McDonalds?

I have no idea how the whole conversation started, but I believe it was that I mentioned my friend Marie, who is coming to visit in less than a month, had a lay over , I think, on the big island (Sao Miguel) and that is where there is a McDonalds.  The Azores have NO fast food as we know it in the states.  In fact, even their version of FAST food is anything but fast.  Oh, here I go lying.  The base does have a subway.  As far as fast food is concerned, I am glad there is a subway on base and not any of the other really awful choices.  Not only am I a vegetarian and therefore no burgers for me, but people would flock to a burger joint since they don't exist off base. Ok, back to the my story, where was I...oh yes, Marie...her layover is short, so she is probably NOT going to McDonald's. 

But the point being she would be close, and Ryan does like meat and he tends to eat way more fish than usual here since the steak has been hit or miss.  Well, as I was talking about this I hear him say "there is a McDonald's on this island".  I tried hard not to laugh because I knew this was not true.  I was like "um no" and he was like "um yeah" and I was like "um no" and well you get the picture.  In the end he confesses it was a knock off and not really McDonalds, but the closest thing this island has.  Some of the guys told him about it.

Then the next day we were driving around to get pictures of spirit houses (more to come on that) and we drove through Vila Nova.  Some ways down the road he mentions the burger joint is in Vila Nova.  The he says it is called Setenta's and I was like "OMG, really? Cause I saw that on our way out this morning".  I remember this clearly because I said the name outloud and thought "boy they must have family in Canada" (not uncommon for here).  The place has a maple leaf on the front and so I though it looked like the Canadian flag.  So on the way back...we stopped.

Welcome to the Azorean version of a McDonald's...

Ryan was delighted to bite into this bad boy...

Good thing they had a salad on the menu since there was nothing else I could really eat.

Well except for these too.

Of course I had to enjoy my latte.

So, that was a lot of fun.  We must have had good timing since they didn't reopen until 5:30 and we pulled up at 5:00 and someone was just getting back and unlocking the door.  Gotta love how things work out.  We drove past this place the first time since I saw it when we were coming the other direction and so we went past it and then turned around and came back.  Had we found it the first time driving by they would have been closed and not been there opening the door and we would have left.

Which brings me to the spirit house thing.  This is a picture of a spirit house.  I will have more pics and full details coming in the future, but I wanted to let you see what a spirit house looks like.

Also while we were out searching for spirit houses in the villages, we found this cute market in Biscoitos by the natural swimming holes. 

They even had some backed goods.

So that was a little of our adventures out and about over the weekend.

I found some random pics that I don't think I ever posted.  This was a dish made from left overs/new dinner idea of the Chinese noodles from my lo mein and I put a Morningstar Farms black bean burger on top with some melted mozzarella cheese.  This was delish.

This was a new concoction I made for lunch at school last week.  This was some canned (ok, bagged) salmon from Chicken of the Sea.  I mixed the laughing cow cheese in...

And made a faux lox and cream cheese spread for my bagel.  It was very tasty.

I also got a chance to enjoy some cottage cheese and mandarins.  This made a great preworkout snack until I was able to get to lunch after my workout.

I hope everyone is having a great week.  If you didn't see our from scratch adventures from this weekend...we made Middle Eastern food and bagels over the weekend.

GIVEAWAY UPDATE:

Krittie is giving away some Barney Butter.  Ends Jan 21.

QUESTIONS: Have you ever lived somewhere without fast food chains?  Have you ever had timing work out so well, almost like driving by something happened for a reason or missing a train happened for a reason?

I once left my passport in my hotel room in Spain in Granada and I NEVER EVER have done that before, or since.  It made me miss my bus to Sevilla, but I got my passport back.  I got on the next train and I am not kidding there were 2 girls sitting next to me in the back of the bus that I knew from my summer camp.  I hadn't seen them in a few years, and I was actually on my way to Sevilla to meet up with another camp friend.  Sometimes I think things happen for a reason.  Strange!