movingtoportugal

I was going to choose “T is for Tax” to continue my A to Z of Portugal, but I decided against it. In the wake of Portugal’s 2013 budget, it all seemed rather too depressing.

So, instead I have opted for Tamboril, which (in case you don’t know) is Portuguese for monkfish.

Monkfish, an expensive treat throughout much of the world, is actually quite a standard part of the Algarve diet, and features on most restaurant menus.

Monkfish is often served as part of an espetada (kebab) with prawns. These impressive looking kebabs are usually brought to the table on a special stand, which provides something of a “wow” factor to those who haven’t seen one before. Often the large chunks of monkfish are wrapped in bacon or presunto.

Monkfish also appears in arroz de tamboril, a monkfish rice dish usually cooked in a cataplana, the hinged metal clamshell cooking container that you see all over the Algarve.

Ugly Monkfish

Fresh monkfish takes some preparation. Gutting one involves turning it inside-out, and up to 75% of the fish’s weight can be within its head. I recently had the privilege of watching the whole cleaning and filleting process – from market stall to professional chef – when I attended a cooking class at the Vila Vita hotel.

Filleting monkfish

Shortly after we arrived in Portugal, we tried to buy some fresh monkfish cubes to make a recipe, and pointed at one of the whole, ugly beasts on the supermarket fish counter. Luckily the serving lady took pity on us – she showed us just how expensive buying it in this way would be, and let us into the secret of how many Portuguese people really buy it: in great big inexpensive fillets, straight from the freezer at a fraction of the cost.

I’ve even found a photo of what we made with it back then in 2009!

Monkfish wrapped in Parma ham

On the subject of 2009, we’ve recently passed our third anniversary of being in Portugal, so I’d like to say a big thank you to all of those people who have followed our Portuguese adventure from the beginning. Those a bit newer to our story may be interested in our book:

Moving to Portugal: How a young couple started a new life in the sun – and how you could do the same

US readers can find it here.

Exciting news today: our book has finally been published and is available from Amazon!

Moving to Portugal – the book, tells the story of our move to Portugal right from the start. The narrative has been written from my wife’s point of view, so while those who have followed the blog from the start may recognise some events and situations, the content is nearly all brand new.

This post marks the first time we have announced the availability of the book, so if you buy it now you will be one of the first to hold a copy in your hands! A formal launch will follow in a couple of weeks, by which time the Kindle version should be ready too.

In the meantime, you can find our book via the link below. Needless to say, we will be very grateful to anyone who buys it and hope it will provide lots of entertainment and helpful information:

Readers in the US can find the book on Amazon.com, and those in mainland Europe should also be able to find it via regional Amazon sites.

While most of my working time has been taken up with finishing off the book, we have also had some recent time off and enjoyed spending time with some dear friends and their son, who celebrated his third birthday while he was here.

Aside for spending time in the pool and time chewing the fat whilst working through a couple of bottles of duty-free booze, we managed to venture out to various local events. One of the highlights was the Olhão shellfish festival.

The shellfish festival is one of the largest of its kind in Portugal, and a sizeable area of Olhão´s waterfront is fenced off for the occasion. A small admission charge covers entry to the venue, where a large stage is erected and hundreds of tables and chairs are set up ready for some serious eating.

Olhao Festival do Marisco 2012

Upon arrival at the first bar, we were told we couldn’t pay with cash as a token system was in operation. When we reached the token counter, we were a little surprised by how things worked: eleven Euros bought us each a token book that was good for five beers, two soft drinks, a bag of bread and some butter. To us beginners, this initially seemed rather bizarre.

It all began to make more sense once we collected our bags of bread and (having bought a token book each) a huge collection of beers. The bread and butter came complete with a number of tablemats. We staked our claim to a table and started exploring the shellfish stalls.

The idea is that you buy the shellfish you want, much of which is sold by weight, then retire to your table and enjoy it with your beer, bread and butter. Shells are piled onto the paper tablemats and frequently cleared away by the friendly staff.

