tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66984658307344482212024-02-08T06:07:46.659+00:00Positively PortugalA PLACE TO HIGHLIGHT ALL THE POSITIVES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL CORNER OF EUROPECatarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-3562010439565905552012-02-10T09:01:00.009+00:002012-02-10T09:11:58.780+00:00Lovers' handkerchiefs - Lenços dos namorados<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjD9sSUt7CdZoXRxL-BepCFapYoUMCP4tmiK58Xzwe63pndUAJRd7aYQ5umBkAC-gUtlmTC9r-u1Ll4vR5Tq59qVmlA4S4pLZL43VT2bKT-RsGOByQGIejeuGcbM4HjR_iGNbG5t25lCo/s1600/Len%25C3%25A7o+das+Quadras2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 296px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjD9sSUt7CdZoXRxL-BepCFapYoUMCP4tmiK58Xzwe63pndUAJRd7aYQ5umBkAC-gUtlmTC9r-u1Ll4vR5Tq59qVmlA4S4pLZL43VT2bKT-RsGOByQGIejeuGcbM4HjR_iGNbG5t25lCo/s320/Len%25C3%25A7o+das+Quadras2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707088800985682418" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">There is a lovely tradition in northern Portugal of young girls sewing and embroidering handkerchiefs for their boyfriends or potential boyfriends. It is dying out now but there are still some skillful ladies keeping the tradition alive.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">It is thought that the custom began when the so-called lower classes began to imitate the use of handkerchiefs by the upper crust in the 17th and 18th centuries. Girls of marriageable age would spend weeks if not months stitching handkerchiefs to give to a boy they had their eye on. If the gift was accepted then the couple were considered to be a match and the young man would wear the handkerchief in his Sunday coat pocket, tucked into his belt or tie it to the end of a stick that he usually carried.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The girls would also wear handkerchiefs tucked into their waistbands, which at dances and festivals were often stolen by the young men who would play at being matched to the girls at the event.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The handkerchiefs are usually white with brightly-coloured embroidered symbols and poems. The words in the verses are often misspelled giving the handkerchiefs a naive charm.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">See some wonderful examples for sale on this website: </span></span></span><a href="http://www.aliancartesanal.pt/site/home.asp?pagina=c1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">Aliança Artesanal</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Now I just have to convince somebody to get </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">me </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">one.</span></span></span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-24797525738380291852012-02-05T08:58:00.004+00:002012-02-09T07:40:41.249+00:00Portuguese expressions that make me smile: It’s cold enough to crack<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Está um frio de rachar</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> – literal meaning: “it’s cold enough to crack”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is said when it’s chilly out and is usually preceded by one of several possible expletives. If you live somewhere in northern Europe you are probably thinking, “these Portuguese are weaklings! We pay for Wintersun holidays to Portugal in December what are they complaining about?”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What I love about this expression is how it manages to home in on that feeling of bone-deep freezing cold that might literally shatter your body into a thousand little shards of ice. Now that’s what serious cold feels like, isn’t it?</span></span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It’s true that this expression can be overused. Sometimes it really is only chilly by Portuguese standards and if that’s in the summer it could be as warm as 20 degrees C out and is just based on the fact that last week it was probably 35 degrees or more. But right now – in the middle of an unusual cold snap in February - it’s chilly by anybody’s standards. Brrrrrr.</span></span><!--EndFragment-->Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-68863149676110832372011-12-28T17:01:00.024+00:002012-02-09T07:42:20.127+00:00Café Saudade<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7CnDCJiyAKxIA5xrC5N8nx1rCPN4l113pNCKM20dkkpTjg_p8bl8Nkhji-KUilvQ2hlgs9mLMqT8aXJU1Uo2sm387mWc3NMTR4N-3rf4BL2CUtLdFjiGiivH8RyHuJjPpNUXe5Lr0XI/s1600/PB190284.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7CnDCJiyAKxIA5xrC5N8nx1rCPN4l113pNCKM20dkkpTjg_p8bl8Nkhji-KUilvQ2hlgs9mLMqT8aXJU1Uo2sm387mWc3NMTR4N-3rf4BL2CUtLdFjiGiivH8RyHuJjPpNUXe5Lr0XI/s320/PB190284.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691245599003922834" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVMRneQy86rzVBA76WI3rkB7kOGlxBg_WFmXEAyAwLwcUog-fFCXohMWAiQwZGG6RgzDAwUJVC78kSXrgZWOfHf_E3lUV0RXlLMwRY2ACLLMoWaLbG9gyI2FWeMbmqMNVECX168xYcYM/s1600/PB190271.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVMRneQy86rzVBA76WI3rkB7kOGlxBg_WFmXEAyAwLwcUog-fFCXohMWAiQwZGG6RgzDAwUJVC78kSXrgZWOfHf_E3lUV0RXlLMwRY2ACLLMoWaLbG9gyI2FWeMbmqMNVECX168xYcYM/s320/PB190271.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691245125752565570" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVMRneQy86rzVBA76WI3rkB7kOGlxBg_WFmXEAyAwLwcUog-fFCXohMWAiQwZGG6RgzDAwUJVC78kSXrgZWOfHf_E3lUV0RXlLMwRY2ACLLMoWaLbG9gyI2FWeMbmqMNVECX168xYcYM/s1600/PB190271.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">There are some places that to me are Portugal concentrated in one spot. Café Saudade is one of them. It is somewhere to go that just lets you breathe easy and it celebrates the real Portugal. Not the Portugal of shopping centres or highways, but the Portugal of my childhood, of long trips into the countryside.</span></span></span></span></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">First of all it is in the magical town of Sintra, but that doesn't guarantee loveliness as many a tourist has found to their cost. Saudade, however is a veritable rabbit warren of loveliness. The building itself was once a </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">queijada </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">factory making traditional Sintra cheesecakes, although factory seems too industrial a word for the authentic beauty of the place.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The café's menu is excellent and offers a variety of traditional Portuguese cakes and sandwiches as well as fruit tarts, an incredible gooey chocolate cake and light lunch options. Whiling away an afternoon with a cup of herbal tea or even a single espresso - nobody will make you feel like you need to have anything more if you don't want it - is something I do far too infrequently to do this fantastic café real justice.