so… december! it was truly a bipolar month — the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new adventure.
(sorry for the video’s low quality… not sure what happened there)
we spent the first half of the month frantically selling and giving away every last piece of furniture. we packed our boxes and suitcases, we fretted, we soaked up all the bits of germany… and then we jumped on a plane and got to see all our friends and family for 2 whole weeks before driving south to the promised land! :)
once a year, the portuguese community in berlin gets together around the 10th june (our national day) for a big picnic. everyone’s invited and there’s grilling, tons of sardines and plenty of catching up to do! the weather was excellent this year, and we even got a little bit of colour on our pale skins :)
here are some photos of the day:
by the way, if you know any portuguese in berlin, tell them to register on the community’s mailing list to stay on top of these (and other) relevant topics! :)
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:
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.