​When I read Amor Towles' "A Gentleman in Moscow a few months ago, I was quite taken with this line ~ Count observes: “The onions thoroughly caramelized, the pork slowly braised, and the apricots briefly stewed, the three ingredients come together in a sweet and smoky medley that simultaneously suggests the comfort of a snowed-in tavern and the jangle of a Gypsy tambourine.”
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I looked it up and found out that it is called Latvian Stew. I was able to find a recipe on the internet on the Book Club Cookbook website.

Here's my version. I basically cut the recipe in half, omitted the prunes and added some herbs/seasonings. 

The National Museum of Azulejo in Lisbon is housed in Convento de Madre Deus, a 16th century convent founded by one of Portugal’s most beloved queens, Queen Leonor. Unbeknownst to many, it is both a museum and a national monument, which introduces the idea that there is more here than meets the eye. 

My friends and I visited the museum this past Wednesday when the temperatures soared to 102°F (39°C).  

I just downsized when I moved from Arizona back to Florida in November 2020 after my husband passed away.  Now, that I decided to move to Portugal, I had to downsize my worldly belongings into a 100 cubic foot crate (to be shipped to Lisbon) as well as several suitcases that I will take with me on the plane.

When I was doing research on this company to use, I saw that there were a lot of recommendations for UpakWeShip in the Americans & Friends PT Facebook group. Their rates seemed reasonable so I decided to go with them.

I set up the boxes in the exact dimensions of the crate in my garage that way I could visually see how much room I had as well as making it easier to pack into the crate once it was time.

I was notified by my U.S. rep that my shipment left the U.S. on May 11th and arrived in Rotterdam on May 18th where it had to clear customs which could take anywhere from 5-10 business days. And she passed me on to my European rep.

Since I didn't receive my visa before I left the U.S. on May 1st, I was due to fly back on June 1st so I emailed my European rep that if the shipment couldn't be delivered no later than May 31st that I would have to delay delivery and store it for 2 weeks until I got back in country.

A few days before I left the U.S. to come back to Portugal, I emailed to say that they could start the process of sending my crate.

It ended up being a longer wait time than I anticipated and this rep was not as communicative as on the U.S. side.  It was frustrating because I didn't want to go very far from my apartment because I had read several posts on the Americans & Friends in PT Facebook page that their crates were delivered with little notice.

On the morning of June 30, I got a message that my crate would be delivered that day around 2 p.m.  At noon, I received a call stating that it would be closer to 4 p.m.  At 3:50 p.m., I got another call saying that it would be closer to 5 p.m.  Even though it was a little annoying with all of the delays, I was still happy that they were still going to deliver on that day.

They arrived at 5 p.m. and 2 delivery guys carried up all of my boxes in about 30 minutes.  I paid an extra €450 for this service and even though they made it look easy (carrying up 2 boxes on their shoulders at a time), I knew it would have been extremely hard on my body and exhausting.  I'm definitely much older and less in shape than those two delivery men.

I was a little shocked to see that they had unloaded my crate and just brought the boxes in their truck.  So I was very happy that I secured them in a way by taping a piece of paper with the number over the center of each box ensuring that they were not opened or tampered with.