It’s fair to say we went for it. We started with a huge shellfish platter containing everything from large crabs to tiny prawns, and progressed to a lobster, a big plate of razor clams and some giant prawn skewers.

It truly was a shellfish lovers dream, although we did find ourselves wishing we had been a little more discerning in our choice of stalls. The last one we used clearly put a lot more time and care into preparing the food and, as such, our experience may have been even better had we spent the lion’s share of our money there instead.

Shellfish Festival Beers

When all of us were full to the brim, we still had a couple of bags of bread left, which went on to become barbecued garlic bread the following day. With the eating out the way, all that remained was to get through our abundance of beer while we watched the entertainment, which on the night we visited was a fabulous Beatles tribute band called the Bandit Beatles.

I never expected to enjoy the band as much as I did (though I imagine the beers helped!) Even our three-year-old companion joined the happy and good-natured crowd and enjoyed a few Beatles hits.

The Olhão shellfish festival really was a fantastic night; an occasion I’ll remember for a long time and prioritize as something to visit next year. If you’re in the Algarve next August, don’t miss it.

Before I sign off for the day, please don’t forget to check out our book on Amazon (link below) – we put a lot of love into creating it and hope you enjoy reading it.

Moving to Portugal: How a young couple started a new life in the sun – and how you could do the same

I am continuing my A to Z of Portugal today with a subject close to my heart. So much so that it gets a post all of its own.

S is for Sardines.

A plate of chargrilled sardines, served with boiled potatoes and a simple salad, is the quintessential dish of the Algarve.

Inexpensive and available all year round, sardines seem to really be at their best from May to August, when they are more likely to actually be local. For the rest of the year they may well be imported or (worse) defrosted. If I haven’t got this season quite right, I’m sure someone will be along soon to correct me.

Sardines in Portugal

Although sardines are cheap enough to be regularly enjoyed in a restaurant, I have worked hard to get the hang of cooking them myself. There are, it seems, just a few simple rules:

1. Sardines should never be gutted. In fact, when we once asked for them in this way, we were met with utter refusal!

2. Seasoning is simple – olive oil and loads of sea-salt. Anything else is unnecessary – sardines have all the flavour anyone could ever need.

3. Sardines should be cooked on a hot barbecue and not for too long. Purists would say they should only go on a coal BBQ but I must confess that I regularly use my (well seasoned) gas Weber with good results.

Filleting sardines is quite an art, and I still have some way to go before I can do it Portuguese-style, which involves filleting each sardine atop of slice of bread before enjoying the fishy bread on completion. We have, however, graduated to a greater level of competence than we had on our first few visits to Portugal, when locals actually laughed at our long-winded and pitiful attempts.

The true star of sardine filleting has to be my mother-in-law. I’m not sure how she does it, but she is capable of leaving a plate containing nothing but perfect cartoon-style fish skeletons…and she’s not even Portuguese!

While on the subject of sardines, I should also mention the tinned variety. Portuguese tinned sardines are the best in the world. While they may not be quite as mouthwatering as a pile fresh from the BBQ, you need only accompany them with a couple of crusty rolls and a handful of tomatoes to create a bargain priced beach picnic fit for a king. In fact, it’s exactly what I had for lunch today.

If I’ve got you in the mood for Portuguese food, why not take a trip over to my Food and Wine Portugal blog, or buy this book, one of my favourites, which includes lots of mouthwatering writing about the country’s cuisine as well as some of my favourite recipes.

Piri Piri Starfish: Portugal Found

This week, I am pleased to be joining in with a rather fun blogging project, started off by Julie Dawn Fox at her own Portugal blog.

The idea for this leads on from the personal A-Z that some of us created after being awarded the Awesome Blog Content award earlier this month. Julie suggested it might be fun to each do a personal “A to Z of Portugal.” Several bloggers have joined in from various countries, and I am pleased to be getting involved myself.

My Personal A to Z of Portugal

As I tend to post on a weekly basis, I am doing to do a few letters at a time, and intersperse them with my regular posts. So, as a starting point, this week, I present you with letters A to C of my personal A to Z of Portugal.

A is for Aguardente.

