DISQUS

wow nice one there..your prepared

Great job on H&C tonight! You didn't let Alan get away with his democrap spin... and you looked beautiful and graceful doing it!


I hadn't been to your site before but I look forward to visiting often. Keep up the good work!

oh, and while this is a wine blog, i've found that the best pairing with the pasteis is either an espresso (let the bitterness of coffee be tempered with the sweetness of the custard) or their home-made hot chocolate (in which case you should swear off desserts for a week, at least; the hot chocolate is just pure melted chocolate). i take my kids there all through the winter. while we're at it, though, i'll bet the queijoadas from sintra could hold up to that port. can that be your next installment?

I agree with all of Andrea's comments, except the Pasteis de Belem facility does have a limited menu (sandwiches and the like). The pastry counter also sells -- but doesn't make -- dozens of other pastries as well.

and Sandy, a xaropiga or jaropiga is often a home-made fortified wine made from or flavored with whatever the winemaker might choose. the "ginja" is, as Gabriella noted, a morello cherry, related to what we normally call a cherry (and which the Portuguese call a "cereja"). the morello is a kind of a dwarf cherry tree. "ginja" or "ginjinha" is a brandy or liqueur made from ginjas. I love the stuff, but some people say it tastes like cough syrup.

we once had a wine tasting event with the diplomatic corps in copenhagen. the traditional players -- france, italy, US, etc. -- all participated along with what were then newcomers like spain, chile, australia, etc. one surprise arrival was the chinese ambassador with several bottles of a sweet, fortified wine that we all sampled after eating. it was the star of the show. can't remember what it was called, but I can imagine that being a wine promoter in china would be a lot of fun. opportunities abound!

this theme looks very gay

I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I thank you all for your prayers, concerns, gratitude and love. I really do appreciate it. For all the "thank yous" i got, your very welcome, its my pleasure. as far as golfing goes... i saw a guy the other day hitting balls off a bunker. i dont much play golf so i didnt really pay attention to him. all this gratitude towards me and my unit and everyone else over here does not go un appreciated. i thank you all. and i thank Christine for putting this thread up.

I want to put an end to this petty bickering...

Let me start by saying I am a 23 year old combat medic, in iraq. I have requested to get emails from emom and as have others over here with me. The simple thing is that mail electronic or not is a great damn morale booster. I miss home and have been stuck in this shit hole for the past 6 months and i have about 9 left to go. we get mail all the time from random people accross the U.S. and it makes us happy to see that we are appreciated and not forgotten. trust me its easy to think that you are forgotten. i am not going to say if i believe in the war or not or what side of the politcal fence i stand in. i will say this, TROOPS LOVE MAIL! i am a line medic. i am right there on the front lines kicking in doors and my guys all call me doc. i have seen the worst that humanity has to offer but i offer the best humanity has to give. its a hard job and i deal with more human suffering than i care to think about, and nothing shines through the thick, darkness like a simple letter or email. i dont care what its about. i could use the break in the monotiny of this hell hole. but once again it is america and what i fight for to keep free so enjoy your opinions. god bless, and sorry for the gramatically incorrect rant.

Actually... I go to starbucks fairly regularly. I get a tall coffee. Nothing fancy and it's competitively priced at $1.60. I've started bringing in my own thermos/mug (i take the coffee back home) and they discount it $.10. So that makes starbucks the cheapest coffee I can find. And I like their new fresh roasted coffee.


The occasional burnt coffee isn't unique to Starbucks.



Totally agree about the ridiculous internet situation.

