The Big 1-0-0

I can hardly believe I have made it to my 100th post, and before the new year too!

I am so honored to have some loyal readers...and not just my family...

Thank you to everyone who is keeping up with my crazy journey.  For those of you who are new to my blog or may have only started following recently, I wanted to take this time to highlight my favorite 10 posts.  So here goes...

1) My very first Nutrition, Food, Travel and More Post: Start of a New Adventure

2) Here are all 3 parts of my post on a huge food festival that takes place here and lasts for 10 days.  It is known as Praia Fest and all of these main land Portugal restauants set up full service restaurant at the marina.  Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

3) Some pictures from around the island.  It is so beautiful here.  This is just a post with some random shots from around here.

4) If you are madly curious about who I am...READ THIS!

5) In our village we have an organic market.  Not only can you buy produce here, but some restaurants will also purchase their salads for serving on their menus.

6) This island is well known for it's crazy street bull fighting.  This is a post from the fight that ran in front of our house and the party we had for the occassion.

7) Ever done lateral thinking puzzles.  They are too much fun.  Click here to give these a shot.  Don't forget to grab a pencil and some paper.

8) If you're up for a lesson on food labels check out this post in the % daily value.

9) Would you eat at a restaurant that has a whale sculpture hanging out of the wall?  We did and it was GREAT!

10) Ok, ok, it is so hard to pick just 10, but last on my list is...a post about Monte Brasil, which is a large nature reserve/park in Angra.

Now that I have shared some of my posts in review (kill 2 birds with one stone as 2009 is almost...over!), I wanted to ask for everyone's thoughts on my blog.  I have recently changes my template, which most of you shared you really enjoy this new look.  I am wondering what kinds of things you would like to see me post about over the next year.  My blog title is nutrition, food, travel and more, and so I try to get a little of everything in there.  So, my questions to you:

1) In the area of nutrition...since I am a registered dietitian...what kinds of topics would you be interested in learning more about.  My areas of expertise are weight management and diabetes, but I have experience in just about every aspect.  I also teach undergraduate nutrition, so no topic is off limits.  Feel free to ask here, or you can email me at melinda_seff@yahoo.com.

2) In the area of food, I usually show restaurants, but I also show foods I prepare in the home.  Anything you would like to see more of?

3) In the area of travel, most of what I share now is the travel around the island, which is still new to us.  I hope to travel more during 2010.  Are there any things you have specific interest in learning about around this island?

4) Ok, for the more part...what more would you like to know?  What else would you like to see on my blog?

Again, thanks so much for your comments so far and for reading about my life over here.  I have really enjoyed making my first 100 posts and I hope I have many more to come.

Sabores do Chef

When Ryan and I first arrived on the island we did not have a car and we were living at the base hotel.  After a few days we were able to get a rental car, which are very expensive and that is why we hesitated.  But after a few days, the small base begins to feel even smaller, and the novelty of walking everywhere starts to wear off.  Once we got that rental car, we had 2 stops on the top of our list.  The first was to hit Modelo, the local super grocery store.  The second was find ourselves a nice restaurant where I could take Ryan for his birthday dinner.  That was around early July.  We went to Sabores do Chef and had a great meal.  We haven't been back since, not because we didn't like it, but because we got our cars, a place to live, and went out to see what else the island had to offer.

So the weekend before Christmas we tried to get a table but the whole restaurant was booked with parties and reservations.  We weren't ready to give up just yet, so this past Saturday night we gave it another try.  Now that we had tried foods at other places, I wondered if our initial praises of this restaurant will still hold true.

What initially attracted us to this place, other than extensive advertising on the base, was the modern look...as in this place could pass in Vegas as a hot spot based on the decor and ambiance.

This places is heavy on the covert options, which if you do not turn away ASAP and they place on your table, you will be charged for...per person.  Usually not a bbig deal, but here they bring this sausage platter with cheese that is 3.50 euro per person, which is about $5.15 a person.  That adds up FAST!!!  SO we quickly said no to that, and instead we got a treat (hint hint, my fave part of the meal), which I have a pic of a little further down.

