Rachel Comes to Visit

Again, this was over a month ago, but my sister did come to visit.  She was here for my graduation, but she stayed for a week.  This is just a quick run down of the food we ate and some of the activities we did.  Mostly we just hung out and enjoyed the nice weather.

Our first dinner was at Porto das Pipas because my sister really likes the octopus there.

  

I ordered the squid, which is also very good.

 

Ryan had a steak, which is buried underneath all of those homemade potato chips.

 

The next day I headed down to Angra with my sister.  This is the only major city on the island, and is actual small for what you might consider a city.  It is also the capital of the island and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On the way we stopped to take pictures of one of the coolest sculptures I have ever seen.  This is in the middle of the roundabout just before you reach the bull fight arena in Angra.  This was not here when we first got to the island so it was neat to see the entire process.  There are actually 3 bulls jumping and all point in different directions.

 

After walking around and doing some shopping, we stopped at one of my favorite sandwich shops, Sandoxa (pronounced san-do-sha), for some lunch.  Rachel had a nice salad and then we ordered some veggie burgers with an egg.  So good!

 

One thing my sister really liked the last time she was here was the corn bread.  It is very different from American cornbread.  So we went searching for it.  The closest we came was a this, except despite being fresh baked and warm when we brought it home, it was a little burnt.  Didn't stop us from enjoying it!

 

The next day we went to another favorite snack place called Mimos.  I had my favorite tuna melt.  It is on a local made onion roll, with local caught tuna, topped with hardboiled eggs and melted cheese.

 

That afternoon my next door neighbor asked if we wanted some potatoes (and by some I mean that big bucket below).  It seems he had his biggest harvest ever and had no idea what to do with all the potatoes.  We gladly accepted.  Even better was that he gave us some of his eggs too from his chickens, and we all know eggs go great with potatoes!

 

Dinner was at a restaurant that we call the whale.  Actually, it is called O Cachalote, which means Sperm Whale in Portuguese, and there is a giant whale sculpture coming out of the front of the building.  The owner is very nice and we love to dine here.  He showed us his newly completed upstairs dining room.  This would be for 2-4 people wanting an intimate dining experience, perhaps for a special occasion.  He had just put the finishing touches in the room and was eager to show us.  Of course it looked beautiful.

 

Both my sister and I ordered the fish, which was presented beautifully, just as the owner, who is also the chef, always does.

 

The next day we headed to the wine museum.  It is so nice to walk around the grounds there with all the pretty flowers.  Here is my sister enjoying the Azorean air.

 

Dinner that night was at home and about as local as you can possibly get.  We started with eggs, which came from my neighbor.

 

The day before, Ryan had gone spearfishing and caught a couple Veja (Parrotfish).  He cooked these in locally made butter (yum)

 

Then we had some potatoes, also from my neighbor.

 

The end presentation for both myself and Ryan was a breakfast burrito (wish the tortilla was local but it wasn't) with a side of potatoes (seasoned with Old Bay), the fish and some olives.  My sister does not eat dairy, so she just had some eggs and potatoes along with the salad she had purchased from the organic farm in our village.

 

While Rachel was visiting, San Joaninas was going on.  This is a huge festival in Angra, non-religious, despite the carrying the name of St. John (Sao Joao in Portuguese).  There were so many people and things going on, so we just went to check it out a little while my sister was here.  The highlight of the food part was probably the churro lady from Lisbon.  They were hot and fresh, and filled with chocolate, just like they do in Spain.

 

Here you can see a float for the parade, and some little cheese and sausage stands set up in the small square.

 

We were hoping to visit the local crafts tent, but they did not open until 7 pm, so we settled on lunch at another favorite, AquaEmotion.  It is mostly a favorite because of the location directly at the marina, overlooking all the boats.

We started with some sardines.

 

My sister enjoyed a gorgeous salad packed with shrimp and tropical fruits.

 

Ryan and I enjoyed a local cheese plate (they know how to do cheese out here!) and then we each ordered a tuna baguette.  Seriously way to much food, but very tasty!

 

Here we all are enjoying the meal and the view.  Just behind us is the outdoor patio and the marina.

This is another float we passed by on the way back to the car.  They have massive parades with insanely decorated floats and elaborate costumes.  This island is known for it's festivals.  They have the most out of all the islands.  All summer long is one festival after another.  In fact, this weekend starts another major one known as Festas da Praia, or Praia Fest.  Hoobastank is playing this year.  Oh, INXS played at San Joaninas last month, and that was huge.  For this upcoming festival, they will have more bands, but none that Americans would know.  They will have restaurants and other food vendors from the mainland, and tons of people will come from mainland, the US and other islands to enjoy.  Enough about that and back to the current post here.  Just can't help getting excited for this weekend.

