Back to Buenos Aires! Not literally… but I just realized I hadn’t reposted a popular series from the previous version of this blog. From 2007 to be exact. Back when my only internet presence was line of sight, I wrote one of the most widely read, English-language blogs about Buenos Aires. While I researched early housing projects in the city, I also began looking up & paying attention. I saw more domes than I’d ever noticed before…
Read More »buenos aires: domes
Time to continue this mini-series about travel posters which began with Argentina & moved on to Spain. Now let’s take a look at Portugal… one of my favorite places that was very popular in the mid-20th century, then fell off tourists’ radar until about 2010. The secret is out again: Portugal rocks!
Read More »found: portugal travel posters
How can this be? Already a decade has gone by since my mother passed away?? I decided to write about her life here, inspired by a friend’s blog who recently lost his mother. My mom was a complicated woman —she gave some of that to me, no doubt— and there are many gaps in her life story that I will never know. But…
Read More »personal: mom, ten years on
Whether you call it a national border or la raya, this trip had several motivations: spend time in places Rafa & I had been individually but not together (awwww), visit new spots that are best accessed by car & see how permeable —or not— the Portugal/Spain border has been over time. We beat the heat until the last couple of days of the trip, but overall we were very lucky with weather considering the time of year. Join us for a crazy week on both sides of the border…
Read More »road trip: borders
Elvas not only boasts a massive wall around the entire city that dates from the great age of fortress construction in the 1700s, but the nearby Forte de Nossa Senhora da Graça also impresses from its commanding location. As a modified 400-meter (1,300 ft) mountain, the fortress could easily defend Elvas & see any invasion force coming from Spain next door. Most of the fort sits submerged into the mountaintop, making this a fantastic feat of engineering. I have no drone, but this gives you an idea of the scale:
Read More »elvas: forte da graça
Classic recipes from any country have at least two things in common: an intensely debated origin & of course, several variations… everyone’s grandmother obviously makes the best! Since my grandmother was not Portuguese, I draw on 20 years of travel to & eating in Portugal to make their classic comfort food at home. I promise this won’t turn into a food blog, but I love to eat & cook so I wanted to share some of the dishes we regularly make.
Read More »recipe: bacalhau à bras