First up is this goat cheese with homemade jam.  The sweet and salty really compliment each other.

Herbed butter...

The bread...

Here is the goat cheese topped with the jam.

Here is my extra special treat.  The first time we diner here we did not get olives.  There are some cheese cubes here too, but I was really interested in the olives.

I had a hard time deciding, but I went with the penne and shrimp.  The sauce was a tad heavy, but really good.  The shrimp were amazing.  You could tell they were extremely fresh.

Ryan ordered what I had the first time.  This is grilled wreckfish.  The consistency is closer to that of tuna, certainly not a white flaky fish, but a much milder taste than tuna.  The naming of the fish comes from where you can find it in the ocean..near ship wrecks.  I am not sure if we have this anywhere in the states, but this is really popular on the island.  Ryan really enjoyed this dish, just as I did months ago.

Here I am.  Pardon the insane hair mess, but I have been keeping it as much out of the rain as possible and did not realize have crazy it went.  I should point out that Ryan and I are on a staycation right now, so we have been mostly inside with the rain and then outside to walk the dog, during which time I got soaked, despite my rain gear.  I actually went to this restaurant wearing my rainboots!  I guess as part of the staycation and playing tourists we will explore and probably dine out often.  If that is the case I will have lots of pics to show over the next week.  The other problem with eating at home right now is the leak and renovations we are doing in the dining room.  Everything from our pantry is now in boxes, so good thing we are in the vacation mode right now and don't feel like we are trapped with only frozen food access.  Ok, sorry for the complete side bar...back to the meal...

The first word I learned in Portuguese on the island from someone was from a server at this restaurant.  He taught me sobremesas, which means desserts.  Fitting that should be my first word!

We went with the caramel fondue, which I think was chocolate caramel fondue.  It was served with fruit, which is one of the reasons I wanted this.  We split it and it was a great way to end yet another great meal.

Well, that was it for our meal at Sabores do Chef.  I can't wait until I have some visitors so we can go back.  It can get pricey to go to these places, but we have always made date night for Friday night, and if not able to on Friday, then on Saturday we like to go out for a nice meal.  I always worked in the restaurant industry, so I feel a pull towards them, and I seek out exceptional dining experiences.  I totally dragged Ryan into that one.  I also like to know what is good and what isn't so I know where to take visitors.  I often live in areas where people come to visit (like Las Vegas) and I love to be knowledgable about food and other tourists spots.

Since I like to treat myself to quality meals, I also like to spoil my pup on occassion, so here is what she enjoyed the other night.  This is Weruva...paw lickin' chicken...

The first ingredient is basically white meat chicken breast, boneless and skinless, and from the same human grade quality chicken you would eat.  That makes it nice to know it is not crazy processed and the leftovers of what wasn't fit for human consumption.  As this is expensive, I give it on occassion and only about 2 tablespoons on top of her dry food.

But in all honesty, it looks good enough for a person to eat.  She likes it and so I will keep it on hand for when she is really good.

QUESTION: Do you have a favorite local restaurant where you take people who are visiting you, and what is the name/cuisine type?

Alcatra, traditional dish of the island...and more

Alcatra, which literally means rump in Portuguese is the traditional dish of this island.  It is a Portuguese pot roast cooked in a clay pot or clay tile dish.  Most families will make this at home, and all the traditional restaurants on the island serve this...usually in a portion for 2 since it is a family style dish to begin with.  It is usually beef with some pork or bacon, but now places will also make alcatra with fish.  Our next door neighbor, Maria, made some for Ryan just before Christmas and her husband brought it over to us, still hot, right from the oven.  There is not vegetables in here, just beef and bacon/fat.  This is what it looks like, homemade style...

He said the meat was very tender, as it is supposed to be, and the broth stuff was basically fat.  The white pieces that look like they could be potato, is really just bacon/fat chunks.  There was also a nice bone inside, and we let the dog enjoy this.  If you are interested, here is a RECIPE I found online while researching the history of the dish.  Most websites I found were in Portuguese so I have limited additional information on the rest of the history.

This is what alcatra looks like when ordered at a restaurant.  The portion is for two and this is known as a clay tile, where ours at home was in a clay pot.

