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Short Stories

Nº 75 – A pot with many good things from your garden
(Stone soup from own garden)

Saturday 20 of February 2021 Our goal is to become self sufficient with our food. We need five years to achieve this. We will reach this goal in five steps. In the first year, we worked the land, clearing it and creating a fine tilth, removing the stones and weeds. At the same time, we composted, then used compost as a fertilizer for the first sowing in the second year: potatoes and onions, peas and beans, tomatoes and peppers and many more things. We also would recommend a permaculture course at Quinta Vale da Lama in Lagos. For today’s recipe, …

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Nº 74 – Living with Mushrooms…

Saturday the 13th of February 2021 The forest is filled with animals, plants, grasses, herbs and mushrooms. And that’s why I love every native tree growing exactly where it happens to be. For our forest and winter cuisine, I have chosen three types of mushrooms. Why? Because I know them. Those mushrooms that I don’t really know stay where they are, and I leave them to carry on growing in the forest. They don’t get to see the inside of my kitchen. I’m happy to admit that my knowledge is finite; too many people have paid with their lives for …

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Nº 73 – An Alsatian Pizza

Saturday the 6 th February 2021 One of our family’s favourite recipes is “flammkuchen”, or “tarte flambé”, as it is often called, since it is a typical speciality from the south-east of France. There are a thousand and one varieties of this dish to be found in Lorraine, but also in Alsace, Switzerland and the German State of Saarland, and, as it can easily be made without either meat or fish, it’s a great choice for a vegetarian meal. We sometimes opt for a vegan version, but we love it in all its varieties, and, in today’s recipe, we are …

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Nº 72 – It’s all about energy, right?

Saturday, the 30th of January 2021 During the Covid-19 pandemic, people have been displaying a range of different attitudes that have never before been so well observed and analysed. And it is challenging moments like this one that can help us to overcome our problems. We are now at the stage where our goal is to prevent the virus from spreading any further. It is a struggle between humans and the virus, Goliath versus David. Who will emerge the winner? Since we have a head between our ears and a brain to think with, we can decide our own future. …

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Nº 71 – Pizza-To-Go…

Saturday the 23rd of January 2021 Leaving Vila do Bispo and travelling north, we reach Pedralva and the Pizza Pazza restaurant. Unfortunately, it’s closed. I was really hungry for a freshly baked crispy pizza there. So I carry on north on the EN120, which goes through Carrapateira next to the Atlantic Ocean, and which then reaches Aljezur. I recently had a very good vegetarian pizza in the village of Alfambras at Trigo Vermelho, the restaurant that also serves a pizza made with gluten-free dough and also a vegan pizza. Due to the lock down of the country, the owner has …

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Nº 70 – The most exquisite dishes of Portuguese vegetarian cuisine

Saturday the 16th of January 2021 It is shortly after 12 o’clock on this day before the lock-down, shortly before the country is once again completely closed down. The Parliament decided an hour ago to close Portugal and all its restaurants. The door opens and the guest who enters says into the room: “Mmm, it smells good in here.” We start our journey through the best cuisines of the Republic in Vila do Bispo, in the extreme southwest of Portugal. Our idea is to travel through all 308 counties and test and recommend the food in each one. Somewhere I …

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Nº 69 – In beginning

Saturday, 9 of January 2021 At the smallest restaurant in the world Dreams – will they come true or will they forever be an illusion? How about we take a look at our food and how it is produced. In 2021, this feature is dedicated to food. In this context, I have several requirements. There are several aspects that are important to me. First of all, when I have a meal away from my home, I want it to be at least as good as if I were eating at home. Otherwise, the travel, the expense of the car and …

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Nº 68 – With a little help from a friend

Saturday, January 2nd 2021 How do we get through hard times together? Are you hungry, alone, ill? With solidarity, with the heart, a modicum of generosity and with the will to love your neighbour. At the moment, probably the best campaign representing these attributes can be found here: https://ppl.pt/en/lugaramesa. On the first day of the new year,  2,815 meals had already been prepared and distributed. However, the aim is to reach at least 4,000 full plates and the campaign will run until 18 January. At the end, it may also come tor (much) more than 4,000 dishes. This is a …

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Nº 67 – Mushrooms in the Woods
An attempt to find something natural that we believed already lost

The other day I was asleep, and dreamed of waking up; however, all around me was darkness. Did I find myself in the world of a blind man or simply in a space in the universe without any light whatsoever, not even stars on the horizon? In that dream, I had lost something valuable in the forest and was looking for this… something, I didn’t even know what it was. I could sense life around me, everywhere, but I couldn’t see it. I became unsure of myself. What happens when you are in a public space where you can’t see …

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Nº 66 – Intelligent Trees
Documentary film review

  Are trees able to communicate with one another? Working independently from each other, the Canadian forest ecologist Suzanne Simard and the German forester warden Peter Wohlleben have discovered that trees are highly individual beings that have feelings, understand friendship, possess a mutual language and look after each other. This documentary examines the different ways in which trees communicate with one another, combining scientific research with the observations of a practising forest warden. The film also looks at how this knowledge may influence our relationship with the forest. Just below the forest floor lies the ‘Internet of the Forest’ , …

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