Happy Saint John!

Last night was the longest and happiest night in Porto, my dear hometown! It's was Saint John's eve, when hundreds of people invade the streets to have fun, to dance, to laugh and to watch the midnight fireworks.

Like any portuguese event, popular festivity or celebration there's always a typical dish to go along with! For Saint John's it's the sardine the "royal" meal. And we can say really "royal" because the sardine's price go up, up and up!
Sardines are grilled, and they go great with red or green peppers and boiled potatoes. You can eat them on a plate, or, my favourite, to eat the sardines on a slice of "broa" (a typical portuguese cornbread)
There is one typical soup that's very popular this day, the "caldo verde" (or green soup).
And to drink? Red wine, of course!

Besides gastronomy, there are cultural events like the "rusgas" (a popular march), the Rabelos boat race (typical boats once used to navigate on the Douro River) and the "cascatas" (typical outdoor decoration).

Ah, there's also the traditional "manjericos" (a plant) and I couldn't finish this long list without mentioning the very popular and very typical "martelo de São João", the plastic toy hammers which people use to friendly hit each other :-)

I wasn't in Porto this night, but I had to prepare the typical meal! ;-)

ps: how many times did I write "typical" today? eheh

My japanese garden

I've decided to play gardener a month ago when a friend of mine offered my some seeds to plant. Yes, this sounds like something illegal, but it's not! eheh
This seeds were brought from Japan by this friend from my japanese class, and the purpose is to have... vegetables! :-P Well, not exactly a lettuce or cabbage... but soybeans with the name of edamame.

You can find edamame in some japanese restaurants, and you eat it as peanuts because they're salty. It was during a lunch at a japanese restaurant that I found out this snack... and it's not that bad.

The seeds are blue and they look like M&M's, but until now nothing weird happened. But this vegetable grows very very fast! Two weeks after planting I could already notice some big differences, the plant had grown considerably. I'm afraid that one day I'll arrive home just to realize that it has conquered by the plant! eheh

Let's see if I'll have japanese peanuts in a month or so... or if I have to get a bigger appartment! eheh

Drag Me to Hell

Thank you Sam Raimi! No, I wasn't dragged to hell, even if sometimes the Paris subway feels like that! eheheh
I've watched the latest Sam Raimi's horror movie "Drag Me to Hell", and I must say I really really enjoyed an old school horror movie. Unfortunatelly nowadays an horror movie means one of two things: you have a serial killer who kills a group of teenagers one by one, or you have a a pshycho who loves to torture people.
Before "Spider-Man" Sam Raimi was known for horror movies like "Army of Darkness" and "Evil Dead". A mix of humor and horror... very 80's. At the time he had written the script for "Drag Me to Hell", but he only managed to produced and direct it 20 years later. And you can see the difference from your typical Hollywood horror movie. Even the Universal Studios logo shown at the beginning of the credits, is the same one from the 80's! :-D

I loved the plot, the surprises, the suspense, the humor and the... unexpected ending. I left the movie theatre pleased with the experience... and nowadays I don't find too many movies which have a positive impact on me.

Take a look at this movie... and let yourself be dragged to a new "old" experience ;-)