Stuck in traffic

As the days get longer, I am getting to see the final stages of the sun setting. On the way home from work there is a beautiful reflection of the sun setting in the glass of several office buildings. I have been meaning to get this picture because it is a pretty awesome site. Today I happen to have my camera with me and I just took this snap shot when I was stuck in traffic. I kind of like how the picture came out even though there is lots of noise. You can see the buildings in the distance with the glow of the sun set in the glass windows. When I get a real camera I will stop and take a real picture.

Spring Yard Cleaning

I remember growing up and working in the yard with my father. We would rake all the leaves in the yard into a huge pile by the street. You could sense fall in the air by the smell of the freshly fallen leaves and the cool air. My dad would take out the lighter from his pocket and light the pile of leaves on fire. No need for a permit! Not sure if there was one required, but even if there was my dad wouldn't bother. The fire would burn really hot for most of the afternoon into the evening. Sometime a car would drive by sending the flaming leaves down the street chasing after the car. We would sometimes burn into the night. Unlike today, you need a permit and fires have to be out by 4 pm like in my town. I recalled these memories after spending this weekend burning the piles of trees and branches we have begun to cut down in our yard. There is about 7 years worth of yard work that hasn't been done. We are on a mission to get it done this year. We have burned 5 huge piles of brush. Burning over the weekend reminded me of my dad and the times we worked in the yard together. I did get a permit and the fire was out by 4 pm as required. OK it was 5 pm.

Festa Figueiro Da Serra

We celebrated the Festa Da Figueiro da Serra. My mother was a "mordorna", the Portuguese word for event committee chair person. My two aunts Lola and Cila were also mordorna's. The festa for Linhares was the day before in New Bedford, MA. The event was a fund raiser for community projects in Figueiro. These festivals are very similar to one's that they have in Portugal. They raffle off tickets, have an auction for donated gifts. The typical gift was crochet doilly, chourico (Portuguese pork sausage), farneiro (breaded sausage) and authentic queiso da serra (cured goat cheese). There were 600 people who attended. Many of the guests were from adjacent towns from Portugal who had immigrated to the United States in the late 60's and 70's. The tradition is that everyone typically brings a desert dish to the event. I took a picture of the desert table. There are some nice pictures of each of the mordorna's helping with the auction. Tony get's recruited at every even to auction off the gifts. It was nice to see many of the same folks who I haven't seen in a long time from the community. One of them included my high school friend Danny who I hadn't seen in probably 10 years. Our whole family had a very nice time. The festa was held at Clube Juventude Lusitana, Cumberland RI. This is where I once took Portuguese classes 3 evenings a week for 6 years. Here are some pictures from the festa.

A comissao organizadora do convivo de Figueiro da Serra, consituida por Gloria Simao, Ivone Figueiredo, Candida Ferreira, Gloria Bento, Virginia Ribeiro, Isabel Santos, e Lucia Da Silva.

Shredding again!

The little guy is back on his skateboard after a a pretty bad injury last year. I guess he can't remember the pain from last year. We went to the Manchester by the Sea skateboard park this morning. It was was pretty darn cold, 27 degrees Farenheit. The park had several rails, a 4 ft high half pipe, several ramps and platforms.

Photo Shoot Halibut Point, Rockport Ma

I practiced my hobby today. I went to Halibut Point Rockport Ma. Here are some of the photos. This was formerly a quarry. Many of the granite stones used to build structures in Massachusetts came from this quarry.

New Look

I hope to be adding more photos to the blog over time. I really like the look of the black background because it contrasts the color in the photos. Besides it was time to for a new look. Hope you guys like it.

Portuguese Fireman?

Pretty funny web site.
http://www.portuguesefireman.com/index.html

Family Dishes!

One of the things that I like about our family get togethers, is the chance to taste many of the special family dishes. There are a variety of reasons why I don't get the opportunity to eat them as often as I have in the past.

1. I don't know how to make them.
2. Even if I knew how to make them I don't have access to many of the fresh ingrediants that are available in the local portuguese markets.
3. I don't have a huge fresh vegetible garden in my back yard like my parent's garden.
4. I don't have time to make them.

This past weekends birthday party had some very special foods that I hadn't tasted in a long time. These included fresh cheese or "queiso fresco" This is a salty white cheese that is not cured, that is why they call it fresh. Tony's wife's mother made it. She also made a delicious Portuguese Sweet bread which goes very well with the fresh cheese.