On to other foods we have had over the past few days...

On Christmas eve day we wandered around Praia before grabbing a bite to eat at Pizza OK.  It's not the best pizza ever, but not the worst either.  We also get the veggie pizza.

Can't resist the sweets...

The day after Christmas we went to make me nuts since we didn't want to drive around and see what was open and breakfast foods sounded good even though we already had some breakfast.

My donut choice, very festive...

Ryan had an apple filled cinnamon coated donut.

As always they have a nice display of cakes.

As I was taking this picture I noticed something just above the case...Can you spot it???

That's right, they actually sell DD coffee there.  I thought they were a total knock off of DD, but now I wonder if they are related or just really really really like Dunkin Donuts, pink and orange and all!

So now we are stuck in a massive wind storm with the occassional down pour of rain.  The poor dog got caught in it and lucky for me I had put on rain pants and a jacket before I went out.  It wasn;t raining when I stepped out of the door, but then it just rained, almost like hail.  So, I think we will probably stay in today and see what is and isn't leaking since we just found a leak in Ryan's office.  I am off to help him now?

QUESTION:  Do you get high winds where you live?  Do you live somewhere that experiences lots of rain or has a "rainy season"?

An Azorean Christmas

Seeing as we had no real plans for Christmas, when our neighbor invited us over, we decided to go.  If we said no and then they were there to see we weren't doing anything anyway, it would look odd and we may never be invited over again.  So, we decided to join in with their traditional Azorean Christmas celebration with their family.  I guess it may be similar to a Portuguese Christmas, but since the island is isolated, they probably have their own customs as well.

This is actually our neighbors sister, who is also our fantastic housekeeper.  She is so sweet although i don't understand much of what she says.  This is her husband and in this picture they were offering us sweets or "American" goodies before the meal.

This was the only traditional Azorean treat on this table.  As best I can tell these were little Dona Amelias, which is the traditional sweet of the island.  They are sooooo delicious.

I was happy to see they also like my fave jelly beans...the starbust kind.  Ok, ok, I'm lying a little.  I really like jelly belly the best, but this is the next right after those goodies.

We were happy to see they all like Bud too.

This is a traditional dish, which I believe is pork.  The resemble the ones our landlord brought over for our bullfight party.

They made a ham...

These are similar to potatoes, but are a different kind of root veggie.  It had an interesting taste, a little sweet and a little salty.  They told me the name in Portuguese and it sounds like it had yam in, but it's not a yam, and I still can't tell ya what exactly it is...other than something that is native to this island!

This is alcatra.  This is the traditional island dish...they are famous for this.  It is cooked in a clay dish or tile.  My neighbor made Ryan some the night before Christmas and so I am saving all the details of this dish for it's own post.  In other words...more to come.

The traditional and oh so yummy bread.

Ok, here is where I started to feel bad.  I didn't tell them I am a vegetarian because I did not want to have them go through any trouble to make something special.  I also didn't know if they would undertsnad well enough to know what I do and what I do not eat (since I eat dairy, eggs and fish/seafood, but nothing from beef, pork, chicken or other animals, including gelatin or broths, so you can see with the language barrier I just didn't want to explain).  They felt SOOOOO bad and kept apologizing for not having anything prepared for me.  So Maria (neighbor) and Ashelina (her sister and our housekeeper) along with my neighbors daughter who speaks English, prepared for me this dish or fried eggs and these little fried turnovers filled with tuna, onion and spices.  These little tuna things were delicious.  But I felt so bad for the trouble they went through to prepare me something special.

Now on to dessert.  This had gelatin in it so I passed, but Ryan did like it.

I did not pass on this one though.  It was cake on the bottom, with cream and like a chocolate mousse.

They also had a very nice fruit salad.

Then it was time for all the kids and adults too to open their presents.  The gifts just kept coming and coming.

They did give Ryan a mug and us a table cloth and some embroidered linens with Christmas designs.

Ryan also gave me some mroe of my presents.  I totally got a slap chop!  You know you're jealous!  And of course another bread machine cook book.