  

For our last dinner with Rachel here, we went to Buzius, actually for the second time, because her all time favorite is the spicy squid (Calamari Fra Diavolo).  I have shown pictures before, and therefore didn't take any new ones, but this is one awesome dish.  Ryan had the eggplant parm, which is my second favorite dish there.

 

The last day she was here we went to Praia da Vitoria, the second largest city (and not much of a city by most people's standards) on the island.  We enjoyed some coffee and the great ocean view, chatted a little more and then said our goodbyes as I took her back to the airport.

Next time she comes to visit me we will be in Japan.  I know she has been waiting years to travel to Japan so I am glad she has an excuse now.

I love you Rachel!

QUESTIONS:  Do you have any siblings?  Do you get along?  Do you visit each other or plan trips together?

First snorkel/spear fishing adventure of 2010

Around here getting in the ocean is a way of life.  I can see people swimming in the ocean every day during the summer time.  While there are only a few beaches here, this does not stop them from making the most of natural swimming holes that are formed around and within the lava rocks that make up the rocky lining of this island.  I have seen swimming holes with sliding boards and diving boards that go rick from the rocks into the ocean, and then stairs and ladders lining the rocks as well.

This past weekend, a group of us decided to head out spear fishing.  This is a common hobby around here, and many of the guys from Ryan's work do this too.  So, a group of us crazy Americans went out in the ocean despite it not quite being that warm yet or really even the swimming season.

The water was very calm in most places.  When we passed by Angra there were tons of little sail boats all along the coast.  We wound up at a swimming hole are in Cinco Ribeiras all the way across the island.  Here are some pictures of the area where we were in the water, taken from up above before we walked down to the water.

We first tried to enter here but there were tons of jelly fish there so we instead went to the area on the other side, which is pictured above.

Since I did not want to ruin my new camera, I used my camera phone for these shots, and also as a result, I do not have pictures of me in my gear.  To snorkel out there safely I use a 5 mm wet suit, a hood, booties, gloves, prescription (I wear glasses) snorkel mask with a nice snorkel, I have my fins, and I carry a knife.  My buoy is on the way.  This time there was another female out there and she took a picture of me in the water, so as soon as I get that picture, I will post it.  The guys spear fish, and I just snorkel, watch them, and take pictures when there is a water proof camera present.  In order to fish like this, they need a license granted by the local government (I think, or the local fishing authority).  Then they have a special spear gun with a buoy attached that also contains a metal piece where they string the fish that they catch.  The wet suit makes you really buoyant, so the guys wear weight belts to allow them to free dive.  It is actually neat to be able to watch them "hunt" the fish.  Last summer I was able to watch Ryan catch a fish.  He has all cleaned and cooked fish he has caught and we have eaten them for dinner.

I will say that the water was freezing and super murky, but I got in anyway just to have made my first trip in for the year.  Getting out was tough because the tide was changing and the current was a little stronger and the waves at our entry point were rougher than when we got in.  It took me two tries to be able to get back out.  The idea was to time it just right so that the water was calm when you approached the stairs.  Usually this spot is a swimming area with 2 diving boards, but these were not set up yet.  If people are actually there swimming, you can't fish there.

This was an old church that was at the top of the hill where we parked.  You can see how gray it was outside.

Right at this location is a restaurant, so after after we got out, we were so hungy and decided to go rest, warm up and refuel our bodies here.

Plus, the view here is right on the ocean and you can spot the islands of Sao Jorge and Pico, well on a clear day at least.

I ordered a cheese omelette and French fries.

Then I had a coffee to warm myself up.

After we ate, some other members of our group that had stayed in to keep fishing, let us know some very experienced local spear fisherman caught tons of fish.  We went to check it out.  Here you can see the veja (red colored fish) and a baracuda.  The baracuda are common around here and I have even seen these for sale at the local grocery store.

The guy also caught a moray eel.  That is the long yellow and black one.  It actually bit the guy and he was bleeding.  These are not nice eels and are much worse to deal with than the baracuda.  The baracudas here are a different breed and are not really a problem, but these morays are.  I can't believe he caught one.

