Blog extras #6: The food

Let me start off by saying that, by nature, I'm not a foody photographer.  I like eating my food, not taking pictures of it. However, I did make a couple of exceptions on this trip so that you could see what we've been eating.  No enough pictures, as it turns out.  So apologies for that.

England

Having had three days to prepare our bikes, acclimate to the new times zone and ensure we had everything we needed (including a competent SAG driver who had mastered driving on the other side of the road from the other side of the car), we got to sample a fair amount of British food.

There was, of course, a fair amount of sampling of British beers and gins.  I'm not sure how gin & tonics became the drink of choice on this trip but, for a couple of the riders, that was the quaff of the day after a ride.  James was partial to something he simply called "soda and lime," a mixture of seltzer and Rose's lime juice.  That, for me, became my thirst-quencher of choice throughout England.

Dinners became a sampling of pies (steak & kidney, rabbit, chicken, steak & beer, etc.), mushy peas and anything else you would find in traditional pub fare.  Breakfasts in the pubs were usually some variation on the full English:  eggs, sausage, streaky bacon, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, some kind of potatoes and toast.

For the remainder of this trip, breakfasts would be variations on a buffet offering of every kind of pastries, breads, eggs, meats and cheeses, yoghurts, cereals, juices, coffees and teas and fruits and vegetables.

We thought this might become the routine for the entire trip.  Fortunately for our waistlines, it was a one-off, but enjoyable event.

And, in an hommage to the Lord of the Rings, we did enjoy a 2nd breakfast on the road one day.  Scones, clotted cream, crumpets and pots of tea.  

France

We still hadn't developed a formal routine for eating, other than eating breakfast as early as the hotels would open up for service.  Dinners were usually between seven and eight each night.

In France, the pork product of choice (having been bacon in England) became jambon...French ham.  And the delivery of choice, usually when we'd stop for lunch or when Jesse would be able to find a boulangerie along the route:  une baguette avec jambon et fromage (ham and cheese on a roll).  I think we all stayed fueled throughout France with a daily dose of those.

As with all our dining choices in France and elsewhere, we enjoyed simply prepared, local foods.

For dinner, we were now starting to enjoy some wonderfully made fresh salads with local greens, plates of meats and cheeses, etc.  We were also enjoying the fruits of the sea.  Moules et frites (mussels and fries) became the leading dinner option for many.  In Mont Saint Michel, galettes and crepes (both savory and sweet) were washed down with local wines.

In St. Jean de Luz, I got to try what is considered the original macarons, long before Ladurée became mass-producing them in France and the States.  I bought a box for the rest of the crew and they became a mid-day snack until we polished them off.

Spain

Two changes, besides the language, happened when we hit Spain.  With one exception, we stopped eating lunch on the road. Knowing that dinners started much later in Spain (the earliest we usually could eat dinner would be 8:30), we decided to eat a late lunch after we arrived each day.  So lunch became our bigger meal for the next eight days.

Sardines start making their appearance on the menus when we hit Spain.

Paellas (chicken, seafood, mixed, etc.) became a staple for much of the crew.  Yes, we continued to have a burger here and there.  We actually started seeing eggs being served with anything we would order -- on a burger, with our steaks at night, etc.  It became a running joke that we could eat enough eggs for breakfast anymore.

It didn't matter in which country we were, we were always eating something made from pork.  Bacon/Jambon/Jamon.  

As we rode (and ate) our way through Western Europe, there were a lot of food choices each day.  We wrestled with two contrary issues in our food selections:  wanting to try to local fare and eating things we knew (or hoped!) wouldn't upset our digestive systems as we had another long ride the next morning.  Fortunately, we chose well.  No one suffered from any ill effects from the foods we ate.

It wasn't just the good food.  It was also the wonderful people we've met along the way who've served us those meals.

The other important thing to note was that, no matter where we ate, whether it was outside a boulangerie along the ride route in France or dining outdoors at a restaurant in Spain, we almost always ate communally.  Yes, we'd often order our own individual courses, but we also shared plates of local products.  I'm not sure that was by design.  It just happened as a matter of course.

Portugal

The most interesting contrast in food styles has been these past two days in Portugal.  Last night, we dined in the 4-star hotel restaurant in Évora.  The foods offered from the most upscale menu on this trip were outstanding.  John Dory, salmon, Oxtail, cod (bacalhau) and fried sardines to just name a few of the entrées that were spectacular.  The local wines were excellent.  We had two soups that showed the character of both the restaurant and the country:  a traditional gaspacho (Portuguese spelling) that the local farmers would bring to work and eat as a mid-morning snack; and a "typical" tomato soup (that was anything but typical!) eaten on cold winter nights -- a thick, meaty stew of a soup with potatoes and sausage on top of a garlicky toast.

A simple but elegant feast for a bunch of starving cyclists.

The counterpoint to that was today's lunch.  We arrived around 1pm at our Pensione on the outskirts of Santiago do Cacém.  It's in the countryside, hidden away from the main road into town.  Deolinda and her husband run this small, 7-room affair.  Neither speaks English.  And we hardly speak a word of Portuguese.  Yet we were able to communicate with each other throughout the day and evening.  And they turned out a magnificent, simply prepared feast for us for lunch late this afternoon.

Deolinda first delivered for the table a simple cucumber, tomato and carrot salad, followed by a tuna/potato mixture that was just heavenly.  That was followed by a mixed grill of rabbit, chicken, sausages, lamb and wild boar.  Rice, beans, mushrooms served as accompaniments.  Bottles of cerveja (beer) and a couple of glasses of tawny port to polish it all off.  Then, out of nowhere, doces (sweets/desserts) showed up.  Chocolate and butterscotch puddings (heavenly!) and Deolinda's versions of Black Foresst Cake and Carrot cake.  Absolutely the antithesis of last night's meal but every bit as delicious!

Tomorrow night, we'll celebrate with a meal on the beach in the Algarve.  Maybe crack open a bottle of Champagne.