Restaurantes e Comida

I thought instead of giving a weekend update (which is already a bit late, I know) I would write about some of the food I have been eating and some really great restaurants I have found.

First off, for my birthday last week, we went to this traditional Brazilian place called Comida de Santo, (Saint's Food) that is pretty close to our house on the edge of Bairro Alto. From outside this place wouldn't call my attention- a little whole-in-the-wall type, it appeared to be like the hundreds of other tiny little restaurants in Bairro Alto. We went early for Portuguese time, around 8pm, and were the only ones in the whole place (the whole place being no more than 1o tables or something).

The food on the other hand was AMAAAZING. The four of us each ordered a different dish and then shared. We had a shrimp dish cooked in palm oil and coconut milk, a traditional Brazilian feijoada, which is black beans and different kninds of meat (chorizo, pork, beef), a chicken dish cooked with coconut milk, mushrooms, tomatoes, and palm hearts, and dish called carne do sol, which is cured salted beef with onions, fired palm hearts, and beans. Along wiht some perfect capirinhas, we had ourselves a delicious little time :)

(the picture is from their website, showing the delish feijoada and a capirinha)

This weekend we also tried this Thai food place we had walked passed various times in Bairro Alto called Naga. I was really impressed by this place. Again we showed up early by Portuguese standards and had the place pretty much to ourselves. Like the website, the interior of the place is really nice, cool east asian decorations, very trendy, tasteful and chic. We ordered an appetizer sampler and also the typical Pad Thai and a chicken in red curry dish. The curry nearly killed me. I would say I have a high tolerance for spicy, but Thai spicy is so different from the suually green chile spice I knwo and love! Apaprently the red curry was only the second hottest, too! lol So after I tried not to die eating it and burned off all of my taste buds it was really good. :) I washed it down with a thai tea, which is tea with condensed milk on ice.. so more like a wonderful slushy! It was a little pricey, but for all the food and atmosphere I'd definitely go back.

I also had a NOT plesant dining experience this weekend. :( We went to this place on our street called Casa México, thinking we could get some margaritas and enchiladas. While I had mexican food here the other wekeend and was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually was, this place not only was not spicy/flavorful/mexican, but they also couldn't make a margarita to save their lives. Unfortunate really, especially since it was pretty pricey. But hey, two out of theree isn't that bad!

ON sunday we went to Belém to do more sightseeing and pass the day in the glorious fall weather and also had a greaaaat lunch. Dalmira found this little whole-in-the-wall place right across from the Palace that served a great (and cheap) Portuguese feijoada, or one made with white beans, cuttlefish, onions, and other seasonings. YUM YUM YUM

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Well besides eating, while that obviously takes up most of my time and energy, this weekend I also saw a very strange movie, and did some more Lisboa sightseeing and shopping with my roomates. I will post pics soon of what has been going on- just been a bit lazy with taking the camera places. :)

New Activities

Along with the whole roommate bonding thing, we decided to finally be brave and signed up for a capoeira class that meets 3m a week for a month. I was really scared to try it, especially after my roommate Dalmira was telling me that everyone int he class looked really advanced.. But we tried it out. and.....

I liked it!!!! haha.

So I am sure many of you are asking, what the hell is capoeira? Capoeira is a Brasilian martial art.. but I would describe it more as a dance or a game. In Portuguese, you say you play capoeira, because it is really an interaction between two people doing different moves, kicks, cartwheels and acrobatics that resemble a fight. While they play, the rest of the group surrounds the two, and sings and plays music. There really is a whole capoeira culture, and only by going to one lesson you could tell everyone in the group was welcoming, friendly, and like family to one another. Although I was scared shitless, I even took a mini turn in the roda (the circle) and pretended to do two things before running out. I also surprised myself by finding out I could still do a cartwheel!! Amazing since the last time I did one I must have been no more than 12 years old.

So the class was great. We started off by running a few laps, then doing about 19 gazillion jumping jacks, then practicing the kicks and sweeps. Then we broke off into two groups, the beginners and the advanced, and we tried some other moves I was not good at at all haha. I didn't learn any of the names of the moves either, (I would have been too tired and sucking for air to remember them anyway) but it was seriously an amazing workout. Today crawling out of bed was one of the hardest things, haha. Climbing the stairs today has also been quite painful, and it's only going to get worse tomorrow! So even after I made a big fuss about it, I am really glad I went. :) And I know people like Kelly who has been telling me to do it since forever are sitting there like, Ha! told you so!! So thanks, I am looking forward to learning more now!

