i can’t even.
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Category: foooood
so one of the things i like to do when visiting a place is to walk around the supermarket and find the things we can’t find at home (see here, here, here or here). i didn’t expect to actually see a lot of these in azores, since well, this is still portugal after all… and yet, a supermarket there, even a chain from the mainland, is still a bit different from what we find around here.
first off, you can tell you’re a bit closer to the usa from the kind of things and brands they stock:
and then, there are lots and lots of local products, far more than you’d see in any region in portugal! stuff like meat, cheese and dairy of course, but also vegetables grown in the islands, local teas and jams, biscuits and tinned stuff, and even pizza!
i wish i had some of these in the mainland too though, they were great — especially the cheeses and breads!
i was kind of planning on continuing eating well while we were in azores… but i mean… i’m only human. what does a person do when presented with a delicious assortment of cooked gluten, the likes of which seem to not exist in the mainland? we eat and enjoy it, that’s what we do! :D
our first introduction to pico’s delicious bread was the “pão de milho” that our hosts left for us on the house. i mean…
the photos don’t even do it justice, it’s just so fluffy and unexpectedly moist! we kept buying more from the bakery in the village, and everyday we happily gobbled up pieces of it, loaded with butter, sighing and closing our eyes in contentment.
then, on a random supermarket stroll, we found out about “bolo de milho”. it was still warm and “sweating” inside of the bag when i first spotted it, which instantly made me interested. this one has a slightly sweeter, non-fermented dough that felt barely cooked…
… but was a-ma-zing! we didn’t buy more of this one because it was so good, way too dangerous to have around the house tempting us to eat just a bit more of it. :P
and last, but not least, rosquilhas:
they make these around the time of the holy spirit holiday, which is a big thing in the azores and happened to take place while we were there. they’re more of a dessert bread, sweeter and lemony, but oh-so-good! they have to be eaten a bit faster though, as they dry quickly once cut, but they’re lovely with some local jam.
and i think that’s it for our gluten explorations in the islands — next up, cheese! :D
tavira is one of the representative communities of the mediterranean diet, and so the town organizes events throughout the year to showcase different aspects of the diet focused on the local knowledge and practices. on one of these events some years ago, we got to discover maria flaminga‘s farm, and it was one of the best things that happened that year.
the owner isabel is from the north of the country, but she took a piece of land in the edge of tavira and transformed it into a bio farm. a collection of avocado trees had been growing there for years already, and slowly, the rest of the land transformed into a fertile corner. everyday, there’s fresh produce being picked and roaming chickens that you can feed your food scraps to.
we drive there once a week and fill our basket with veggies and fruit without any packaging or pesticides, piling the kitchen with avocados in winter and looking forward to the arrival of figs in summer.
like the fish basket, it’s one of those things we didn’t expect when moving here but that we enjoy immensely. it feels like a privilege to have all this abundance at our doorstep, and we especially cherished it last year as it allowed us to get most of our food without setting foot inside a supermarket. hurray for local producers! :)
this is one of those egg recipes that you just need to try for yourself, or you’ll never believe it works. it’s really simple though, so there’s no excuse not to give it a go: beat an egg, slowly pour some sparkling water on it, mix, add some condensed milk and stir again until it’s nice and foamy. pour it over a glass with some ice cubes and you’re done! the taste is eggy and sweet, and just the thing for a hot summer afternoon. :)