Monday, November 21, 2011

Fun Times at Funchal by Night


Do you remember my first run at trying Portuguese food? If not, you should definitely try checking that out again. It will really help get you up to speed on just how much the Foo Fairy likes keeping me company through life and what kind of starting point we were at on this particular journey.

I'm not even sure if I have the words to put this post together. Let's start from the beginning shall we? Someone volunteered to babysit the young'uns for a night. Woo hoo! Freedom!

Me: "What should we do?"

Him: "I guess a movie? What's playing?"

Me: "Nothing that great. There's Tower Heist. We could try that."

Him: "Meh. Yeah, there's a Pizza Hut near the theater. We can grab some before hand."

Me:"Great. Let's do this!"

All focused and intent on having some sort of grown up evening we headed out on what seemed like a fairly decent night. I took a couple of umbrellas just in case because, well, it's England. 

All parked up and steps from the theater:

Me: "Yeah, I really don't want to sit in a dark theater for something I'm not even sure I want to see. That just sounds boring."

Him: "Yeeaaaah. I know what you mean. Pizza doesn't sound good either. Hey! What about that Funchal restaurant you never got to try?"

Me: "Your brilliance is why I love you."

And this is where the Foo Fairy laughed. Favours long owed to the Foo Fairy were called in from High and Low. What started as a drop or two of rain became the heavens splitting open and the great Floods of ancient beginning once again in Bournemouth. And of course, Funchal by Night is at the top of a massive hill and we are at the bottom.  Soon we were swimming upstream along salmon. We kept watch for Noah and his second Ark to see if we could hitch a ride. James, being all manly, refused the second umbrella. He had a rain jacket. Surely that's enough. We eventually arrived, soaked to the bone to a quiet and empty restaurant. It was dry and warm and you really couldn't ask for anything more. Oh wait! Yes you could. There was food.



There were flowers and with the brilliance of the yummy food, the rain outside departed and in it's place were bubbles.



Don't ask me. I promise, I wasn't the one blowing them. 

Diana, I must admit - that was beyond tasty. Thank you for encouraging me to try it. I don't think my life would've been complete without the food or this surreal experience.

xoxo

{all photos from my little cell phone}

8 comments:

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  2. Glad you finally got to go! Some things are worth the struggle

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  3. The food looks so yummy...great that you had fun!

    xoxo
    Stella

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  4. That garlic toast looks great! =)

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  5. oh wow... all the food looks so fantastic. My tummy just gurgled.

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  6. I've never tried Portuguese food, but now I want too. You always tempt me with these delicious food posts!

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  7. Hi! Sorry for not commenting sooner but I've been busy as hell! First of all, Portuguese food! Yay! I'm glad you finally had a chance to taste it! And even happier that you liked it! I'd feel so guilty if you haven't! Looking at the pictures, the food doesn't look like traditional Portuguese food. I guess you got the fancy version. But it's all about flavor right? I think so! I hope one day you can try our food in our wonderful country. I'm having a major Portuguese food withdrawal at the moment! Can't wait to head home for Christmas and eat all the good stuff! It's funny how we take so many things for granted and then miss them terribly when they're gone. I definitely got a new appreciation for my country after these 8 months living in Ireland.
    Btw, I was in San Francisco for a week and I loved it! The food in your country is not too bad either! I had the best burgers and pancakes I've ever had in my life! :)

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  8. It's no worries! I figured you were doing the travelling and recovering thing. Glad that you enjoyed your time in San Fran. Interesting place isn't it? There are a lot of great things in that area but I'm more of a beach girl myself so I'm really drawn further south towards Malibu when I'm in those areas. The sand is so deep and it gets so warm. You can just sink into it on a windy chill day and still enjoy the whole experience.

    Obviously I have no idea how authentic the food was but it was amazingly tasty. The woman serving us kept breaking out into Portuguese to some of the other employee's and an occasional customer that had braved the bad weather. They even had a football match on that Portugal was playing in. I'm more determined than ever to go and visit.

    I hear you on gaining a whole new appreciation for the country you're from. I didn't think there would be much to relocating for me other than a few small things here and there but I was wrong. I get so surprised about it all.

    Cheers,
    Rachel

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