the salty coast

What will I remember about 2005? 1. The MTV Europe Awards took place in Lisbon 2. Benfica won the championship in 2005. 3. Our national team qualified for the World Cup. 4. Fires, fires and more fires! 5. In March 2005, they elected a new Prime Minister, choosing the Socialist party to run the country with Jose Socrates as its leader. That's all I can remember...you?

One of today's posts is to celebrate a very important tradition when one goes to Portugal. This tradition is to have a tosta mista sometime during your stay. It would not be a good trip to Portugal without one of its famous tostas mistas. Photo courtesy of Brigitte Boitel Bonfils ( site ). Her site has got some great photos of Portugal, so check it out!

Funny thing happened while searching for the latest news stories. I bumped into this . Yo. Kevin Federline's got a new hip-hop album droppin' in the '06. If you wanna taste of what'z to come, check out the firs' single, "PopoZao", a'ight? Alright. So, it's been all over the Internet lately, and I myself wondered what the heck that frickin' word meant - I just figured he must have meant it to be paparazzi or something one of his kids blurted out to him, or maybe something he and Britney came up with while making out. Then, I actually gasped when reading this: And if you're wondering what "PopoZao" means, you're probably going to have to wait for an explanation from Mr. Spears himself because no one seems to know. However, I did do some quick researching and saw some speculation that "PopoZao" came from the Portuguese slang term for "big butt". Well... That sounds like something that he'd rap about, so ...

Have you ever wanted to tell a good joke at a Portuguese party (in Portuguese?). There is a Portuguese site , which is great for this stuff. Visit banco.de/anedotas @ http://anedotas.aeiou.pt

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!

To complete my soccer recap for Sunday, here are some images of Sporting, Porto and Benfica's games:

Here are some of my favorite photos of late: I don't know why I like this photo so much, but I think it's because I can almost hear the groans and screams from the fans just by looking at their raised arms. Coldplay playing in Lisbon - I wish I was there. Nuno and Luis presenting an award at the MTV Europe Music Awards. The tallest Christmas tree in Europe was unveiled in Lisbon. It looks great.

As any Portuguese person will tell you, anytime we find out that someone famous is Portuguese, we make sure to tell as many people as possible. This is the inspiration for a new daily/weekly/monthly post I'll do on this blog titled - "is he really?" or "is she really?", which is to celebrate the fact that I found out that someone is Portuguese or of Portuguese ancestry. Today's "is he really?" is Tom Hanks . Yes, he really does have Portuguese in him, supposedly on his maternal grandparents side. It's great to have you Tom. I love your work. I can't wait to see him in the Da Vinci Code. Check out his work here .

They've got a great web site up - check it out here . It's got tons of info on how the group was formed, you can hear all their songs, check out a video, read the lyrics and most of all, find out about a really cool Portuguese group worth spending your money on.

Today is the Restauration of Independence Day. On December 1, 1640, Portugal regained its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king. Can I get it off from work?