I was awake early, so I thought I might as well walk out on to the breakwater near the hotel with my camera and take some photos looking back towards the nearby Sao Tiago Fort. It wasn’t an amazing sunrise, but it was a pleasant, peaceful and still a productive morning, photography wise at least. I got back to the hotel and went to the gym, which, annoyingly, I had to share with some other people today. Outrageous!
We had an excursion booked for mid-afternoon, which meant we had the morning to relax and go a swim or two.
Our afternoon excursion was to go to a baking workshop, where we would be making our own pastéis de nata; that traditional Portuguese pastry, which have been the mainstay of our diet since we arrived here. We remembered at breakfast that there would be no point in smuggling any out today, not that we’d ever do such an outrageous thing!
Overcast Day
Supported quite a minimalist scene.
Yesterday (see Two Separate Reminders of Our Nazca Lines Experience), I mentioned that I have not sunbathed in over 20 years and the result of trying it again here has been some disastrous burning. Baking is also something that I also haven’t done in over 20 years (a ready-meal is my limit when I need to fend for myself – thank you M&S), so we’re hoping that trying that again here doesn’t result in a similar level of disaster.
It was about a 25 minute walk to get there, which involved going through some streets and a lovely square that we had not seen before. We were joined on the workshop by three other people, all from Germany, who seemed to indicate that they all had about my level of baking competence (or ‘incompetence’ may be more accurate). It looks like my wife, is going to be busy carrying us all.
There was a professional baker controlling the cooking, although he couldn’t speak English, so was supported by a very charming and fun lady, who was helping to ensure we all knew what we were supposed to do and kept us all motivated.
Right, on with the baking:
Undiscovered Square
I might want to come back here when we’re not in a rush.
Washing hands, of course – check;
Mixing the ingredients for the pastry – check;
Rolling out the pastry in layers, with a obscene amount of butter (it’s puff-pastry) – check;
Folding and cutting it into little sections – check;
Pressing those sections into little cake tins – check;
Now for the custard – stirring and heating milk and flour – check;
Mixing water and sugar – ok, it’s getting complicated now;
Mixing those two mixes, with some egg yolks and two whole eggs – help!
Pouring the custard into the little cake tins – phew, I can cope with that;
Baking them in the oven – the professional took over for that, thankfully and for obvious reasons.
There were no spillages, no hissy-fits and storming out, no burnt pastries and no fires. From memory, the last times I tried to bake anything, it resulted in the incinerated remains being unceremoniously thrown in the bin after a huge tantrum.
Once our pastéis de nata had sufficiently cooled down, we got to eat one each, still warm and fresh from the oven. They were scrumptious. We also got to bring a box of three each back with us for later.
Rolled Puff Pastry
Wow, I’m a professional.
Having not baked for a while, I am a bit shocked at the ingredients that go into cakes – large quantities of things that I’d consider really bad for you. I choose ignorance every time. I’ll just have to try and forget just how much butter and sugar I’m consuming in all those pastries that I crave for every time we have a buffet breakfast.
Perhaps a Poncha making workshop might be a better idea, the iconic Madeiran cocktail. We saw Picso Sours being made in Peru (their national cocktail – see Train Journeys Should be an Event) and I managed to get through that without being put off alcohol. Granted, a highly unlikely outcome!
We walked back via the cathedral, as we wanted to have a look inside. It’s a beautiful cathedral, with lots of impressive decorations and displays (that’s probably not what they should be called), depicting various scenes from the life of Christ.
Obviously, I’m not religious, as I’m sure you can tell, and with limited knowledge of any religious traditions. Regardless, the cathedral is still to be admired in all its beauty.
Mixing Custard
I’m loosing which stage of the custard mixing this actually was.
There is some massive news circulating around Funchal, however. This weekend, the cathedral will be the venue for the wedding of Madeira’s most famous son, Ronaldo (see So Sitting By a Pool Doing Nothing Can Still be Productive? again). We’ll be leaving on Friday, unfortunately, and, besides, our invites must have got lost in the post.
We also walked back via the fruit market, which, we have read, is very impressive inside and it’s the first time that we have walked past it and it’s actually been open. It was nice to walk around, although the number of fruit stalls is equalled by the leather goods stalls. There was that slight smell of fresh leather, although part of the building also houses the fish market and, a bit like in the bakery in the supermarket (see So Sitting By a Pool Doing Nothing Can Still be Productive? again), the pungent smell of fish totally dominated everywhere.
It was tea and pastéis de nata when we got back to the hotel.
Wow, I did a good job!!!