KARETHE LINAAE
Is it only me, or have you also noticed that everything lasts a shorter and shorter time? Be it mobiles that are virtually useless after a couple of years, computers that refuse to update, self-parking cars that go wild, or clothes and shoes that barely last a season – it looks like the disposable culture…
What is a chilly winter day without a mature Oloroso to accompany the venison or an aromatic Amontillado to augment the wild mushroom soup? Spanish sherries are so much more than ‘granny sherry’, something the Spanish always have known. And now, the rest of the wine-loving world is starting to appreciate these genuine and…
The turn of a year makes one particularly aware of dates and numbers. We might not remember what we did on the 7th of August, but most of us know exactly where we were on New Year’s Eve and what our thoughts were about the coming year. A new year tells us how incredibly…
You might have seen one of the movie history’s most-known comedy clips with Lucille Ball stepping on wine grapes. In the black and white recording from 1956, she dances around in an enormous barrel on a fictional Italian farm. But the vintage clip refers to a tradition that goes back thousands of years, which thankfully…
Where are Dior’s handbags, Prada’s fashion accessories and Cartier’s leather-covered jewellery boxes made? In a sweatshop on the outskirts of Paris? In a factory in China? Or perhaps in the fashion district in Milan? No, many of the leather goods of these and other exclusive brands are made in a remote rural Andalusian village…
If you believe you have a tough job, think again. One of the most demanding occupations here in Spain must be to deliver the gas bottles to the country’s homes and businesses. I had a chat with our local bombonero and discovered that he lifts close to 10,000 kg – per day! In almost every Spanish neighbourhood…
We know it is summer in our Andalucian hometown when the only time it is liveable outside is before 9 am in the morning or after 9 pm at night. The hottest we experienced was the day we passed a thermometer outside a pharmacy, measuring 52 degrees. Not to forget that time during our first…
In the early days of passenger flights, air hostesses needed to be small and slender, yet strong and steady enough to carry heavy serving trays with smoking dishes on stilettos through constant turbulence from take-off to landing. These are some of the memorable encounters my mother, Aase Linaae, had in her ‘flying days’…
As you read this, my husband and I are travelling around Morocco by rail to mark my 60th birthday. I am NOT sharing this news to attract felicitations (Please don’t!) or sympathy. Rather the contrary. I usually keep very quiet about such occasions and am no great celebrator of birthdays in general. I cannot remember…
After living in Spain for a decade, it is almost unavoidable that we have begun to inherit some Spanish habits, attitudes, and even ways of being. It isn’t as if we suddenly start dancing Flamenco in the streets and speaking while everybody else is talking. The changes are more subtle than that, as we, of…