Monte Brasil, that piece that hangs off Angra

I really loved having the cows in the yard, but when this one jumped the wire fence and took up residence in the dog's area, it was starting to get out of hand. Lucky for us, the landlord planned to take the cows away, so Ginger once again was free to go to the bathroom. The timing couldn't have been any better since it was almost 24 hours since the dog was able to go. I know you are probably thinking I could walk her, but there is no grass out front, just concrete walls, so I would have to put her in the car at night and drive her somewhere. She has gotten quite used to grass although I did spot her using the...driveway...the other day! So here is one last pic of the cow AKA our lawn mower, who took over the dog area.

Since Ryan was off yesterday we wanted to go out and explore. We decided to head to Monte Brasil, which is that little piece you see sticking off by Angra on the map just below. This houses a major fort and is now home to a park and little zoo area. Below are some pics from the drive around and a little history of this area I found online. There are many hiking trails here but for our first trip there we wanted to scope it out, and it was also raining on and off all day.

The climb up the 205 m high Monte Brasil, the remains of a mostly submerged crater, which resulted from an early underwater eruption and projects about 1,000 m into the sea, is a pleasant and highly rewarding walk through the castle’s ground and the dense vegetation of the wooded slopes of the crater, which provides magnificent panoramic views over the bay and the town of Angra do Heroísmo from its top. Surrounded by four small hills, the area of Monte Brasil, which is actually more of a small peninsula and covers around 63 hectares, comprising also the two islets of Ilhéus das Cabras, has been declared nature reserve. Around the peninsula Monte Brasil peninsula, there are some popular bathing areas, such as Cais da Silveira, located in a deep inlet on its western side, Ponta de São Diogo on the western tip and Ponta de Santo António on its east side.

http://azores-islands.info/uk/places/terceira/monte-brasil.html

This is an amazing view, but this was only the begining of a great journey in this reserve.

As a result of the yucky weather we opted to drive around and get out to take pictures. This is overlooking Angra.

You can see split rock in the distance.

Looking of to the other side towards (I think) Sao Mateus. Both the pink and the blue hotels can be seen from here.

Looking out towards the ocean.

I thought the rock was cool as this is a volcano.

Boy was I glad to find a WC (AKA bathroom) in the park.

I love stopping to view the ocean. not only will this be a great place to hike around, but I am looking forward to packing up the picnic basket and enjoying a nice lunch overlooking the sea.

There are remnants of this castle/fortress all over Monte Brasil. It was the perfect place for a fort. The Portugese military still maintains a presence in this fort, in fact we saw some repelling down the castle wall. It looked like they were filming a movie since it seemed so intense, but they were really just doing exercises of some sort. I thought these cannons were cool.

A monument

Then we kept driving and found the "zoo" area. Lots of birds.

This one was really neat. Native to Southeast China.

Some ducks that escaped the pond!

Then I needed a snack since I realized I hadn't eaten in a while. I love these Calippo pops.

After some serious searching for a parking space and wondering around Angra while stores were actually open, we stopped for lunch. I am so glad we stumbled into Sandoxa, a sandwich shop.

I thought these were kinda cute condiments.

I ordered the veggie burger. It was made from onions, potato and broccoli. There was some lettue, tomato and onion on the bun, as well as...a fried egg! It was actually really good, and the first time I saw a veggie burger in the local community.

Ryan had the equivalent of a Big Mac with a fried egg. I think it was called something similar to the extreme (x-tudo) burger.

We wandered around some more and I finally visited a store that sold cooking things and international foods. It reminded me of Harry and David's. I can't wait to take my sister to see this store. They had amazing looking jams and jellies. I thought their heart shaped pasta that said LOVE was adorable. On the way back to the car we passed the soft serve ice cream machine and we just couldn't resist.

My eyes are always bigger than my stomach! It was good, but no way I could eat it all!

After that we stopped by one of Ryan's coworkers houses for a BBQ but we weren't hungry and so we only stayed for a little bit before heading home and attempting the bread machine adventure...pictures to come!

QUESTIONS: Where is your fave place to hike?

What are your fave toppings for a burger (veggie patty/meat/whatever)?

O Sitar- Indian cuisine on a Portugese island

When I think of "cow on the run" this is what comes to my mind (since I have been living on this island of course)...

I think cows running down the road with the famers just behind them. BTW, this is a normal occurance here and the main cause for traffic and people running late. However yesterday cow on the run took on a new meaning. Yes, one of those 4 precious cows in the field behind our house decided he wanted to escape and no longer live with the other 3 cows. So he hopped the fence into Ginger's (our dog) fenced in area. Ryan was on his way outside to herd it back over (me with a video camera in tow) when we spotted our landlord who had already coaxed the cow back into his area. Problem solved? I think NOT!!! When we went to let the dog out last night she ran to her patch of grass only to come face to face with the escapee cow! Let's just say it was traumatizing for all of us!

Yesterday morning I returned a plate to my neighbor that we still had at our house and the next time I went outside she brought me these. I love getting fresh eggs. I'll be using these when I make bread this weekend.

