Upkeeping

A little bit of consant upkeeping....Since the very first day, we decided to take a hands-on approach. So here we are, keeping Casa Josephine beautiful and fit!

View from our window: summer...

...seems to be lingering, and we are enjoying the lovely weather, wishing that the leaves took just a little bit longer to turn their color!

Bakery "Las Cien Doncellas"

The bakers in Sorzano have been awarded "Artesanos de La Rioja", a title that certifies that all the procedures used to make their bread and delicious pastries follow the tradition and respect the highest standards.
Theirs is the only bakery in Rioja to hold the title.

In the bakery (one minute away from Casa Josephine) you will also find organic olive oil, chocolate, honey, ice-creams...
Check their web for a visual sample of their excellent production.
In the meantime, we will dip a piece of crusty fresh bread in olive oil from Sorzano and think: isn't life nice?

Algunos blogs sobre vino

Mientras esperamos a que el vino de este año esté listo, navegamos por la web para encontrar algunos blogs que os recomendamos:

-Los emprendedores Arranz-Argote, dueños de la interesantísima bodega ARAR, en Navarrete (a pocos kilómetros de nuestra casa) han hecho El Blog de una cepa. Información detallada y precisa sobre el proceso del vino....casi minuto a minuto.

-El Rioja de Blog en Blog es una iniciativa del Gobierno de la Rioja, que entra así en la blogosfera.

-Y, Devinis, el blog de Joan Gómez Pallarès, con una impresionante selección de blog sobre vino.

Fiesta!

To celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of harvest, Sorzano got ready for its Fiesta!

Besides the religious parade, we had a theater première (congratulations!), local food tastings, wine, cheese and beer tasting lessons, a huge paella (for 500 people), costume parties and, of course, all-night dancing.
We had a ball. Indeed.

Casa Josephine room by room (2)

This is Casa Josephine's living room on the first floor. As the house has a capacity for up to 10 people, we wanted to create spacious areas where our guests can relax, have a chat, read or simply do nothing, which seems to be ultimate luxury these days...

The drawing on the wall (the turtle and the rabbit) is a piece by our dearest friend Silja Goetz.

Presents for Pablo

A lovely birthday at Casa Josephine. Pablo turned 35.

Raquel brought this.

Óscar brought this.

Lola cut these hydrangeas from her garden and came down from her mountain retreat for a cup of chocolate.

Josué thought Pablo needed to unwind.

José picked the kindly fruits of the earth from his orchard...

...and Iñigo converted them into a fritada: sun-riped tomato from our orchard, green peppers, olive oil and garlic.

Heaven.