Learning Portuguese. (Well I am trying...)

 For a while I felt like I was picking up the language ok... but the last few times I ventured out with Maria, out neighbour, people have asked her if I speak Portuguese. She has responded by dropping her head and shaking it sadly.... with a 'poor Mel, there is no hope' type expression on her face.

Cheers buddy! (so perhaps I need to make a little more effort).

So, its back to my Michele Thomas Portuguese Course. I do have the Berlitz Earworms too,  but find the 'great music' tag is slightly false advertising..  It is one of those courses that is irritating but does go in. It certainly makes it very simple.

The Michele Thomas course is an 8 hour course which has great reviews. I found it a godsend when we first arrived, but now I am returning to it with a basic vocabulary and a better idea of accents etc it is so much easier.

This morning I have been on Amazon looking for Barrons 501 Portuguese verbs which I have found and ordered. I took a look and both the earworms (Berlitz) and Michele Thomas courses are available, along with Usborne's flashcards, first 100 words and first 1000 words which I ordered for Sienna last year. Although the Usborne materials are aimed at kids, they are perfect for beginners too. I especially like the flashcards. They could also be used for a Portuguese person learning English as the english words are printed in the corner.

One trick I have found helpful for learning is to label items around the home with post it notes in Portuguese on the door (porta), window (janela), table (mesa) and so on.... then you are looking at it all the time and it will go in without any effort.  It is definately useful too to carry a notebook around with you and write down new words/words you do not understand... when you have a Portuguese person repeating a word to you.... louder and LOUDER..... you can write it down and work out what they were trying to tell you later. (You will feel pretty bad if you realise they were yelling "HELP", or "FIRE")

As my old buddy used to say to me .... 'JFDI'   (Just F****ng Do It) A handy acronym for those who dither and put things off.

I am seriously going to pull my finger out, (hopefully I can restore Maria's hope for me).. and aim to learn at least three new words a day.

Wish me luck! (BOA SORTE !)

The following link will take you to a useful eBook 'Learn Any Language' -aimed at complete beginners, which will help you to learn any language (including Portuguese) quickly and easily.
Click Here!

Lagar de Azeite.

                                                    


                                                       

It turned out that our 2pm appointment at the 71 year old Lagar de Azeite do Siveirinho was in fact today not tomorrow - and the job is now done and dusted. We had far more olives than we thought, weighing in at 418 kilo's. It was so interesting to see the process in action. I so wish I had asked more questions and understood more answers!

Once the sacks had been weighed, they were emptied onto the bottom of a tall conveyer belt which separated them from any remaining debris and dumped them into a cold water rinse.

They were then washed in hot water and squished into a thick paste.

The pulped olive paste was then layered onto round mats and sandwiched together in a tall tower before being transferred onto huge presses which squeeze the oil out.  

The oil, which at this point looked like a dirty puddle was washed down into a vat, along with hot water. A colander type tray below separated the remaining solid matter from the liquid. The oil floats to the top of the water in the vat and is carried through pipes to another large vat, the heavier muddy puddle of water below, was released through a pipe at ground level.

(The remaining dry and very flat pulp was collected from the mats and placed onto a separate conveyor belt and deposited onto a mountain of the stuff. This will later be pressed again by the mill, although you would never believe something which felt so dry could hold more oil!)

Using centrifugal force the last of the water is separated from your oil and collected in yet another vat below. This wonderful hot oil is then measured into your containers...

The whole place is hot and humid and the smell just incredible.

The staff at the Silveirinho Lagar were welcoming and helpful, lifting heavy sacks, showing me around the machinery and putting up with having a tourist and a wacking great camera in their space for the afternoon. Jorge even took me to the cafe across the road and bought me an expresso whilst I was waiting!

The olives were weighed at about 2:45 to begin the process and we were carrying our oil out of the doors at 5:30.... 418 kilo's of olives were turned into a fantastic 62 litres of oil, (pressing fee €49-)

I had a wonderful afternoon and now understand most of the mystery of the whole process.

I can't imagine what they must of thought of me last year turning up with a few kilo's in my hessian shopping bags. Bless! (I'm a learner).

Having dunked some fresh bread into my lovely warm oil at 6pm, I can tell you it tastes bloody gorgeous.  Jobs a gooden. Bring on 2012!

:)

To the Lagar.. (Mill)

 

Thankfully the Monsoon season decided to pause momentarily for us here in Central Portugal, the sun shone allowing us to finish picking the olives (in vests)!  They were sorted in Othelia's machine, weighed and we were well chuffed that we had 380 kilo's - (bit of an improvement on last years 43).

We were hoping for 300 as we wanted our own oil, not the communal Lagar oil that you get if you weigh in less.

