Portugal

Kristen, Kaitlin, and their cousin Jesse were spread like monkeys in a tree while their slightly older cousin Alex stood below with Mom and me to watch the dancers in parade. The bright white sleeves, paired with both the women’s colorful embroidered dresses and the men’s black pants and vests, tied the look together. Following the parade, we enjoyed the food and the kids played so long in the bounce houses that we barely had time to explore the Portuguese Historical Museum and other buildings at History San José, a history park in San Jose, California. It has been years since we went, but this Dia de Portugal festival occurs the second Saturday of June every year, and it’s not the only Portuguese festival available in California.

The several hundred thousand Portuguese Americans who live in California descend from early settlers from the Azores who participated in whaling, gold mining, dairy farming, and other agriculture at the end of the 1800s. Just a quick web search for 2022 and I found upcoming Portuguese festivals in Hayward on August 13, Pescadero on August 20, and San Diego on September 10. This year we already missed the ones in San Jose, Turlock, and Half Moon Bay, but next year is another opportunity. I went masked to see the altar and outdoor events at the festival by the Portuguese American Club in Mentone on June 5. I had recently been exposed to COVID, so I didn't attend the crowded indoor family style dinner and it was a good thing, because I tested positive just a couple days later.

I have enjoyed the food at the Portuguese restaurants I’ve tried:

· In 2019, Kaitlin and Andrea took Christine and me for Mother’s Day to my first Portuguese restaurant, Nata's Pastries in Sherman Oaks. We had a delicious brunch, and it was fun and casual.

· ADEGA Restaurant in San Jose is much more upscale and the only Michelin-starred restaurant I have eaten in. Traffic kept me from getting there with enough time before my flight, so I didn’t have the seven-course tasting menu or the three-course prix fixe. Even though I couldn't spend a leisurely evening and only ordered cod cakes and potato soup, they added three homemade breads, olives, cantaloupe soup, sardine pate, puff pastry with meat, and a small dresser with four drawers of tiny desserts to my meal!

· Erika suggested Nuno's Bistro and Bar in Upland, and we went with Joanie, Lidia, and Gladys. This group always passes the plates, so we all were able to try the patatas bravas, apple gem salad, paella vegetariana, sea bass, and the Portuguese pudding quesodeferra for dessert.

· The Port of Peri Peri in Fullerton (and many other locations) is still on my list of places to try.

· Kristen recommends the dessert pasteis de nata from her visit to Portugal. The recipe is here: https://leitesculinaria.com/7759/recipes-pasteis-de-nata.html. It is part of a webpage by a Portuguese chef with many more recipes: https://leitesculinaria.com/category/recipes/cuisine/portuguese

There are plenty of resources online for Portugal. Netflix has Glória, a highly engaging Cold War spy thriller series made just last year in Portugal. Like many Cold War spy thrillers, I’m not sure I’m following everything, but I find it fascinating. Netflix also has Until Life Do Us Part, a romantic comedy series. It’s not my first choice to watch a woman heading through menopause, but I can relate to her relationship with her adult daughter. I also enjoyed Wild Portugal on DisneyPlus and appreciated picking up some nautical history in:

· History Summarized: The Portuguese Empire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=WhVFf5-qi1k

· Prince Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18757

· Spain, Portugal, and the Creation of a Global Economy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/renaissance-and-reformation/spanish-and-portuguese-empires/v/spain-portugal-and-the-creation-of-a-global-economy

· The Nautical Archaeology Digital Library: https://nadl.tamu.edu/

I was looking for something by the Portuguese writer José Saramago and came across the movie Enemy based on his 2002 novel The Double. That is quite a freaky movie. I still need to get to one of these recommended works: https://traversejourneys.com/blog/15-books-about-portugal-to-read-before-you-go- but I was able to read a few of the many short stories, articles, and poems from Portugal on Words Without Borders. I picked out a poem and from there you can put the word Portugal in the search bar to find more: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2007-09/i-brought-flowers/. Another option is the series starting with The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney, an alternate timeline fantasy set in Portugal, which Kristen recommends.

This Tiny Desk Concert makes me smile because it reminds me the young man from Portugal I met during my college summer in France. We sang meaningfully to each other and tried to communicate in the little French that we each knew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDUwGCHA2b0

If you are planning to go to Portugal, here are some great places to visit: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/25-best-things-portugal/. I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Portugal and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Alex Paganelli https://unsplash.com/photos/rYVmXecm64Q