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Saudade is the heart and soul of its owners the sunny Mary Pereira and her husband Luís. Mary is Portuguese-American and in spite of, or perhaps because of, this she actively celebrates the Portuguese heritage that so many people take for granted. Saudade sells Portuguese handicrafts - not tourist tat the real deal - and also has its own little silver store (</span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Prataria</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">) offering the most gorgeous traditional Portuguese jewellery.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">If you have never been there I couldn't recommend it more highly.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Café Saudade</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Avenida Dr. Miguel Bombarda 6</span></span></span></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Sintra</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">2710-590 SINTRA</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Tel: 212428804</span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-41440847114275013362011-12-15T19:41:00.011+00:002012-02-09T07:41:39.338+00:00Cork trees<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEkODNIVScs4CqbwWR4MSAOOK-yyjEA2nNeNw_8h39o9xVvJJ5Ah9PVlzMKGRQf3OdoEz4EhFt9NQp9L8Y9xJyrGy5vm9-EAVGphyphenhyphensrq1zSbOQPqdyXUyiM4cg5vyY3xWZK8V50k6HbY/s320/CorkTree.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686739354257509330" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">I'd like to register my vote to make cork oaks one of the wonders of the world. This may seem like an overstatement, but they really are one of the most incredible, sustainable and eco-friendly resources on the planet and Portugal accounts for about 50 percent of the world's cork production.</span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The cork that most people know in the form of bottle stoppers (corks), floor tiles and trivets starts out life as the bark of an evergreen tree; the cork oak (</span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">quercus suber).</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> Skilled workers strip the bark of the cork oak every nine years and the tree is left unharmed to regenerate its bark to be harvested again and again, for up to 200 years. This bark makes corks for wine by the billion.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span></span><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that the 108,000 hectares of Portugal’s cork oak forests – the largest in the world – absorb about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. It also adds that each cork tree sustains over 100 species of wildlife, including the critically endangered Iberian Lynx.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Portugal's cork forests are under threat, however, as aluminium screw caps and manmade stoppers have replaced natural cork in wine bottles. Next time you reach for a bottle at the supermarket choose natural cork. It's a simple step that helps preserve this small corner of the planet.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"><br /></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-90437174245367796262011-12-09T14:57:00.006+00:002012-02-08T17:26:55.984+00:00The best and safest airline in Western Europe<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneZK3ZHltXDYVsoM-EqHfFR9_WTiHIjTJ_cHcOYIGYasWqM3BtqjsurddyFUGaTGs5xhS5fts3bu3INmQTJXS1E3TEwBjHKMxGAvLdozlhi9NIIoZXgJhOY9ijmP-nRcU67WAeY3VNkc/s1600/TAPplane.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneZK3ZHltXDYVsoM-EqHfFR9_WTiHIjTJ_cHcOYIGYasWqM3BtqjsurddyFUGaTGs5xhS5fts3bu3INmQTJXS1E3TEwBjHKMxGAvLdozlhi9NIIoZXgJhOY9ijmP-nRcU67WAeY3VNkc/s320/TAPplane.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686737930359065282" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Say what you like about Portuguese airline TAP Portugal - I remember a joke that said TAP stood for Take Another Plane - but it turns out it's the safest airline in Western Europe and, by some accounts, also the best.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The only fatal crash it has ever had in its 66-year history was in Madeira in 1977 when 164 people died. Not wanting to make light of those deaths, that's still a very healthy safety record. In January 2011 TAP Portugal was named as Western Europe's safest airline in the </span></span></span><a href="http://www.aerointernational.de/download/files/Aero-0211-Sicherheits-Ranking.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">JACDEC Airliner Safety Report</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> and fourth in the world behind Australia's Qantas, Air New Zealand and Finnair of Finland.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">I'll take safety over style and comfort any day of the week. It's at the top of my list for requirements for an airline, but according to </span></span></span><a href="http://globaltravelerusa.com/web/view/global-traveler-announces-8th-annual-reader-survey-award-winners"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Global Traveler Magazine TAP is also Europe's Best Airline for 2011.</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> This award was given to the company based on opinions from 36,000 readers who responded to the magazine's GT Tested Reader Survey.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In 2010 it also won the title of World's Best Airline from </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 25px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">the UK's Condé Nast Traveller magazine.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">It now serves 66 destinations in 31 countries and operates around 1,850 flights per week.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">It's a state-owned airline and there are plans to privatise it as part of the conditions for Portugal to receive its financial bailout package. Here's hoping that whoever takes a slice will keep up the good work.</span></span></span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-24456037234004543652011-12-06T12:15:00.003+00:002012-02-08T17:27:18.427+00:00Neonatal care<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZM4mo46MlAGY_jwgCqBWAH0qY2Pi1s_CTKmOpQvD9NbWusx6XL_xHDl0fLrPpTzyOQVhvQiVX57qwg8u9uHSy5IoNNNOqOBcNgde_GN9Ht2uKH8F_oQYT1ITTQzcRF4QMhgl3YIUG4k/s1600/TeenyTiny.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZM4mo46MlAGY_jwgCqBWAH0qY2Pi1s_CTKmOpQvD9NbWusx6XL_xHDl0fLrPpTzyOQVhvQiVX57qwg8u9uHSy5IoNNNOqOBcNgde_GN9Ht2uKH8F_oQYT1ITTQzcRF4QMhgl3YIUG4k/s320/TeenyTiny.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682987585564675714" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Most people would not think that hospital care in Portugal is up to much, even those that live here. Now I'm here to tell you exactly the opposite is true. That's from personal experience, too.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Back in November 2009 I was sent to hospital on total bedrest in danger of miscarrying my baby. I stayed in bed for eight full weeks in my own private room with a TV and bathroom - that I couldn't actually get up to use but that's a whole other story - all to myself. Traumatic as the whole experience was I was treated with nothing but kindness, dignity and professionalism at every step.