A weekend away

It was a weekend but it could very well have been a full week, since it was quite intense. 

The plan was to fly to Porto on Friday to surprise my sister on her birthday. She had absolutely no idea we were coming, all she knew was that she was going to take a train to Porto after work. To make sure she wouldn't get suspicious I made up some story about having a party that day in Sweden and we spent the day before chating about what to wear and so on. 

On Thursday evening, around 9pm, we were starting to relax after all the packing when we got an sms informing our flight had been canceled. How nice... After a long time on the phone we managed to get rebooked on an even earlier flight, which we took after having slept less than 4h. We got to Porto after lunch and met my parents, who had travelled there from my hometown. My sister and boyfriend, who had arranged everything, came at the end of the afternoon and went to Catraio, a bar with crafted beer. My parents showed up soon after and surprised my sister. We waited 10 minutes to let her settle down on thinking that was it. But it wasn't. I came from behind and when she saw me I could see through her eyes how the information was slowly registering in her brain. It was really funny to see her reaction and all she managed to say was "it can't be you because you have a party in Sweden". The evening continued with dinner, where some of her friends also joined us. 

All in all, I think she had a really nice day and really enjoyed all the surprises.

Porto

Porto

On Saturday, the 6 of us travelled to to the heart of the Douro Valley, for the tasting and approval of our wedding party menu. On one hand it was strange to have one table settled in the middle of a giant empty room just for us, but on the other hand it was nice experience and the menu was more than approved by everyone. 

Afterwards we headed to Santo Tirso, the whereabouts of my sister's boyfriend. We walked around the town and ate the traditional sweets "Jesuítas", that are delicious. The day ended with a really nice dinner at his parents place. It was another day full of events.

On Sunday, before they all departed we walked around in Porto and enjoy the view and the fantastic weather - sunny and around 15ºC during the day. It was great to be able to walk around without any jacket on. 

When my parents, sister and boyfriend went back to their cities, the two of us did some shopping and ended up having a tapas dinner at our rented studio, while watching highlights from the winter olympics. 

We returned on monday to Sweden and were faced with -10 ºC. Quite a difference! However, we could finally go back to wear a t-shirt indoor, something we couldn't do in Portugal. 

Cooking and meal planning

I enjoy cooking and I like trying on new recipes, especially if they are different and come from other countries. It's just another way of travelling without having to pack your bags.

Nowadays, it is very easy to find recipes on the internet and supermarkets became more global over the years, so that it's easier to find exotic ingredients far from their original country. Of course is always better and more environmentally friendly to consume local products, but one should also take advantage of the large variety offered.

When I moved to Sweden, determined to change my life for better, I decided that I had to find a way to include "trying new recipes" in my routine. My shelves are full of cookbooks, collected during all of my travels, but the recipes were just not going from paper to the plate. That was when I decided to start planning our weekly dinners. At the beginning of the week, we decide what we are eating that week, taking the time to find some new recipes and repeat other old good ones. This may sound like a lot of work, but we are usually done in 20 minutes, plus we save loads of time in the supermarket, and we almost never throw food away, since we always buy what we need for each recipe. On top of that was a bonus advantage. Since we see our meals written down on our wipe-off board, it is easy to notice if the meals are not balanced and we can correct that. What I mean is that we usually make one dinner with meat, one with fish, one vegetarian, and one "fast but good". (Fridays are for comfort food, according to Swedish tradition, so we don't plan those.)

Somehow, this makes it easier to choose recipes, we feel that we eat more properly and varied food, and we try at least one new recipe per week and sometimes more. It is also quite nice to not have to ask each other "what's dinner today" everyday after work. It's not very good to make food decisions when we are tired and hungry...

Apparently, the language I write things in changes according to the source of the recipe...

The inspiration for new dishes doesn't come alone from my cookbooks, but also from the Swedish food magazine Allt om Mat (all about food), the website taste.com.au (from Australia, great recipes!), and from other pages and blogs.

My favourite new recipes get usually put it my recipes blog, so that I can access them from everywhere when I need them. That's my way to turn new recipes into old ones. Here are my most recent finds. All delicious of course!

