The Pastries of the Portuguese...

Rosalie and I grabbed a quick bite at a food kiosk at the Boat Terminal, we both picked up a ham & cheese turnover for a Euro apiece that we wolfed down while waiting for the ferry across the river... It was something of a revelation...
I believe this is called a "Merenda Queijo e Fiambre", and it was one of the most delectable things I've ever eaten. Wow. The Portuguese are not messing around when it comes to their pastries... You can tell profound things about a civilization by their cuisine, and from this little turnover, you might infer that generations have labored over crafting flaky and refined pastels that are fit for royalty. Here's a quote from Catavino on the subject:

“So how do the Portuguese pump out such a huge quantity of quality made pastries everyday and sell them for low prices? ...A very knowledgeable gentleman tell me:.“The origin of Portugal’s pastry industry actually came from wine!” Almost all the pastries are made from three basic ingredients: sugar, cinnamon and egg yolks. The first two were easy to get from Portugal’s former colonies in Brazil and the like; but as far as egg yolks, the main reason comes from the country’s old history in winemaking. When wine (Port) started being exported abroad, the Portuguese found that wine consumers were preferring filtered wine, which gave a more clear and refined flavor. After experimenting in different filtering techniques, they concluded that using egg whites produced the best results. What was left of course, were all the egg yolks! So what better way to use them with sugar and cinnamon to make some extra money by producing pastries! Another interesting source for the excess egg yolks came from the many convents during that time. The nuns found that using 3 egg whites for ironing their habits made for perfectly pressed linen. So they too started producing pastries and used them as gifts for visitors and charitable donors. From discerning wine drinkers and nunes, pastry production in Portugal is now part of their culinary heritage, with a tradition of recipes passed down word of mouth from mothers to daughters and grandmothers to granddaughters in family-run pastelerias.”

I've had a couple of these pasteis de nata's as well, the famous Portuguese custard tart, and they definitely lived up to the hype.
A man could get fat out here in a hurry, if there weren't so many hills to climb...