Dinner Party

Today was another enjoyable day in Portugal with the weather a little warmer,  and time to relax before the dinner party tonight with the local Padre and 2 of Mike and Daveen's friends Cecilia and Ermelinda.  The others had a walk into town to pick up the 2 daughers of a friend from school and apparently they had a much fun coaxing squirtng cucumbers to spit at them - see bgleya's blip from yesterday.  I remained back at the land to prepare the 3 course meal for tonight’s dinner party.  This consisted of a twist on caprese salad with the usual mozzarella and tomatoes served with avocado and pesto in the avocado shells, gnocchi with leeks in a white cheese sauce and for dessert, baked pineaapple, raspberries and a quenelle of vanilla ice cream.  This seemed to go down well even though it was very differnt from the Alentejano food they were all used to.  Extra of the gnocchi made in the afteroon from scratch on a marble slab produced by Mike - probably the best surface I have ever had for producing gnocchi - amazing what can be found in unfamiliar surroundings.  The evening was very convivial and for the first time here, I managed to understand much of what was going on thanks to duolingo Portuguese course.  Still have to pinch myself and realise that after nearly 2 years in covid limitations we are actually enjoying time in Europe - it has been such a tonic and I can't express how graterful I am for the experience.  On another big plus note, we found out the place we were going to store the Duke was full up, but after a call to the people who sold us the van to ask for suggestions, they offered to store the van for us back in Bracknell.  A good day!