The signature desert dish of course that viz avo makes is the sweet rice pudding "arroz dosse". She is always the one who makes it for alll of our family events. Although often attempted by my aunts and mom, no one comes close to viz avo's sweet rice. It use to be my father in laws favoriate. I sometimes think that my kids some day will not being able to share in and appreciate these special foods. I certainly don't want to be the one who "drop's the ball" by not knowing how to make these dishes or being able to teach my kids how to make them. Over time it is inevitable that some of these dishes will be lost as we all become part of the "melting pot". I think the stew we are becoming is something more special than the individual ingredients we started with. My wife for example has contributed some very special dishes that have now become part of our family's cusine. The best recipe's will be the one's that continue on to the next generation because they taste great and because we have made an effort to preserve them. This post was inspired by Tia Lola because she sent me viz Avo's recipe for sweet rice. Here is the recipe.

Sweet Rice - ARROZ DOSSE

Ingredients
1 GALLON WHOLE MILK
2 CUPS RIVER RICE
ORANGE PEEL
3 OR 4 EGGS
4 CUPS OF SUGAR
PINCH OF SALT
1 CUP OF WATER

Directions
- BOIL WATER WITH ORANGE ADD RICE TO BOILING WATER STIR TIL WATER EVAPORATES
- ADD 3/4GALLON OF MILK SMMER FOR 45 MINUTES
- ADD 4 CUPS OF SUGAR STIRRING CONTINUOUSLY TO PREVENT STICKING ( This is where most people mess up. )
- SIMMER FOR 10 TO 15 MINUTES
- IN A SEPERATE BOWL MIX 1 CUP OF MILK AND 3 OR 4 EGG YOLKS THEN ADD TO RICE BRING TO A BOIL
- REMOVE FROM HEAT AND PUT INTO GLASS DISHES

Thank you Tia Lola for contributing the first recipe. I hope there will be many more recipes that I will post. If others have a good Portuguese recipe you would like to share please sent it to my email address along with a story of why the dish is special to you. Remember the Web motto "You should give as much as you recieve." or something like that. Or as one of my old managers in a previous company called it "Quid pro quo"

Birthday Weekend!

Two first birthdays back to back. We had a great time at the first birthday party of our niece and nephew this weekend. Tony and Marie's daughter got to hear happy birthday in English and then of course in Portuguese. Vis Avo always leads the group when singing happy birthday in Portuguese. I also think she is the only one in the whole family who actually knows how to sing the second verse of happy birthday in Portuguese. Sitting around talking with the aunts we stumbled on yet another Portuguese tradition. We were admiring Tia Cila's birthday gift a beautiful necklace when we got on the topic of Jewlery. We realized that all the women in the family always wear their Portuguese ear rings for ever. We joked that they are so painfull to put on and take off that everyone end's up just leaving them in all the time. The only rational I can think why Portuguese ear ring clasps are so difficult to put on and take off is so that you never lose them. The whole family was there except the new family road warrior Tina! Tina we missed you at the birthday party. We missed you too Jack! Here are some pictures from the party. You can thank my son the new family photographer for the pictures. He took some very creative shots at the birthday party.

Traveling For Work -Movie Recommendation

I was traveling this past week in North Carolina. It was 79 degrees F there yesterday. Back home tonight it is 18 degrees F. It felt good to be in an office close to my work team and with great weather! I actually thought for a short moment that it would be great to move down there. But deep down I know that although some things would be better other things that are more important to me would make me feel worse. Things like being away from my family. I feel lucky to be able to drive to see them when I miss them. Well at least for the family that is in the states. My uncles and aunts and cousins in Brazil, Portugal and Canada are too far to see on a moments notice. I hope all of you are doing well!

It seems even friends that are within driving distance are difficult to see on a moments notice. Life gets more complex and scheduled as you get older. It requires more advanced planning to see your friends. My friend John called me last week to coordinate a Homecoming reunion for October of this year so that everyone can get it scheduled. It has been a while since my friends and I have seen each other. When we get together it is like we were together just the other day. We share stories of the great times we have had together. We share what life is like now as parents for some of us. We think to ourselves how time flies by like the blur of guard along the side of road as you drive along the road of life. I am probably feeling sentimental because I just saw a great movie called Elizabethtown. I highly recommend it. It has a great message about balancing work and life and keeping a perspective on how you measure success in life! Something I wish I could do better at.