Today is both Dia do Trabalhador (Labour Day) and Dia da Mãe (Mother’s Day) in Portugal, which means nobody should be working today — ESPECIALLY not mothers. Sounds great in theory, but it doesn’t always work in practice. Plenty of people went to work today (and unlike in Canada, Portuguese don’t get long weekends when national holidays fall on Saturdays/Sundays, either), and we were totally unsuccessful at getting my mother-in-law out of her kitchen this year.
But all is not lost: Paulo made an apple pie.
I take zero credit for the pie. All I did was pare and slice the apples; what you see is Paulo’s handiwork. His presentation style is very much like his mother’s, with some additional embellishment. I thought the pie needed a top, but truly, I was just happy there was pie. I love pie, but for some reason Portugal isn’t as much into pies as other pastries and cakes. (Lidl makes a pretty good puff pastry with apple, though.) Give me a fruit pie — especially berry — over a cake any day of the week.
The kitchen smelled INCREDIBLE while the pie was baking. The combination of apples and cinnamon is irresistible… even Ice showed up and started (his version of) lipsmacking.
The past two years we were able to get everyone over to our place for Mother’s Day, but this time we were volunteering in the afternoon which made it awkward to be hosting and leaving. Maybe next year it will work out for us to host again, because Paulo enjoys cooking and baking.
Mother’s Day 2014
Mother’s Day 2015
{ More photos in the Spring 2016 album. }
May 1, 2016
Album: Portugal [Spring 2016]