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Seville: A Slow Day Before the elBulli Dinner
2009-09-23 04:42:00
Brunch was at hotel recommended restaurant called Al Alcantina. This is located around the central square in Seville historic city center. We had a table outside the restaurant. Our waitress was really friendly and helpful. No bread here ... they served us those thingy above. It was rock hard and definitely on the dry side. We took a couple and then left it alone. The waitress recommended the Ensaladilla La Alcantina which she said was the prize winner of the Best Classic Tapas in the 2003 Seville Fair of Tapas. Sure, we said ... it was worth a try. ?8.70 is how much it costs. It was creamy, served cold and refreshing -- absolutely marvelous. We had never had these before. I think it is made with mayo with potatoes and some vegetables. The puzzling thing is how could this have been classified as tapas? So I did some research and indeed it is considered as SPANISH tapas despite the Russian word in the name.
More About: Dinner , Vacation , Spanish , Slow

Protected: Seville: Stages of Spanish Style Bullfighting
2009-09-22 05:38:00
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
More About: Vacation , Style , Spanish

Seville: Bullfighting
2009-09-21 16:00:00
Each night, there will be three matadors who will fight six bulls. Yeah ... we learned from the Bullfight Museum tour that these bulls are born and bred for this one night. If you ask me, it is a one side fight. The whole sequence are made to weaken the bull gradually ...
More About: Vacation

Seville: Self-Service, Toothpick Tapas
2009-09-21 04:30:00
Their bread was pretty good. Oh back to the tapas. We ended up ordering quite a number of tapas. Some we selected from the bar, others were brought to our table. The above is cured meat and cheese. We like the one above. It is Cheese, Walnut, Raisin, and Chocolate Sauce. It is like a dessert to us.
More About: Service , Vacation , Spanish

Seville: Rabo de Toro and Plaza de Espana
2009-09-20 23:53:00
Time to eat. After the visit to the Bullfighting Museum in the morning, it just occurred to me that there is one thing that we had not eaten yet in Spain ... Rabo de Toro! I remember reading somewhere that the bull killed in the bullfight is sold in the market for its meat. The meat is not prime meat but the best part is the Rabo de Toro. So we went scouring for a place for Rabo de Toro. We went to a few places asking if they have Rabo de Toro. That drew smiles from a number of places we went to. We finally found one restaurant which turned out to be pretty good which has that. He he he ... you know which part of the bull that the Rabo de Toro is made of? We sat at the patio and was immediately served olives and water. The olives was salty and sour. For the life of me, I can never learn to appreciate olives. Yet it is so popular around the Mediterranean.
More About: Vacation , Spanish , Espana

Seville: The Bullfight Museum
2009-09-20 07:01:00
Near the Torre del Oro, we began to see sculptures of Matadors. We were near the Bullfight museum. One of the things we planned to do in Spain was to watch a bullfight. Bullfighting is very much a popular sport in southern Spain unlike in Barcelona where people do not like bullfighting. Our hotel concierge told us that summer is the off season for bullfighting. It was disappointing to us but at least we planned to just visit the Bullfight Museum .
More About: Vacation

Seville: El Cortes Ingles
2009-09-19 19:16:00
We went to El Cortes Ingles . Yeah, it is a departmental store but it has a great cafeteria. More importantly, people don't smoke here! Wrong choice. English is also at a premium here. At least the waiters (in bow ties and tuxedos!) were very professional, polite and patient. The Summer menu above is in Spanish but we already know quite a number of Spanish words. We could piece together some words to know what some of these means. It is a 3-course menu for ?9.95. I remember calculating that we were spending a lot of money on drinks (was almost $40 Canadian already!). We told ourselves that we are bringing two, maybe three, bottles of 2L bottles the next day even if it means breaking my back carrying it in the backpack. You know, I like the formal-ness in Spain even in serving water in nice glasses. Mind you, this is a cafeteria.
More About: Vacation

Seville: Real Alcazar
2009-09-17 05:03:00
Next stop that afternoon was to visit the Real Alcazar. Alcazar is the Spanish word meaning Castle. It phonetically sounds the same right? Actually the word Alcazar is based on the Arabic word al qasr, also meaning castle. The word Real means Royal. So, Real Alcazar means the Royal Castle. Real Alcazar is still in use by the Spanish royal family as the official residence in Seville. The section is off limits to tourists. We were told that they live ... on the apartments on the second floor.
More About: Vacation