Our friends, Viv and Brian learnt quite a lot helping their neighbour Othelia pick her olives and have helped me to prune the tree's quite hard with a bit more confidence. Some of them were pretty neglected. One poor tree was buried under about 15ft of brambles and is now breathing for the first time in some years. The general idea with the pruning is to remove the middle branches to open the tree up, will be a heck of a lot easier to pick them next year now.

The right tools really do make a difference. This year we invested in an 8 meter olive net which surrounds the base of the tree... (clear ground needed). We used plastic hand held rakes which make the picking a lot easier (and quicker), especially when you bung them onto telescopic poles...

Unless you are about 15 ft tall with arms that would make Mr Tickle feel inadequate you will also need a decent ladder.

Watching the locals mind you, the method is to use your hands to 'milk' the olives from the branches or whack the tree's with sticks to beat the olives onto the net below. Its pretty theraputic to use your hands, but the stick method didn't really work for me.

One of the best (and most obvious) bits of advice we got was to always start at the top of the tree and work down... common sense I guess as you knock the majority of the lower ones down in the process.

The aim seems to be to aim for a 3 black-1 green ratio for a decent oil. The green olives add a peppery quality to the oil whilst the ripe black olives yield more oil.

The olives need separating from the leaves as soon as possible as the leaves make them get hot and and they will deteriorate quickly. After sorting we put them into plastic sacks, with NO holes and pushed every bit of air out before tying them and leaving them in a cool dark place.

 Unlike last year when we popped up to the Lagar (Mill) with our olives, found nobody there and eventually found the guy we needed in the coffee shop opposite, this year was a little different.

 I popped in a week ago and was given an appointment for 1st December... AARggh.

After much umming and ahhing I decided to pop in again and speak to the fella and beg a little today. Man it was busy in there, it is so humid and the smell of olives is unreal. You have to be seriously careful in there too as the floor is coated in a film of oil. One slip and I reckon you could do some impressive stunts and make a right arse of yourself...

Anyhow, not sure whether it was my piteous grasp of the language that did it, my "perleease sir I only have a little bit of olives, not like those lorry loads outside"... or Sienna's cute little face, but lovely Jorge at the Lagar de Azeite do Silveirinho, gave us an appointment for this Saturday....  *whoop*

Last year it worked out at 8.6 kilo's (a total of approx 11,855) of olives per litre of oil. Lets see what we get this year.

Lots of (English) people think its a bit bonkers picking your olives when it is far easier to buy oil at the supermarket and avoid the hassle. Different strokes for different folks I reckon.

Personally I love it. 

As long as I have good company and the sun is shining at any rate. I have enjoyed getting to know friends better, being outside in this beautiful place, sharing food and drinks and stopping work as the sun sets, looking over the mountain view and pink/orange/lilac skies behind. I just feel lucky that I have the time to stop and experience the magic of this ancient tradition. Take a look (above) at my favourite olive tree in the garden with 'pointy mountain' behind. Just magic. 

Fingers crossed now that my oil doesn't taste like crap.

And then the rain came.

Well so far October has been one of those up and down kind of months here.

At the start of the month I had a couple of days of feeling uneasy and then Archie my lovely old rescue donkey buddie got sick. It was awful. His body gave up on him on a hot, beautiful day and I was completely distraught and devastated in a way I never thought possible.

I have tried to keep reminding myself that he died being loved, but that old boy really pulled on my heartstrings and I really miss him.

Since then we have managed a hospital trip, a solar panel disaster and a sick car, (none of the aforementioned are quite fixed), amongst various other dilemma's, so all in all it went a little tits up as they say.
 Hey Ho.

But there are always positive's. We have had glorious weather well in the 30's, with some of the most beautiful skylines I have ever seen. My neighbours here in the village have proven to be wonderful - all of them. I was overwhelmed by how kind and helpful they all were. I have no idea how I would have coped without any of them the day Archie got sick and the days after and I have got to know many of them just a little bit better.

We have spent several days with our friends Viv and Brian from Travanca picking our olives too which I have loved. Picking olives is not really a financially sound way to spend your time.It is a lot of work which results in very little material reward. It is however a bloody lovely way to spend the afternoon; in a warm and beautiful place with a blue sky and good company - I have enjoyed every minute. A highlight for me last weekend was going to see Viv & B's friend Othelia to get our olives sorted in her machine....(I know, I need to get out more), but it certainly beats sorting them by hand, what a wonderful, simple bit of kit. 175 kilo's sorted in minutes.  (Thank you Othelia). x

So having had 4 days of well needed rain here, I am hoping that whoever is in charge can switch it off for me tomorrow so I can get outside and finish the other half of my tree's and get to the mill to press them.. ! I cannot wait to taste out new oil and the crop has been so much better this year...

Gravel sickness.

