Extended Family Dinner
Monday, 12 September 2022 22:47![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekLast night one of my cousins invited us out for dinner. His birthday was hijacked by the lockdown in July, so he hosted this dinner for the family. It was a nice change of pace, as usually for these family parties we go to a lunch buffet place. This restaurant is quite nice. Beachside, a bit far off. But if you ask, is it authentic portuguese food? Hm... Last I heard (that was some 10 years ago) this restaurant is actually owned by three or four guys, none of them Portuguese, 2 Irish, 1 British, and the staff and the cooks are Filipinos. Not casting shade, just sharing the interesting make up of many business venues in town.
The restaurant is very popular so we were only able to get outdoor seating. Even though it was after the mid-Autumn, it was still pretty hot there. But long table, checkered table cloth... it has been FOREVER since the whole extended family came out for a non-buffet and Portuguese dinner.
The food... wasn't anything to tell home about. They were good, but not special fare. I did request for them to order an "Açorda". Host Cousin at first didn't want to order because he has ordered a Seafood Rice (which is known to be a big pot of rice), but when I insisted and said "but none of my Chinese friends want to eat that when we go out for Portuguese meals!" then another cousin agrees, and another cousin agrees, so... Host Cousin has to order it LOL. What this Açorda essentially is bread soaked up in sauce... so... a savory bread and butter pudding maybe? But the bread is so soaked and probably beaten a bit that it's just like baby food and mush. My Chinese friends don't really appreciate that. I like it though. And it wasn't an extra too much food, we did manage to finish everything.
One thing I like about Portuguese cuisine is... desserts. Desserts are usually overly sweet, but sometimes... it HAS to be that sweet!
I was tied between the Biscuit Cake and the Chocolate Mousse, but in the end I decided to choose "Baba de Camelo" because I was always amused by the name... it means... Camel's Saliva LOL... and it's not easily found in other Portuguese restaurants in town (yeah, I can get a chocolate mousse or a biscuit cake almost anywhere). However... well, it wasn't unexpected, but... it was waaaaayyyy toooo sweeeeeet. But oh so good. Because someone else ordered a chocolate mousse, I took a small spoon of it to try, and even the chocolate mousse wasn't that sweet (and the chocolate mousse is supposed to be super sweet).
I had to pay for all the intake of sugar yesterday, so I went for a run today. Hm... I seem to be running better, but I don't think it's because of my sporadic running sessions. I think it's more because I've been doing some workouts daily so I guess I've built some as-of-yet-unseen muscle and resistance. I'll just put the link Darebee.com here. It's free, and you can actually see the actual workouts before trying them out. My issue with Nike is I couldn't see the whole workout list... I need to choose workouts that don't put weight on my wrist, that's why I want to see the full list before I start anything.
The restaurant is very popular so we were only able to get outdoor seating. Even though it was after the mid-Autumn, it was still pretty hot there. But long table, checkered table cloth... it has been FOREVER since the whole extended family came out for a non-buffet and Portuguese dinner.
The food... wasn't anything to tell home about. They were good, but not special fare. I did request for them to order an "Açorda". Host Cousin at first didn't want to order because he has ordered a Seafood Rice (which is known to be a big pot of rice), but when I insisted and said "but none of my Chinese friends want to eat that when we go out for Portuguese meals!" then another cousin agrees, and another cousin agrees, so... Host Cousin has to order it LOL. What this Açorda essentially is bread soaked up in sauce... so... a savory bread and butter pudding maybe? But the bread is so soaked and probably beaten a bit that it's just like baby food and mush. My Chinese friends don't really appreciate that. I like it though. And it wasn't an extra too much food, we did manage to finish everything.
One thing I like about Portuguese cuisine is... desserts. Desserts are usually overly sweet, but sometimes... it HAS to be that sweet!
I was tied between the Biscuit Cake and the Chocolate Mousse, but in the end I decided to choose "Baba de Camelo" because I was always amused by the name... it means... Camel's Saliva LOL... and it's not easily found in other Portuguese restaurants in town (yeah, I can get a chocolate mousse or a biscuit cake almost anywhere). However... well, it wasn't unexpected, but... it was waaaaayyyy toooo sweeeeeet. But oh so good. Because someone else ordered a chocolate mousse, I took a small spoon of it to try, and even the chocolate mousse wasn't that sweet (and the chocolate mousse is supposed to be super sweet).
I had to pay for all the intake of sugar yesterday, so I went for a run today. Hm... I seem to be running better, but I don't think it's because of my sporadic running sessions. I think it's more because I've been doing some workouts daily so I guess I've built some as-of-yet-unseen muscle and resistance. I'll just put the link Darebee.com here. It's free, and you can actually see the actual workouts before trying them out. My issue with Nike is I couldn't see the whole workout list... I need to choose workouts that don't put weight on my wrist, that's why I want to see the full list before I start anything.
