This, the 5th season of our early morning breakfast walks, had been prefaced with a very necessary caution against unsuitable behaviour.
“A health warning, however. Last week, the AWWs suffered from a severe case of infectious levity with, inevitably, disruptive effects. I don´t want this contagion to spread to APAPS .So this season, there will be no silly posing at photo calls ; attempts at japery, mockery, banter, badinage, jocosity, flippancy (especially flippancy), buffooonery, ribbing, persiflage, satire, sarcasm, facetiousness and so forth will be seriously frowned upon and may even get recorded in a black marks register i.e. blog. Dry wit, if of a sufficiently intellectual or philosophical tone, may be permitted... within reason and with due regard to the early morning hour.”
It is pleasing to report that the warning was taken seriously, and some rather childish but harmless antics at the breakfast table may be excused as being a not-to-be-unexpected reaction to this new puritanism.
But to the walk.
The 7 a.m.start had to be delayed because Paul and Myriam´s transport from Lagos let them down and they had to resort to their stand-by vehicle. While we waited for a few minutes, Yves took the opportunity of indulging in warm-up callisthenics
and the rest of us grabbed a preliminary coffee at Café Prata in Encherim, before we all assembled for the Starter photo, taken with fitting decorum.
The Starters
Present: Terry, Antje, Paul, Myriam, Maria, Hazel, Yves, Jill, and JohnH. plus Java and Sascha.
Once under way, we followed fairly familiar tracks, with a modest degree of gentle climbing.
Jill´s shirt attracted a lot of admiration
The trendiest gear
and Decathalon can expect a rush of fashion-conscious ladies this week-end as a result.
Up on the ridge
Our descent from the ridge was a bit more precipitous than the ascent had been, but it resulted in some good photography by the front-runners.
Back on level ground, we then passed through Beco da Roupa Interior, aka Lingerie Lane. And here we would draw the ladies´ attention to an environmental appeal from the Instituto de Caridade pela Preservação dos Marcos Campestres (ICPMC) - an appeal, not for funds, but for the donation of a replacement for this once-colourful but now slowly-vanishing wisp of material. The passing years and the ravages of climate have not been kind to it and there is the very real danger that soon only the label will be left to be blown away in the wind. Someone must have a suitable replacement, somewhere.
Once we were past this heart-wrenching sight, the pace picked up, with Antje striding out.
although Terry followed at a more considered step.
Maria caught up with all the latest horticultural news
and Hazel was clearly delighted to have completed her first walk after a 5-week sabbatical.
The group then adjourned to Café Retiro dos Pescadores where Dona Fernanda was ready to serve a proper fry-up, with a little bit of back-room assistance from Antje, Hazel and Maria. Yves was delighted to be served first (how does he always manage that?)
until he realised that he had been given only one egg, not two like the.rest of us.
Paul, the newly-appointed Honorary Breakfast Satistician, was taking his duties very seriously, with names, numbers, pack drill, the lot, including allotting scores out of 10 for the appearance of every single egg.
I am not sure that I, as a simple egg-eating layman, can follow the intricacies of his scoring system.
Does this plate get a score of 18 or 20? Who knows?
I was told that the egg on the right in this picture merited only 5 points, even although I argued that its firmness was just what was needed to keep it anchored to my bit of toast and that it merited an 8.
Senhor Bento then produced delicious figs, melons and oranges “on the house”. Myriam and Yves demonstrated alternative methods of fig eating:
Myriam also took her traditional “outside the window looking in” group photograph.
And Maria fooled around with a bit of orange peel.
Yves´s camera captured the danger a young man faces when he drinks beer and eats melon simultaneously.
Before imbibing
and after imbibing
and to conclude the fun and games at the table, Yves and Paul competed in a “peel the orange” competition.
It was a match between finesse (Yves) versus vitesse (Paul). Finesse involved peeling delicate slivers of zest from the pith and of then taking the pith, 5 minutes or so carefull attention to detail. Vitesse consisted of wrenching the peel off in chunks, 15 seconds flat, if that. The winner?
Vitesse to the left – finesse to the right? You decide.
Anyway, a pleasant morning and an excellent value meal in a hospitable establishment.
The Track and the Statistics.
Distance: 8.73 kms. Moving time: 2 hours 3 minutes
Average moving speed:- 4.2 kph.Total ascent:- 283 metres.
And the obligatory concluding quotation:-
`Did you say pig, or fig?’ said the Cat.
`I said pig,’ replied Alice; `and I wish you wouldn’t keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.’
`All right,’ said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
(Alice in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll)
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6 comments:
"Happy are the simple-minded for they shall inherit the left-over figs and melons."
Titsihia, 22;3.
Having had the honour of Honorary Breakfast Statistician conferred on me by the BlogMeister, I had expected to analyse the stats collected at leisure and in detail, and duly submit them to be included in the blog. Alas John has been conditioned by the New AWW ethos of submitting a Blog while the walk is fresh in his memory and hasn't been coloured by the rose-tinted spectacles of Time, and published the blog before I had even located my copious notes.
On this occasion a brief and factual summary will have to suffice. Breakfast at Retiro dos Pescadores consisted of eggs, bacon, tomatos, toast, coffee tea, figs and oranges. Of these the greatest cause of controversy would be the preparation of the eggs. !8 eggs were served to the 9 walkers, most of whom ate two, except Terry had one of Jill's. A public survey was held on marks out of 10.
Matters for consideration. 1. First breakfast of the season and marks were as optimistic as an England Football supporter after the Panama match.
2. Contributors did not allow for the fact that we have a long season to go and many eggs to assess, and (in my opinion), overmarked not leaving themselves room for manoeuvre, should Nigella Lawson turn up and cook a breakfast for us later on.
Nevertheless fried egg quality is a subjective experience, and we have the numbers. The marks ranged from a 10/10 from Maria, because she cooked them herself, to a 5/3 from myslf who was fully aware of the factors above, and moreover favours an easy over with soft white and less grease.
Overall average per egg came in at 7.1 out of 10, but frankly, could easily have been better.
Bacon was judged good, but again, the more experienced Full English connoisseur would aim for thick cut unsmoked British Back Bacon rather than the available thin fatty smoked bacon again almost deep fried.
Tomatos were peeled and really tasty, toast crispy and properly buttered whereas the fruit is not in my professional sphere of breakfast foods.
A good start, but hopefully like the England tean will improve as the season progresses.
He forgot to mention the melon. Some food critics make their reputation by being consistently bilious. Our newly appointed Honorary Breakfast Statistician has certainly set off in that direction. The question is "Can he keep it up?"
This culinary comment is from Hazel re Paul´s critique.
All the food was shallow-fried with olive oil, not deep-fried in grease. My preference for bacon is for thin-sliced smoked, as too often the British thick-cut back bacon turns out to be full of water and preservatives.
I hope that the statistics include a rating for the venue. Over-all, Retiro de Pescadores is a warm, friendly and hospitable place which I am always happy to go back to.
Hazel.
"some people like it like that!" the perennial Portuguese answer to the question 'Why isn't.......' All great cuisines have a multitude of ways to cook and select the raw ingredients. I sincerely hope that we will get a range of breakfasts to rate. All readers of my critical preferences are free to disagree, although they will be interviewed at length to realise a rating for their experience. If they are too busy chatting or too tired to pay attention then my own subjective opinions will be utilised!
Melons - like baked beans - are not an Officer's vegetable! and outside my job description. Perhaps the Meister Blogger could consider appointing A Five-a-day Specialist to consider ancillary items, blindly consumed in the hope of improving health.
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