Island Dining

Before I share with you an amazing day out in town, I wanted to mention that I changed my twitter name today.  When I started on twitter quite some time ago, it was relatively new and there weren’t a  lot of RD’s using it.  I think original I was @MJinVegas or @VegasMJ or something like that.  When I moved to the Azores I changed it to @MJintheAzores because it made sense.  Seeing as one of my 2011 goals is to use my twitter more professionally and not just to keep on contact with friends and family, I decided to go with something that identifies me more readily as a registered dietitian.  I worked hard for the credential, so I better show it off, right? 

May I introduce to you my new twitter name: @RDontheMove

Not that I need to explain myself, but it was most fitting because it has a triple meaning.  For starters, as a dietitian I know it is not just food that matters, but physical activity as well.  I always try to make time, no matter how busy or tired, to fit in some kind of exercise.  Secondly, as a military spouse, I better get to used to moving.  I have no doubt in the future I will have my fair share of moves.  It comes with the territory.  Lastly, I like to be on the move, in the sense that I am always going somewhere and I am out and about travelling and exploring.

Getting away from the business aspect, let me move into a great day Ryan and I shared downtown in Angra do Heroismo, the capital of the island and a UNESCO world heritage site.  One night we parked near this building.  Upon inspection we discovered it was the public library.  The building used to be the home of an important military person, or something like that.

We could not resist the urge to come back during open hours.  Ryan and I both love old books, or really any books.  Here are some pictures I managed to take while in the library.  I was seriously trying not to make a big scene or draw attention to ourselves, but I am sure they knew we were not Portuguese.

 

It was one seriously cute library.  Is it weird that I think old things are cute?

As we left and headed out to walk around we passed by a major church and I thought I would finally snap a picture of the monument of the Pope, who visited the island in 1991.  You might be familiar with John in Spanish as Juan, but in Portuguese the equivalent is Joao.  So this leads me to believe this is Pope John Paul II.

 

Since I had my camera out to take a picture of the Pope statue, I snapped one of this super old, and cute (yes, I used cute again) building.  Maybe it is just that minored in history that I am super fascinated by the old stuff on this island.

We ended up downtown for a reason.  The other night we tried to eat at a place called Casa do Peixe, or in English it is called Fish House.  I have heard good things about it, but we had never been.  It is right above the beach, and overlooks the ocean.  But, it was closed, so we tried again, but this time for lunch.

Look at the great view!  You can see the ocean out the window, and then to the right is a big rock sticking out.  That rock is known as Monte Brasil.

We were off to a good start when we discovered our server spoke English.  Even funnier was that I was able to translate fish for him off the menu.  I can’t put a sentence together in Portuguese, but food words are simple for me.  I think I impressed the server when I shared my knowledge of local fish and typical preparations of the fish they had on the menu.  Even neater than my own knowledge of the fish was that the server had a picture book with him so he could show guests what the fish looked like and would explain the consistency of the fish.

The good luck kept coming when the server brought over butter (made locally), black olives, and fresh goal cheese.

I already knew the cheese was made locally, since the cheese is known as ilha quiejo, which means island cheese.  This is a very typical cheese for the island, and I think all the Azores.  The island is very into farming, mostly dairy.  The cheese from the Azores is amazing!  You can see on this cheese label that the cheese came from a farmer in Ribeirnha, which is just outside of Angra.

 

You can’t have cheese and butter without the bread.  This is typical bread for the island, but is not the well known Portuguese bread, which is sweet.

 

I never, let me say it again, never, drink regular soda, (rarely even diet for that matter) but the server sold me on the Kima.  I have seen people order this before, but I have never tried it.  You can see on the can that this soda is made in the Azores.  That is why I could not resist.  It is unique to the islands.  I think the server was impressed too when he was describing it and I said maracuja, which is the Portuguese word for passion fruit. 

I liked it, but not a big fan of drinking calories.

Then out came the meal.  Ryan ordered the abrotea.  In English this is known as the forkbeard.  It is traditionally served lightly breaded and fried, however here it was a little greasier than I have had at other places.

My lunch was the boca negra.  This means black mouth.  It is a light, flaky white fish.  You have probably seen me order this before and wonder why I torture myself with the whole fish.  It is really just that good, so I don’t mind the work.  At least here they halved the fish.

It was a great meal, and the view could not be beat.  Obviously to end a great Azorean meal we had to get a coffee drink.  This is known as a meia da leite, which translates to half milk, so it’s like a latte.

After lunch I got crazy and decided my hair was out of control and I needed to get it cut.  I will confess the woman who cuts my hair has been cutting my hair since I was 8 and only 3 other people have cut it.  The last time I had it cut was when I was in Baltimore last and that was like back in April.  The split ends were horrendous and I knew I had to get it done.  So I wandered into a Portuguese salon, and in broken English/Portuguese explained what I wanted.  I needed it cut and then wanted it blown straight, despite knowing it was raining outside.  Here are the results:

I feel so much better now that I just went for it and cut my hair.  I know she took like 4-6 inches off.  It was so needed!

QUESTIONS:  Do you usually have the same person cut your hair or do you not have a preference?  What was your worst hair cut experience?  Do you have local dairies near where you live?