Every country seems to have its own firewater-style spirit – the bottle that gets brought out at the end of a big meal. Greece has ouzo, Italy has grappa, and Denmark has aquavit. Portugal has aguardente.

Although this is a personal A-Z, I have to admit I am not a fan of this beverage. One shot has the raw power to change the course of an evening; any more than that can write off the following day as well!

We purchased a bottle of aguardente when we moved here, the rationale behind it being nothing more than “when in Rome.” Well, over two years on, I can confirm that all we have used the bottle for is to flame cook chorizo (a common use for aguardente), and to attempt to draw ticks out of my mother-in-law’s dog.

Interestingly, you do sometimes see some very posh looking, expensive aguardente on the shelves around Christmas time, so perhaps there are versions that don’t look and smell like paint stripper. So far though, we have yet to try them….

B is for Barbecue

I was talking about looking forward to BBQs on the terrace as far back as my sixth ever post on this blog, long before I even moved here.

We adore BBQs, and put a lot of effort into them. We are no strangers to butterflying a leg of lamb, or spatch-cocking a chicken and basting it with beer as it sizzles.

BBQ in Portugal

Sadly our time in London was never barbecue-friendly. When we eventually moved to a house that had outside space, our snooty elderly neighbour complained about “cooking smells” and slammed her windows shut whenever she so much as caught a glimpse of the grill. In the end, we just didn’t bother.

In the days before we got here, thoughts of sunny barbecues got us through the 16 hour days and the moving stress….and even years on the novelty hasn’t worn off. We barbecue at least weekly, all year round. Home made sauces, woodchips, bastes, dressings, even chickens upended on beer cans. Portugal and BBQs, for us, go hand in hand. We’re even having one tonight!

C is for Coffee

I never really drank coffee before I moved to Portugal, but the lure of a tiny, super-strong bica (espresso) has proved too

Portuguese Bica Coffee

much to resist.

I probably only have two or three each week – after meals out, and always after our market shop on a Saturday morning. It’s a wonderful little ritual, and a super-cheap luxury, rarely costing more than about 60cents.

Insiders Tip: Portuguese bicas are also sufficiently strong to completely cancel out that final glass of wine that you never should have had during the meal!

IMAGE CREDIT: Ricardo Benardo

It’s hard to believe that in just ten days time we will have been living in Portugal for a year. The time has flown past in a wonderful whirlwind of barbecues, wine and seemingly endless Easyjet flights to and from the UK for work trips.

A year on, I can genuinely say we have no regrets about making the move. It certainly hasn’t all been plain sailing, and although we have now experienced first-hand all the different seasons, we still have plenty of “firsts” to come…..our first tax returns and our first Portuguese car purchase being just two that make me shudder a little bit.

Recently though, we have started to realise how far we have come. Arriving back from working in London last week was the first time I didn’t experience a few unsettled days on our return to Portugal. Here is undoubtedly home now, and the homesick “what have we done?” moments that used to be quite frequent seem to be a thing of the past.

Salad on Altura beach in late October

Some more family members have completed their move over here in the last couple of weeks as well, and knowing the answers to some of their questions as new arrivals makes us realise we have actually learned rather a lot, even though along the way it hasn’t always felt like we were learning that much!

The same applies to our Portuguese. We have been far more slack than we intended, but can now catch the jist of the odd news story on the radio and understand a tiny bit of conversations—again, progress we have made without really noticing we were making it.

So, all in all we have little to complain about at the moment. The weather has been perfect since our return from the UK. When summer finishes in the Algarve, what you get next is far more like another spring than an autumn, which makes this seasonally-affected blogger a very happy man

Readers of Food and Wine Portugal will know that we decided last week to have a go at Weightwatchers, and I am proud to say that I have managed to lose 4 pounds of the weight gained by excessive consumption of clams, wine and custard tarts over the summer. A very positive result, although I have to confess that the sight of someone slurping a plate of fresh cockles, swimming in olive oil and butter, was almost heart breaking as we headed to the sands of Altura on Saturday with our packed lunch of salad (with a carefully calorie-counted portion of croutons.)

