Alentejano Abundance

Went for lunch with friends at 13h, and have just got home at 20h. Good time, eating very Alentejano food - these are the starters - the greenish dish is wild asparagus and mushrooms, delicious. Then what they call sopa seca (dry soup), a sort of stew of mixed meats, greens and crispy bread, but with the different elements served separately, and then you spoon the clear broth over it. Plenty of wine, and then three different desserts, and maybe eight different sweet wines to finish. Then small, strong, black coffee. I'd venture that the defining characteristics of Alentejano hospitality are abundance, informality, and the use of local ingredients.

Followed by watching a film Risen, (starring Joseph Fiennes - very good, I thought, and the photography is often stunning) in front of a real fire, and then more time round the table, talking and drinking teas.