Christmas ....

Hi everyone how are you ... Why Christmas you say ... well because to me Christmas is the season for being with your family, all the decorations and all the food !! Christmas to me is the time of the year when we have so many different types of foods, deserts and drinks to share and taste.  Being that I am Portuguese I thought it might be apropriate to share some of our traditional dishes.

I love Christmas and I always go all out.  I especially make sure that everything is perfect for my children.  Chrildren I think are what make Christmas so magical.  The lights, the tree, the gifts and the food.  Just seeing the childrens eyes sparkle and see how excited they get about everything is what makes me happy.  I beleive that we should not take the magic and imagination of Christmas away from our children, no matter how old they are ...   Christmas is Magical ....

Portuguese tradition is that on Christmas eve all the children are suppose to put their shoes on the stove tops, so that when Santa comes through the Chiminy he wont' burn his feet (this obviously comes from when houses used to have Fire Places).  I how ever do not do this.  Every year we go to my Dads house on the 24th for dinner, so whilst putting the kids in the car, I make like I forget something and I run back in the house and quickly pull out all the presents I hid and and put them by the tree.  I sprinkle magic dust around the place and take a bite out of the cookies and a sip of milk.   That way when we get back home the sparkle that lights up their faces is just the best sight ever.  This year aparently Santa is on a Diet so we are leaving carrots and celery out .. I thought that was cute.

cod with brocolli rabe eggs and potatoes olive oil and loads of garlic

 calde verde ... green soup

 letria ... vermecelli pudding

 pao de lo

On Christmas Eve, we eat Cod Fish (Bacalau) boiled with Cabbage or Broccoli Rab, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Eggs.  We then put Olive oil and Vinegar and loads of chopped garlic on this ... I love this dish any time of the year.  There is something very satisfing about this meal.  It's not too heavy or to light and just all the flavours just seem to pop in your mouth.  We have lots of fresh bread, which we eat with grilled Chorizo. For dersert time we have Letria, (Vermicelli Pudding) Pao De Lo, (a Sponge Cake with a difference), Leite Creme, (Custard), Molotof, Port Wine and Coffee ... At midnight we eat Caldo Verde (Green Soup) which is made with Kale Leaves chopped super thin, potatoes, onions and chorizo.