I always get excited about New Year’s eve, it’s a time to close the book on one year and start a fresh one – new goals, new beginnings. And this New Year’s eve is no exception. I accomplished two of the three goals I set for myself this year…the two that I really cared the most about – doing a triathlon and having my work exhibited. One I finished rather quickly, four days after the year started, and the second I just finished before the year ended…13 days before the year ended to be exact.
In between it was kind of a transitional year, and, the first year in five or six that I haven’t moved. Let’s review. …click here to read more
I love food. I love trying new food. I just might be the tall, skinny, hairy version of Andrew Zimmern. With that being said, it pains me to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of Portuguese cuisine. My experience was limited since I was only there for a week and only visited three cities, but I think I was fortunate enough to try a good deal of traditional Portuguese plates.
It wasn’t that the food wasn’t good, it was. It just wasn’t anything I’d get excited about. You won’t hear me craving bacalhau à Brás anytime soon – cod, onion, potato, and egg. It just doesn’t make my ears perk up. I tried to be adventurous and branch out in hopes I’d find something extraordinary, but no luck.
I tried tripe, prepared with beans in some type of orangish-red sauce. It was better than other tripe dishes I’ve had and the texture was a bit more pleasing, but the small sample plate that me and Diego shared was still quite enough. I’m not sure if I will ever love tripe.
Another attempt was at Me and Diego’s favorite restaurant, SaborXpresso, in Porto. This place was a bit more modern than the other places we ate, in ambiance and menu selection. I ordered the rabbit, which turned out to be rabbit vertebrae. The flavor was nice and hearty, but it still lacked that “WOW” factor. Although, out of all the dishes we tried while in Portugal, this was probably my favorite. Maybe because it made me feel slightly like Hannibal Lector seeing vertebrae on my plate.
So the traditional plates really didn’t do it for me, but all that can be overlooked by the simple fact that Portugal had the best pastries that I’ve ever eaten. And I’ve eaten some pastries in my day. Without exaggerating, I feel safe saying that me and Diego stopped at an average of six cafes a day to try different pastries and take an espresso. Absolutely amazing. Flaky, sweet, crunchy, crispy…they have it all. From the rich, chocolaty deliciousness of the brigadeiro to the reigning king of pastries, the pastéis de Belém, you can’t go wrong.
The pastéis de Belém deserves it’s own paragraph. These things are incredible and I dare you to try to eat just one. You can spot the proper cafe because there will be a queue outside regardless of the weather or day. Oh, and the smell of freshly baked pastries. Don’t be alarmed though, the line moves very swiftly and before you know it, you will be crunching through the outside of a warm, flaky, crisp pastry and enjoying a mouth full of delicious, gooey, mildy sweet custard. If it sounds like I just described an orgasm in your mouth then good, because that is exactly what it is. And you’re going to want multiple.
And if that magical mouthgasm wasn’t enough to quell your hunger for baked goods, the pastry runner up is right down the road…and it’s made with beer. Yes, the pastéis de cerveja. Just when you thought it was safe to walk back to catch the 15 to Lisbon proper, this cafe pops up on your right with the allure of pastries made with beer. You have to stop. These pastries are crispier on the outside and have a strange filling that resembles the texture of the inside of a pecan pie. And the beer? Well despite being made with it, there is only the slightest hint of hops towards the end of a bite…sweet, delicious, pastry goodness. Heaven.
I could go on and on about the pastries all day except that I’d be tempted to buy a plane ticket just to indulge in baked gluttony.
Verdict: Portugal is all about the pastry shops. Skip lunch, skip dinner, stick to the sweet stuff.
I present to you all of the videos, seen and unseen, that Diego and I made in Portugal. They appear in chronological order from the beginning. …click here to read more
I write this final post from Portugal with a mixture of sadness and excitement. Sad because we are sitting in the lobby of our hostel and waiting for the taxi to the airport and excitement for the year to come.
If I haven’t emphasized it enough, this trip has been exactly what I needed to get away and clear my head before starting another year. It’s been a seat of your pants adventure from the time I departed Fort Lauderdale, yet completely worry free. We managed three cities in the seven nights we were here. We’ve met people from all over the world, tried multitudes of different pastries, and even picked up a bit of Portuguese.
The cab is here. So long Portugal, it’s been a blast.
After the morning in Porto at Casa da Musica, our trip took us a bit further South to Coimbra. We got off at the train station with absolutely no idea what to do or what to see so we started walking where we thought the center of the city might be. It was much like the game Frogger – Diego and me dodging traffic on major roadways with all of our luggage in tow. But we chose the right direction and after plenty more walking we ended up on pedestrian streets in a beautiful little city. But what to do, what to see? …click here to read more
I plan on doing a whole post / video for Casa da Musica because we spent quite a bit of time there, but since uploading from the current wifi network is so slow, I thought I’d just post yet this. If you’ve been following my posts, you know I have a strange affinity for bathroom videos…need I say more?
“Você tem um minuto.” These were the last words that the ticket seller spoke to us as we were rushing to catch our train. You see, even though we had the train schedule, the multiple stops at different bakeries and cafes along the way slowed down our pace considerably. Not to mention being stopped by the metro police because Diego’s metro card didn’t validate properly. Oops. But I digress. We made it to the station and to an open ticket counter. The man looked at us like we were ridiculous, which is quite true, and told us that they only had availability in first class. Done. We’re ballers. Give us our tickets. “You have one minute.”
We hauled ass in every sense of the word. With suitcases flying wildly at our sides, we bounded down a flight of stairs frantically looking for line eight. Of course it happened to be the last track. Out of my way kids! And back up another flight of stairs, taking it three or four steps at a time. I think I slightly blacked out at this point, but all I know is that I’m now in a first class cabin in a train bound for city number three in “Diego and Willie Do Portugal.” We got drinks coming and the adrenaline of the chase is wearing off, which means it’s almost time again for my normal train activities: sleeping, drooling, and embarrassing myself.
One night in Porto we decided to experiment with photography by the river…long exposures, light painting, etc…We didn’t stay long, but came out with a few fun images. Here they are, raw and unedited, for your viewing pleasure. …click here to read more
We spent our last day and a half in Porto doing the usual…exploring on foot. We spent so much time walking that it reached the point that we were suggesting different routes to the same spots and debating which way is actually faster. Without a doubt, I’ve spent more time walking on this trip than any other in recent memory – eight to ten hours a day on average. The amount of cafes that we’ve stopped at during this time is equally astounding…a pastry here, an espresso there…usually both…But in our defense, climbing up and down hills all day takes it out of you. …click here to read more
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