Toaster Oven Love

I don't have many pictures this week, mostly because I have internet now so there's been a lot of this:

It was a pretty exhausting week.

Monday and Wednesday I went to the gym with coworkers and subsequently could hardly move the rest of the week. Need a quick lesson on numbers in Spanish? Go to pilates. I am also now fully familiar with the words "inhale" and "exhale" and "just a little more!" (which is always a lie).

Thursday I went on an adventure searching what felt like all of Triana for a toaster oven. I was determined. I didn't find a toaster oven, but I didn't go home empty handed.

I was wandering around and happened to pass by a little shop that had a mannequin outside with one of these blanket scarves on. It is no secret that I have been lusting after one ever since I came to Sevilla. Every time I pass them on the street, I consider haggling with the street vendors and buying one, but I always tell myself no and keep walking.

Well, this was a sign. I needed it. I bought it. I was so happy about my scarf that I didn't even care about making this creepy face:

I'm a scarf addict.

On Friday we get out of work early so we went on a gastronomic adventure. We started at a great restaurant called No Kitchen, which I'm not even sure how to describe. All of the food was delicious, which is evidenced by the fact that I didn't even remember to take a picture until the last dish - zucchini noodles with pesto and parmesan. Notice all the other empty plates.

Other tapas included salmon tartar with avocado and beet sauce, octopus with mashed potatoes (yes, octopus. Really.), "Surprise" tartar which was basically just tomato and spice, and cod with grated tomato.

Oh, and I'm 90% positive there was a picture of Guy Fieri on the wall with all their other press documents, but I forgot to take a picture (sorry, Dad).

All the dishes there were so tiny and light that we decided our best option was to go for a slice of pizza afterwards to fill our tummies (hey, it was Friday).

Best decision ever. Finally we ate real fro-yo while sitting in the warm, warm sun under the setas. Yum, yum, yum. Needless to say on Friday I did not need dinner (and thank god because all that is currently in my fridge is 1 zucchini, a bit of milk, and a bottle of wine).

After lunch (aka at 5pm) one of the girls walked me back to Triana, where she lives, to search again for the elusive, cheap toaster oven. Still no luck in Triana.

So Friday night I settled for paying 56 euro for this bad boy:

I managed to ask some really stupid questions to the shopkeeper (all in Spanish, mind you), but she was nice and super duct taped the box/bag for me so I could carry it home struggle-style without it ripping.

While I was checking out, an American guy came in and the first thing he said to another shop attendant was "No hablo mucho espanol..." and started playing charades to signify what he was looking for.

Ah, I remember those days (they still regularly occur). I chuckled involuntarily at the resemblance to myself and probably should have told him that the adaptor he was buying would be half as cheap at any of the nearby Chinos.

Also, who goes abroad and doesn't take a plug adaptor???

This blogging hiatus brought to you by my lack of internet....

This actually could have been another post just about food, but I’ll try and diversify.

I’m all moved into my apartment, and I’m greeted by this beautiful view of the sky out of my bedroom window every morning:

So, to recap since we left off:

On Thursday I woke up for work, left my apartment building, and promptly found myself in the middle of a flea market. Right outside my front door. Needless to say, I was a little bit late for work that day.

Saturday, I gathered my wits about me, google-translated all the necessary words, and headed to the farmer’s market a las setas.

There, I successfully asked for (or pointed to) all of the produce on my list, for about 6 euro. Loveeee. 

Also, they had all these cute, fluffy, dead wild bunnies at the butcher stand and I only cried a little (kidding). I was visibly surprised by it and the man standing beside me looked at me like I had three heads while I snapped a photo.

Sunday, we last-minute organized a quick trip to the country side (Campo Day!). This included 11 people in three cars driving up the winding, bumpy mountainside to the beautiful country house that belongs to the family of one of the Glamping Hub managers. B-E-A-U-tiful.

We ate so much good food. Empanadillas, patatas alinas, tortillas, guacamole…so good. I took maybe the most American pot luck food I could think of on such short notice (and with no cookware in my kitchen): tortilla roll-ups. They were a hit, to my surprise.

