Taste of Portugal

Well, the cycling tour is over and after breakfast it was first goodbye to the early group who were heading out to catch a flight back to Canada and then the 'later' group made the 1.5 hour trip back to Lisbon through intermittent rain.  But once dropped off in the old center by my hotel, the rain stopped and though I had my umbrella with me the rest of the day, it was not needed.

I secured a ticket to "A night with Amalia", a musical play featuring many of the songs of Fado singer Amalia Rodriguez.  The play is set in the mid 1960s and is an evening at Amalia's house with poets and other musicians.  There are political discussions which were only hinted at in the English subtitles.  The play was a very interesting look into Portuguese culture, not only from the actions and music from the stage, but the behaviour of the audience -- from the pushing to get into the theatre, the people who sat in seats other than their own and gave the ushers a very hard time when they needed to move, the talking throughout the performance, the cheering of some audience member who also signed autographs during intermission, etc.  Quite strange for a Canadian to see.

And, of course, the theatric taste of the culture was not the only one.  Today's picture is of me enjoying a shot of a type of cherry brandy that is sold in tiny little holes for 1.25 euro.

And the other foods that have been tasty experiences this last week:
-the custard tarts (national dessert I think)
-different cookies, many of them made with almonds and almond paste
-spaghetti squash -- candied and in tarts (strange)
-chocolate salami
-almond tarts
-sweets made with almonds and eggs
-roca pears -- fantastic
-portuguese buns and chewy bread
-cod with spinach
-cod with carrots
- migas --side dish of bread and asparagus
-quail eggs
-black eyed peas salad with tuna
-sheep cheeses
-black pork fed on acorns
-cured ham
-olives and olive oil
-vintage port
-roasted chestnuts with wild deer
-muscatel wine
-different olive oils

I'm sure that I have forgotten some, but they will come back to me sometime. And certainly some of them I will try and duplicate and put into my cooking repertoire.

My taste of Portuguese culture, countryside, foods, drink, hospitality, history, plants, etc, etc,  certainly has me hoping for more.