Even so, we intend to stick with it for a little while, if only to leave some room for some planned overindulgence as we approach our first big family Christmas in the Algarve. Rest assured though, that I didn’t move to the Algarve in order to ABSTAIN from eating cockles and clams!

That’s about it for now. Stay tuned over the next few days for the second in my series of articles exploring the costs of living here in Portugal-this time focussing on the work situation. Have a great week.

Last weekend here in the Algarve was a good one. It was lovely to have a car again after feeling rather isolated at times in our little town.

On Saturday we ventured out and headed west to Praia da Gale, just past the tourist mecca of Albufeira. We were pleased that even here, the crowds had subsided and it did just feel

Praia da Gale

like a busy Saturday.

Praia da Gale is a west-facing beach with the signature orange cliffs, typical of this end of the Algarve, with just a few beach restaurants. One of these, actually just called Praia De Gale, we enjoyed on our last visit. We had exactly the same light lunch – bread, olives, clams and white wine. Simple and delicious and some of the best clams we have had this summer.

The only difference to our last (off-season) visit to Gale was that the sands were almost completely covered in sunbeds and sunshades for hire. Although this detracted from the natural beauty of the beach it gives us more reasons to come back to these places when the weather is not so good later in the year.

One “benefit” of the touristy stuff being there still was a small watersports hire company down one end of the beach. While we swam, we noticed a young couple climbing onto a long yellow banana boat. Riding one of these things, which is pulled along ridiculously fast by a boat in front, has been one of those things we have always intended to do, so completely on the spur of the moment we ran to the hut and asked if we could take a couple of the spare seats.

Five minutes later, we are bouncing along the open sea, in my particular case hanging on for dear life. Maybe I am getting old but I have to say it was just a little bit too much! Perhaps because there were only adults on the banana, the people driving the boat made no concessions for fear – particularly when they manoeuvred the boat in such a way as to deliberately send us all flying off the boat and into the deep water.

Banana Boat – Terrifying

My wife thoroughly enjoyed the experience, despite having to be helped back onto the boat after we were all thrown into the sea, so I was a little embarrassed to admit I was counting down the seconds until we got back to the shore. It would be wrong to say I didn’t enjoy it at all, because it was certainly an experience, but my favourite part was when we were near enough to the beach that I could dive off the thing and swim back to solid ground.

I held on so tight to the boat that it was a couple of hours before my arms stopped shaking and the vibrations of the boat seem to have pulled every muscle I have. I am still, two days on unable to straighten my arms, or open the terrace doors without wincing!

After Praia Da Gale we headed to the Apolonia supermarket. Expats tend to have very strong opinions on Apolonia as there is really nothing remotely Portuguese about this upscale establishment that exists to sell expensive imported products to wealthy tourists. However, we make no excuses, we were celebrating our eleven year anniversary on Saturday and fancied a treat – and for that purpose, this cross between Waitrose and Harvey Nichols food halls is the perfect place. I will be posting a report on Apolonia over at Food and Wine Portugal, later in the week.

On Sunday we headed over to the new property that has been purchased by our relatives, who are, as I type, driving down to the Algarve through Spain, having just arrived on the Santander ferry.

We were greeted by the old owners – truly lovely people who reminded us of one of the biggest reasons we wanted to move to Portugal in the first place. They had left the place beautifully for when our family arrive and I am so excited for them to be starting their own Portuguese adventure in a few hours.

On the way home we had a quick beer overlooking the fishing boats on the sparkling sea in the village of Santa Luzia.

On return home I must confess to reading an English Sunday paper, something I promised myself I wouldn’t do once I moved here, that has now returned to being part of my Sunday

Roast leg of lamb

routine!

We finished a really special anniversary weekend with a leg of lamb we procured from Apolonia. It was very good indeed, especially after experiences of a lot of rather tasteless lamb we have come across since we have been here. My wife has already said this is what she wants to eat again on her birthday. Luckily, given the prices in Apolonia, that isn’t for a few months!

Have a good week!

