Patricia Harris

Strolling through Madrid’s food culture

Strolling through Madrid’s food culture

Posted on by Pat and David
A quick scan of guidebooks and the web usually reveals the most famous and trendy eating places in any city. But it's much harder to get a handle on how people shop and eat every day. Providing such a peek at daily life was just what Lauren Aloise had in mind when she introduced her tour of the Huertas neighborhood that Pat described in her new book 100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go from Travelers' Tales Press (travelerstales.com/100-places-spain-every-woman-go/). An American married to a Spaniard, Aloise launched Devour Madrid Food Tours (madridfoodtour.com) in 2012. The tour of the Huertas neighborhood is one of several options led by Aloise and her small band of guides, all of whom are devoted foodies. Located just off Puerta...Read More

Spanish olive oils evoke taste of the country

Posted on by Pat and David
Developing a more refined sense of taste doesn't have to be difficult or intimidating says Alexis Kerner, who founded the Olive Oil Workshop (theoliveoilworkshop.com) in Sevilla in 2014. Tasting, she says, is simply a matter of paying attention and becoming more sensitive to the nuances of flavor. An American who has lived in Andalucía for more than a dozen years, Kerner never really thought of herself as having an unusually refined palate. Then she became fascinated with the many types of olive oils produced in the region. A recipient of a diploma as a certified olive oil taster from the University of Jaen and the International Olive Oil Council, Kerner offers olive oil tastings as well as trips to orchards and mills. She is bullish...Read More

New book stimulates an appetite for Spain

Posted on by Pat and David
Pat's new book, 100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go, has just been published by Travelers' Tales Press (travelerstales.com). In many ways, the book cover photo of a woman striding confidently through the Alhambra captures the deep allure of Spain. Perched on a hillside in Granada and backed by mountain peaks, the Alhambra is a masterpiece of Moorish artistry and a touchstone of a storied and turbulent past. Pat's choices for the book do touch on Spain's most celebrated sites and cities. They range from the futuristic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao that sparked a city renaissance to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Architect Antoni Gaudí's phantasmagoric basilica has been more than 130 years in the making and is finally nearing completion. But many chapters...Read More