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I have moved. I am now living in http://cachimonia.blogspot.com
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Bento or the boxed lunch

I have been away from Dionisolia for such a long time that I felt I needed a really good reason to come back and write. I have tried so many new and cool restaurants lately that maybe I could write about that... or about trying my hand (and failing miserably) at puddings. But no... Instead I will let you know about the boxed lunch.
The boxed lunch is a famous cultural trait in both the US and Japan, where its normal for people to prepare their lunch at home and take it to work in a... lunch box. The portuguese 'marmita' which is looked down on.
Today I came acrosse this site: Mizuku Ito's photoblog on bento lunches and was immediately drawn to it.
Even if the pictures are not that good, you can see the way things are arranged and the kind of foods that are packed. I'm in love.
Now that I am starting the DASH diet and fruits + all kinds of vegetables (and grains!) are allowed I'm already thinking about all the combinations that I can try.
Hummm....

Credibility

I've heard so much about gaining credibility and yet life and close ones don't cease to amaze me. No matter how much I know, it will always be Emily Post's etiquette book that will prevail with the right gift to bring to a friend in mourning. It always be my brother that will ascertain that Quid pro quod can be correctly used as misundersatnding in the Portuguese language. Even if they say the exact same thing I had already said. Maybe my role is just to be the last one to be served the wine.
Cialdini knows best and has said it over and over in here.

Necklaces II

I just realized that having necklaces in my heart is like Paul Simon's Diamonds on the soles of her shoes.
Which then brings me to the look-alikes that we used to do in high-school, only two of which I remember:
Danielle Klotzkin looks like a cabbage patch doll
Mike Oldfield looks like Chris de Burgh who looks like Jimmy Connors.

Necklaces

Today's post is not directly related with food, but with the sweet feeling that invaded me as we were driving outside Lisbon this morning. We got it in our minds that we should go to Sintra but then somehow we missed the entrance (or could it be the exit?) and eventually found ourselves driving through Colares. You know Colares has that air around it that you can never really describe as someone who is unattainable and to whom you can never find the nerve to speak to... It's like Carmen Dolores who, some years ago, in a radio interview said that she had never got any parts to play a peasant and that made her really sad, but everyone said she seemed to have such an air about her that it would never really work; she could never be credible in such a role. Colares is like that, only it is a place. And then, as if to fight that feeling, there's a saying at the very exit 'Leve Colares no coração' which is something like 'Take Colares in your heart', which I find really sweet. Then we translated it wholy and got 'Take necklaces in your heart' which I thought was even better. And then R. surpassed himself with 'Light necklaces in your heart' which of course is really poetic even if not the best of translations. We then progressed to discuss the virtues of the word 'leve' which is exactly as it should be. A word which is what it describes. I remembered having read this which I thought was a post that really put a smile on my lips, for hours after I read it.
All this conversations about lightness made my day. Of course I could speak of the wonderful lunch, the smell of wet earth when it suddenly started raining or the feeling from just holding his hand in silence... but more than anything, its the feeling of having so many necklaces in my heart that fills it with joy.

Delicately gooey

I first read about this in my favourite 'Martha Stewart Weddings' in which it was suggested that a butter cookie be placed over a cup of coffee while the bride and groom danced away after the main meal. We, in turn, decided to try it with the wonderful big cookies that my brother kindly had brought us from Holland placed over a cup of simmering indian tea while we talked the night away after a dinner with good friends. These big cookies have a cinnamon twist and a wonderful caramel filling. They are good, however they go from good to great if you leave them for a few minutes over a cup of simmering tea because they get infused with the aroma and the filling becomes gooey in a way that is hard to stop us from eating one after the other.
So simple and yet so good!

Zeno Gourmet

I know how many of you must be thinking already 'Here she goes again with yet another post about a restaurant she went to, didn't like and is going to complain about...'. If you are one of those you are, in a word, wrong!
Yesterday I went to Zeno Gourmet and I liked it. Liked, liked, liked! I liked the cool ambiance, I liked the good looking staff, elegantly dressed in black and I liked the food!
I don't know how many of you have gone through the experience of being on a diet and still wanting to go out your average of 4 times a week, but take it from me, it is HARD! You just don't get enough options, are generally embarassed of asking waiters if instead it can come with vegetables (whatever the it is) and after the third time you are generally tired of eating tomato and lettuce! That's why I thought this Zeno Gourmet was such a great find. Grilled salmon with herbs, grilled vegetables (zuchinni, eggplant, cherry tomato, bell peper, onion) and pureed Spinach. How's that for a delicious and healthy meal? I was so entangled and happy with my dish that I can't really talk about any other dishes, but everyone else seemed happy as well!
To end it off, I succumbed to gluttony. I shared (let me stress that) a trio of mousses: Chocolate, passion fruit and mango. They were by far the best mousses I've had in a very long time. Rich and sweet just to the right point, with a delightfully creamy texture.
There were some things that I didn't like (of course, how could I not?!) such as the smoke and the service taking a little more than it should have. But really... who cares? In the end, I know I don't!