There’s a question I dread people asking me. It follows the where do you live bit and takes about nine hours for both of us to get right. ¿Machara-qué? ¿Cómo se deletrea? How do you spell that? How indeed. Macharaviaiya – pronounced Ma-cha-ra-bee-YAI-ya, and almost impossible to say without sounding drunk – is a modestly-sized [...]
Guaranteed scorchio and sunshine and blue skies, sultry evenings and the scent of jasmine and a glass or three of fine chilled white wine for under €3 a bottle, there’s nothing quite like a Spanish summer. She says, after coming back from a 12-day stint of English drizzle and cloud and occasional burst of sun. [...]
One of my least favourite summer-in-the-city rituals is the ITV – that is, the yearly Inspección Técnica de Vehículos. Mine is always due in late July, when Barcelona is at its stickiest and most irritable. Last year, despite having hora (an appointment), I sat for hours (with air-con bust) in a queue that stretched a [...]
Mm, horchata. Thick, creamy, ice-cold. You either love it or loathe it. There are no half measures. Made by crushing the life out of tiger nuts (chufas) and mixing with sugar and water, you’ll find it at any good heladería swimming around in a glass tank next to the lemon granizado (sort of slush-puppy). I [...]
