Culinary Wonderland

Day 413

“You can eat the whole thing; just don’t look at its eyes.” This comes from the server who sets the plate of grilled squid down in front of Chris. Chris nodded as he popped the first one in his mouth. Man, am I glad I ordered a pizza…

Portugal is full of surprises when it comes to gastronomy. It just goes to show that this little country has had a BIG impact throughout the world. For instance, did you know that the Japanese technique of deep frying food (called tempura) was actually introduced by Portuguese traders and missionaries? Wouldn’t you just assume that the curry-based favorite of vindaloo comes from India? Sort of; the hybrid of wine (vinho) and garlic (alho) sauce was developed by the Christian community in Portuguese Goa. At least now I know why we’ve seen so many Indian food restaurants.
It all sounds crazy until you think about the history of exploration that originated from this country. Vasco da Gama, the great explorer, opened the trade route to India. This paved the path for Portugal to become the wealthiest country in Europe in the late 1400s. By way of the Treaty of Tordesillas the country had divided the world in two with Spain. Portugal’s empire would influence and dominate the Orient. Can you say five spice powder? The prosperity of flavor was realized on the first expedition of de Gama when he brought back pepper. It was a small amount but enough to pay for three times the cost of the trip. Amazingly, the spice trade was something that was just as lucrative as the extraction of gold from Africa. In the financial times of today I think you could do better with precious metals rather than table condiments. Isn’t history cool?
Oh, I forgot to mention that marmalade is also a Portuguese original. We had some with breakfast this morning – it was even a little spicy…

Here’s to the world of food,
LK

Day 412: Sagres to Odeceixe

Time: 4:00
Distance: 62.46 km
Avg Speed: 15.6 kph
Terrain: Hilly
Location: N 37˚ 25’ 56.9” E 08˚ 46’ 11.1”

Our stay at the pousada last night was kind of a random splurge on our giant ocean of nights on the road. The room was nice and tidy, the dinner was worthy of writing home about and this mornings breakfast was a sight for hungry eyes. We both were happy to have voluntarily wanted to stay there and were quite cheery as we got on the road this morning. Leslie started the day off by posing a question (she has become more and more philosophical the closer we get to going home). She asked ‘where do you wish we had gone that had planned to go and didn’t end up going and where do you wish we had gone and didn’t plan on going’. She didn’t want my answer right then, she wanted me to think about it. The first part of the question is easy; Vietnam. I think it has to do with being so close to its border and deciding to head home with a broken wheel in tow. Leaving Vietnam untouched worked out and we were able to have a nice summer in Colorado. The second part of the question was a little tougher and I don’t think I have come up with a definitive answer. Right now I am wavering on South America and the far north of Europe. At least I have it narrowed down to a planet.
With fodder to chew on we rode out of Sagres and north to Odeceixe. The landscape changed from the dessert-scape of the southern coast to eucalyptus forest with agriculture and cork tree groves sprinkled here and there. I finally did some reading about the cork industry here and found out that a cork oak has about a 150 year life span of harvesting. The first harvest of a tree’s bark usually doesn’t occur until the tree is about 20 years old, but after that it is harvested every 9 years or so. The cork taken off of older, more harvested trees is of higher quality and gets better money. The plastic cork revolution has taken its toll on the cork industry in Portugal, but the industry is looking into making cork a fashionable wine stopper once again. Feel free to wow your friends around the water cooler.
Leslie set a new all time record for photos shot on a riding day. Her rest day record is set high at around 150 photos, but today she was able to squeeze in 81 shots even with riding for 4 hours. Nice to see that she hasn’t slowed down.
We were warned that Odeceixe is a pretty sleepy little town in the off season. I think that sleepy is an understatement. The first two guesthouses we went into were wide open, but totally unmanned. Usually there is a sign saying help yourself and catch up with me later, but here there was nothing. Finally we were about to just sit at a café and wait awhile, but when I looked back up the street I saw a little lady waiving to me. I quickly walked up to her and she got us in to her place. I guess a little old man on his walk saw us step into her place and then saw us head down to the café. Not wanting his friend to miss out on business he went and found her and got us all straight. Sometimes it is nice to stand out like sore thumbs.
Standing bigger and better,
CK