Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Leiria, Portugal - 17th June

We got up at 3.30am to drive to Toulouse Airport, for a flight to Portugal, to see Roger’s daughter Kate and her family. Everything was going well, drive time on schedule, airport parking handy to the departure lounge, right up until the security checks. I had a suspicion we wouldn’t be allowed to take Kate’s marmite on the plane as hand luggage, however we had no baggage allowance for stow, so we split the three jars between our three carryon bags. The smart scanner picked them up and no amount of pleading would change their minds that they weren’t explosives.

We landed in Lisbon, picked up a rental car and headed to Kate’s in Leiria, an inland city, 15 kms from the beach. As it was festival weekend we had to park miles away and even then finding a park was tricky because the Saturday market was being held in the car park.

After lunch and family time we checked into our hotel, renamed Fawlty Towers by Roger; they don’t normally take bookings, the décor is very old and below is the air conditioner remote, hidden in a hole in the wall.

After our siesta we went for a walk around the festival and town centre. Roger enjoyed a local large beer because it was cold and only cost 2€

Being a Roman Catholic area, there is a church every 500 metres; however the biggest one near our hotel is closed because the main music stage is on the terrace out front of the church.

The inside of another church, currently being used as a museum.

The festival had some interesting acts. Below is a short video of a semi tolerable one; it was lucky we had double glazing in our hotel.

We all went out for tea to celebrate both Kate’s birthday and our visit. Luckily we had Kate’s husband Joaquim to order for us, he is Portuguese and can not only translate for us but recommended the local dishes to try.

Roger had the Monk fish and prawn skewers, Kate and I had salted cod, and Joaquim had the roasted goat. Most dishes turn up with a number of sides like bread salad, broccoli, rice with chopped up liver, kale, black beans, etc. They were big portions, which we struggled to eat because, before you even order, they have nibbles on the table in the form of croquettes, crumbed mushrooms, ham, bread and cheese.

Below is the view of the castle from the restaurant. Kate lives in the old city below the castle on the other side of the hill.

Cheese Experience No.57 - Portuguese Cheese There were two plates of Portuguese cheeses on every table when we arrived at the restaurant. One plate had Queijo de Azeitao – a soft sheep’s milk cheese; the waiter came and cut the middle away from the rind and you spoon the inside onto the cruskits.

The second plate of cheese had three different sorts; the one with the label was Serra da Estrela, made from a mix of sheep and cow’s milk.

Traditionally the French serve cheese after the main course and before dessert as a separate course. Apparently you save the best course until last to encourage your guests to stay and enjoy more wine. I think I prefer the Portuguese way where it is served first, otherwise you are so full of main you don’t have room to enjoy the cheese. The French and Portuguese do however agree on serving cheese at room temperature.

The last photo is of Kate’s birthday cake; it was delicious. The yellow topping is not passion fruit, it is a Portuguese speciality of putting egg yolk in or on most things.