And to finish with some crazy brasilians showing off some crazy capoeira moves ;)

Weekend 6

This past weekend we went to a Portuguese food festival in a town about two hours northeast of Lisbon called Santarém. The town was quite and quaint. We walked around for a few hours before heading to the Main attraction: The Festival Nacional de Gastronomia em Santerém! The festival featured foods and crafts from various regions of the country, from the Northern Braga to the Southern Algarve. After paying a small entrance fee you could go from restaurant to restaurant and either sit down and have a big hearty meal or stand at the bar to sample some snacks, then moving on to the next. We really enjoyed the food from the Algarve, which was fresh fish, shrimp, lots of olive oil, cilantro, and veggies. They also had this amaazing hearty homemade bread. After stuffing ourselves at various places we went over to the dessert side and gawked at stall after stall of delicious treats. OF the delectable goodies I really liked this little dessert shot of this ginjinha (cherry) liqueur in a little chocolate cup. The festival also had handicrafts from various regions, ranging from baskets and leathers to pottery, tiles, and wine.

Sunday we decided to take another voyage outside of Lisbon, but only across the River Tagus to Alcochete to check out a recommended outlet mall. We crossed the famous Ponte Vasco de Gama, a huuuuge bridge that crosses the river from Lisbon to the southern banks. In fact, it is THE longest bridge in Europe, nearly 11 miles long! As exciting as crossing the bridge was, we shopped out hearts out at the outlets. I got some tall black boots from Aldo which I loveeee. We also ate dinner there, deciding to try out a Mexican food place. I didn't have high hopes for good Mexican here, but I was really REALLY surprised that my green chile chicken enchiladas were spicy!! Not nearly as cheesy as I like them but the chile was delicious!

So it was a good weekend, really fun. Its great having a third roommate in the house, and we seem to be getting along quite well and enjoy getting to know one another! On Saturday night the new roomie and I went out for some drinks in our neighborhood and discovered some neat little places super close to our house. We also have started a Capoeira class together, which I will talk about next post! :)

Israeli Movie Premiere

Last night Dalmira got us tickets (again, yaaay for embassy tickets!!) to the premiere of this controversial Israeli movie called "The Secrets". This week is Israeli Film week in Lisbon, and the event had a reception with drinks and delicious food, before the screening. The director, Avi Nesher and the lead actress were both at the showing, so it was a pretty cool event. It was held at this pretty new movie theatre in Lisbon called Cinema City in one of the shopping centers, Campo Pequeno.
The little reception before hand has held at this super trendy bar with all kinds of delicious food. So I will begin by describing that because we all know how much I love to eat. Ha. Well they had lots of cute little appetizers/finger foods. Sushi was a definite hit, these delisshhh little mini pitas, cheese, olive and pepper skewers, little fried fish balls (a Portuguese favorite.. I accidentally ate it thinking it was a desert hahah), and of course an array of desserts including little raspberry mouses, brownies, and the likes. Along with free booze, I was a very happy girl. :D

Ha so the movie- I really liked it. It was about this girl from a very very religious ultra-orthodox family who is trying to get through the pain of her mother's death, and goes to study at a seminary for girls. The director really pitted a lot of opposites against one another- traditionalism vs. modernism, obedience and rebellion, the role of women in Israeli and religious society, love, and a woman's journey to find herself and her place in a very traditonal world. And there was plenty of humor, nudity and the likes to keep everyone entertained. I am having trouble desiring it without giving too much away (because you should all find it and see it!).. so if you want a better plot read about it here

Weekend 5- SINTRA!

For Weekend 5, I headed up to Sintra with my roommate Dalmira. Sintra is a historic town about 30km west of Lisboa and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.. which basically means that a bunch of tourists now trek out to see all the really old, beautiful things that give a look into the Portuguese past.