We also made 4 trips into the little orange grove behind the house and must have picked about 200 oranges between us. I came home with 15 oranges and 4 beautiful lemons. For free!

We also took a long walk in the countryside.

And then I went home and slept very, very well.

Last week at work went by really quickly. I’m sure I did interesting things, but I didn’t take pictures of any of them so who knows what they were.

A coworker and I went scavenging the streets for internet service; we were both currently living a life without wifi and dying slowly inside. We struck out.

The good news is that she opened me up to a world in which a little shop called Tiger exists. Tiger is basically a classy Dollar Tree. Most items are under 5 euro and junk you never knew you needed till you saw it at Tiger. We also got lost finding Zara Home and lusted after things in Butler’s, a semi-expensive shop full of (again; useless but much coveted) kitchenware. I’ll stick to the little Chinos, thanks.

On Friday, the same coworker and I went out in the city.

We started off at a little bar in Triana called Santa Ana, where we ate grilled squid (I say, like I have it all the time) and discussed our fascination with the way the bar kept our tab – with chalk.

From there we headed to Alameda and ended up about three minutes from my apartment (not that I realized it at the time). We wandered in and out of a few bars, almost froze to death, and then finally decided to call it a night at 1 am. People in Sevilla usually stay out and party till 6 in the morning, but considering we’re usually in bed by 11…this was fine by us.

When I say headed home, by the way, I mean went in a big circle with the help of a tourist-y paper map. We’ll know better next time….

Saturday I slept in and then went shopping at el Corte Ingles (love of my life) and did a lot of cooking.

Sunday I finally decided to be a tourist. I started with a walk along the river:

Stopped at several places including a kiosk where I got a café and a Starbucks where I tried in vain to connect to the free wifi:

Then I went Full Tourist and headed down to Plaza Espana.

Beautiful, but I don’t know if it was worth the hype.

I then wandered into the jungle, also known as the park across from Plaza Espana and sat for a bit, eating an orange I’d brought along (leftover from Campo Day!).

And then I headed home, for a grand total of 39,000 steps walked this past weekend.

Next Adventure: Buying a toaster oven. I AM SO EXCITED.

This could actually be a food blog.

Food, food, food, food, food.

So far, so good. Friday I went out for tapas and drinks with the girls from work. We went to a tapas bar called Perro Viejo, which I was told is what you'd call a wisened, probably older man who seems like he's been around the block a few times. The restaurant was so hipster I didn't even need a filter when I instagrammed this photo.

We dug in before any proper pictures could be taken, but we had several dishes I couldn't tell possibly tell you the names of in Spanish including breaded pork (I think? I have no idea), potatoes in a marina and white sauce, leeks in a creamy sauce, white fish with marscapone, and black wild rice that was probably the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

I started my day off today with a cinnamon-apple cupcake with cream cheese frosting from a bakery called Ofelia's right down the street from work. Gaffe of the day: asking a co-worker how to order and getting "He speaks English...and it's just 'cupcake,'" in response. Oh. Right. Woops.

For lunch, everyone in the office went out together to a self proclaimed "American-style" restaurant. We ate nachos and cheese fries and had the most delicious burgers. I was so stuffed that I didn't even bother to eat dinner tonight, I still wasn't hungry. I don't know if I'll ever be hungry again (that's a lie).

I can totally (mostly) justify all the eating, though, because I've been walking an average of about 14,000 steps every day since I've been here - that's almost 6 miles. I'm exhausted, like, all the time, but that's definitely going to change soon because - drumroll, please - I signed the lease on my first big girl apartment today (and in Spanish, no less).

It's a beautiful little studio apartment in the center of the city about ten minutes from where I'm working (a far cry from the 40 minute commute I'm making now).

I'm in love. With Sevilla, with the food, with my job, with my new apartment. Absolutely in love.

(Also, shout out to one of my co-workers who patiently explained to me multiple times what all the different kinds of sheets and pillowcases were called in Spanish. Right now that is all that is in the new apartment. Sheets and pillowcases. #highroller)