10th of July

Bliss. Again. Walked up to Casa Velha Do Palheiro and back. This was only the second time but already got easier. Weather was humid, or are we just high above the clouds?
Had two impatient boys waiting for me. Ex wanting to leave, had a meeting at 10 with his lawyer, Mish wanted his breakfast, eggs, sunny side up. In London they were always overlooked, could be because of the fear of salmonella? Don’t know. He likes it quite runny with some toast on the side. Had the laziest day ever, almost felt guilty, almost is the key word. The worst part of the day was having to pay my taxes and some bills over the phone. As a law abiding citizen I do that even when I am away.

After that it was just pure relaxation by the pool. Not so crowded, water is pleasantly warm and clean. Real happy about how they manage the estate, the properties. In the morning I happened to come across a guy who was collecting the fallen leaves. Down in Funchal in the evening after 10 pm guys come and hose down the streets, bet you anything that there is someone who even deadheads the flowers, climbs up on a ladder to the flower pots hanging from the street lamps and plucks the dead flowers one by one. My Mum’s kind of work. She spends hours doing that in her garden.

At the pool there is a climber with some tiny white flowers with a gorgeous scent. Keep going there just to take deep breaths, so fragrant. Played with Mish for a while, then he went back to the house.I was all by myself, just me and my books, the ocean, the salty though very humid air. The direction of the waves changed, came from the west, the sun was gone, clouds descended upon the harbour. The view was almost gone. Ann ( works in sales at Palheiro) told us that June is the humid month of the year and by now it should be clear and sunny again. Honestly hope that she is right. It is almost middle of July and somehow up here hasn’t been the sparkling blue sky I am used to from previous trips. Stayed for a long time, missing lunch,writing,reading and chatting away happily. At 6.30 had to return,mainly because my phone needed charging, but also just realized that forgot to cook the chicken for lunch.

Don’t really care much about eating if it is just for providing my body with energy, than it is a chore. Would rather just grab a handful of seeds, nuts and get on with the things I enjoy more. That’s not to say I don’t like cooking, I do.
Love spices,cook mostly Indian,Kuwaiti, Italian for my son. Not very keen on Hungarian dishes( sorry guys), find it heavy and lacking spices. Paprika we use a lot, but I need more than that.
They ended up skipping lunch, made do with some crackers and cheese. Tried hard but couldn’t make me feel guilty. I didn’t come here after all to cook.

By 9 we were all starving, got a taxi to take us down. We went to the old part of Funchal, the Zona Velha. It is a protected area now. Walking down the narrow cobbled streets among the houses that are hundreds and hundreds of years old, some of them actually date back to medieval times, is a unique experience. Like traveling back to the past. Most of the houses been restored, turned into restaurants. There is one special street called Rua de Santa Maria. Why is it so special? Because it’s a narrow street with full of restaurants? No. Because of the doors of the buildings. First time I noticed was back in October last year. Since then we stop in front of them and I admire the pictures. Doors, pictures…you don’t understand, right?

Each door of each building there has been painted or it has some kind of artwork on it. The city council asked some artists to come up with some ideas to help the area become more popular, to draw more tourists. So they ended up painting the doors of these buildings. Such a great idea if you ask me. We all have favourites, mine is the funny looking couple. Brings back nice memories. For a while it was my screen saver on the phone.

It was a very busy Friday night, even the locals were out, waiting for tables at the restaurants. Tried to find Italian, but they were busy. By accident ( we do pass it almost every night yet never ever stopped to look at their menu ) we ended up at a place called La Ao Fundo. Waited for about 20 minutes to be seated but it was worth it. The menu was weird at first glance, mix of Indian,Italian, couldn’t quite figure it out till the owner/chef came out to introduce himself. One of his parents come from Goa, India, the other one is from Mozambique, hence the fusion cuisine of this place.

We had Brie filled samosas with poached pear, vegetarian samosas and mozzarella-red berry salad. For the main course I had Fresh Tuna steak with creamy, lemony, gingery risotto. It was so fresh, spicy with just the right amount of chili and coriander… This is when I get passionate about food. It was an explosion of flavours, incredible. I can honestly say that this was the best dish I’ve ever tasted in my life. Ex had the Old fashioned lamb with mashed potato. He was pretty pleased with it. The guy just to prove how fresh is the tuna, he brought out a huge chunk of it, apparently he got it just that afternoon. Love it when the chef comes out to talk to the people at the table, even tries to go a little further and change his recipes a bit if someone asks for it.

The wine was excellent, we picked a bottle of Contador de Estorias. Never tried it before, was smooth, less dry than our usual ones but great. Saw some desserts brought to the neighbouring table. Unfortunately by then we were so full, there was no room for it. Next time. We promised. I always keep my promises.