I’ve eaten some amazing food in the last 48 hours… let me take you through some of the menu!

First of all, shortly after landing in Lisbon, I ate some delicious beef (made from parts you don’t want me to name) prepared by Dani’s boyfriend Rui:

Later that night, at a very long and very tasty dinner, I had some traditional Portuguese soup called caldo verde (which I forgot to take a picture of). This soup has chunks of sausage and green vegetables in a slightly creamy, meat-based broth. Very good! After that, we had chicken with veggies and rice:

Meanwhile, Dani’s dad made sure I always had something to drink. I started with water and beer, switched to red wine, and then ended up with a trio for dessert: a mini cocktail of almond liquor and lemon juice (which may have been the most delicious drink I’ve ever had!), a shot of firewater (which is second only to Chinese bijou in terms of disgusting taste and burn), and a flute of champagne at midnight when it officially became Dani’s birthday. Here was my cup line-up before the champagne:

And here’s the delicious almond liquor:

For Dani’s birthday dinner last night, a big group of us went to a restaurant owned by one of her friends. The specialty of the house is fish, but everything was amazing. We started with bread and pate, olives, and of course, sangria:

The first dishes out were grilled squid and cuttlefish along with potatoes and a very Mediterranean salad of tomatoes and peppers, drenched in olive oil and with a generous sprinkling of salt:

After that we had three courses of fish. I think the salmon (the first) was my favorite – hands-down the best salmon I’ve ever had – but the others were delicious as well. The second picture is of the third dish, which is Dani’s favorite.

And last but not least, we had a birthday cake… which was so, so good and full of chocolate.

Bottom line? THERE IS AMAZING FOOD IN PORTUGAL!