Mama, can I have a salted cod fritter with oozy cheese for breakfast? Instinctually I grimaced, with a reflexive, no. Then I remembered that while on vacation, one should be more lenient. And so 5 Euro later, Asha was munching her way through a crispy, very pungent pastel de bacalhau. She smiled. And so it begins
It has been over three years since our last international vacation and travel has significantly changed for our family. In addition to contending with pandemic restrictions (testing is stressful!), the biggest difference is that there are now four strong opinions to consider, leading to some strife and Previously the girls were content (well really, they had no choice) with our choice of location, activity and food. Now? Every decision is a debate with the girls weighing in. Even our decision to go to Paris was to satisfy Ashas desire to eat her favourite electric green garlic/parsley escargot. She dreamed of those snails for 6 years! Fortunately the dish was just as good as she remembered.
The other main difference is that our travels have considerably more expensive. The girls are no longer free on excursions and sharing only a few plates results in an entire cranky family. Asha and Keira now order their own individual meals and then declare hunger a mere hour later. Which I suppose is justified as the one constant in our travels is that we walk and walk and walk - on average about kms per day! It sometimes dampens their
opinions, but not often. Keira somehow managed to dance her way through our long walks – skip, land, on repeat. She also raced up the Eiffel Tower, only to be disappointed that she was not allowed to walk the stairs up to the very top.
We have had to adjust how we travel to take into account the girls opinions. Our itinerary each day is typically very loose with only one destination or activity planned. Every morning questions are posed by various members of the family:
Q. Want to go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa? A. Yes. Q. Should we spend the whole day at the museum? A. No way.
Q. Do you want to through the city in search of a whole grilled octopus for dinner? A. (resounding unanimous) YES!!!
The debate then ensues, with some vetoes of deemed unrealistic requests. Fortunately we are normally aligned in what we want to do, more often than not revolving around a quest for some sort of food. We searched for hours in unseasonably cold Paris (it was snowing when we arrived!) for a chocolate frog.
Keira is our carnivore. Although fish is plentiful and fresh in Portugal, she opts for meat, preferably pork, and more specifically black pork. On our road trip to Algarve we stopped for lunch at a tiny cafe in front of a medieval castle that served black pork fillets. She devoured the entire plate (which was meant to be shared) and promptly begged to order another, citing an ability to pay for it herself.
We joke that Keira is magnetic, with euros magically collecting in her pockets. That said, seeing how vegetables are scarce at Portuguese restaurants, we didnt give in. Tummy issues are no fun.
Asha loves truffles. She has an uncanny ability to smell truffles, much like the hogs that hunt them in the forest. On a food tour in Montmartre, she was the first of the group of 10 (8 of whom were adults) to declare that there was indeed a layer of black truffle in the decadently creamy Brillat Savarin cheese. Asha then proceeded to eat the share of 3 adults, along with 1.5 crusty baguettes. In our quest to further satisfy her craving, we went to La Truffiere, a Michelin restaurant specializing in what else but truffles. It was watching her try to keep it together. Asha is an inherently messy eater who was ill at ease with the attentive waiters who swept up her crumbs in between courses and folded her napkin each time she went to the washroom. All that energy bundled up in an But worth it for the delicious truffles!
be an evolving adventure that I cannot wait to continue.