Thai white bean stew with cucumber salad and yoghurt (recipe here)

Guisado de feijão branco tailandês com salada de pepino e iogurte

Parmesan chicken gratin with spinach (recipe here)

Gratinado de peitos de frango com parmesão e espinafres

Blood orange roasted chicken with sriracha sauce, served with fried rice and fennel (recipe here)

Frango assado com toranja e sriracha, servido com arroz e funcho

Sweet potato curry (recipe here)

This is one of my favourite recipes, I have already made it many times, it's just so good!

Curry de batata doce

Esta é uma das minhas receitas favoritas, e já a fiz muitas vezes, porque é mesmo mesmo boa!

 Cauliflower curry with peanut flavour served with naan bread. (recipe here)

The picture doesn't do it justice. The sauce is really rich in peanut flavour and is delicious!

Caril de couve-flor curry com sabor a amendoim servido com pão naan.

A imagem não faz justiça ao sabor. O molho é realmente rico em amendoim e é delicioso!

Homemade granola (recipe here)

Granola caseira

The granola was probably the best find we made. Store-bought granola is full of unnecessary sugars. This one is not. It makes a huge difference and we don't get hungry an hour after we ate it. The best part is to be able to vary the ingredients that go in it and make it to our taste. We will never buy granola again, because once you try your own it is just not possible to go back.

PS. I just realised none of the recipes were of fish! I did find some good ones, but didn't have the time to put them on the blog yet.

Sara Jump - Barca de Alva

A Sara Jump with the whole gang in Barca de Alva!

Barca de Alva, Portugal - December 2017

Barca de Alva, Castelo de Rodrigo - Portugal

In a previous post I showed you the beautiful Marialva and our amazing traditional lunch. After lunch we drove back meeting the Douro river and following it taking advantage of all the beauty that surrounds it. Around sunset we found ourselves at Barca de Alva, on the border to Spain and enjoyed the golden hour by the Douro river.

No post anterior mostrei a beleza de Marialva e o nosso maravilhoso almoço tradicional. Após o almoço iniciamos o nosso regresso, mas por estradas diferentes, cruzando-nos com o rio Douro e e aproveitando a paisagem. Quase ao pôr-do-sol estávamos em Barca de Alva, na fronteira com a Espanha e desfrutamos da hora dourada à beira do rio Douro.

 A map of the Douro river in tiles / O mapa do rio Douro em azulejos

 An old train bridge - on one side Spain on the other side Portugal

Uma ponte do comboio em desuso - de um lado Espanha e do outro Portugal

 A random viewpoint on the road / Um miradouro ao acaso na estrada

Afterwards we headed to Castelo Rodrigo, another historical village. It was already rather dark when we got there and the castle was closed. However, the lights were really nice and we could still enjoy the castle ruins. 

A segui fomos até Castelo Rodrigo, uma outra aldeia histórica. Já estava bastante escuro quando lá chegamos e o castelo estava fechado. No entanto, a iluminação está muito bem feita e ainda pudemos aproveitar a vista das ruínas do castelo.

This was our day trip around the north of Guarda and Portugal. There's much more to see and explore and even I fell that I have a lot left to see, although I lived in the region for many years. 

It somehow never ends and that is nice!

Esta foi a nossa viagem de um dia ao norte da Guarda e de Portugal. Há muito mais para ver e explorar e até eu tenho muito para ver, mesmo tendo morado na região por muitos anos.

De certa forma há sempre mais e isso é fantástico!

Sara Jump - Marialva

It started with me and my sister. Then Johan's brother joined us. Then my father also wanted. And finally our other Swedish visitor decided that he couldn't be left out.

Here is the result, a super fun Sara Jump!

Marialva, Portugal - December 2017

Marialva - Portugal

I spent Christmas and New Years Eve in my hometown in Portugal. The year 2018 was received with a big party at my parents house and besides the usual gang of friends, we counted also with two Swedish visitors. Besides Johan that is. Having new people in my hometown means we have to show them the region. My father suggested a one-day trip on the North of Guarda, since it was also something new for Johan and almost new for me, because I couldn't remember being there.