When we got home, it was time to prepare for the first bull fight of the year.  I have tons of pictures to share and will explain the whole process in another post.  Ryan and I use our outdoor kitchen as an area to clean and hose down our snorkel and fishing gear.  Since I did not get a picture this time of me in my suit, I did snap a picture of my gear hanging up outside so you can get an idea.  This is my wetsuit, fins and booties, and the spear gun is Ryan's, of course.

Over the course of the summer I will post more on my snorkel adventures.

QUESTIONS:  Do you have any questions for me about snorkeling, the marine life here or spear fishing?  Have you ever been snorkeling?  Have you ever been scuba diving?  Do you like to fish?

Adventures in bread making

This has been an adventure filled weekend for us. First off we did our first round of bread making with this beautiful new bread machine. Yes I am sure it is just as easy to make bread from scratch in the regular ol' oven, but the novelty of the bread machine was just too much to pass up. Plus this one also does jams and chutneys, so I really couldn't resist.

Here are some reasons to make your own bread:

-Simple and nutritious, easy to use high fiber ingredients

-You know what's inside...no preservatives!

-You can have whatever kind you want

-Great if you follow a gluten free diet

-Cheaper than regular bread (if you buy a bread machine there is cost for the initial investment)

So, for our first loaf we selected a nice honey whole wheat recipe. Boy was I glad the commissary had whole wheat flour.

Here is what the ingredients looked like before we closed the lid and let the machine work it's magic!

Here is Ryan making a nice ball of dough after he removed the kneading paddle.
Look how perfect looking this turned out.

Nice slices...

It was really soft inside and had a nice crust.

So for breakfast the next morning we made some runny fried eggs to have with our bread.

I took the end piece.

Then we got started on loaf number 2! This time was a dessert type bread. I made a low fat chocolate sour cream tea loaf. I did include the dried cherries, but I left out the chopped nuts. I personally hate nuts inside baked goods even though I like them plain. Does that make me weird?

Turned out looking pretty nice. The chocolate chips and cherries all went to the bottom, and we flipped it over so it then became a nice looking top layer.

So, those were our adventures in bread making, but there were still more adventures to come our way.

Saturday night we went to a local book fair since they advertised they would have some English books.

I bought some books about the island and Portugal.

We stopped in to a local bar/cafe/restaurant called Mar a Mesa and had a quick coffee.

We were a little hungry (and I guess we may have missed dinner) so Ryan ordered a tosta mista, which seems to be a popular bar food. I asked Ryan what this was and he explained it was like a hot ham and cheese sandwich.

Since I don't eat ham I thought about the option available to me. Then the light bulb went off and I ordered a tosta mista sem fiambre (without ham) and POOF...I got a grilled cheese sandwich!

It tasted really good.

The next morning Ryan had this idea for our fave storage containers...the lock and lock. Let's see what Ryan did with this awesome container...

Yep, he cooked an egg in it!

The he made sandwiches for us for breakfast using the honey whole wheat bread we made the day before.

The egg fit perfectly.

So those were some of our adventures so far, but there was still one more adventure for the weekend. Sunday some of the guys were going out spear fishing, so I decided to pack up my gear (in my awesome bag pictured below) and go out for a snorkeling adventure.

So we stopped here first to meet up with everyone, but this site in Porto Martins was too rough.

But I did take a few pics while we waited since this is a really nice area with great views.

Then we stopped over at this location towards Biscoitos, but again, too rough.

Another location, but again, too rough. Boy, were we ever gonna find a good spot given the windy weather.

After an hour of searching we located this spot near the pink hotel in Angra, just to the west of Monte Brasil. Much calmer!

So we got into the water at that location and the guys fished while I snorkled around. This spot had lots of great fish to look at. Lots of pretty colors. After a while I was out far enough that is was no longer rocks below, but white sand. I had a great time, and I actually got to see Ryan spear 2 fish and pull them back up to the surface. It was super neat to see the whole process. After a while I headed back in, but when I was in shallow water I got freaked out when I spotted a decent sized octopus. Holy Cow!!! It was a lovely shade of purple and blue, but serious, too many arms for me and I panicked. Luckily I wear a knife, and in this case I was in shallow water and could stand up.

Afterwards we were starving since it was dinner time. I got to see the sun set on the west side of the island, which was nice. We opted for kono pizza since many things were closed as it was Sunday. I love this kono car.

As always I had a nice salad.

Of course we also got pizza cones to go with the salads. I had smoked salmon and cream cheese in a cone and Ryan had tomato and cheese.

What a super way to end a super adventurous weekend!!!

QUESTIONS: What was your last adventure? What is your favorite kind of bread?