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The point of this post, though is about what happened after that. My baby was born at 30 weeks, which is ten weeks before his due date. His care was second to none. He had access to all the necessary technology to keep him breathing and to develop outside the womb. In all, after some respiratory complications, he spent nearly four months in hospital. Not only did it not cost us a single penny - other than the taxes we pay of course - but he got state-of-the-art care and I was extremely thankful that he was born right here in Portugal. If it happened again I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">It turns out that Portuguese neonatal care is ranked amongst the best in the world. I know because I checked while I was on bedrest because I'd been convinced by all the bad press, too. We would have been worse off in both the </span></span></span><a href="http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2011/08/31/newborn-survival-rate-in-u-s-ranks-surprisingly-low/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">UK and the US</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In terms of the overall infant mortality rate Portugal also fares better than a number of nations that you might expect to outrank it. According to </span></span></span><a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=po&v=29"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">indexmundi</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> Portugal's infant mortality rate stands at 4.66 deaths out of every 1,000 live births, just behind the UK with 4.62 deaths per 1,000 and Australia with 4.61. New Zealand's infant mortality rate is 4.78 Canada's is 4.92 and in the US it is 6.06 deaths per 1,000 live births.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">My son is now nearly two years old and thriving. He's had a lot of hospital appointments to check on his progress over his little lifetime, but he's doing great. We never had to fight for treatment or wait to be admitted to hospital. He's never been on a waiting list or had to be approved for hospital care or vaccines. He just gets what he needs; no questions asked.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">This stuff really matters and Portugal is very good at it.</span></span></span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-74849652114225581772011-11-28T14:55:00.011+00:002012-02-09T13:52:49.287+00:00Fado ... oops I'm mentioning it<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2Aiy6xKiEQPOAx-w8UWbuhSHIhkP-pCjqGd1XOpx1dFsYSjWnTXTv4gSUeufn0XXbwBJFSxeKfs59MFa9aB5P4U6NOeVHELDWgvevc2krxd4xX1lstrMpz_nExUdRzLL_Hpw5Z27B2U/s1600/Fado2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2Aiy6xKiEQPOAx-w8UWbuhSHIhkP-pCjqGd1XOpx1dFsYSjWnTXTv4gSUeufn0XXbwBJFSxeKfs59MFa9aB5P4U6NOeVHELDWgvevc2krxd4xX1lstrMpz_nExUdRzLL_Hpw5Z27B2U/s320/Fado2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682659324391181522" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">I know, I </span></span></span><a href="http://positivelyportugal.blogspot.com/2011/06/start-feeling-positive.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">promised</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> when I started this blog that I wouldn't mention Fado. Well, I'm breaking that promise today and I'm unashamed.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Fado - Portugal's national music - has been given UNESCO World Immaterial Heritage Status. Hurrah to that!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">I sometimes wonder if you have to be Portuguese to get it. It certainly embodies a very particularly Portuguese way of viewing the world. The name Fado itself simply means fate, so that gives you an idea of where it's coming from. It's a melancholy type of music/song that tends to be all about what has been lost. Sounds like a bummer, doesn't it? Well, it's actually astoundingly beautiful coming from the right vocal chords and the dextrous fingers of a master of the Portuguese guitar (similar to an onion-shaped mandolin). A good Fado will make you tingle all over; there's something guttural and primeval about it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">On a trip to Lisbon a visit to a Fado venue is a must. The best, in my opinion, are those where amateurs get up and sing. This can make the quality a bit hit-and-miss but that's also part of the charm and makes the good ones all the more worth the wait. Try Tasca do Chico in the Bairro Alto neighbourhood or Tasca do Jaime in the Graça neighbourhood for an authentic and far cheaper experience than the Fado houses catering for tourists. Tasca do Chico for a late night and Tasca do Jaime for Fado in the afternoon (very unusual).</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The most famous of Portugal's Fado singers was </span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A1lia_Rodrigues"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Amalia Rodrigues</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> and though she died in 1999, she is considered a national treasure. Here she is at her best: </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jMKQFXn9WiM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /></span></span></span></div><div><i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMKQFXn9WiM"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">Nem às paredes confesso</span></span></span></a></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">More recently the most widely-acclaimed Fado singer is </span></span></span><a href="http://www.mariza.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Mariza</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">. And here </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">she</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> is at her haunting best: </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XQrq7nLPHEw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQrq7nLPHEw"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">Ó gente da minha terra</span></span></span></a></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">make sure to listen at least as far as 01:25. I promise it's worth it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-9278562133723007562011-11-04T22:05:00.005+00:002012-02-08T17:27:51.619+00:00Roast chestnuts<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJxzAUNzEQp3VVDJzzlhqqLsOhzTIhuqnonmCErhVfrt21ELLoPKm4MIt7YhSSeWh9A9QM9HhxbeakiwuLJd0krIQAmMpARwaTbxb1-9Tw38XAFs_hHAwAK3ZhGTLteQiYEC4LZ3WFQYE/s1600/Castanhas.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJxzAUNzEQp3VVDJzzlhqqLsOhzTIhuqnonmCErhVfrt21ELLoPKm4MIt7YhSSeWh9A9QM9HhxbeakiwuLJd0krIQAmMpARwaTbxb1-9Tw38XAFs_hHAwAK3ZhGTLteQiYEC4LZ3WFQYE/s320/Castanhas.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682416770682746802" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">At this time of year the smell of roast chestnuts is everywhere.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">For two or three euros you can buy a dozen roast chestnuts off a street seller and fill up your stomach with stodgy loveliness that warms up chilly hands to boot. These days they'll also sell you half a dozen... times are tough.