Yesterday was also my big trip to the grocery store. It was necessary that we get some food in this house. I don't know what happened. We had some foods, but others were missing so we could never really get a complete meal/snack. So I planned to go to the commissary in the earlier part of the day. Too bad the produce wasn't out yet (although it was later on in the day and Ryan did go pick some things up). I did find some other items, including some new things I had not spotted on previous trips. Some I bought, others I didn't but I still took some fun pics:

I thought this gluten free corn pasta sounded really interesting. I noticed a few gluten free items around, including pancake mix, so I am wondering if there is someone on the island with celiac and therefore is following a gluten free diet, or someone voiced a wheat allergy or something like that. Maybe one day I will buy this just to give it a try.

I also noticed that they carry whole wheat pasta, so that is a good thing. Only one variety, but that is better than none. I personally like whole wheat penne.
This may sound silly, but I was super psyched to find these. Yes, I totally bought a can.
Then further down the row I spotted this and started drooling. When did they start carrying Amy's soups. Yum! Then it made me want to make my own bean soup in the crockpot, so there is some inspiration there, may be I will make my own.

It got cut off, but I discovered that the commissary does carry Nature's Path cereal (although only one flavor). I did not buy this because I recently won a giveway from Julie Golean and I know I have a bunch of Nature's Path products (including cereal) coming to me shortly.

I spotted some flax seeds and bought them since some of the bread recipes I liked called for them and now I have flax seeds should I need them in any recipe.

Yes, I found some Kashi TLC bars. I think these will make good snacks, and I love that if they were only going to have one flavor available to me that it was this one. Yum cherries and chocolate.

I just wanted to show everyone what our Activia yogurt looks like over here. This is actually the German version. They do sell the Portugese version at the local stores, but this is from the commissary. Ryan likes this kind, but in the States I never ate it because it contained gelatin (kosher gelatin-but final word from a rabbi is that this is still from animal source...long story!) so I never ate it. I love that this version because it is gelatin-free, and the same goes for almost all yogurts outside of the United States. I am so happy I have tons of options for yogurt now.

So while I was putting away Ryan's yogurt and the yogurt I bought for myself, those German Muller yogurts with the fruit on the side, I decided to make a snack and mixed it up with some special K cereal. It was really good until the cereal turned to mush! I think I need a crunchier cereal next time.

I also bought these dried apricots. They are from Germany too. I picked these because they are unsulphured! And no added sugar, just dried apricots.

I could really tell the difference because the color was so dark on the outside.

So I would say it was a pretty successful trip to the commissary, but like I said, Ryan went back after work to get the produce...romaine lettuce was finally available.

After that we went out dinner because it was like a Friday night for Ryan since there is no work today. The original plan was to go to the Indian restaurant, but Ryan heard about another place, which we didn't find after a quick look in that direction and with it getting late we just turned around and went back for Indian food. No worries, we were both in the mood for Indian.

I will point out that it was just one of those nights. First I realized I left my camera at home. No problem when I have an iPhone, right? Wrong! I guess my battery died somewhere along the way. Darn, what to do now? Ryan to the rescue...I used his phone. So for some reason these pics are smaller than usual, but hey, at least I managed to get some pics!

This place is called O Sitar and it is the only Indian restaurant on the Island. They are almost always empty (although I have heard other people say they eat there too) and it is like having dinner cooked for you in someone's home. You get to order off a decent sized menu, but the kitchen literally looks like the one in our own home. After the owner cooks one thing, he brings it out himself, or sometimes his wife does. Everything is made to order and it can take some time for the meal to come. But this also allows for flexibility in the preparation since you can tell him what it is you want and he can acommodate that.

So we started with some papadum.

With some mango chutney and another type of sauce. Looks like there were hot peppers in there.

I love the funny looking Coke Light can. They also have coke zero around here.

Here is the naan he makes here. Very interesting...

You can see it is much thicker than what we typically think of as naan bread. This is certainly different from any other naan I have had before, but it is good.

I love the rice here because it comes in so many colors.

Usually Ryan and I order 2 vegetable dishes and share, but last night Ryan wanted to try something different and order a chicken dish so I took this opportunity to try something different too and get this shrimp dish (I don't eat chicken and Ryan doesn't eat shrimp!). It was very good and I was happy my shrimp had no heads and were deveined.

Ryan had chicken tikka and he said it was very good.

Overall it was a very good meal, although I will say I did miss having my vegetable korma. My fave dish is mattar paneer, but he does not offer that on his menu. I think there is a lack of ability to make the paneer (homemade Indian cheese) here, but that is just my opinion, since I noticed it was no where on the menu.

Afterwards we wanted a coffee so we went to Make Me Nuts. Hmmm looks a lot like Dunkin' Donuts! They were almost all out of donuts this late at night, which was fine since neither of us actually wanted a donut.

Instead we each enjoyed a latte and split a chocolate chip cookie.

