Sun on Saturday: Portuguese food

Yes, this post is dedicated to food, and holiday food at that - well food's part of our holidays, and often just tastes better in the sun. So you'll know from the title that it's the food from our trip to Portugal last June I'm going to write about. We had a chalet-apartment with its own kitchen - which was very well kitted out, it even had a Nespresso machine which MOH was dead pleased with. Yes dear, just as I planned!

And unusually our board basis was self-catering with breakfast included - it sounds strange but it worked. We'd stayed here overnight on our first trip to Alentejo and remembered how good the buffet-style breakfast was, and I wondered how they were going to replicate that. Well when we arrived the fridge was stocked with milk, cheese and ham and other breakfast essentials; there were oranges for juicing on the side (as well as an electric juicer) and fresh sourdough bread was delivered almost daily. 

With mornings starting with freshly squeezed orange juice courtesy of MOH and this view, how could you ever have a bad day? 

As I said before fresh bread was delivered almost daily, and was hung in these patchwork bags on our front door. We weren't too sure how this would work so on our first morning we were surprised and pleased to discover our bread delivery. At times during our stay we'd open our door cautiously to find that another loaf had been delivered and less often to find there hadn't been a delivery. At one point we were stockpiling loaves, which as it was sourdough goes against all my principles so more cheese was bought and the evenings after a lunch out a simple supper of bread, cheese and quince marmalade (part of the breakfast essentials) did us very nicely indeed. And I *may* just have put a loaf in the case to bring home... sans patchwork bag as my plan was to make some of those at some point. 

The oranges and the Nespresso capsules were replenished daily much to MOH's joy. My joy lay elsewhere, and if you remember at the time I wrote about how Bolo was my favourite new (and essential) breakfast item. Yes cake for breakfast is legit in Portugal, did I mention just how much I like Portugal? I'm pretty sure I've mentioned how much I like cake... 

When we weren't gorging ourselves on bread or cake and then trying to look slim(ish) in a bikini - that's me, not MOH - or out sightseeing, we went off to discover what the local shops and supermarkets had in store.  Food shops abroad are just fascinating aren't they? In this one there was a serious amount of bacalao (or bacalhau in Portuguese), piles of the stuff.  I like bacalao, but I've not cooked with it and I didn't think this was the right time to start, so I just admired it.  And took some photos, which got me some odd looks.

I'm also pretty fish-phobic it must be said and there were some ugly mugs looking back at me from the fish counter.  I've no idea what the ugly ones are and you'd be right in thinking they didn't make it into my shopping basket either.  I do like how the fish on the right are packed into the ice, rather than laid on top of it though. And I did eat fish for most of our evening meals, sometimes because there was little other choice!  But either way I like to know what it is I'm eating and be sure about that before I order, so the phrase book was out a lot in restaurants. Part of the reason for my nervousness is that I'm allergic to most shellfish, so I like to be sure...

I love the colours of the fish below and wish more fish available to buy at home looked like this, rather than in the sterile plastic packets.

And just when I thought I'd seen all the bacalao in the shop, I turned the corner and spotted some in packets for those that like their fish that way.  Seriously so much bacalao in one place!

We bought some padron peppers and had our own game of padron pepper roulette back in our apartment one evening along with some of the local beer (and no not that much). Another simple but tasty and relaxing supper.

We ate out a few times too as well as eating in the apartment; I had these sardines in Porto Covo and they were fantastic. They're just the type of food that tastes so much better in the sun. I had these towards the end of our holiday and MOH was still acting shocked (or maybe it was real) that I'd ordered fish as a main meal as it hardly ever happens in the UK, but if you're on the coast then freshly caught fish really is the best option. Although six of these were too much for me so a couple migrated over to MOH's plate, which he was definitely ok with.

Don't you agree, some food just tastes better in the sun?  

Black & White photo: There's a hole in my roof

Well not mine, thankfully.  This one, and it looks quite serious.  You may have seen a larger colour version in yesterday's post when we walked to the windmill in Odeceixe in Portugal.  I thought this would make a nice black and white image, with the texture of the tiles, the hole and the window.  Apart from that "small" hole in the roof it looked perfectly normal and habitable.  

Characterful, wouldn't you agree?

Sun on Saturday: A walk to the windmill at Odeceixe

Today I'm skipping Cornwall and heading further afield for my Sun on Saturday fix and we're off to Odeceixe in the Algarve region of Portugal.  You'll remember we had a week there back in June 2014 and this is the first post I'm sharing from there.  Yes I know, I'm hanging my head in shame...

Odeceixe (pronounced similar to o-de-SHAYSH) is a small little town which tumbles down the hillside on the borders of the Algarve and Alentejo regions; the Alentejo region is one of those rare places we've visited twice, and even rarer because I could go back again at the drop of a hat.  It's breathtakingly beautiful and life there looks oh so simple.  On our first visit in October 2012 we walked a section of the newly opened Rota Vicentina and despite our sand-filled shoes we had a great time.  On our last trip we took things slightly easier and stayed in one place and used that as our base, at some point I'll share pictures of where we stayed  but right now we've got a windmill to find!

Both of our visits have been about walking rather than the beach thing, but there are beautiful beaches there and the one at Odeceixe is reportedly a good one.  Shortly after arriving in Odeceixe and parking we spied the windmill at the top of the hill and set out to get a closer look. I mean, wouldn't you?

As we headed up into the town, we knew that the views would be fantastic once we reached the windmill and they weren't bad as we winded our way through the town, past elaborate and less elaborate buildings.  

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It looks as if some roof repairs are needed here

It looks as if some roof repairs are needed here

Alongside the church we found a set of steps and took these for a more direct route to the windmill.  This was a walk we were playing by ear, we knew where we were heading and were enjoying looking at the buildings and experiencing the feel of the town.

At the top of the steps we were rewarded with this view of the rooftops - and in my view, you can't beat a good rooftop view.  The windmill was getting ever closer, but I found myself admiring the pavement too...

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As we walked up past the houses above we thought we'd walked up our last hill.  As we turned the corner we were proved wrong, very wrong! 

And yes the views from the top were worth it.  And we didn't even make use of those chairs placed outside either!

Heading back down into the town we walked past this fab lemon tree in a back garden - it's one that would be perfect for sitting back and drinking gin and tonic in!  Back at the steps the local cat greeted us and escorted us safely down before heading off around the back of the churchyard and no doubt more feline pastimes.  We however headed towards the main square, found a cafe and ordered some drinks and of course cake!  Or bolo which is our most favourite Portuguese word!