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">When you approach the chestnut "cart" the seller gets a sheet of telephone directory paper fashions it into a cone and drops in the chestnuts giving the cone a final twist to seal the heat in.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The chestnut sellers have a wonderful contraption especially designed for roasting the nuts - the design of which has probably not changed much in 150 years - that is oftentimes mounted on the back of a motorcycle. You only see them at this time of year - chestnut season - and I suspect that they've been under lock and key whilst their owners have been selling ice creams over the summer.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Hurrah for little warm parcels of Portuguese autumn pleasure!</span></span></span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-58054632144690783072011-10-23T12:46:00.001+01:002012-02-08T21:51:19.360+00:00Ode to FarturasOk, so I confess to a love of fried dough, though my thighs might have given the game away ahead of me. Doughnuts and their like are hard to resist so during festival season in Portugal - July and August mainly - I either have to avoid the festivals altogether or give in to the greasy call of the <i>fartura</i> van.<div><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rn3NK-aMZZc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><div><br /></div><div>Portugal's <i>farturas</i> are fried dough heaven and they are entertaining too. As a child I loved to watch them being made and judging by the number of kids that crowd round to see them being squirted into a giant spiral out of the giant dough gun into the waiting hot oil they still have some hold over youthful imagination. They, like me all those years ago, secretly want to be the <i>fartura </i>maker and get to wield that gun.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mostly these treats are sold at festivals or markets in the Summer months but you occasionally see <i>fartura </i>vans in some unlikely places like outside DIY shops or supermarkets in mid-winter. They are so hot and toasty though that despite my feeling that they are out of place I can still feel tehir tractor beam dragging me </div></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-67009697019077763622011-10-12T10:36:00.001+01:002012-02-08T17:28:22.102+00:00Saudade: A very Portuguese word ... sad but positive, I think<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">“</span></span></span><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Saudade</span></span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">: a Portuguese and Galician word for a feeling of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which has been lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never really return. It was once described as “the love that remains” or “the love that stays” after someone is gone.”</span></span></span></span>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-22487243263430653002011-10-04T20:54:00.002+01:002012-02-08T17:28:45.358+00:00Portuguese expressions that make me smile: Fish don’t pull carts<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Peixe não puxa carroça – literal meaning: “Fish don’t pull carts” </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">This is usually said by burly Portuguese “meat and potatoes” men when presented with a fish dish at lunch and signals that they will probably be topping up with a pork steak sandwich before the afternoon is up.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Eating with a knife and fork at every meal is essential for most Portuguese people. A sandwich munched over the keyboard at work will simply not do and similarly fish is generally considered to be fare for dieting ladies and children. If you have a day’s hard physical labour ahead of you then, granted, fish may not suffice. When none cart-pulling folks come out with this expression, though I always think it’s just a grown up version of a toddler refusing to eat his greens.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The relative nutritional merits of meat and fish aside, I love the mental image this expression conjures up of a fish harnessed to a wagon in the same way that “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” never failed to summon up an image of a fish stretching its tailfin down in a vain attempt to reach the pedals of a pushbike.</span></span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-9368263685227054142011-09-22T11:46:00.002+01:002012-02-08T17:29:06.124+00:00Onions from down under...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdsQ6GXmFyeBwcJ8UDgS54Yl5rpul0a9X1oRnJYQZEnDOapzqMMO0RDrfl_c0EOB92Ds7XvuTp7D5-fRE-7Of0n0MxurfQLMx6YswjPz7_AVg5vytBzmnrfWfw3hzA0szLwSTM81PzFDo/s1600/Portugueseonions.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdsQ6GXmFyeBwcJ8UDgS54Yl5rpul0a9X1oRnJYQZEnDOapzqMMO0RDrfl_c0EOB92Ds7XvuTp7D5-fRE-7Of0n0MxurfQLMx6YswjPz7_AVg5vytBzmnrfWfw3hzA0szLwSTM81PzFDo/s320/Portugueseonions.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694114205755531298" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(9, 9, 107); line-height: 20px; font-family:Colaborate, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><h3 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Now, this </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">may seem random, but I flat out refuse to buy onions from Australia. Why not onions from Kazakhstan or Senegal, I hear you ask (because you are asking, surely). Well, they were not actually on offer at my local supermarket, but Australian onions were. To add to the lunacy they cost €1.49 a kilo and the much larger and fresher Portuguese onions in the box next to them – admittedly not packaged in a fetching orange fishnet bag – cost €0.89 per kilo. At what point does a supermarket buyer (and by that I mean the people who decide what the supermarket stocks and not the people who shop there) think, ‘I know where we could get the onions from… Queensland’?</span></span></span></span></h3><div class="description" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></span>Since way before Portugal had to be bailed out by the EU and the IMF I’ve been an avid label reader, checking all the produce boxes for the origins of my fruit and veg. My previous argument was an environmental one and now it’s backed up by an economics argument that goes something like, ‘buy Portuguese produce so your money can stay in Portugal and help us crawl out of this mire.’ If the supermarket I’m in doesn’t have Portuguese carrots, or potatoes or whatever I sometimes buy Spanish produce and have even ventured to the exotic climes of France and occasionally the Netherlands, but shipping the humble basis of almost every Portuguese dish all the way from Oz is a step too far for me. They might as well start trying to flog me olive oil from Pakistan for all the sense it makes.