So Saturday morning we awoke bright and early (shocking I know!!) and took the train out to Sintra. About 40 minutes away, the train went through parts of Lisboa I hadn't seen yet. It's weird( but good weird of course.. maybe better to say interesting, neat, etc..okay moving on) to see different parts of the city and suburbs because since we always take the metro everywhere. Anyway, we managed to make to there around 1030AM (amaazing!!) haha and walked over into town. Above the little town there is this huuuge hill with a castle perched on top- the Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle) which was constructed sometime in the 9th or 10th century. So with the beautiful castle as our motivation, we decided to be brave and hike up this hill- about 4 or 5kmbut super steeeep! So we are workin it up this winding, switchbacky road at like a 60 degree angle.. huffing and puffing and trying to avoid cars. But after about an hour (Maybe?) we finally MADE IT!!

First we went to the Palacio da Pena, which was simply breathtaking. I took about 9 gazillion pics from every possible angle (check them ALL out here). The National Palace was built in the 19th century on the ruins of an old convent, most of which was destroyed during the infamous 1755 earthquake- except for the chapel. The outsides are colorful, covered in tiles, and have some awesome architectural lines. What I really liked was the mixture of different styles- romanticism, gothic, islamic influences... a very interesting combination but somehow it all seemed to fit. Inside the palace, where we weren't allowed to take pictures, there were tons of little rooms adorned with amazing furniture, rugs, detailed paintings and scultpures from different periods. Although we had to mill around with a buttload of other tourists, it was definitely impressive. [And since we made it there pretty early, we actually beat most of the Saturday crowd, suckers!]

So after exploring the Palacio da Pena for awhile, we hiked a bit down the hill to the Castelo dos Mouros, which in fact was the castle we saw from down below. Although it was rebuilt in the 19th century after the Christians kicked out all the Arabs, people started to move down the hill and the castle lost most of its military importance. However, the remains are like this huuuge fortress and from them you get the most amazing view. You can climb up the tiny steps to the tallest tower and have this amazing 360 panoramic view, especially of the Palacio da Pena up on its own little hill. Amazing.

The trek down wasn't nearly as bad, although we did get a bit lost... But we managed to find out way and reward ourselves with lunch. We also walked through the little town some, which had an abundance of the cute little cobblestone streets and places perfect for taking fotos. Definitely a LOVELY LOVELY place I would go back to in a heartbeat. In fact, I hope to get back there at some point while I am here because we didn't try the typical pasteries from Sintra!! A big thing is portugal is that every region has its own special pastry, so we will definitely have to go back to sample I think. :)

Embassy Life- Consular Office

After returning from Barcelona, I got to spend a day in a different section of the Embassy- the Consular, where they handle visas and the likes. While Portuguese people don't need a visa to come to the US for periods less than 90 days, the people that do come are usually students, foreigners born residents, and all sorts of other weirdos in between. I got to see how they make emergency passports for people who have theirs lost/stolen, see the paperwork and computer processes for handling visa applications, and, my favorite part, sit in on visa interviews with the Consular Officer.

Basically after reviewing their paperwork and making sure everything is set, the people get an interview with an officer and she asks them questions to determine if they can get a visa or not. It is a very strategic process, as the questions, and language for that matter, to each applicant change depending on different things. We interviewed (ha we, like i did anything) some really great people -like this super cute architecture student!! sigh- then there were some really sketchy people. All in all, this would be an interesting job because you get to talk to people all day and meet some really interesting folks, right? But man, when you have to say no to someone, it would be so HARD!! Especially dealing with the people who throw a fit about not being let in, etc.

Weekend 4 Barcelona Trip

Well this past weekend I headed over to see Barcelona and visit friends from Argentina, my Peruvian roommate Rocío (Chio) and her boyfriend Samú. It was a long weekend due to a Portuguese holiday on Friday (something to do with the Portuguese Constitution or proclaiming the republic, I couldn't tell you for sure) and then Monday was an American holiday, so we had an amazing four day weekend. [Major perk of the embassy- celebrating two country's holidays!] So anyway, I flew out there on Friday evening and spent three days exploring the city. My friends live about 40 minutes outside of Barcelona in a nice little town called Terrassa. The weather was beautiful; I got to see all the sights, walked and walked and walked, and even enjoyed some fam time!