Having spent the entire summer looking out the window at a pile of rubble and weeds we have finally begun to carve a bit of sanity into our outside space.... with a little help from our lovely neighbour Bernard and his JCB and a 10 ton delivery of gravel.....

It was a bit of a challenge (on both parts) to explain exactly what we wanted to the guy on the JCB, but we found that once I gave up trying to communicate in Portuguese (poor bloke)...and relied on a bit of improvised sign language it was pretty much plain sailing!

With the exception of an unearthed soakaway pipe, it was a breeze...

Having shifted about 8.5 tons, in a wheelbarrow (yes seriously) I am feeling a bit 'gravel sick' : S

But its a good start and the summer is not over yet.... ! 

Falgoroso do Maio

We spent the best part of the day at Falgoroso do Maio on Sunday... Sienna and I relaxed, paddled and read, whilst the boys did a bit of fishing.... Really pretty little place and very quiet. Just 10 minutes away from us.

 A couple of fella's arrived just after us, launched their boat and disappeared and one other family arrived in the late afternoon, so it was very peaceful. It was hot too.. in the mid 30's.

The fish count was zero, a Montpellier snake was the only catch of the day! (put me right off swimming)...

Very Miscellanious.

 So three months seem to have passed me by... I feel like I have been very busy but would hate to attempt to justify three whole months.. ! The kids go back to School tomorrow and next Monday respectively.... kind of looking forward to the structure and routine now... Tashan's School have a whopping 11 week holiday.... no comment.  

Well, my boy managed to break his arm back in July so that was the end of his pool/lake/water/cycling/............. and so on... which was a bit of a bugger to put it mildly. That whole ordeal was a bit of an event ... not going to go into it now but if you need a hospital urgently and you are close to Penacova.... they don't have one... (long story) but the childrens hospital in Coimbra is amazing so just go straight there ! We have a new kitten called Millie, who is very, very noisy ALL of the time, but pretty cute and four new egg laying chickens. Buster the pig is growing nicely, we are hoping Freckles the goat might have a bun in the oven and Archie the donkey is still looking like he needs a good dinner if I am honest.
 

The adega has finally been renovated and is now out lovely cool front room, it is wonderful to be reacquainted with television and just dance on the Wii ! and we so needed extra the space.. especially with the brats home every day.

 Much shovelling of mud, rubble and new gravel has occurred and we now have a piece of outside space which vaguely resembles order. It is seriously hard work this renovation malarkey.... The balcony has recently had an overhaul and I am in the process of staining/treating the wood.
Generally the house still looks hideous outside   though and is in desperate need of TLC.

We had some lovely visitors in August who almost killed me with black vodka. Revolting stuff. (You know who you are) !! For the first time in my life I managed to break a heel - I have always feared the shame of that happening.... : S Thankfully I was too gone to give a monkeys at that point and redesigned myself as a rhino..... won't go into that...

So this last shot is the joy of skype... Sienna and her Cousin Lia from London, having a catch up natter with Cousin Laila in Sydney. How wonderful is that... ?

36 degrees here today.. not bad for mid September - although the weather has been a little unpredictable this summer at times... should be able to fit in a few more barbeques.. Xau. x

Purchasing a pig in your pj's......

Sunday morning I was busy making banana pancakes in my pj's and minding my own business when the bell rang... a guy had turned up with three piggies for us as a result of a conversation with neighbours many moons ago...... much to my surprise.... !   So this is Buster. He had great fun running around the garden yesterday eating fallen peaches, pears and apples and even enjoyed a nice mud bath ! So now I have had a coffee, I am coming round to the idea of owning a pig...

The trees are full of peaches and apples and there are tons of blackberries, so we have been enjoying lots of fresh fruit and fruit cobblers.. yesterday I made a huge jar of spiced peaches too, they are seriously gorgeous.

Have been incredibly busy trying to complete our front room ... it has been a hard slog but the tiles are going down now and there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.....

Vimieiro

Vimieiro has to be one of our favorite river beaches, it also has a great Restaurante - Bar overlooking the river run by Susana and Nuno. It is close to Sao Pedro de Alva...

coord:      W 8 11' 52"     N 40  16' 36"

A good spot for a picnic in the shade too, there are plenty of picnic benches under the trees.

I find the water at Vimieiro extremely fff .... frio and don't tend to swim there unless my head feels like it is about to burst into flames,  but the kids seem to enjoy it !

Piri Piri Chicken (again).

I do love chicken.... :o) especially Piri Piri....

We recently checked out the Market at Tabua which is every Sunday morning.. It is a large market with all the usual Portuguese market malarkey you would expect. It has a good selection of plants, a very BAD lady selling tiny puppy dogs "come here little girl..... look at these cute little puppies, tell your Mummy you want one"..... (you know the type). grrr .

And last but not least.... some very delicious Chicken.

