A Little Piece of the Old Country

Ok, I'm a bit late in my weekly posting that I've come to get into the routine to (so much for daily postings hahaha :p) but my computer last week decided to go retarded on me in many ways so I spent a lot of time off line running anti-virus and anti-spyware and looking up tech support but I managed to fix it all (I think) by myself! Don't worry though, nothing too exciting has happened during this time since I've been so busy with that crap......but I did have one highlight :)

In the center park of my neighborhood here, there is always some sort of open market or antique sale going on over the weekends. But last week there had been stuff going on during the weekdays, a poetry book sale holding many works of the great Portuguese poet, Fernando Pessoa and also a little bake stand next to it which attracted my interest first of course ;P Not that you can't find plenty of fresh baked goods in the many pastelerias around here but this lady happened to be selling some regional selections from up north that you can find around here. She had two types of Queijadas de Sintra, several sweet breads that looked divine, homemade suspiros (merengues) some good sized bags of Broas and a couple other neat little things. But what made it surreal for me was the lady's mother whom she had brought with here, completely dressed like a little granny from the Old country, sooo cute! It reminded me of some old photos my family has of my great-grandmother out in the little Italian village where my family is from.

Now maybe this is nothing out of the ordinary for the nativos but I just loved this neat little blast from the past and I talked up the lady about her products and how her mother still helps in the fabrication of most of them (even though I watched her aimlessly wander around the park like she was in her own little world :p) and I told her I was American and wrote about Portuguese food and wine and we just had the loveliest little conversation that afternoon. And at the end she gave me a deal on a loaf of bacon chouriço bread (meat breads are hard to find!) and a discounted package of Queijadas, she even threw in a little peanut brittle-like bar for free! In return, I had them pose for a photo to remember the occasion, thanked them kindly and went home to enjoy all the goodies I got over the weekend :D

So, nothing too exciting like I said, but something indeed special to me :)