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></span>I’ll also have no truck with apples or garlic from China (and, yes, I’ve seen that too), grapes from Chile or oranges from anywhere further than the Algarve. There’s no issue with Brazilian papayas or Indian mangoes, these fruits are not, after all, grown here in Portugal, or at least not on a large enough scale to be sold to me. It is true though that I don’t often buy them because I’m certain my carbon footprint is pretty gargantuan as it stands</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></span>Call me a radical protectionist, but buying products from another country that are easily produced and plentiful in your own country is tantamount to robbing your neighbours and in my area this is almost literally the case. Where I live, I am surrounded by vegetable producers that supply Portugal’s supermarkets with huge quantities of produce. Every onion, lettuce, or cabbage I buy that is from some other part of the globe means fewer euro cents for these businesses and I could be putting people I know out of a job. This idea also extends to the rest of the country, too. So, Australia, how do you like them onions?</span></span></span></p></div></span>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-30772480234580022942011-09-10T11:40:00.005+01:002012-02-08T17:29:59.193+00:00Baby love<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFcPUxi4Rwat0QS_S4wYXGK5FSZmdpA0Gt6T0gnZNEvSsQxdmI8FpMfuaig0jAKQSkNqhD5dDe8GEO8L_4D-YTT7HOYPhGhPSWY-Y-MLl_ecjFNJQpE2jhbeWN3TbBl_-5N9VTPyR9g4/s1600/BabyLove.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFcPUxi4Rwat0QS_S4wYXGK5FSZmdpA0Gt6T0gnZNEvSsQxdmI8FpMfuaig0jAKQSkNqhD5dDe8GEO8L_4D-YTT7HOYPhGhPSWY-Y-MLl_ecjFNJQpE2jhbeWN3TbBl_-5N9VTPyR9g4/s320/BabyLove.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682669216387020994" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">I have never been anywhere in Portugal where my babies/toddlers/kids have not also been welcome.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In fact, the only time anyone has openly complained was in an Indian restaurant in the Algarve and the complainer was English. That's the only time in the last five years. Truly.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The very opposite is true in fact. Wherever I go with them and regardless of the mess they make - and they do make a monumental mess, especially in restaurants - I have had nothing but kindness and understanding.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">They are always invited to weddings, parties, dinner parties, nights out and every event I've ever attended since my first was born. This doesn't mean I'm not embarrassed sometimes by their screaming or when a spoon goes flying across the room. Instead of the eye-rolling and tutting I have had in other countries, though, here I get supportive comments and people actually communicating directly with my children. Interacting with them; Wow!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">This is one of the greatest blessings of bringing up children in Portugal. They are a part of daily life, seen as a part of society as a whole and barred from almost nowhere.</span></span></span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-81733585261544387472011-08-15T08:38:00.002+01:002012-02-08T17:30:33.499+00:00Portuguese tiles - Azulejos<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QbDsgQckte8M3DbeMJdVo6oEijiwJpjisbmeV6s0tofa5hjAboGYYxsJ8ZcCYvgKla-eRHf8cXuZejeq7Py6fYfSfCijQrMnX_yFijgiShTuRNpJGvAJCQZapOnWjcfY63rEcCF63KE/s1600/PC030443.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QbDsgQckte8M3DbeMJdVo6oEijiwJpjisbmeV6s0tofa5hjAboGYYxsJ8ZcCYvgKla-eRHf8cXuZejeq7Py6fYfSfCijQrMnX_yFijgiShTuRNpJGvAJCQZapOnWjcfY63rEcCF63KE/s320/PC030443.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682647943619902354" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In Portugal tiles - </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">azulejos</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> - are not just reserved for bathroom walls. They are a traditional wall covering and the whole thing has been elevated to an art form.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The word </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">azulejo </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">comes from the Arabic for small, polished stone. This gives away their origins and Portugal needs to thank its Moorish heritage for this fantastic tradition of wall coverings.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The Arab-inspried ones are made up of multi-coloured geometrical shapes, but the Portuguese took this Islamic tradition that did not allow representation of living things and made it their own. Since the Moors left Portugal tiles have been painted with flowers, animals, buildings, battle scenes (as in my example above), saints and every other conceivable thing, quite frankly. A trip through any Portuguese city, town or village will provide you with a glimpse of any number of fantastic painted tiles.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In a more modern twist they are now a favourite way of decorating otherwise gloomy underpasses, tunnels and motorway pillars. Instead of staring at grey concrete or uninspiring graffiti tags we get to look at murals.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In the village where I live even the bus stop has them.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Check out these fabulous </span></span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/azulejos/pool/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">examples</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> on Flickr.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-55807129588576657022011-08-07T19:26:00.007+01:002012-02-08T17:25:35.412+00:00"Desenrasque" or the Portuguese art of improvisation<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtr7K29ExznZGuCQaqs5UMxHRfG6PheTorNv0iOxLPjDQJZzSV9vRaBOYeAPPXV1rCgVibdIahbZmIpcA61Gt-QdslVASpA3npkvHg-DGI2j2KttofNaxWt1DCkjcaEXbIRnrh64nxBU/s1600/Macgyver.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtr7K29ExznZGuCQaqs5UMxHRfG6PheTorNv0iOxLPjDQJZzSV9vRaBOYeAPPXV1rCgVibdIahbZmIpcA61Gt-QdslVASpA3npkvHg-DGI2j2KttofNaxWt1DCkjcaEXbIRnrh64nxBU/s320/Macgyver.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706816954475870898" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Portuguese people are very proud of their ability to improvise under difficult circumstances and rightly so. There's even a special word for it - </span></span></span></span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">desenrasque - </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">and in translation this means something along the lines of muddling through/improvising/getting out of a scrape. It's an extremely useful way to deal with the world.</span></span></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It brings to mind </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver">Macgyver</a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> - remember the 80s TV series where the main character got out of all kinds of trouble with nothing but chewing gum and a cocktail stick? - well, that's the kind of imaginative problem solving that </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">desenrasque </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">is all about.