Chiringuitos (beach bars)

I think it goes without saying that I love the playa. And I love the month of August - in Spain it's the height of summer, when many people are enjoying weeks of vacation time, and El Puerto de Santa María is bustling. It's great to see the city full of people going out, enjoying themselves, and (most importantly for local businesses) spending money. But to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the beach in August. 

When the temperatures are reaching into the 100s (or 40s) inland, it seems like every Sevillano heads south to El Puerto and straight to the beaches. Maybe it's my Americana need for personal space, but I just can't handle the masses of people, packed umbrella-to-umbrella. If it's high tide on a weekend in August, buena suerte finding a piece of beach to call your own. The only way to get some sand to yourself is to show up early (10 o'clock might as well be the break of dawn for vacationing españoles), claim as much playa as possible, and leave before you end up sharing a towel with your new beach neighbors, sometime early in the afternoon. 

I prefer when the playa looks like this:

The August crowds, not to mention the lack of parking in the surrounding neighborhoods,  have me longing for September, when the beaches will be relatively peaceful again. But there is one thing about the summer season that I will miss - the chiringuitos.

Sol = blog fail

So, I haven't blogged lately, mostly because I didn't feel like it. I know, exceptional blogger right here. 

Why didn't I want to? In a few words...glorious sunshine, finally. The weather has been far too amazing to be inside, hunched over my computer, tapping on the keys, writing posts, when I could be outside frolicking. Sure, I have a laptop, but it's pretty difficult to see the screen when it's so wonderfully bright. Also, see above...did.not.want.to. 

I promise I've been working on some posts and will get back to you with plenty of pictures and recaps of what I've been up to (good stuff!). For right now, I'll be doing lots of this:

Now, enough with the computer. Time to go play outside! Hope you've been having good weather where you are and that you are taking advantage of it - running, sunning, sipping, lounging, gardening, reading, relaxing, whatever floats your boat. 

Primavera!

Yesterday was the first day of spring, wildflowers are blooming everywhere, the sun is shining. I've spent more than a little time the last couple of days sitting on the patio, soaking up the sun, doing some reading. I even painted my toenails, I'm ready for sandal season. 

We picked some of these flowers in our neighborhood, while walking Chloe and Cora. Others are from our casa. In Spanish, the word for backyard is jardin, literally garden. 

Pretty red poppies, yellow mimosa branches, and little white jasmine flowers. They're all lovely, but jasmine to me is what a Spanish summer smells like.

It might seem crazy to be talking about summer already since this is technically only the second day of spring, but it won't be long until it's time for tintos and trips to the beach. And I can't wait!

Anyone else glad that it's spring but really ready for summer?

Salmorejo is the new gazpacho

From Meghann:

Way back in July (can't believe we've been here for over 2 months) at the Philly airport, while waiting for the flight to Frankfurt, I picked up a few magazines.  It's a favorite airport indulgence, right up there with having an overpriced pre-flight cerveza or bloody mary at the bar.  This time I went with NatGeo Traveler and Bon Appetit (food and travel, these are a few of my favorite things, not so much raindrops on roses).  The cover of the August issue of Bon Appetit looked especially delicious - look at that pie!  Mmm...