Sunday tea + knitting club

The best program for a Sunday afternoon: tea with friends followed by a knitting session were we shared our (beginers) projects and chatted away unaware of time. 

I baked a vegan pumpkin/cinammon pie (which turned out pretty good) and some chocolate filled cashew mini-muffins. 

My friend R. finished her first sock ever (Its just beautiful) and my friend C. had her very first knitting lesson. So proud of these 'small' acomplishments.

Caldas da Rainha I - A good walk this weekend

This weekend J and I went to Caldas da Rainha, it was a greyish-mildly-warm day and we walked in the city centre heading to the farmer's market that takes place each Saturday. We bought 6 kilos of wonderful fruit (this evening I made a pear + peach + cinnamon pie) and just before coming back home we stopped by this town's famous ceramic factory "Fabrica Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro" were we bough (on sale!) two beautiful high plates, to display cakes!

Recently enjoyed things

1 - Inspired by some improvements in the building I live in, I've been doing some repainting myself. Its kind of relaxing to paint your sorroundings. Afterwards its inevitable to keep noticing how much better it looks (each time you pass by).

3 - Typical portuguese homemade sponge cake eaten in a picnic + J's favorite expresso coffee. 

3 - A finished pair of mittens made to offer a friend!

4 - The first dim sum I ate in Portugal. Delicious.

5 - The best feet-hug I ever got from Toffee.

Socks, porridge and fireplace

This weekend, a newly bought book on crafts inspired me to finish a pair of pink/brown socks started a while ago. The chilly nights up north seemed perfect for the task and reminded me that Autumn is slowly arriving, despite the hot temperatures during the day. 

The fireplace was an unexpected detail to an unusually cold night, it felt strange to spend the day at the beach and the night by the fire! Anyway, we decided to eat in, so I cooked us some porridge with pears and we ate watching a movie.

Breakfast on a hot day

Sooooo hot today... this was breakfast: freshly squeezed orange juice, toasts and watermelon ( my favorite)!

A morning in Bairro Alto and a Hare Krishna lunch

Everytime I go for a walk in Bairro Alto I find a new thing/place I had never noticed before. This time was no exception and this tiny window with a huge amount of clothes piled up caught my eye. when I looked closer I noticed a sewing machine being guarded by a green-eyed-cat - who did his best to ignore me while I was doing my best to be friendly and have him look at me for a photo!

Then I met up with J for lunch in the Hare Krishna Center, were they have a really really nice (veggie) restaurant with a lovely and quiet pateo. It was a first time for J and we both thought the meal was delicious (black bean burgers, basmati rice, lentil curry and beet salad). Loved everything.

I also went to Retrosaria Rosa Pomar to buy a book and, as always, was tempted by loads of new things...

Beetroot + orange juice and a walk on the quay

This morning I made beetroot and orange juice, to use up some of the beetroots laying around here. It was delicious. Two oranges for every medium sized beetroot. Yummy. Unusual. Earthy. Fresh. Frothy.

 

Foggy mornings reminded me of earlier summers in this place. Its a classic. I searched the drawers and found some old games we used to play and we had a go at it, just for old times sake. 

In the evening we went for a long walk along the boardwalk and ended up on the quay, to watch a pink(ish) sunset on the sea.

To round up such a nice-quiet-day we played some more games followed by an improvised veggie pasta with red wine. Great day today.