So some highlights:

I bravely ate caracoles, or SNAILS, for the first time. I'm sure you're thinking "SICK! GROSS! WHY!!?!?" But apparently a lot of people eat them and actually enjoy them- I know that in Portugal they are very popular, but I didn't plan on actually trying them anytime soon. So when we went and had some tapas for lunch, one of the main attractions, along with mussels, some weird tubelike seacreature thing, we also had snails in this pot of sauce. So the verdict??

...

Surprisingly, they were deliiicious!! and probably my favorite thing we had ordered that day. Hahaha, who would have thought. I think the best part was the sauce they came in though.

As I'm sure you know, Barcelona is big on modernisme architect Antoni Gaudí, and I got to see most of his amazing works throughout the city. We explored Parc Güell, a huge park where his house is located, and has all kinds of other of his pieces, from mosaic sculptures and winding roads to special terrace walls and buildings. It was quite a hike up to the Park, its upon this big hill that overlooks the entire city. After exploring we went to this lookout at the very top and watched the city light up and come to life as it grew dark. We also went to see the Sagrada Família, which is simply amazing. As you walk throughout the huuuuge basilica, all I could wonder was seriously what kind of drugs this guy was on. He had an imagination like no one else. Every single detail had been planned, tested, redesigned, attended to. You could see the various stages of the work being done to the cathedral, which isn't projected to be complete for another 50 years or so! Incredible. Workers were busy constructing away as hundreds of tourists milled around taking pictures with our necks permanently crooked toward the ceiling.

I went to a family asado (bbq) with Samu's family. There ended up being at least 20 people, with the families of the novios of Samu's brother and sister, ranging from about 5 to 91. Samu's Dad is from Argentina and grilled up some AMAZINGGGG chorizo, ribs, chicken, morcilla, and more chorizo with lots of bread, salad, veggies, coffee and fruit for dessert. I was in heaven. We ate and ate, played card games, chatted, ate some more, and had a lovely afternoon out in the countryside.

On Monday Chio had to go to class all day, and Samu had a class in the morning, so I went with him and checked my email, etc at his University. We then headed into town to do more sightseeing, checking out all the shit for Barce's 1992 Olympic games.

I also got to tour the Palau de la Música Catalana, of which unfortunately you can't take pictures. BUT.. it was really really beautiful building, with intricate design, great acoustics, and a great history. Also in the modernisme Catalan style of architecture built NOT by Guadí but by some guy names Montaner. Inside is simply amazing, there is this huge stained glass ceiling with this waterdroplet shapped sun thing coming down.

So I sadly had to leave bight and early.. or more rather early and DARK, on Tuesday morning. I had to be at the airport at 515 Barcelona time to make my flight and make it to work in Lisbon by 8am. Puke. Luckily I made it, and didn't have my luggage lost or anything. Super weekend!

Some pics I like:
[AND Check out the rest of the pics with the Barcelona link there on the right.!!!! ]

arc de triomf

a teeny tiny street

the outside of the church that people reserve 10 years in advance for their weddings. no joke!

a view of Barcelona

the backside of the Sagrada Família

Embassy Drivers

Apparently I have the worst luck with the embassy drivers. That or they hate me...

Today I was supposed to tag along with the head political officer to a meeting he had at the Portuguese Foreign Ministry. He had a lunch meeting, but the embassy driver was supposed to pick me up from here first, then pick up the boss at his lunch, and then together we would go to the meeting. It was exciting to get out of the office, and I was going to have a fun project to do afterwards with writing up a cable describing the meeting.

So I went down to where I was supposed to meet my driver, 5 minutes early even because I was tired of pretending to be doing work, and waited awhile. I had the same feeling of dread from my first day- and yup, I had been forgotten! I call upstairs to the woman who had arranged everything and give her the scoop. We somehow managed to get another driver to get me there hopefully in time for the 3 o clock meeting.. but no.