"a winery in Mozambique Kenya"? will it be in Mozambique or Kenya?

apropos of nothing, here is a link to a fascinating article about physiological differences regarding wine appreciation. it holds that one's density and type of taste buds will affect how you judge wines. while this concept seems painfully self-evident, it is an interesting read. it isn't as simplistic as the supertaster versus the dull, but about how even extremely well-versed and educated palates can interpret wines differently. Anyway, recommended:


<a href="<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031100730.html?hpid=smartliving


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti.../>

"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...





and yes, very jealous of your time with the Douro boys. I should be up there today, but with far less interesting company....

apropos of nothing, here is a link to a fascinating article about physiological differences regarding wine appreciation. it holds that one's density and type of taste buds will affect how you judge wines. while this concept seems painfully self-evident, it is an interesting read. it isn't as simplistic as the supertaster versus the dull, but about how even extremely well-versed and educated palates can interpret wines differently. Anyway, recommended:


<a href="<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031100730.html?hpid=smartliving


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti.../>

"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...





and yes, very jealous of your time with the Douro boys. I should be up there today, but with far less interesting company....

apropos of nothing, here is a link to a fascinating article about physiological differences regarding wine appreciation. it holds that one's density and type of taste buds will affect how you judge wines. while this concept seems painfully self-evident, it is an interesting read. it isn't as simplistic as the supertaster versus the dull, but about how even extremely well-versed and educated palates can interpret wines differently. Anyway, recommended:


<a href="<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031100730.html?hpid=smartliving


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti.../>

"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...





and yes, very jealous of your time with the Douro boys. I should be up there today, but with far less interesting company....

apropos of nothing, here is a link to a fascinating article about physiological differences regarding wine appreciation. it holds that one's density and type of taste buds will affect how you judge wines. while this concept seems painfully self-evident, it is an interesting read. it isn't as simplistic as the supertaster versus the dull, but about how even extremely well-versed and educated palates can interpret wines differently. Anyway, recommended:


<a href="<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031100730.html?hpid=smartliving


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti.../>

"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...





and yes, very jealous of your time with the Douro boys. I should be up there today, but with far less interesting company....

This video is very well made highlighting Obama's speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk



It is fittingly inspiring.

1968 wasn't a vintage year for port, so my wife gave me a Calem colheita from that year. She said she had thought about just giving me a 40 year old tawny, but realized that would be cheating since those aren't really 40 years old. No tasting notes yet, but I hope to open it soon. I had a Burmester '73 a few weeks ago that was a friend's birthyear wine. Much plum and tobacco, but, like Ryan's description of the '75 Noval, had a lot of alcohol on the nose and palate that did not dissipate. I wonder if this is typical, or at least typical of wines that might not have been handled properly over the decades? I suppose I'll have to try more older vintages in order to have a larger statistical sample (not that one needs an excuse to drink more vintage port).

Stay away from the lutefisk! The Scandinavians specialize in man's inhumanity to fish. Have fun, though, and feliz navidad (god jul in norwegian).

yeah man what is up with peach walls, my new place has peach walls too. I'm painting over Christmas vacation :)

I swear, even before I read Jill's response, I was going to write 12 million. Then I did my own google search and came up with the same answer. So, to be different, I'll say 13 million. And I think December records the most sales too, based on Christmas and New Year's celebrations.

just for sheer giggles, I am going to enter the exact answers you had in the example (directly cut and pasted):


T,T,T,F,F,T,F,T,F,T,F,T,T



and by God, I stand by them! :-)

the person with the comment about the secretary on a fixed salary with no motivation to help is probably spot on. her vested interests have nothing to do with yours or with the company's. an interesting comparison is in Sweden, where you cannot be fired for incompetence and salaries are high. there is just no reason for anyone to put the slightest amount of effort into pleasing the customer.


it is a shame that this person at the winery is such a dismally unhappy person, but that winery will have to do without the good publicity. we all know that there are many vibrant and charming folk in Spain; that's probably why you moved there. do business with the nice people and forget about the fools.

Has a newsletter come out yet? I signed up a few weeks ago but haven't seen it yet. Let me know if I need to try again.

Ah...bless you Adrienne. Even as an alfacinha (Lisbon resident), I agree that Porto is absolutely magical. I head up there as often as possible. My basic strategy is to eat only in places where the chef is standing in the doorway chatting with the passers by. It is easy to love everything about Porto except the damned Dragons. As a proud Benfiquista, the Dragons arouse only hatred.


I'd love to hear your comments about the Minho...

incredibly petty, I know, but it's "je ne sais pas" or, more appropriately in this context, "je ne sais quoi". sorry, I'll stop now. ;-)