Vacations

The subject of vacations is hovering around us at the moment, where do we want to go, how much will it cost, blah, blah, blah. One place we are contemplating is Portugal, we liked it so much the first time we went. We had one complaint which was smoking, we couldn't go into the lounge bar at night because of the smoke which you could see sitting in layers in the air. Portugal, along with France and I am sure other European countries, has now gone "no smoking". To us this means we won't have to sit in our room playing cribbage because it is too cold to be outside at night (in November) and too smokey to be inside. The picture on the left is the beach at Sagres which is in the Algarve or the very southern part of the country. Portugal is a wonderful place to eat fresh fish, you can go to a fish restaurant and get fresh fish of different kinds, served to you as long as you can eat it. Absolutely delicious. The food we had in any restaurant or in our hotel was fantastic and we enjoyed all of it. I have tried to duplicate some of the recipes but never quite "got it" with some of them. I remember a pork stew we had one time, the flavour was incredible, but despite trying all kinds of recipes, I cannot quite duplicate it, close, but not exact. Some of their wonderful egg desserts too - mmm, I could eat those right now. Yes, I think Portugal would be a good choice again. I have a cousin living in the Algarve these days too which should give us a good place to visit, I haven't seen her in years. At least 40 years I would think, we've been in Canada since 1975 so haven't seen her since then at least, and not for quite a few years before that. When we left, she was living in Natal, South Africa. I don't recall what year she moved there. The photo on the right shows something of the countryside beyond the Algarve, we were driving about 300 miles north to see a friend. The road was absolutely fantastic with hardly any vehicles on it. Great driving.

Below is an egg dessert from Portugal, its great to eat, but I have never tried to make it.

Charcada Alentejana
Serves: 6
Source: Lurdes Pereira

300 gr sugar
1.5 dl water
6 egg yolks
1 egg white
zest of lemon
cinnamon

Mix sugar with water and lemon zest. Take to stove and when boilling, add egg yolks previously beatten with the egg white, through a funnel. Let boil a litle until it gets thicker but not hard. Serve in small plates and dust with cinnamon.

This is the only picture I have of the dessert which I took in a restaurant in Portugal. It doesn't show you the lovely lemony yellow colour - in fact when I first saw it, I thought it was scrambled egg, but it is very different.

Have a great day.