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Examples would be useful, I suppose. Just off the top of my head I can think of a couple that demonstrate exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that comes naturally to most Portuguese folks:</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One time I took my mini - the old-fashioned kind - to a mechanic because the battery was not being charged. It was a problem with the alternator. The car needed a brand new one, which would take six long weeks to be shipped in from the UK. Un-phased the mechanic broke open the old alternator to see its component parts only to find that the part inside that was broken was exactly the same as the part used in a Fiat Punto alternator. Long story short: I paid for a Punto alternator at less than a fifth of the price of one for a mini, which the mechanic proceeded to take apart for parts for my old alternator. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Et voilá! </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One alternator for a Rover mini in perfect working order in less than 45 minutes.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The other example came from an executive of a Portuguese blue chip company who told me his boss was was from Sweden and believed the best companies are run by a mixture of Scandinavian and Portuguese workers. Intrigued I asked him why. "Well," he said, "When a machine breaks down the Portuguese roll up their sleeves and try to fix it whilst the Scandinavians identify the part that has failed, track down its number and order a new part in case the Portuguese solution doesn't last."</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That's what I call a can do attitude.</span></span></span></div><div><div><br /></div></div></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-21890157944093053462011-07-27T20:44:00.003+01:002012-02-08T17:31:02.196+00:00Sunsets over the sea...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicj4du3IJASM87e-78gIRKvUktTyl7roZN6hCaCTABZwQZlg0NvDpA9DBWHBYA5sIkxEP4hC5v3V3q3RKLkui3biyUOAaEpDllXffegidWcXPba7_AevRuwahIdi8WFtft60WIVHi6kbU/s1600/AzenhasdoMar.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicj4du3IJASM87e-78gIRKvUktTyl7roZN6hCaCTABZwQZlg0NvDpA9DBWHBYA5sIkxEP4hC5v3V3q3RKLkui3biyUOAaEpDllXffegidWcXPba7_AevRuwahIdi8WFtft60WIVHi6kbU/s320/AzenhasdoMar.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694115567732439458" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">When I was little I thought that the sun always set over the sea. Then I took a trip to Brazil where the natural thing to happen is for the sun to set behind you while you're looking out towards a dark sky hanging above the ocean. It was sad to watch the sun disappear into the landscape and especially tragic when it ducked prematurely behind a mountaintop.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">In Portugal - except perhaps for some places on the southern coast of the Algarve - the default setting for sunsets is over the sea. It is a quirk of geography for a country that faces West along almost the entirety of its coast.This makes for absolutely spectacular sunsets that glimmer and glint in the water and in the height of summer you get to watch a fiery sun extinguish itself in a rainbow sea.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">It is a wonder of the Portuguese natural world and it costs nothing at all.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;color:#000099;"><br /></span></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-29582542203489243402011-07-25T22:31:00.004+01:002012-02-08T17:31:31.498+00:00Soup... yes really... Portuguese Soup<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrP08UXS2xR_WGHxbo60Si_ATSNUKp2CPMIBTjQ5VQNX0tOi4rZZx77skJXoSswNpRupOX2hvcSmpJuU3Z_xKTBP-Vr1UJ6s2C9vyGI85hf2jD2Fnr0Ogs61FdauhFoaBGxA5xcgPkx7g/s1600/CaldoVerde.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrP08UXS2xR_WGHxbo60Si_ATSNUKp2CPMIBTjQ5VQNX0tOi4rZZx77skJXoSswNpRupOX2hvcSmpJuU3Z_xKTBP-Vr1UJ6s2C9vyGI85hf2jD2Fnr0Ogs61FdauhFoaBGxA5xcgPkx7g/s320/CaldoVerde.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682653402987986706" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Yes, soup. This is no small deal. Portuguese soup is one of the unknown treasures of the world.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">It's nutritious, low fat and absolutely delicious. No cream here, but it's lip-lickingly scrumptious and a great way of filling up on low cal veggies before a main meal and practically getting your "five-a-day" in a single bowl.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Some of my favourites are: </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Caldo Verde </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(literally green soup, but it's kale and potato with Portuguese saiusage)</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">, Sopa de Abóbora </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(pumpkin soup)</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">, Sopa de Agrião </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(watercress soup)</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">and </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Sopa de Feijão Verde </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(green bean soup).</span></span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">For something heartier try </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Sopa de Feijão </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">bean soup - usually kidney beans), or </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Sopa de Grão </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(chick pea soup).</span></span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Order soup in a café or restaurant and you are unlikely to spend more than a couple of euros for a nutritious lunch. It always was poor man's food but it's rich pickings as far as I'm concerned.</span></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Find some recipes </span></span></span><a href="http://www.portuguese-recipes.com/Soup%20Recipes.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">here.</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> Enjoy!</span></span></span></div></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-2556892289240758232011-07-08T09:05:00.005+01:002012-02-08T17:32:25.960+00:00Joe Portugal on borrowed time (not so positive)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC210Xv4XfRH_D2Y0HharrfYm-qAgPutKutChsNlSfYxbcPoYLQ6JEKnMXLMr7HGzbhvdFwc68OPx2aprPGB8_HsWrIzpspRDepAUKqrIWS44B5QbaOuFS7yhJleUX3Q8c5K87cw3x_dE/s1600/Noosedebt.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC210Xv4XfRH_D2Y0HharrfYm-qAgPutKutChsNlSfYxbcPoYLQ6JEKnMXLMr7HGzbhvdFwc68OPx2aprPGB8_HsWrIzpspRDepAUKqrIWS44B5QbaOuFS7yhJleUX3Q8c5K87cw3x_dE/s320/Noosedebt.