Sexy Meatballs - 5 Tempting Tapas

Madrid / Go Eat
en by Louise /  Louise Sandager, 27. Mar 2009


Photo: Larry&Flo

Admitted! I always considered tapas to be a passing fad. Like sushi and club sandwiches. Something people gorge for two seasons before they jump on a new trend and forget all about small Spanish anchovies. Coming to Madrid, I realized this was an arrogant prejudice. After two days in town I was totally in love with the small dishes and three days later, I was addicted. Tapas is genius. Especially in Spain, where dinner is served so close to midnight that food lovers like me would die from hunger if it wasn’t for these delicious appetizers. They are available all over town; even the most humble little taberna has a broad selection of salted cod fish, sardines and rings of battered squid.

After the first euphoria, where I could swallow Pimientos - the peppers stuffed with meat or tuna – like others eat candy, I got more selective. Discovered the difference between an average Empanadilla and a top class Empanadilla, where the pastry is properly crunchy.

Published by
Louise

Ride The Crunch

Go See
en by Louise /  Louise Sandager, 5. Mar 2009

Did you give up snow this year? Depressed by crisis and doomsday prophecies? Don’t! Because skiing hasn’t been cheaper for years. Prices have gone down simultaneously with the shares, and even in posh Val d’Isère or in the jet-set-nest Courchevel 1850 you’ll easily find 20 percent reduction on the hotels.

The financial crunch has done something dramatically to the market. Not that it prevents people from skiing - the Alps are still full of snowalholics - but people spend less this year, a fact which forces hotels, restaurants and landlords to reduce their prices.

The French holiday giant Pierre & Vacances offers between 25 and 45 percent reduction on most of their 3 and 4 star residences in the Alps and even in the luxury segment you can get 20 percent rebate on a prestigious apartment in the Flaine Montsoleil village in the Haute Savoie.

Especially the British are hard hit by the low pound, making it expensive to go to continental Europe on holiday. Therefore many stay home, and the employees at the tourist office in Courchevel now officially admit that they miss the British (which is very unusual). But even for exchange-worried Englishmen there are good deals to be done. Book a fully catered stay at the Chalet Ysopes in Les Gets in France with departure March 15th for £ 370, including flights, transfers and ski hosting. Saving £ 369 with skitotal.com
Or what about a fully catered chalet holiday in Méribel, at the four-star Le Pied de Voûte for £ 731, saving £ 135, including flights from Gatwick. (inghams.co.uk)

OR. Dare the cap and book a hostel. Editor Jamie Doward from The Guardian recently told his readers how in February he succeeded having a full week in the Alps for £ 466, all inclusive, living in a hostel run by the French organisation UCPA.

At Livigno in Italy eight hotels now offer ski passes for free if you stay at least four nights and the internet site skihorizon.com has recently offered apartments in the French Alps for only ONE € a week.

So don’t say you can’t afford skiing this year. It’s just a question of surfing some few minutes on the web and then – maybe – take the three-star hotel instead of the four-star you liked last year.

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Keep economic crisis out of your pockets

How to go on holiday for less than 150 euro

Always look at the bright side of strife

Soviet fastfood with a view of Canal Grande

Crisis? What crisis?

Battling the financial meltdown: the Rudd response

Paris for recessionistas

Recession? Not for Istanbul's tourism industry

 

Published by
Louise