Thursday, April 27 Dia da Liberdade

In Portugal, every 25 of April is celebrated the Freedom Day. That's a translation that doesn't make such impact as Dia da Liberdade! Basically, and I'm not diminishing the great act that it was, but we were fighting communism, so soldiers and the citizens rebelled against it, using carnations as a symbol.

[photography above from here]

Our little stroll through Choupal didn't happened at all because of that, but in a way we were celebrating our freedom. We always like to spend a little time together, and if it's only the three of us this is what happens.

I do have to say, I love this little things ♥

Choupal, immortalized in poems and fado of Coimbra. I had been there one time already and I completely fell in love with it, it extends for a lot of miles, we were there for two hours and we didn't saw half of it. But it was, without a doubt a well spent day and I can't wait to have more days like this. 

[left - Sara // right - Sofia]

i'll see you when i see you, x

Thursday, February 23 To the Mountains we go! | Day Two

The second day was the day to play in the snow!

We started the day by having lunch at the same place we did the day before. The plan was to eat and then, after coffee (always) we would drive to the mountains, see snow, and play a little bit.

First stop had to be Lagoa Comprida, the biggest lagoon from the mountains. There's a big wall around the place so you can see it, and enjoy the fantastic view, this time we had the weather on our side, we still felt the cold getting to us, but the fact that the sun came up it made all the difference.

All the way up to mountain we started seeing more white and by the time we were on the top you could only see white covering the landscape. We were going to go to the highest bit, but the traffic was quite intense, so we decided to park on one side of the road and have you fun right there.

We spent most of the day on the way up and down, having fun and admiring the landscape, by the time we realized was time to make way to Coimbra, we had classes to attend the next day.

I used to travel so much with my parents when we were little, that being able to do this with my friends was awesome. I think I talk by all when I say: thank you for the great weekend Sofia, for inviting us and makes feel 'at home'. 

I hope that we make more of these, soon! And I hope you have liked this snippets,

and I'll see you when I see you, x

Wednesday, February 22 To the Mountains we go! | Day One

A week ago, one of  my good friends, asked me and a bunch of friends if we wanted to go to her hometown. She lives in Seia, Portugal which stands near a mountain, as many may know it: Serra da Estrela.

A little history behind this little adventure we had.

We were set to live Coimbra, where we study, an make road by 10:30 a.m, but as we know, we left late, by 11:30 a.m we were on our way. We divided ourselfs between two cars, ours was the one with the most fun of course, we sang all the way there. Took us one hour and a half, through rain and fog to get there, but all was good when we arrived and had a delicious meal waiting for us.

There's a little village near Seia called Travancinha, our first stop. A few people share the same birthday date and every year around this time, they do a get together with friends and family.

The place was really good and pretty.

After we sang Happy Birthday we wanted to go on a walk, but the time wasn't on our side so we hopped on three cars and went on our way to place called Chão do Rio.

This place is magical, and none of my photos make justice to it. You'll find rare flowers, a flock of sheep, houses of stones and thatched roofs and a natural pool. I don't think that I can explain it, you really have to see it to believe it.

If you follow this link you can always reserve one night or maybe two to know the area and see it for yourself, as we did.

After that we went to my friend's place and then to a little coffee in town. The idea was to watch a movie before bed, but we were all shattered and we had a long day ahead the next morning, the mountains were waiting for us.

I see you tomorrow for day two, x

Monday, June 20 Kitchen Mess | Sintra's Pie

Truth be told, when my father said the ingredients that this takes I thought to myself "that doesn't sound good, it's probably going to rubbish", only because I was not familiarized with the mixture, but what a fool I was for thinking that!

I remember when I was little and every time we went to Sintra we ate little things called Queijadas de Sintra and we loved it so much. At first I didn't know the name of the recipe, but when I first took a bite all the memories from Sintra came back to me, the taste was almost the same and it was delicious.

Since I enjoyed the pie (a lot) that I made with my father, I would love for you to try it as well, alone or with your dad as well!

You'll need:
2 Fresh Cheese, 100g All Purpose Flour, 250g Caster Sugar, 4 Egg Yolk, 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon, 1 package of Shortcrust Pastry

Preparation:
First of all, preheat your oven at 160ºC. Then, lay the pastry in a form for pies with the paper that comes with - I bought mine because it's easier, but you can make it from scratch and add the grease proof paper - and poke some holes in the bottom with a fork.
For the filling you start by mixing the fresh cheese with the egg yolks, until it's a smooth consistency, then add the caster sugar and mix. You'll have to mix very well between each thing that it's added. Finally add the sifted flour and cinnamon (if you don't think that's a good amount of cinnamon you can add a little bit more) and mix it.
When all the mixing is done it's time to pour it to the tray with the pastry and put it in the oven for 45 minutes. I think I left a little longer, but 45 minutes is a good time to take a look, if the edges os the pastry are not as wish them to be (golden) you can let it stay for a little longer but not to long.

Hope you enjoy making it as I did and I swear, it's one of the best things you will taste from my country!

Sunday, March 27 Kitchen Mess | Chickpea Salad

Every now and then people should focus on what they are eating and see if it's the right thing for them. I don't eat right, tend to miss meals and sometimes not eating at all during the day, so the other day I stopped and took a look at what I've been eating lately and the most it's meat.

Wait, I'm not going vegan or vegetarian, but I do have to cut some meat out of my meals if I want to get fit and live better. And in that note, one of the things I want to start doing more is salads, for many reasons, because they're cheaper, lighter, healthier and easy to make.

I had in my fridge a couple of tomatoes and a couple of peppers waiting to be eaten, and before they rotten, this chickpea salad was created!

You'll need:

1/2 Pepper, 540g Chickpea, 1/2 Onion, 1 Tomato

Preparation:

First you start by preparing the pepper, tomato and onion, I took the seeds out and chopped the pepper and the tomato and then put them aside; then I cut the onion half and chopped in tiny pieces.

My chickpea was in a flask, I took them out and passed water on them to take the liquid that they usually come in. And now, this is the tricky part: you have to mix it all together! 

At last and not least you season it the way you want, I went for olive, pepper and garlic, but you can use mayo or other type of sauce.

This recipe did three meals for me.
Hope you enjoy this little treat and as you can see is pretty easy to make!