Seville: The Cathedral of Seville
2009-09-16 04:31:00
We were surprised to learn that the Cathedral of Seville is the third largest church in the world. This cathedral was built immediately after the re-conquest of the city from the Moslem Moors. It was built on top of the great Moorish mosque. The bell tower used to be a minaret. When it was built they wanted to make this the biggest and grandest of all churches to show off the reconquest of the city. For many years before the reconquest, Iberia peninsular was under the control of the muslim. I think Spain is about the only country that had successfully re-conquered the country from the Moors and turned back the tide of Islam. In the process, it had made Spain more Christian. The Cathedral of Seville is huge with soaring roof with pointed arches of the Gothic style. This style allows building of this size without having thick walls to support the structure ...
More About: Vacation

Seville: Hotels in Spain
2009-09-14 15:47:00
We don't normally post about hotels but we will make it an exception this time. This is because we were so pleased with the hotels in Spain throughout. We were particularly impressed with the hotel in Seville. Even though it was a last minute booking, we managed to snag a hotel called the Best Western Cervantes Hotel right in the middle of old Seville. It was just ?50. We did not expect much especially with a "Best Western" name to it. We selected this primarily because of the low price, location and the reviews we found on Trip Advisor.
More About: Hotels , Vacation

Seville: From Barcelona via Girona on Ryanair
2009-09-13 22:10:00
From fearing being late for the flight, we ended up waiting because the flight was delayed 90 minutes. Frankly, it was a frustrating wait because Ryanair did not even have anyone at the gate for the whole time to let anyone know how long more it was going to take. There are no aero bridges. So everyone had to embark the flight from the tarmac and having to carry our own baggage up and down the stairs. There were no seat assignments on budget carriers. You have to pay extra for the right to get on first to secure better seats. For cheapo like us, we ended having to rush. At least the Spaniards are generally courteous.
More About: Barcelona , Vacation , Girona

Peach Cobbler with Oat Scones Topping
2009-09-13 16:00:00
We have Peach Cobbler as dessert in the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors. Cobbler toppings take on many forms. Some resemble sugar cookie dough while some are like pie crusts. This topping is a tender oatmeal scone, which bakes up crisp, nubbly, and slightly sweet.
More About: Recipe , Dessert , Scones

Zucchini Rice Casserole
2009-09-13 00:00:00
Helmut and Paul made this Zucchini Rice Casserole adapted from Cooking Light. This recipe serves 8. You may halve the recipe easily. For solo dining, you may filled this in 1-cup ramekins and freeze them just before the baking process. This way, you can bake the individual servings when needed. Otherwise, you can bake it first and portion them into single serving plastic containers and freeze for later consumption. You just have to reheat them in the microwave. The Zucchini Rice Casserole is a creamy and rich and I'll bet your kids will love this comfort food. They will not even noticed that it's made with healthy zucchini.
More About: Recipe

Gazpacho
2009-09-12 16:00:00
Ben enjoyed the Gazpacho while we were in Barcelona this summer. Gazpacho is a cold vegetable soup from Spain. It is describe as liquid salad or 'salad in the form of soup'. Gazpacho is a wonderful way to serve summer fresh vegetables.
More About: Recipe , Soup , Salad

Salade Nicoise
2009-09-11 21:00:00
The Salad e Nicoise is a wonderfully balanced meal, offering vegetables, starches, and proteins all on one plate. This salad gets its name from a French seaside city of Nice where tuna is traditionally features in this salad.
More About: Recipe , Potato , Tuna , Tomato

Kash Cool Restaurant in North Vancouver
2009-02-24 16:00:00
If there is one major cuisine that I have never tried before, it is Persian cuisine.  This is despite that there is a large Iranian community here in Vancouver , particularly in North Vancouver.  My impression about Iranians in Vancouver is that they are either rich refugees from the Shah period or that they are great ...
More About: Restaurant , Cool , Others

Pineapple Jerky from Jerky.com
2009-02-23 21:01:00
Guess what came through the mail last week.  A quick scan of the envelope showed that it’s a package from Jerky.com.  I was rather surprised this package actually came … and that it passed Canadian Customs. I received an email from Jerky.com asking if we would like to try one of their latest product.  Doug was ...
More About: Pineapple , Snack

7-Courses of Beef from Song Huong, Vancouver
2009-02-23 01:00:00
Some of you may remember this.  This was way back in spring last year when we went for a little vacation in Seattle where we came across the first time the Vietnamese Seven Courses of Beef at the Tamarind Tree.  It was one of the most memorable dinners we ever had.  We lamented the fact ...
More About: Vancouver , Song