I thought this was really cool so I took a picture. This places also does cakes and cupcakes and crepes and ice cream, and well just about everything...breakfast food, salads, sandwiches, breads. but this cupcake "tree" looked awesome.

And so that ends our "Friday" night out. Not sure what the plan is for the rest of the day, but I know I plan to get to the bread making soon. I have the ingredients already for both loaves I am going to attempt this weekend, so I will keep you posted.

QUESTION: Do you like Indian food, and if so what is your fave dish? What is your favorite "ethnic" food? (Keeping in mind of course that for some of you what is "ethnic" to me is actually your own cuisine! That's one thing I love about traveling is trying native foods and then I can almost always find them served somewhere in the United States.)

Dinner, dessert and a great movie

So, speaking of relaxing and hobbies, Kristen (EatingRD ) pointed out that bike riding is not cheap. When I wrote that yesterday I was for some reaon thinking old school about my last bike that my parents bought for me when I was 15 and I still had available to me to ride. But I totally forgot about the nice brand new bike I just bought, which buy the way, was totally not free and so therefore, I am sorry to say, bike riding is no longer free for me either. Kristen does a great job with her awesome riding and I am just jealous she is back riding in Vegas where this is much less rain than here.

I should also point out another one of my hobbies is snorkelling while Ryan spearfishes and that is not a cheap hobby either. And neither is reading books, well unless they come from the library, but I love to keep them in a collection.

QUESTION: What hobbies are actually cheap?

Alright, moving on to dinner last night, although it looks like breakfast...

These are eggs from Angra, which we buy in the store here.

If I am scrambling them I almost always add a little milk to increase fluffiness and volume. In this case I really wanted to use the last little bit that remained in the carton.

Then I am ready to go with my "breakfast" creation for dinner.

One of the joys of being newlyweds is that we have great kitchen things from our registry. (Not the best joy of all, which by the way is being with my husband...but it makes playing in the kitchen lots of fun).
Sramble those eggs really well...
Add some cheese on top and there we have a nice breakfast sandwich...for dinner!

On to our dessert. What else would we want to eat while watching a movie?
Wow, only 10 calories in 2 tbsp unpopped, or about 5 cups popped. Yes we added a little extra when we used oil to pop this, but we used as little oil as possible.
Haha, look at Ryan's shaking action!

Beautiful white popcorn. You can still see the red color inside since we started with red kernels.

The Harry and David's set came with some toppings too so we tried those out.

Just a dash..

And we were good to go. We watched the next Academy Award winning movie in our line up. Ok, ok you got me there. We had to skip one. They never made Cavalcade on DVD. It was supposed to be released but it wasn't the last time I checked. Maybe I will look today and see if I can get it. Ok, back to the movie at hand.

We watched It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Seriously, this is the best movie I have ever watched. I loved it! It was fantastic and I see why it won all 5 major Academy Awards in 1934. If you haven't seen this and you don't mind a black and white film, you must see it.

Ok, last but not least, I wanted to point out a few giveaways and such from some other great blogs...

First, The CandidRD is giving away Barney Butter , and the giveaway ends friday at 12 am

Next, there are two giveaways from An Apple A Day:

Hot Chocolate , which looks heavenly and also Sodastream which is a soda maker for your home...but hurry up, these both end today so make sure you get your entries in ASAP!

And last, but certainly not least, if you haven't checked out Chocolate Covered Katie you must do so now and often during this month. She is raising money for charity through a page view charity drive, so click often on her site!

Thanks everyone for reading and have an excellent Thursday!!!

QUESTION: Do you like black and white movies and if so what is your favorite?

Relaxin'

Ahhh, time to relax. Well, almost. I have a few more things I am working on, one of which is endulging in some blog reading. But then it is time to relax. Ryan has a 3 day weekend, so I am looking forward to doing some relaxing with him.

So, what does relaxation look and/or feel like for you.

A beach...This is Angra, on a busy day, so probably not the most relaxing picture.

A great view from on top of the Grand Canyon...

Looking into the beauty that is the Grand Canyon. Ok, this picture was actually taken from inside a tiny plane that flew over the GC and may not have been the most relaxing of all moments, but the picture is certainly beautiful.

This view from up on top of Mt. Charleston in Las Vegas, this is known as Cathedral rock. (This is a bit relaxing for me, after the nice hike up, Ryan proposed!!!)
The sunset in San Diego over looking the beach...

Paddling down the Colorado river with Nevada on your right and Arizona on your left.

This view in Montana...

Nope, not relaxing, but a day at the Baltimore Aquarium was a great way to relax and learn something at the same time.

Hanging out in Napa Valley at COPIA in the gardens...

While all of those could be great relaxing activities, here is how I plan to relax over the next few days...with a good book, chillin' on the couch!

QUESTIONS: What about you, what do you like to do for relaxation/to relax/what makes you feel relaxed? Also, are you reading any good books right now?

Oh, and thanks for sharing about your hobbies. I found it is good to mix some that can be enjoyed for free (like bike riding) with others that might be more expensive (like collecting old movies and watching them).