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696301979297408114" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); line-height: 22px; font-size:15px;"><header style="display: block; "><h1 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font: normal normal normal 30px/40px Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Joe Portugal is a middle-income, blue-collar worker whose finances could be in much better shape and he knows it. He’s maxed out his credit cards, every penny he has goes to pay off loans he’s taken out, and he’s taken on new loans to pay off the original loans. He’s regretting his financial mis-management and he wants to put things right, but the sharks are circling. His friend Jane Hellas plans to stop paying off her own loans because she can no longer afford the interest rates she is being asked to pay and Joe’s lenders think he might do the same so his interest rates are rising, too.</span></span></span></span></h1></header><section style="display: block; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Joe’s lenders took out life insurance, car insurance and home insurance on Joe just in case something went wrong. They want him to keep paying off his loans, but also to get their money if he doesn’t. Trouble is, Joe also lives in a world where anybody can insure his life, his home and his car and now Joe spends his time avoiding deliberate crashes, putting out fires and dodging bullets all whilst working himself into the ground to pay off those never-ending loans. Those folks holding these “naked” insurance policies actually want Joe to crash, burn and die because they get big bucks from his misfortune. Joe is living on borrowed time.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is time to outlaw Naked Credit Default Swaps that give their holders a vested interest in non-payment of the debts they are insuring. Because anybody can invest in these derivatives and therefore insure bonds that they do not even own, there are many people that are not only hoping, but actively working to send companies, local authorities and even whole nations into bankruptcy. The amount of debt insured by Credit Default Swaps far outstrips the amount of the loans actually taken out. Naked Credit Default Swaps are so immoral that even George Soros, a multi-billionaire investor not usually known for his code of ethics, has called for them to be outright banned.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is common to hear that Southern European countries don’t have a strong work ethic - John Stewart on </span></span></span><em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Daily Show</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> recently joked about how Greeks retired “just before puberty” – but most of the people of Greece, Portugal, and every other nation currently surrounded by speculation sharks, do an honest day’s work for a pittance. Traders, investors and owners of these Naked CDSs do less than a minute’s dishonest work for a vast fortune.</span></span></span></p></section></span>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-35037922209702697162011-06-17T20:47:00.002+01:002012-02-08T17:32:59.024+00:00Coffee!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBOsZxFHRW_8N92h9jpRNUlcoDztVxCmmxKRraKnruumpLMZjju-ze05j_mPGQVvsygK8IQod8fmCtGYeZHpTYW6qKNEL86ePpPV33im12sqeLhksub80HtZ_pu1CFKznFphJS7_1rrYw/s1600/BICA.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBOsZxFHRW_8N92h9jpRNUlcoDztVxCmmxKRraKnruumpLMZjju-ze05j_mPGQVvsygK8IQod8fmCtGYeZHpTYW6qKNEL86ePpPV33im12sqeLhksub80HtZ_pu1CFKznFphJS7_1rrYw/s200/BICA.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676627984116562418" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Portuguese coffee is wonderful. </span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Granted it is not grown here, but it is roasted and blended here and there's nothing like it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I've had coffee in Italy (harsh in my opinion) and in Brazil (just plain awful) both of which you would think were countries with excellent coffee. Frankly they just don't get close to the smooth, strong, delicious coffee you find in just about every café across Portugal.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are several ways coffee is served here and most people are very specific about the way they like it. Here's a run down of the most common:</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Bica / café / cimbalino</span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Otherwise known as an espresso the humble </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">bica</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (as it's called in Lisbon, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">cimbalino</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> in Porto and plain old </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">café </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">across the country) is the staple of the Portuguese café. The coffee blend is mostly smooth, strong and oh so dark. Order an </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">italiana </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">and you'll get what in Italy is called a </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ristretto </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">or a very small espresso. Otherwise you can ask for </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">bica cheia </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">and you'll get a bit more coffee than normal in your cup, which will make it slightly weaker. Because of the variety of options for your espresso, if you want it just as it comes you may just need to ask for a </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">café normal</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Galão</span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is a favourite of northern European tourists and little old ladies (forgive me it's not my favourite at all). It's a milky coffee served in a glass. If you like your coffee strong make sure to ask for it that way and be certain that it's made with fresh espresso. It's great way of warming your hands on a cold day... or burning them if you're not too careful.</span></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Meia de leite (chinesa in Madeira)</span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is the Portuguese equivalent of a cappuccino though not quite so frothy. One of my favourite types of coffee. Make sure to ask for a </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">meia de máquina </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> or you may be in danger of receiving something pre-prepared, which entirely misses the point.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are several other ways of drinking coffee in Portugal, but these three are the most common and should keep you buzzing all the way to lunchtime.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-42186112489763978132011-06-13T12:46:00.004+01:002012-02-08T17:33:30.510+00:00There's something about Santo António...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDjSER38XTkokyhRUVOPnY3F9a6GdUGGeCuts8odoez0oTyYTswT89-ochFXWq2Dah03sP3fs3QvuPU71_fRD_4_5Ia8p193Fky-PoqmismuKAxyHkGsVZXJ3mdFIeMQSt3Unpg_sHNs/s1600/SantoAntonioLisboa.