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, February 13 Identity Crisis

Hello.

It seems only fair that I start, at least, by explaining. For the past few months I've been with a little identity crisis about the blog, and for a moment there I really wanted to not do it anymore...

When you like what you do, but you don't seem to appreciate enough, doubt is the first thing that comes to you, I thought about changing the name, changing the platform of hosting, even thought about giving up (as I said before), but the truth is I like writing here, sharing my passions and interests with you.

This year I've met people that are as much (or more) passionate about the same things I am (you two know very well that and thank you for existing in my life) and somehow that makes me want to create more, to have new ideas.

Although some things will have to change because I feel that the blog can have more potential and that I can do a lot more.

So, welcome back to Coffee at Three, and I hope you enjoy the ride from now on!

See you when I see you, 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!

Monday, February 22 GTKM | The City Where I Live In

"Coimbra dos Amores, Coimbra dos Doutores"

The first sentence cannot be translated in a way that you could understand what it means to us students here in Coimbra. Roughly it says - Coimbra of Lovers, Coimbra of Doctors - see? It probably isn't making any sense to you.

If you know Portugal, you know that are probably four major cities - Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Coimbra - the last one is mostly none for her history and for being the city of the students. For the past (almost) four years I've been living and studying here, and I don't regret a thing.

Moving away from my hometown made me grow in certain aspects of my life, others I still trying to figure out but I'm not having to much success.

One of the thing I love to do is going out I find this beautiful spaces to relax, take a stroll or simply admire the city. I'm planning on creating some itineraries if you some day would like to visit this beautiful city.

It feels like home, that's why I think it's so beautiful and makes want to come back every time I go home. I've not even explain why it's called Coimbra of the Doctors! In university we have an hierarchy for each year in uni, but after you put your cape for the first time and in the beginning of second year you are called doctor!