I’d never eaten octopus before. It was the tentacles… the tentacles unnerved me. Unworldly coils of rubbery flesh speckled with suction caps. I believe in eating as a full sensory experience that goes beyond mere taste: there’s much to be…
We seem to have settled into a bit of a wine rut recently. Each trip to the supermarket or meal out involves us drinking our established favourites. Given the huge range of inexpensive wines that we have yet to try,…
I’ve been an avid outdoor chef for some years now – i’m no expert but i enjoy it none the less and have figured out interesting means to cook, mainly by trial and error (lots of error). Whilst my trusty…
Mention Portuguese cuisine, and most people’s thought bubbles overflow with images of port wine and custard tarts. Perhaps they’re also familiar with bacalhau – the salted codfish the Portuguese famously have over a 1000 recipes for – or the tradition…
Its Saturday night, kids are tucked up and almost asleep, so its time to pop open a bottle of Portuguese wine. A bottle of Vinho Verde from House Vilacetinho to be precise. The tall bottle reminds me of some pretty…
The Portuguese don’t really “do” ready meals, and that’s a good thing. However, last week we found out a bit of a secret that some expats may not be aware of; not all of the delicious dishes of feijoada (bean…
In a lovely break from the frugality of January, a relative treated us to the delights of Portuguese fine dining at the restaurant of the Pousada Palacio de Estoi a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time we…
Whilst browsing the numerous pages online about Portugese wine, i stumbled upon a really well written ‘how to’ guide from The Wine Society website. You can view the wine guide here, and its well worth putting in your bookmarks (i know I…
When folk come to our little house they nearly always tell us that we have a lovely view. “Shucks,” I say, “everybody’s got one of those.” Not entirely true, of course, but in this area it’s either up or down,…
One of my favourite Portuguese desserts is arroz doce (rice pudding), so when a friend discovered it on the wonderful Sami’s Colourful World blog, I had to make sure this was the next in my series of Portuguese recipes. Arroz…