Images credits: Jun Acallador, Filipe Rocha, dps

Living here in Portugal seems to have made me interested in gardening. It was something I always wanted to be good at in England but a combination of poor weather and lack of time to properly look after the things I had planted made for a certain amount of disillusionment.

Spring Onions were my first priority. They seem to come up in many recipes but are not widely available here – in fact the only bunch I have seen were in posh English-style supermarket, Apolonia, at over five euros per bunch! This made them a very sensible thing to grow for ourselves.

What started off as a pot of spring onions, some rocket and a herb garden soon got out of hand the next time we visited the garden centre. The thing is, most things seem to grow so well here AND quickly, which as an impatient person is important – to hold my interest and prevent me wandering off to find a new hobby!

We now have the following growing, in addition to the things mentioned above: lettuces, strawberries, radishes, peas, tomatoes, peppers, peaches, lemons and kumquats. Every morning when I step outside, something has grown or sprouted, and wandering outside before cooking in the evening to snip some fragrant basil or peppery rocket is relaxing and life affirming.

Various plants including jasmine

All of this edible produce has been placed amongst flowers we never saw in England – delicate looking white jasmine and beautiful purple and white daisies.

Those of our friends in England who teased us and referred to us as Tom and Barbara from “The Good Life,” sitcom when we lived in the Surbiton area will now be amused, no doubt, that it has all come true, although chickens and goats on our small terrace are not being considered!

In other news, the weather here in Portugal is now starting to look a lot more summery, after being given back a little of winter early last week. More friends have booked to come and see us in the near future which we very much look forward to, and, really excitingly, some family members seem to have found a suitable property near to us here in Portugal, so before long we may have some family living nearby, which will be wonderful.

Other than the mosquitoes, which appear to have declared war on us, all is rather good in Portugal right now.

Things are pretty good around these parts at the moment after our recent complications. So here’s a little list of the things currently making us smile.

1. SMILES FROM STRANGERS – It occurred to me yesterday that so many interactions with people here involve a smile and a “Bom Dia,” – from visiting a butcher or a market stall or walking past someone on a quiet beach, people here are generally rather pleasant to one another. This is a stark contrast to living in London where a lot of interactions involved scowling and the use of the word “wanker.”

2. WEATHER – Yes, I know I am like a broken record about this, but now the rain has stopped, the sun seems to shine for at least some of every day – it’s just so much easier to be cheerful.

3. OUR NEW APARTMENT – We would never have realised it while we were still in the UK, but we are far more suited to this modern place than we were to a leaky damp traditional townhouse – sunny days or cosy nights, we feel lucky to be here.

4. CABLE TV – After waiting four months and encountering lots of red-tape related hassle, we now have proper TV. We can finally watch the American trash everyone talks about on Facebook so we don’t have to feel left out, and we can also watch Portuguese kids TV to help us with the language…….AND it rewinds, records and all sorts!

5. THE SMELL OF ORANGE BLOSSOM – Everywhere at the moment and beautiful.

6. WALKING – Tavira was a very nice town to live in, but the ability to walk

Flowers spotted on a walk

for ten minutes and smell the sea is worth any number of extra shops and restaurants. We have also discovered several beautiful walks nearby – coastal, woodland, hills and a nature reserve all at our fingertips. We love it.

7. HEARING CRICKETS AND FROGS FROM THE TERRACE – (rather than traffic and chavs.)

8. BEER WITH A BURGER – Yes, I know I have a food and wine blog, but we all have a hankering for junk food occasionally, and I love the fact that Burger Ranch, the Portuguese equivalent of McDonalds, offers a glass of beer as part of a meal deal. Very civilised….and their burgers are freshly made and really rather good

9. BROADBAND – Proper broadband finally, rather than a pricey 3G stick – welcome back Youtube, Skype, Soundcloud, and luxuries like antivirus updates!

10. TIME – Yes, we do have less of it than we had hoped – we still always feel like we have too much to do, but at the same time we are listening to a lot of music and reading plenty of books – things we never had time for in England.

What about the bad?