I hurriedly stroll in at 3:02 and realize I don't even know who the hell I am supposed to be meeting with. I mumbled some garbage in my glorious broken Portuguese that I was supposed to be here with Matt, but they were like uhh he's not here? Woo? hahaha The guards seriously looked at me like I was an absolutely nut who had probably killed some smart person for their embassy badge. I dejectedly call the embassy and am informed that I should just wait til the meeting is over, or take a cab. Smart me I didn't bring my wallet so I was stuck. I did manage to find the other embassy driver who had taken my boss (unfortunately my driver had already taken off) and made sure that he didn't leave without me. I sat around uncomfortably in the waiting area for the meeting to be over. Thank god it only lasted a half hour.. plenty of time to doodle and make some to-do lists without getting compleeetely bored and getting too many weird looks.

Lesson learned: I now and forever will not trust [embassy] people when they say they will have a driver waiting for me. And I'll always remember to bring money for a cab.

Weekend 3

Here is my weekend recap for my third weekend in Lisbon:

On Friday night someone at work at tickets to see a Orquestra Gulbenkian na Abertura do Ano Académico da Universidade de Lisboa, or the Gulbenkian Orchestra playing for the opening night of the academic year at the University of Libson. Apparently he didn't want to go, so he passed the tickets on to us interns. We show up and are escorted to these cushy seats in the third row- gotta love the Embassy perks! Baha. So the last time I saw a classic concert was in Buenos Aires and I passed out among the sea of gray heads and it was glorious. This tyime the music was actually very good. I felt like I was in the middle of a Disney Movie, watching the hippos dance around, then seeing the seasons change, wathcing the evil guy chase the hero, etc. Anyway, it was good and cultural.

On Saturday it was a dreary gross day, thus canceling our great plans to take a daytrip to Sintra, so we decided to continual being cultural and hit up some museums. We walked over to the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, (Museum of Ancient Art), which turned out to be a lot cooler than I was thinking. First off it was huge; tons of different things, like some hugmongous ancient oriental carpets, a bunch of religious art (meh), and then this painting, As Tentações de Santo Antão, (temptations of Saint Anthony) by Hieronymus Bosch. In the triptych- seriies of three paintings that is- the details were incredible, representing hell and its demons doing all these crazy things, absolute chaos, tempting St. Ant. Anyway, I liked it because it was so intricate, so many little details to look at, somewhat Where's Waldo-ish, which each little character having its own personality and details.

As soon as we decided we were completely all arted-out of course it started to POUR outside. So we had a couple of bicas and snacks at the cafe. A bica is what the Portuguese call a very strong very small little cup of coffe, really just a shot of espresso that they had sugar to. It's pretty much a Portuguese institution, and you'll see people at all times of the day sitting around drinking their tiny ass little cups of coffee. I have already become addicted pretty much- it's like the perfect little pick-me-up, and have to limit myself one a day..

So we decided to brave the rain, found a cab, and headed over to Chiado, to peruse one of the little shopping malls since it was pouring out. I ended up with a little jacket from Zara (that's two I've bought already, eek) and an umbrella. Of course, as soon as I bought the umbrella, the rain stopped! But now at least I have one.. although I might have to get a heavier one, because on Saturday night I felt like Mary Poppins, nearly about to blow away with my stupid umbrella into the wind.

Saturday night, as I was being Mary Poppins, I went to dinner with Joana, her boyfriend Steve and the new German/nNw Zealander girl who is staying with Joana for awhile, Andrea. We went to this DELICIOUS Indian food restaurant and ate and ate and ate. Afterwards we went to Bairro Alto, where they have rows and rows of little restaurants, bars and lounges. At first not too many people were braving the weather, but once it stopped, the streets were magically filled up with people from all over, drinking, laughing and chatting away. Around 3 we went to this club that Joana and Steve have told me is the best one in Lisbon, called Lux. Although there was a queue about 8 miles long, (not even exaggerating, there had to be at least 100 people waiting to get in!) somewhere we managed to convince the doorman and woman that we were very important, and were let after waiting only about 15 minutes. Ha, SUCKERS. The club was also amazing. It is right on the Rio Tejo in an old warehouse that has three different floors, neat decor, and all sorts of hipsters, and good music. We left around 8 - yes EIGHT AM - although the club was still hopping. Seriously, so fun!

Sunday therefore I was completely worthless, sleeeping away half of the day then lounging around for the rest of it. However it was again dreary and yucko out so no real lure to go out and about. Thus.. a very successful and fun weekend!