this post is about francesinhas, one of my favourite portuguese dishes. it’s a contraption of a dish, consisting of with layers of yummy things wrapped up in melted cheese. it’s typically portuguese gastronomy: meaty, heavy, no-frills and so caloric that it might induce heart-palpitations on unsuspecting foreigners… :)

wikipedia calls it a sandwich, and the definition is true insomuch as it consists of two slices of bread with lots of fillings in between them… but if one needs cutlery in order to eat it, can it really be considered a sandwich? it feels… like an over-simplification.

the layout, from bottom up, goes as follows: slice of thick toasted bread, linguiça sausage, a thin steak, a few slices of ham or mortadella, and another slice of bread. sometimes there’s a fried egg on top of all of that. then, you cover everything in slices of cheese, let it melt for a bit, and pour a beer-based sauce over it. if you’re like me, you’ll want the fries that come with it swimming in the sauce.

the people of porto are fierce about their francesinhas, and each have their favourite. the most famous ones would be in bufete fase or café santiago. mine is actually in ermesinde, my hometown, a few kilometers from porto itself. if you’re ever around, go to café torres and give it a try. i promise it will be worth the trip!

hungry? :)

we spent almost a whole month in portugal, and once more, i decided to keep track of the special things we ate, so that we could make another food list. we’re quite predictable, as it turns out, and return mostly to the same staples: lots of bakery items and sentimental food our moms make. here are the highlights:

butter toast

octopus rice

cookies cake

pork à la alentejana

pork steaks with ‘shrooms

chocolate salami

palmier

mom’s marmelade

mom’s tomato jam

sweet bean tartelet

pão d’ul

P.’s mom meatballs

pumpkin’s smoked sausage

galão

punched potatoes

limiano cheese

natas

broa de mel

berlin ball (the real ones!)

codfish burger with açorda

burger with potatoes

fancy french pastry

another french pastry

strawberry-profiterole pie

grelos (broccoli rabe)

butter croissant

cheese/ham toast

croissants

butter toast

jesuíta

chocolate croissant

salmon with chestnuts

another berlin ball

pastel de nata

alheiras

meia de leite

my stomach is grumbling already!

when i make these lists, i get the feeling people might think we only eat crap… well, it isn’t true. what you see here is a glimpse, a condensed version of the more interesting things me and P eat. the other stuff, the plain omelettes, soups and other very mundane dishes are not that interesting, and are therefore omitted. believe it or not, all in all, we eat quite decently. :)

on random walls of kreuzberg and friedrichshain.

as always when we go back home, we had a long list of things we’d been craving all year. this year version of the list, scribbled on a notebook page during our long london layover, was promptly snatched by my mom upon arrival. she planned, plotted and delivered what she could cook – the rest was consumed in various cafés and small restaurants here and there. kilos were gained and we left today with a happy belly and more cholesterol that we can afford… it went a bit like this (click images for bigger):

meiadeleite

croissants

salame de chocolate

bola de berlim

jesuítas

broas de mel

pastéis de nata

bola de carne caseira

doce de tomate da mãe

alheira

bifinhos com cogumelos

bacalhau à qualquer coisa

francesinha!!

leite creme

pão

bolo rei de chocolate

sonhos

pataniscas de bacalhau

bacalhau à brás

meias de leite & croissants

ucal & croissants

medronhos

pão de ul & regueifa doce

queijo limiano & marmelada

yes, we have a slight obsession with portuguese croissants (booo to puff pastry croissants!), traditional pastries and bread. and codfish. i suppose there’s no food like the food you grew up with, eh? what does your mom cook when you go home? :)

these two baby goats that paulo’s father is raising!

they’re a few weeks old and really curious about everything. they’ll pull your clothes to get your attention, hop around and even escape the barn if given a chance! their eyes are a little creepy – but did you know their rectangular irises gives them a 320 – 340 degree vision? that’s right, they don’t even need to move their head to see practically everything around them!

we’ll be in portugal for the next couple of weeks, crying on friend’s weddings, soaking in the sun and the warm embraces of our family and friends, and trying to resist the lure of delicious cholesterol. wish us luck!