Portuguese Delicacies

 Bom Dia,

I like Portuguese food and drink, and my treats make up for a rather disappointing day.  I'm fine.  I just didn't have the confidence for a forty minute tram ride.  But I came across a site about three minutes walk from my place, and it sounded very cool.

Under a bank lies a major archeological site with many layers dating back to the iron age through the Romans and Moors.  Fun what?  I went to the web site and signed up for the tour.  I was told I'd be notified soon.  The form required my phone number and email.  Did I get a notice?  No.  I thought I might have screwed up the reservation, so I did it again.  Same.  No notice.

I walked down the place, which is really quite close and found everything shut tight including the bank.  I wondered if this was some kind of holiday, so it was closed.  Well, that was disappointing, but Lisbon is fun to walk around, and I resolved to visit some gourmet shops and shell out some Euros on fancy foods.  I'll try the archeology another day.  Fortunately I have a lot of time here.

Let's start with my apero.  When I planned my trip, I vowed to try bacalhau, which is dried salt cod and the National Dish of Portugal.  I have come across it in the form of large slabs of fish fillet.  They smelled fishy, and I would have had no idea what to do with the thing even though there are apparently hundreds of ways to serve the stuff, and I could always google.  Today I found a more user friendly type in the form of bacalhau pate conveniently packaged in small serving sizes.  I toasted some of that good bread I bought and spread it on.

What's it like Pil?

It's definitely fishy, but not too strong.  It's not my favorite thing, but it's definitely edible, and maybe I'll acquire the taste.  I have to say it goes well with my vinho blanco.  I also have small green olives that are very tasty and some almonds.

At another shop I got some Portuguese ham--the kind that comes at 60E a kilo.  But of course I got a much smaller portion.  We can sample it another day along with the fancy cheese I picked out.  I also obtained a sampler of Port.  I'm going to wait until after dinner, but I will report (heh heh re Port!).

Yeah, Pil, you slay us.  Sigh.

Dinner was linguine with smoked salmon sauce, and it was really good. I will definitely get another tin even though it's expensive.  Now let's have a sip of tawny port.  I got a pack of small bottles with various styles of port.  The smell very alcoholic, but the sip is nice. A mild flavor, which is rather fruity, but not grapey. It's nice. Port is fortified wine, so one does not have much of it.  But the sample bottles are small and the right size. 

Bye for now.