsense that’s all too familiar elsewhere.…
“In ca5e I haven’t mentioned, I am having to u5e the number 5 in place of the letter that come5 between R and T in the alphabet,” a friend emailed me this morning. “Alway5 something…. the letter i5 not working for some rea5on … *but clearly sometimes it works….. Weird.” Yes, as you’ve probably noticed,…
“The purpose of art,” said Picasso, “is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” It doesn’t always have to be good art, either. Sometimes a work of art is so transcendently awful it electrifies our senses, whacks our funny bones, and gives our souls that brisk spring cleaning we didn’t even realize…
“That can’t be right,” I said, staring at the bodega’s menu. “ Lagartito — doesn’t that mean ‘lizard?’” Rich already had his phone out. “According to my translation app, it’s ‘little lizard.’” So … tender young reptile? I flagged down the harried woman dashing among the tables and asked for details. “It’s meat,” she…
A few days ago, I found myself gazing nostalgically at a painting of two brawling women. “Remember that night …?” I said to Rich. He was already nodding. Many years ago, we were standing in a tiny Seville bar when a fight broke out between two neighborhood matrons. The free and frank exchange…
I first visited Carmona with an accident-prone friend, the kind of guy who pratfalls his way through life. Once I watched him bend down to pet a puppy while a bull was charging across the field in his direction. Everyone screamed warnings but somehow they went unheard. My friend ambled out of the field, smiling,…
“I took a sip and it practically blew my eyeballs out,” Rich said, glaring at the glass in my hand. ‘It’s not that bad,” I said, taking another cautious swallow of the wine. One vlogger had called it “ rough as guts ,” but that seemed a trifle harsh. I shrugged. “It’s no worse than…
If you ever happen to be down on your matrimonial luck, you’ll be glad to know that Íñigo Lopes is standing by to help. Well, not exactly standing, as he’s been dead for 520 years, but Sevillano friends tell me that if you kick the side of his tomb, you’ll be married within the year.…
When I learned the town’s name meant “a place frequented by vultures,” I have to admit my enthusiasm dimmed a little. Vultureville? Really? However, my current project, “Out to Lunch,” involves visiting offbeat towns in the city and province of Seville, seeking cultural curiosities and great food. As I soon discovered, Utrera offers these in…
I’m not saying the experience left me scarred for life, but my first visit to Seville’s Casa de la Ciencia (House of Science) was sufficiently unnerving to make me bolt out the exit, shuddering and vowing never to return. This was in 2012, when I’d just started this blog, and I went directly home and…
CELEBRATING GOOD NEIGHBORS These days I’m writing about Good Neighbors, exploring how the people around me are working to help each other get through these challenging times. My weekly posts appear on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on my travel and research schedule.
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