St. Martin's Day

Happy St. Martin's Day!

Here in Portugal people usually eat roasted chestnuts on this day. We were lucky enough to be invited to a "fall snack" this weekend, which included chestnuts, marmelade and fall fruits at our marriage godparents' house...

Candlelit dinners

I've decided that all dinners should be important and, quite possibly, all fall/winter dinners should be candlelit. It's the end of the day, an opportunity to share about what happened, your hopes, your dreams, share food and feel warm, full and cozy. Or at least tired and not feel like washing dishes, like me. 

But if you take the time to make something like black bean and sweet potato enchiladas and salad with tomato, apples and walnuts, it deserves candlelight and it will make any dinner special. 

Hiking Lisbon's lung

We took one of our first "family hikes" on Sunday and I hope it's a habit we can keep up somewhat regularly. We explored a bit of Monsanto, the forest and "lung" in the middle of Lisbon city. We had a really nice friend go with us and we sang "hakuna matata". I only wish we had a dog to sniff along with us...! 

Fall market

Did you know there are things such as fall markets in Portugal? Neither did I. So when I saw this one announced I said, "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" And we did. 

It was small, but nice. We tried all of the cheese samples possible. Then didn't buy any cheese, ahaha. My other half tried some liqueurs and wines and we bought some walnuts and figs. And we shared a bag of chestnuts at the end. Hooray Portugal... have more fall markets!

Halloween... #4!

My friend Sofia told me when I invited her over for Halloween, "We haven't missed a Halloween yet." And only then did I realize, this is the fourth Halloween we've spent together: we've had two dinners at her house and this is the second Halloween dinner at my house. So I guess we've started a tradition. 

My hubbie and I were especially excited because this was the first party we'd be hosting at our new house together. We were extra careful about who to invite, because we only have a certain amount of cups and places to sit. LEAVE IT TO PORTUGAL... however... to try to ruin (!) Halloween for us by scheduling a public transport STRIKE for the same day and half of our guests not showing up due to traffic. 

PS In case you don't know, I hate strikes. I've blogged about them here... and here.

But we didn't let the strike ruin our day... we had fun anyway! 

Pumpkin lasagna and "autumn" salad (w/ apples and nuts) were on the main menu...

Halloween carrots with hummus...

A really great chocolate cake recipe in the back and my favorite: headless gingerbread men! Great gingerbread recipe from Martha Stewart and I used strawberry jam for the blood.  

Pioneer Woman's cinnamon bread... it was okay. 

Eyeballs in the wine glasses...

A bun in the oven costume!!!

Some cool ninjas, angels, "dead nature" and the girl from the ring people hanging around...

Happy Halloween!