Passei o Natal e a passagem de ano na minha cidade natal em Portugal. O ano de 2018 foi recebido com uma grande festa na casa de meus pais, com o gangue de amigos do costume e ainda alguns convidados suecos, além do Johan claro. Ter convidados na minha cidade significa que temos que lhes mostrar a região. O meu pai sugeriu irmos passar o dia a norte da Guarda, já que era também novidade para o Johan e quase para mim, porque não me lembrava de todo de lá ter estado em pequena.

We started by the lovely village of Marialva, part of the historical villages route in Portugal. On top of Marialva sits its medieval castle, built around 1179, with the wall still almost fully intact. 

Começámos pela encantadora vila de Marialva, parte da rota das aldeias históricas de Portugal. No topo de Marialva está o seu castelo medieval, construído por volta de 1179, com a muralha ainda quase totalmente intacta.

 The village of Marialva with the castle's wall in the background

A aldeia de Marialva com a muralha ao fundo

 Entering the complex of Marialva's Castle

A entrar no complexo do Castelo de Marialva

Inside the complex there are churches, a pillory, different gates, and ruins of the different buildings like the court house, city hall, and converted-jewish owned houses marked with a cross on each side of the door. Besides that visitors can also walk on the wall and enjoy the surrounding landscape. 

No interior do complexo há igrejas, um pelourinho, diferentes portas na muralha, e ruínas dos diferentes edifícios, como o tribunal, a casa governamental e casas onde moravam judeus convertidos que eram marcadas com uma cruz de cada lado da porta. Além disso os visitantes podem também caminhar no cimo da muralha e aproveitar a paisagem circundante.

The Swedes need no jacket when in Portugal even if it's winter...

Os suecos não precisam de casaco em Portugal, mesmo sendo inverno...

After walking around Marialva and its Castle we started to be hungry and headed for lunch. My father knew exactly where we were going because he wanted us to try a "posta mirandesa" which basically is a giant beef stake of the utmost tender meat. He had talked a lot of time about this and my expectations were high, which is very dangerous. We started with an "alheira", a typical meat and bread sausage from this region. Delicious. Then we got the famous steak with both roasted potatoes and punched potatoes. No one was disappointed!

Depois de passear por Marialva e o seu castelo começamos a ficar com fome e a querer almoçar. O meu pai sabia exatamente onde íamos comer, porque ele queria que nós experimentássemos uma posta mirandesa, que basicamente é uma porção enorme de carne de vaca tenrinha. Ele já tinha falado na posta tantas vezes que as minhas expectativas eram altas, o que é muito perigoso. Começamos com uma alheira, também típica desta região, que estava deliciosa. A seguir e finalmente lá veio a famosa posta com batatas assadas e batatas a murro. Ninguém ficou desiludido!

It was one of the best pieces of meat I've ever eaten, and I'm counting in meat I ate in Brazil and Argentina. It was so good that we decided to order more. The service was very slow but I think everyone agreed that it was totally worth the wait.

When we finally resumed our trip we only had two more hours of sun light. I'll tell you more about it in a next post.


Foi uma das melhores peças de carne que já comi e estou a contar com carne que comi no Brasil e na Argentina. Foi tão bom que decidimos pedir mais. O serviço era muito lento, mas acho que todos concordaram que valeu a pena a espera.

Quando continuamos a nossa viagem já só tínhamos duas horas de luz solar, mas contarei o resto em outro post.

Charlotte Kalla's Sara Jump

What does an olympic champion do soon after they cross the finish line?
A Sara Jump, of course!

Photo taken to a page of Göteborgsposten 

Winter Olympics 2018

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, started yesterday and I have already turned into the usual couch potato. At least now during the weekend, because unfortunately due to the time difference a lot will happen during working hours.

I didn't really care much about the Winter Olympics until I met Johan, which is excusable since Portugal is not really big on winter sports. Now that I live in Sweden it's a whole different story and the olympics have been the theme of coffee room conversations for a few weeks. To help Newbies in Sweden get into the right mood I wrote an article to the Newbie Guide to Sweden about the Winter Olympics and the Swedish top athletes. Those where the hope for medals rely on.

One of them is of course my favourite skier, Charlotte Kalla. She is so fast that I didn't even had the time to write this post before she got her first gold medal! That's right, Kalla won this morning the first medal to Sweden in Skiathlon. Yay!

You can read the full article I wrote here. I'll be cheering for these and many other athletes.

May the Olympic spirit inspire you!