Last, but not least, our landlord gave us this, which we REALLY wanted.  This is a serving tray with tiles (which is the traditional craft on the island).  This is a bull fight scene.  They paint these scenes as big or as little as you want.  We are so happy to have received one of these.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday if you celebrate Christmas.  If you are Jewish...I hope you enjoyed your Chinese food and an movie (or some variation, haha!)...

QUESTION:  What was your favorite present you received this year?  What was the best part of your meal yesterday?

Cheddar Caraway

While I have been busy at my house grading papers and making sure I have work caught up before my holiday vacation, I managed to find a few minutes to load some ingredients into the bread machine and create yet another warm and tasty loaf of bread.

It's always better when you shred your own cheddar...

Good thing we had some caraway seeds in our new spice rack.

You can even see some of the seeds here.

Delicious as always.  This loaf recipe came from the Betty Crocker cookbook that ryan gave to me for Hanukkah.  Great cookbook, so if you have a bread machine, I do recommend this book.

Tonight is Christmas Eve, and although I do not celebrate Christmas, this island is very Catholic and so there are lots of decorations here, lights and hanging/dangling Santas.  Yesterday we stopped by our landlords store to drop off a gift for them and a gift we got for their young son.  They have given us a gift too, which for now remains wrapped (ok, I can tell by the shape what it is, but I can't tell much more than that).  They also told us on Saturday we could stop by for food and beverage, as they say the home is open so stop by to see what baby jesus has to offer.  Not really sure, but I think that people here may just stop over to visit with friends in the days after Christmas.  So, to get in the spirit, Ryan brought home some of this...non-alcoholic...

I don't really like milky things to drink, but I did have a little.  I think it was fat free too which is good.

OK, so I guess I need to get back to grading.  I have just a few more things I want to get done before the holiday break.  I also started my work for a class that I have late January and so I have written 3 papers so far and read a lot from my text book.  I am trying to get this out of the way since I also start an 8 week class online with Oklahoma and I would like to only have to worry about that work, not the work for the second class I will be taking.  I have a friend coming to visit in February so I don't want the homework and papers to build up.

I hope everyone has a nice Christmas Eve and enjoys time with their family and friends.

QUESTION:  Do you get time of from work or school for the holiday?  I have 2 weeks off from the middle/high school and 2 weeks from Kaplan.  I can't wait since Ryan has some days off too!

Do you like caraway seeds?  (just had to ask...they are growing on me)

Warning: May induce craving for Italian food

Playing Super Mario Bros for the wii may be hazardous to your appetite!!!

After playing this with Ryan for a few hours on Saturday and a few more on Sunday, we had a serious craving for Italian food.  No joke, he was thinking garlic bread and I could not get pasta out of my mind.

So our solution was a trip to Buzios, a fairly American type of Italian restaurant.  I think every employee speaks English and most people in there are Americans.  So far the meals have been great and last night's meal did not disappoint.  As usual, we started with some olives, very garlic-y.

Followed by some more garlic, with the garlic bread that Ryan was craving.

Although I did not have a drink (other than water of course), I did love this Heineken mini fridge fully stocked.

Ryan and I split a Greek salad.  Why is it that whenever I get Italian food, I find myself enjoying a Greek salad?

The were offering eggplant parm as a special and since it was served with a little pasta, I decided to order this.  The game must have been giving off subliminal messages because Ryan was feeling the same thing and so we both enjoyed this fab dish.

No dessert for us this time, but they do an amazing looking bananas foster, flambeed table side served over ice cream.  trust me, I am going back for that in the near future.  Instead we just had some coffee beverages to end the meal.  So European!  And this is my fave kind of coffee too.

So, unless you are really in the mood for Italian food, play Super Mario Bros very carefully and set a limit or I swear you will be heading for some good Italian eats!

Ryan and I did have a lot of fun playing the 2 player version as it required a lot of team work.  Good thing we make a great team. 

I am off work this week, but Ryan works today through Wednesday, so I had a nice quite breakfast to myself.  I am still enjoying my nice Nature's Path cereals.  This was my selection this morning.