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDjSER38XTkokyhRUVOPnY3F9a6GdUGGeCuts8odoez0oTyYTswT89-ochFXWq2Dah03sP3fs3QvuPU71_fRD_4_5Ia8p193Fky-PoqmismuKAxyHkGsVZXJ3mdFIeMQSt3Unpg_sHNs/s320/SantoAntonioLisboa.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682409725190192194" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); line-height: 22px; font-size:15px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The night of 12th June is party night in Lisbon. Thousands of people pile into the narrow streets of the city’s traditional neighbourhoods to celebrate its patron saint by sitting at makeshift tables eating sardines, salad and boiled potatoes at more than twice the usual price for such things, listening to cheesy Portuguese tunes and drinking beer from plastic cups. It’s smoky, noisy, stinky and absolutely wonderful.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">As my partying days have been put on hold for a few years because of my kids my last few Santo António nights have been pretty tame. I remember a few - way back when? -when I only made it to bed after sunrise and in time to watch the street cleaners fire-hosing the night’s revelries down the city’s drains. Not so any more, but last night had me remembering earlier Santo António nights with my father and staying up way past a normal bedtime. I watched the sheer joy on my five year-old’s face whilst eating a </span></span></span><em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">fartura</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">(think long donut with brown sugar and cinnamon) at almost 11 o’clock, my 17 month-old jigging to the sound of the cheesiest and rudest of all the Portuguese traditional songsters - Quim Barreiros - and went back to how lovely these nights felt when I was little, too.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">There’s something very democratic about Santo António. Almost every kind of person and of every age is out on the streets and all are doing the same things. Eating, drinking, dancing, laughing. Kids are definitely part of the party and nobody is wondering why you haven’t put them to bed yet or why they’re on their third bowl of </span></span></span><em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">arroz doce</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> (rice pudding). It was great fun and my kids will enjoy it next year, too.</span></span></span></p></span>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-9254527553729278992011-06-08T15:31:00.004+01:002011-12-16T18:19:57.867+00:00Positively portugal... the blog post that started it all<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); line-height: 22px; font-size:15px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size:15px;color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">First posted in May:</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background- background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size:15px;color:transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">You’ve probably heard. Portugal is having a rough time at the moment. The IMF and the European Union are bailing the country out of a spot of financial difficulty and - all being well - will be providing 78 billion euros of cash to get the country out of a very tight squeeze. If you listen to the Portuguese news, and to the international news for that matter (I heard Jeremy Paxman refer to Portugal and Greece as “feckless Southern European nations,” last night), Portugal is a miserable place to be right now and we should all be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">I won’t try to pretend that measures imposed on the country by the IMF will lead to what in Portuguese is called, ” a sea of roses.” It’s going to be tough and there will probably be a lot of hardship. In Portugal this does not mean that some unfortunate people will have to do without a foreign holiday this year, or won’t be able to refurbish the kitchen. What this means is that the huge number of people who already live on less than the minimum wage (485 euros per month) will have to choose whether to pay the rent or eat. Feckless or not the social dangers are very real.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">On a beautiful, sunny day in May like today, though, these worries seem a world away. The sun never shines more beautifully than on this glorious corner of Europe. It is a place worth living in for many reasons. The food is fabulous, the people even more so and for every financial negative that can be railed at us there is a non-financial positive.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">I, through no fault of my own, am no longer able to get a new mortgage. Because of the financial situation here all the banks seem to have shut up shop to freelancers like me. It will not stop me enjoying my little piece of Portugal, though. The IMF cannot stop the poppies growing in the fields around my house, take away a free afternoon at the beach, ground the peregrine falcons swooping overhead as I drive to the supermarket or stop my neighbours from leaving gifts of fresh vegetables at my door. Portugal is wealthy indeed.</span></span></span></p></span><p></p></span>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698465830734448221.post-2127818758901826732011-06-01T16:30:00.001+01:002011-12-16T18:20:19.891+00:00Start feeling positive...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">So I'm a bit sick of all the bad news. In fact, a bit sick is probably putting it lightly. Portugal is bottom of the list in everything, Portugal is going to default on its debt and Portugal is the smallest, worst, ... bla, bla, bla!</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">I choose to live in Portugal - I could move to the UK or US in a heartbeat because I am British as well as Portuguese and my husband and children are US nationals. I've decided to make a point, though, of remembering why we choose to live here, so this blog is going to be all about why Portugal is worth it.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">I know all about the bad stuff, but I'm choosing not to highlight it here, so... if anyone is reading please keep your downers to yourself, but if you've got any good stuff to add or helpful suggestions then go for it.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">It's going to include some very trivial as well as some very serious positive things about this small corner of Europe, but it will certainly not be mentioning </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">Fado</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">, </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">Fátima</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> or Football... there are better places to discuss all three of those.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">So, here we go. Enjoy the ride.</span></span></span>Catarina Aleixohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975360113435816470noreply@blogger.com2Lisbon, Portugal38.706932 -9.135632138.607805 -9.2935606000000011 38.806059000000005 -8.9777036