Black Cherries.... :o)

Amandio invited us to help ourselves to some black cherries from his tree which is taller than my house ! so we took a bag and filled it with a ton of cherries.... he was shocked when he saw the 'small' amount we had and asked if we didn't like them !! they are incredible... we are now stuffing ourselves and Sienna looks like she has been in a serious accident of some kind - she is wearing most of them.. WOW.. delicious..  It is these small things that make me feel incredibly lucky..... x

I planted two nectarine trees today.. cannot wait to get some more fruit trees in the ground.. I love Portugal (and my neighbours)

Denver and Freckles first sleepover....

 After much ado, several months and some terribly bad Portuguese (on my part) with a splash of general confusion mixed in......... the village stud (Chibo) is finally here tonight for a sleepover with Denver and Freckles......

It is truly a daunting task to ask your neighbour for the services of his prized Billy goat to get your girls up the duff - for fear of serious misunderstanding... and sign language is suddenly totally out of the question.    :o{

My Son assures me that I have told my neighbour that a)he is pregnant,  and,  b) ...... I can't tell you because it is just ... very wrong.

But somehow, this evening.... we finally cracked it.

Fingers crossed it is love and we will hear the pitter patter of tiny cabriteeny feet in 4 and a half months...

Archie... and his roomies

Archie seems pretty happy in his new home and is stumbling in and out of his new pad as he pleases... he seems to be blind as a bat ....

:o{

He is sharing with Denver and Freckles who seem to really love him, although the girls can be a bit lively with each other they seem to know that he is a bit fragile and have been really good with him so far... either that or they just think he is a bloody big goat and are too scared to mess with him.... he is happily munching grass all day long and even manages to run when he hears his food bucket rattled in the evening.. he is a bit stinky close up and still looks a bit like a cut and shut donkey as his butt really doesn't match his head end but isn't he cute.... ! 

Bee hives and bannana muffins...

I must be getting old..... 10 years ago I would have been off shoe shopping for some new heels to wear out...... today I am washing a donkey, going for a walk in the valley and baking..... what happened ?

had a lovely walk down the lane alongside our house with Lee and Sienna this afternoon... on the hunt for bee hives - just out of curiosity really. We have been for numerous walks down there but never seen them. Today we finally found them, following the sweet smell, growing number of bee's round the foxgloves and my friends directions...  I crept up to the back of the hives to get a better look whilst Lee and Sienna waited at the bottom.... I got as close as I dared to and the smell was incredible.. there are around 40 hives down there.... those little guys are amazing.

Then Lee got stung on his forehead and ran off shouting his head off - (very manly). He is not very good with buzzy stingy things anyway.... I fear after this afternoon he will be even less keen on me getting some hives of my own....hopefully he'll get over it.

On the way back up Lee shhhhhh'd me and pointed at a snake sat on the bank next to us which was bloody huge. So then it was my turn to be uncool .... I inhaled suddenly - making a wimpy, girly ,Olive Oil type gasp and it promptly shot off... it was a fat old lump, about 5 ft long with a pale yellow belly... gutted I didnt get a shot of it.

So back home to making bananna muffins with Sienna (yum), a glass of Zubrowka vodka with ice cold apple juice and doing everything possible to avoid plasterboarding the lounge ceiling.

Could be worse I reckon...

Meet Archie..

This is our new family addition Archie, he came to live with us last Wednesday after I spotted an ad for him on the Expats Portugal forum... Poor Archie has had a bad time of it and looks a bit of a state. He has a weary soul and an arse like Kate Moss.

Archie is however a loving fella who likes cuddles and horsey pellets and carrots, he is getting used to us and his new 'roomies' (the goats)... and taking himself in and out of a new 'doorway' we have cut out of the barn for him.... so far he is settling in nicely....  :o)  

New Kitchens and squished snakes....

Did the usual school run with Sienna this morning, the bus picks her up at the top of the hill at around 8am, it is a lovely sunny morning.... there was a 2 and a half foot snake in the middle of the road and the kids were having great fun watching in anticipation to see if any passing cars ran it over.... the school bus arrived and made a right mess of it ... :o{ ewww

I found a large adder in the compost heap over the weekend too - needless to say I promptly legged it ! so a bit of a snake theme right now ..

The tree's are full of young plums and peaches and the olive trees are heavy with tiny new olives, they seem to look far more loaded than they did last year.

We are still plodding away with our renovation, feeling frustrated at times with how long each job takes... but still it is coming along. I am looking forward to an old friends arrival on Wednesday as I have not seen him in a long time now... task for today is to get a door on the bedroom he will be sleeping in !

Anyhow have posted some pictures of our kitchen above ... not quite completed but nearly there, it was made by George Robinson Kitchens in Cornwall..... :O)