"Desenrasque" or the Portuguese art of improvisation

Portuguese people are very proud of their ability to improvise under difficult circumstances and rightly so. There's even a special word for it - desenrasque - 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.

It brings to mind Macgyver - 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 desenrasque is all about.

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:

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. Et voilá! One alternator for a Rover mini in perfect working order in less than 45 minutes.

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."

That's what I call a can do attitude.

Soup... yes really... Portuguese Soup

Yes, soup. This is no small deal. Portuguese soup is one of the unknown treasures of the world.

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.

Some of my favourites are: Caldo Verde (literally green soup, but it's kale and potato with Portuguese saiusage), Sopa de Abóbora (pumpkin soup), Sopa de Agrião (watercress soup) and Sopa de Feijão Verde (green bean soup).

For something heartier try Sopa de Feijão (bean soup - usually kidney beans), or Sopa de Grão (chick pea soup).

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.

Find some recipes here. Enjoy!

There's something about Santo António...

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.

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 fartura(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.

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 arroz doce (rice pudding). It was great fun and my kids will enjoy it next year, too.