Oscar leaves

 So Phil arrived and he had a chance to have a couple of meal with Oscar. Oscar was out with friends on Wednesday and Thursday so we caught up with him for meals on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. 

We went to Tienda Placido Y Grata  for dinner and La Escalona on a perfect weather day for an outdoor lunch. 

For dinner we shared the starters and dessert and each ordered a main - Fish for Oscar and Lamb for Phil and Pasta for me 

side veggies for Oscar's fish

We had a terrific lunch outside in Plaza Alfalfa at La Escalona. 

After walking by a number of good looking bakeries, we stopped at MITO for gelato and Oscar took a brief tour of the Art Museum, came back and picked up his bags for his train trip home to Madrid. 

Then we went to out to dinner at La Cayetana. After a large lunch, we decided on a smaller dinner. We shared all four dishes. Two starters: beef tartare and "matrimonio" (boquerones and anchoas) and then two medium platos - arroz Iberico and puntillitas with egg and truffle. We had our favorite server tonight Iryna.

So today we had a leisurely morning and made brunch at home with some terrific smoked salmon and fresh rolls for the "convenience store" around the corner (Carrefour Express) which are kind of like upscale 7/11 with less crap and more fresh food.... so on we go. This next week, Phil's first full week should be more in our normal mode without classes and trainer Leslie sessions etc... We aren't traveling until December, but Jenny comes to visit on the 13th of November and then Mike on December 3rd and  Lee on December 8th.  Then the three of us go Madrid for three nights and Lee continues his Spain  explorations while we return home to Sevilla. It is going to a be a busy year abroad for us. So stay tuned. 

Phil arrives

 So mid day Wednesday Phil arrived to torrential rains in Spain... not here - here we just had three solid days of rain and occasional lightening and thunder. It was raining when he arrived. But since he had been on an overnight flight it was of little consequence since he'd be inside all day anyway.  We went to Acento for dinner - after he had a short nap.  Dinner tonight at one of our regular haunts. Missed photos of the mains. Lo Siento!  Menu items marked.  The restaurant was totally full again tonight. The owner Vincent told us it is always busy in October. It's high season here because (despite this week's rain) the weather is usually beautiful this time of year so people come from all over.  Phil arrived today midday so we went out early (8:30) and had dinner with, by my count, 15 children in a restaurant with roughly twenty or so tables. Most were fine but, of course, "most" does not mean all.... We didn't care. Phil could hardly keep his head off the table with the time change.

We started getting emails from friends all over the world who were worried about us because the storms have devastated the east coast - especially around Valencia

My response on FB: A number of emails came today asking about our safety. We are safe.  It has been raining pretty solidly for close to three days and is expected to go on through Friday. The worst of it was on the East Coast in Valencia and south to Malaga but today there was severe flooding in Cádiz and Jerez which are not in the Mediterranean but on the Atlantic coast. Also places with higher elevations like Arcos de la Frontera have had flooding. We are far enough inland from the places having the worst of it that we have been spared. Our rains have been sustained and we've had hail but people are still going about their daily lives. So thanks to those who have asked. This has been a huge loss of lives here in Spain. The DANA (weather phenomenon of this type) has already caused at least 95 deaths. So keep Spain in your thoughts. We have no plans to go out of town and are on the top floor of our building. So all fine here.

So with Phil's strange sleeping hours, we made our way through the day, had coffee, and went shopping for a few groceries. And later had dinner at Petit Comite, another of our favorites. What we had is marked on the menu. Phil had two ducks courses, I had the burrata salad, and we split the anchovy toast. I had the albondigas as my main. Desserts were Tocino de Cielo for me and the nougat ice cream with hot hazelnut chocolate sauce for Phil. 

Today it is a holiday and we are not sure how that will affect the city. It's All Saints Day. Last night there were processions and many people were gathered in Plaza Nueva and when we left for dinner we were like fish swimming upstream with the crowds all heading into the city center. More to follow as Phil gets settled in. 

A visit from Oscar

So our cousins in Madrid have a son, Oscar, who is a graduate student in Physics. As part of his program the students in his cohort visit various Universities in Spain with various specialities in Physics. They do this in a rotation for a year.  Two of the units are here in Sevilla - one next spring and one right now. So on Saturday night Oscar arrived via train from Madrid about 8:45.  We had a 10:15 reservation for dinner at Castizo.  

Somehow I missed a photo of Oscar's Presa Iberico and only managed to remember my arroz photo after starting to mix it up.  Must have been the conversation. Our topics ranged from Iranian cinema to particle physics. #nerdconversations

aged cheese with truffled honey - a great start

the eggplant dish below was the best of the evening... pistachios and pomegranate roasted eggplant on couscous - very yummy

 

the arroz del dia - sorry I dug in before the photo...

On Sunday Oscar went exploring all over the city and then met some friends at a club for music -he came home later than I stayed up...LOL.

His Monday schedule started later, so I did see him in the kitchen making himself some toast with triturado. Monday night we dined at Casapuerta. The restaurant was packed. Every table was full when Oscar and I arrived for our reservation. We shared risotto and carpaccio. I had the lubina and Oscar had the tuna tataki. For postres, it was the tartare de queso for me and the arroz con leche for Oscar. Blanca was happy to see me and to meet Oscar. They had an involved discussion of a park near her Madrid neighborhood (haunted buildings and secret tunnels). As usual, all good.

Tuesday he had both an early day, and a long day of classes.  We went to Red Steak nearby and found ourselves overwhelmed by the portions. Neither of us finished either of the dishes we ordered, the portion sizes were so huge. Good thing Oscar wanted to bring his lunch to university tomorrow (having tried the cafeteria on campus today.) 

I started with the Caesar salad and Oscar with the grilled veggies. Then he had a braised pork dish and I had the sirloin with peppercorn sauce.  (Luckily I was able to foist off one of the steaks on my plate to my dining companion.  Still left about half the large one behind.)  This place has BIG food.

Phil arrives tomorrow (Wednesday)  and Oscar and his classmates finish their intensive on Thursday. Since some of them are leaving right after class that day - they have all decided on a get together on Wednesday (the night Phil arrives) so Phil and I will grab an earlier meal and hopefully see Oscar either Thursday or Friday night before he leaves on Saturday... 

Meanwhile today - we had horrific weather in southern Spain. Egg sized hail in Malaga - much much much flooding  and it rained here all day long literally from 4 or 5 AM  until 8 PM.  So it was a good day to catch up on various in home tasks...