Life: Idiotropic

Unlike the elaborate multicultural celebrations I enjoyed at GK, the little international women's club here is tiny and quiet.  Each month a different country hosts a coffee.  They provide food.  We sit and talk and eat.  No frills, but it's nice.  Sometimes the GK events got so loud, I couldn't hear the person next to me.  At these, it's a lot easier to connect with other cultures.

Today I sat with Greeks, an American, a Spanish lady, and a Turkish friend.  A nice mix!

The Portuguese were good enough to send out some of the recipes, so I'll copy them here as well.  Everything was very good.  I'll get the name of the cheese and wine.  Not pictured here is the large ball of yummy white cheese that they brought from Portugal.  Special, yes, but disappointing that I can't run out and buy it.  It was so good that the word "cheese" kept becoming audible from conversations all over the room and ladies kept going back to the ball of cheese for a little more.

There were too many flavors to try, so I didn't have everything.  They made a wonderful fish croquette that was amazing.  The small white candy cups in the front of the photo, I thought, had small candied oranges inside.  Instead, they were candied egg yolks with a half walnut resting on top of each.  The Greek ladies liked them.  I was too scared to try them.  The best part (aside from the cheese) was the cherry port that they poured into small chocolate cups for us.  Delicious even without the edible chocolate cups.

Chocolate Salami (They make this in Italy and Turkey too - very easy and quite good)
Ingredients:
• 300 grams of “Maria” biscuits (add some more for
coverage)
• 75 grams of cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of whisky
• 60 grams of almonds (add some more for coverage)
Preparation:
Crush the Maria biscuits on a kitchen cloth by hand or with a kitchen roll, and pour them into a bowl. Add the cocoa powder, the butter, the sugar, the eggs, the whisky and the previously coarsely crushed almonds. Knead everything well and pour the mixture on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminium sprinkled with crushed biscuits and chopped nuts. Shape dough into cylinder form and wrap carefully and set aside in the refrigerator to gain consistency.  (The Italians often roll into a long slender "salami" shape and then wrap and store it in foil.  It then gets a bit of a salami texture on the outside and looks very authentic coming out of that foil wrapper.  Freezes well!)  NOTE: You may substitute almonds for walnuts.


Queijadas de Sintra (a cheesecake)

Ingredients:
 2 shallow tablespoons of flour
12 portions small fresh white cheeses  (I'm assuming some sort of cream cheese)
 500 grams of sugar
24 egg yolks
For the dough:         
200 grams of flour
1 egg
75 grams of butter
salt to taste
water
Preparation:
     The dough:  Knead the flour with the butter, add the egg, a pinch of salt and a little water.
Continue kneading until the dough thickens, and is well mixed. Shape it into a
ball and let it stand for 30 minutes. With a rolling pin spread the dough so that
it becomes about 2 mm thick. Line the molds with the pastry dough to the level
of the edges. Place the molds on a tray and fill them with the cream. Bake
them for about 30 minutes.
     The cream:  Whisk the smashed white cheeses with the egg yolks and the sugar. Add flour
until it is consistent. Fill previously dough-lined molds with the cream to the brim.



Pão de Ló de Ovar  (This is a sponge cake)
Ingredients:
- 18 eggs (6 whole eggs and 12 yolks)
- 375 grams of sugar
- 120 grams of flour
Preparation:
Mix the eggs and the sugar for approximately 30 minutes. Add the flour and stir a little with a wooden spoon. Pour into a mold lined with parchment paper and bake for approximately one hour at 170 degrees. 

Bolo de maçã e nozes (apple and walnut cake)
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking Royal
- 2 cups chopped, diced apples
- 1 cup chopped nuts
Preparation:
Break the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and stir well. Then add the flour and the baking powder. When the mixture is well blended, add the apples and walnuts stirring slightly. Place into a mold previously buttered and sprinkled with flour. Bake it for half an hour at 180 degrees.

Bolo de Chocolate  (chocolate cake)
Ingredients:
- 5 eggs
- 1 and ½ cups sugar
- 1 and ½ cups cocoa powder
- ½ tea cup cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup boiling water
Preparation:
Begin by separating the egg whites from the yolks and beating the egg whites to form stiff white peaks. Next, mix the egg yolks and sugar, and add the cocoa powder and oil. Continue by mixing in the previously beaten egg whites, backing powder and flour to the mixture. When the mixture is well blended, add the boiling water. Pour the mixture into a mold that has been previously buttered and sprinkled with flour. Bake approximately 30 minutes at 180 degrees (Celsius).

Trouxas de Ovos  (egg rolls)
Ingredients:
- 1 Kg sugar
- 20 yolks
- 500 ml (2 cups) water
Preparation:
In a saucepan mix the sugar and the water heating it until you get a thicken boiling sugar syrup (try to make a path through with a spoon). With a wooden spoon add 8 lightly beaten yolks straining them through a sieve (in order to obtain egg threads). Note: If it makes too much foam try pouring a
few drops of cold water. After cooked put aside the obtained egg threads. With a wooden spoon pour the remaining 12 yolks previously beaten directly on the same sugar syrup. Let them spread as much as possible and make sure they absorb the syrup (turning them on both sides). Spread them on a work
surface, and then cut them into 6x6 cm pieces. After filling them with the egg threads roll them up. Spray them with the sugar syrup left over.