VancouverBC.com ? A Resource for The Best City On Earth
2009-02-22 06:45:00
This is a sponsored post. I am proud of living in Vancouver BC. There are many things unique about Vancouver that makes it a city that has no parallel in the world. There are many words that can describe Vancouver but I also use a very simple word … pretty.  How would you describe Vancouver? In the course of ...
More About: Earth , Sponsored , City , Resource

Honey Pear Parfaits
2009-02-21 16:01:00
Joyce and Joan worked on a brunch item which can be served as dessert too.  It is Honey Pear Parfaits.  These are made with fresh pear, honey, yogurt and top with some homemade Fruity Maple  Pecan Granola. You can make the pear compote in advance and keep in the refrigerator until it’s ready to be served.  ...
More About: Recipe , Dessert , Brunch

Red Pepper Hot Cakes
2009-02-20 16:00:00
The next brunch item which the seniors made in the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors was Red Pepper Hot Cakes .  Lorna and Christina worked on this recipe, one did the chopping and another work on the batter.  They first tried to cook the hot cakes using the grill but the grill took a long ...
More About: Recipe , Pancake

Conveyor Belt Sushi
2009-02-19 20:51:00
This is so cool … so awesome.  I simply have to share this with you chowtimes readers. I came across this YouTube video on Ed Lau’s Ed.Edition blog.   He blogs about all things “awesome” and I subscribe to his feed … you should too! Enjoy this:
More About: Japanese , Belt , Sushi

Mushroom and Spinach Frittata with Smoked Gouda
2009-02-19 16:00:00
Someone in the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors suggested to have one cooking session for making brunch.  It was a great idea and the organizers  (Stella, Minoo and Charlene) came up with a few brunch recipes.  Stella also handed out an article on how breakfast may improve memory in healthy elderly for the seniors ...
More About: Recipe , Brunch , Mushroom , Spinach , Frittata

Tea Cocktail from Pearl Drops Teahouse
2009-02-18 16:00:00
I am not much of a tea person, neither is Suanne.  The only tea we had ever had on a regular basis is the Ice Milk Tea we get from HK Style Cafe. So, when we got an invite to a Tea Cocktail event we jumped on this.  Pearl Drops Teahouse also extended the invite to ...
More About: Drinks

Corner 23 on Cambie, Vancouver
2009-02-17 16:00:00
You know, ever since we stepped into Flo Tea Room, my attention is now focused on BBTs.  I have come to learned that BBT is short for Bubble Tea in foodie-speak.  It is very much like AYCE and HKSC and TBN. Come to think of it, we serious foodies must unite and make up a glossary ...
More About: Vancouver , Taiwanese , Corner , Snack

Liu?s Taiwanese Restaurant in Richmond
2009-02-16 16:00:00
I don’t know about you.  For me, I always expect to see Bubble Tea, Spicy Beef Noodles … and innards that they serve as appetizers in Taiwanese restaurants.  I don’t think I had ever been to one Taiwanese restaurant where they do not have at least one of these on their menu. Jesse recommended that we ...
More About: Restaurant , Chinese , Richmond

Threaded Comments Now on Chowtimes.com
2009-02-16 04:36:00
Whew. That was a lot of work. We had just migrated chowtimes to the the latest template. I hope you like the softer colors better. I personally like this better myself. In the earlier template I had a choice of 10 (dark) colors to play with.  I like changing colors because it ...
More About: Comments

Solly?s Bagelry on East 7th Ave, Vancouver
2009-02-15 16:00:00
Polly and I ventured down Main St. Vancouver to look for a place for cake meet.  There are several places in our list to check out which located along Main St.  The first one we went to was Shaktea on East 21st Ave but unfortunately it’s only open at 11:00 am and we were there ...
More About: Dessert

Coffee Jello with Red Bean Paste
2009-02-14 16:00:00
Tanni made a dessert in the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen after Jane’s Polenta with Meat Sauce is ready.  Tanni made a batch of the Coffee Jello the day before as it takes some time to set in the refrigerator. The Coffee Jello is a great dessert especially after lunch.  It’s not recommended for after dinner ...
More About: Recipe , Dessert , Bean , Paste

Polenta with Meat Sauce
2009-02-13 16:00:00
Jane made Polenta with Meat Sauce in the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen.  I love to go to Jane’s kitchen as she has lots of stories and experiences to share especially about her marriage and her life experiences in Italy. Polenta is made with corn meal.  Corn meal comes in fine and coarse texture.  You may ...
More About: Recipe