I always like to give a fair contrast. At the moment things are generally positive, but in the interests of balance, here are a few things that have pissed me off in the last week.

1. MEAT – It may have a use by date a week away, but if you open it any more than a couple of days after you buy it here, there is a fair chance it will be off. Irritating, but possible to work around.

2. MOSQUITOES – Everywhere…..and they can smell the blood of an Englishman.

3. CERTAIN BRITS – “2 LARGE BEERS!” does not make for a respectful greeting in a cafe. Just learn “Ola” before you come here for crying out loud.

You may be interested to know that I have recently started another blog about the food and wine of Portugal. The site contains recipes and write-ups of our attempts at cooking Portuguese food, wine reviews and much more. Please come and pay us a visit!

Food and Wine Portugal

www.foodandwineportugal.com

We needn’t have worried that being in Portugal wouldn’t feel as ‘Christmassy’ as being in cold England. The Portugese seem to go in for Christmas in an even bigger way than the Brits, probably helped by the two bank holidays at the start of December on the 1st and 8th!

Being a country populated by 98% Roman Catholics, the religious aspect is obviously more widely important than in the UK, illustrated by the huge range of nativity scenes available in shops and as part of town decorations. This said, the consumer-Christmas that we all know and love/hate (delete as applicable) is alive and well in Portugal as well.

Yesterday we set off to buy our tree – we were originally going to go to the Portugese equivalent of the UK Homebase or B&Q (Leroy Merlin,) but got caught in our first traffic jam in 4 weeks(!) on the outskirts of Faro. We happened to drive past the huge Forum shopping centre and the beautiful Christmas lights drew us in.

Shopping Centres are treated as a real day-out destination in Portugal. They are similar to centres in the UK, but probably a bit closer to the ones you would find in America. Generally though, a shopping centre is the same the world over – a load of shops on a few levels, with a big food-court at the top. In Portugal you usually find a large hypermarket at the bottom and a multiscreen cinema somewhere as well. 

The difference though, is the atmosphere. I associate shopping centres in the UK with chavvy kids and queues at Primark. Here, the atmosphere is relaxed, and there always seems to be a large outside area with pavement cafes and people drinking Uma Bica (an espresso) or Um Imperial (a small beer.) The opening hours are long – where we visited yesterday was open until midnight, and still buzzing with people when we left at 10.30pm.

There are a lot of families, some clearly on a day out with 3 or maybe even 4 generations of the family out together. Last, but not least, the food court, which,  although it has plenty of junk food outlets (including the first McDonalds we have encountered in Portugal so far,) there also seem to be some local and healthy options on offer – we had a bit of a nose at peoples plates and saw a lot of things we would like to try, rather than “shit-in-a-tray” that we would rather avoid!

As we sat under the lights of the very impressive tree, drinking some delicious coffee, which we still can’t believe is only about 60 cents per cup, we really started to understand the point of this “shopping centre as a day out” thing. Do a bit of shopping, have a decent lunch, have a beer, watch a movie, have a coffee, bit more shopping, another beer or two, perhaps a snack, then grab everything needed from the supermarket and head home. Obviously, as a fairly typical man, the fact that “have a beer” can be included in the list makes a day of shopping seem a lot more attractive, though I couldn’t see this working particularly well in binge-drinking Britain!

As Christmas gets nearer, I’m sure the pace at these places will get a lot more frantic and will probably be as hellish in the few days before the big day as they are everywhere else in the world, but as far as last night was concerned, we actually had a really good time at a shopping centre, which isn’t something I thought I would ever say.

Otherwise, it all seems very similar to Christmas back in England, and with the current cold nights, it is suitably chilly to feel right. Even the Christmas songs playing in the supermarket are the same selection which my wife adores but that start to drive me to distraction by around 15th December! We are enjoying trying different festive foods, and all the Portugese versions of the things we have at home as well. My father-in-law is arriving in a few days with a few essentials we haven’t been able to get (i.e. bread sauce mix,) the tree is going up this week, and then we can start to look forward to our first Portugese Christmas. I can’t wait.

Seasons greetings to all!