Very tasty.  I was lucky to have Ryan come home for lunch.  I finished the eggplant parm and he had a bagel with cream cheese.  He wasn't too hungry, but I was and I knew I had to load up on something to give me fuel for my 30 day shred video workout.  So far I am lovin it.  Now I have taken a shower and I am just starting on a paper for my next grad class, which is an intro course for human relations.  So I must get back to work.

QUESTION: Have you ever been playing a game or watching TV/DVD and it made you get a craving for something?  If so, what was it?  Any crazy subliminal messages you think you have been exposed to, whether they were real or not?

Jumbo Shrimp

Last night Ryan and I attempted to eat dinner at a restaurant called Sabores do Chef.  I guess we should have made a reservation weeks in advance since it seems the place was booked up for the whole night.  It looked like probably a Christmas party.  So we instead headed over the the beach in Praia da Vitoria and thought about our beach front options.  To try something new we opted for Mar a Mesa, where we have been to the downstairs bar area before and enjoyed a tosta mista sandwich.

Since we had about 15 minutes until the restaurant opened, we decided to hang at the bar and enjoy a cocktail.

I love the looks of this Super Bock tap.

This was my pretty drink.  I can't remember the last time I sat at a bar and had a cocktail, but it was nice.  Too bad the sun had gone down, otherwise we would have been able to look at the ocean.  I normally drink a Malibu baybreeze, but this guy couldn't make it, so I told him to make me a girly drink.  This is fruit juice with melon liquor frozen and blended on top.  I love the colors.

Ryan had a martini that was with orange flavored vodka and white chocolate.  This is the house specialty drink...I think.

Then we went up stairs to enjoy a nice European style dinner.  This is inside the restaurant.  They were decorated for the holidays.  During summer time this will be awesome since those glass doors slide open and the beach is right there.

As always, some nice olives to start.  These are in olive oil with garlic.

Some crab dip for the bread.

Nice rolls...

Could not resist a bottle of wine for one very good reason (ok 2 reasons...the bottle was the equivalent of $15)...

Practically my name!!!

Before the meal I took a look in their seafood display case.  They are a predominately seafood restaurant and they are on the beach, so yo would expect to find some crazy seafood here.  Look at the size of that shrimp.  And to think I thought jumbo shrimp was an oxymoron...Holy cow, look at that thing!

Some major sized crab legs too...

Another cute little crab guy.  I have seen these out in the ocean and by the shoreline. 

Then dinner was served.  I ordered a traditional dish of fish and shrimp served in a broth with rice.

Mine was really tasty.  Ryan ordered broiled cod and it was served with broccoli and potatoes.  It was good, but a little overcooked.  I find that common around here with the cod.  Oh, and it is always salted!

The perfect end to another lovely island meal.

Oh, and don't let me forget about the check presentation here.  How cute!

Friday nigth we staying in which is why Saturday night we hit the town.  Friday night was also the last night of Hanukkah, so here are the rest of my gifts from Ryan.

My current iPhone cover is tearing, so this is a new one, identical to my old one.

We spent most of Saturday playing around with this.  I love it.  So much fun and so old school.

Oh, and I totally have to show this picture to everyone.  I have discovered why the Portugeuse are not stuggling with obesity like Americans.  It comes down to price.  These American candies in a bag no bigger than what you might purchase to handout for Halloween costs 18.50 euro...That's like about $28.  That is insane and a rip off.  But it is hard for them to get American type products, so I guess they can charge what they like.  Sadly, I think people may pay that price, although many people on this island can't afford that luxury.  Now this was taken at a local store.  If I were to buy this on the base it would be much cheaper.

Lastly, I know I mentioned we were going to help with the clean up efforts.  We woke up early and headed over to meet others at the base only to find out it had been cancelled.  It is a long story, but there were some valid reasons for cancelling this.  To top it off, it started raining again, which I am sure is making clean up hard.  We think instead we will just donate cleaning supplies and hopefully some gifts for the children of Agualva so they do not have to miss out on Christmas this year.

QUESTION:  What is your favorite cocktail or alcoholic beverage?  We don't drink very often, but I like a Malibu baybreeze.  Tastes like juice to me so I have to be very careful.