July 24. Mercado Fusa & Snails

Working during the day so not too many interesting highlights. Irina with kids went to the botanical garden on Dom Pedro but Isabella declared that her legs are hurting and demanded to go to the playground in the square on Dom Pedro. After work we joined them and went to the first eatery we encountered on the way.

It looked like a hole in the wall type of place but there was a Portuguese family with kids having dinner there as well. So we figured it is OK to go. Dan ordered grilled squid, Georgia pork patties, Isabella French fries, and I offered restaurant owner to make the choice for me – grilled sprats or snails. He brought over a plate of small snails and showed it to me doubtfully. I said OK. He did not seem happy with my choice but he shrugged and started bringing out our drinks. When he returned later with snails they looked the same as few minutes ago but were warm. They were small and rustic looking – with antennae and little mouths.

Georgia was very good about living up to our motto “to try everything.” She must have eaten thirty of them. In retrospect, some may have been for the shells. I tried to keep up brave face about it to keep up with our motto too but the body parts were throwing me off. With them being so small it was also work pulling  them out with a toothpick. Taste wise they were OK. Definitely not as interesting as the ones you could find in Quebec.

After we put kids to sleep we went over to Cais de Sobre station to Pingo Doce supermarket to fill up on supplies. It is a popular place with travelers, hippies, and students. There is a good selection of chorizo and goat cheese but less so of the our familiar items. We are continuing to welcome new tastes but would probably have to check out St. Sebastian soon for some bologna. Interestingly Cherios never made it here. There are several flakes varieties, muesli, and chocolate puffs but nothing else – shredded wheat, chex, all these things are not even at the hypermarket. Dan warmed up to the sight of salted cod everywhere and we will probably get some soon.

Later in the evening we walked around the city some more and wandered onto the large square near Martim Moniz station. There are water fountains in the ground and Irina and kids sometimes come here during the day. Now the fountains were turned off and there were just a few people there having snacks and enjoying the music from the DJ setup at Mercado Fusa booth. Half of the snack kiosks were either Chinese or Japanese. There were also some hippie healthy ones, and some African and Caribbean. We walked over to one of them and ordered pisco sour. When they make pisco sour in Lisbon they add raw egg whites to it. It was a worthy drink to finally send snails on their way.