the salty coast

Have you ever had to do business in Portugal? Me neither, unless you call haggling with the merchants at the flea market "doing business", but I have always wondered what it is like. Well, there are tons of web sites about business etiquette out there, and I found one that was of particular interest. There is also a lot more here . The person who puts this together, did a great job, but I wonder how old this information actually is? Here is what he had to say about punctuality: Punctuality is not an important cultural trait. It is courteous to arrive five minutes late and definitely bad news to arrive before the agreed time. Quarter of an hour late is not usually noticed. Over half an hour begins to be rude. Nevertheless, the Portuguese are usually aware that foreigners operate differently, so I would still recommend being on time [plus five] and 'phoning in' if you're delayed. Just don't expect your contacts to follow the same rules. Ain't that the tru

It is that time of year, about 2 weeks before Christmas, when all hell breaks loose in my Portuguese household. Food starts to be made, shopping trips being planned and the joy of the season can be heard throughout the house. Above, a photo illustrating a typical table setting for the "consoada" (which is the Portuguese translation of Christmas Eve). Here is a list of popular dishes for Christmas. It is in Portuguese, which doesn't help if you don't know the language. A popular dish every Portuguese Christmas Eve is bacalhau - aka Cod Fish - Many different ways to make it, here's a Canadian recipe titled "Bacalhau" Then, there's all kinds of side dishes and other tasty treats like: Bolinhos de Bacalhau . Recipe is available here . Rissois de Camarão Recipe is here .

In this week's edition of "are they really portuguese?", we feature Danielle Steel. Believe it or not, the very popular author has Portuguese roots. Have you been to her web site? You should. There are over 2 million sites featuring Danielle Steel. Click here to view her official site. Here's an excerpt from her profile: America reads Danielle Steel. And so does the rest of the world. There are more than 530 million copies of her books in print, and every one of her books is a bestseller. In short, Danielle Steel is the most popular author writing today. She is read by women, men, young people, old people in 47 countries and 28 languages.

Alright, I am just a watcher, not an analyst, not even an expert in soccer. I'm a fan. A cautious fan of the team we call Portugal. Today, we found out that they will be in a group with: Angola Iran Mexico FIFA's web site provides an overview of the group here . First, I'm thinking I may just go to Germany for that time - great country to visit and maybe see some players! On second thought, I'll just watch it on the big screen. Here is the schedule: June 11 - Mexico vs. Iran June 11 - Angola vs. Portugal June 16 - Mexico vs. Angola June 17 - Portugal vs. Iran June 21 - Portugal vs. Mexico June 21 - Iran vs. Angola I would love to see Angola and Portugal go through to the next round, but most would say Portugal and Mexico, but likely, it will be Angola and Iran just because if things play like 2002, that's what will happen. So, for Portugal's games, let's look historically how they've done playing against that country: vs. Angola Nov 14 2001 - Portugal

Yes, it's that time of year when the new Miss World will be crowned by you! (Not to be confused with Miss Universe of course) Here is the candidate for Portugal: Her name is Angela Maria Fonseca Spinola, and she grew up in Cape Verde but is now living is Setebal. (Hmmm...I wonder if they mean Setubal). Sounds like a great gal. Here is another contestant, also with Portuguese (via Cape Verde) roots for Belgium! Hmmm...if I go by the photos, this one has a much better chance! Wait, at least there's Brazil ! She looks like she's got the best chance at this one. Well, I was going to vote online (you get 2 votes), but guess what, you have to pay 1 US$ to do that. Do I care that much about who wins? Not really, so, let others pay for you!

An unknown person to me before this event, but now, Helder Ornelas is deserving of a blog entry for winning the 2005 Milan marathon yesterday. Congrats Helder! ( Source )

There are many annoying people in the world, but no site has actually organized them into lists quite so well as amiannoying.com . Here , they list the most annoying people of Portuguese descent. Guess who's #1? Last week's "Is he really?" Tom Hanks!