The Threshing Machine goes to a health farm!

It had to happen eventually. I suddenly got sick of food. France, you can keep your crispy crunchy baguettes and lusciously stinky cheese, Italy, I've had it with your roast meats with aromatic herbs and the less Lithuanian zeppelins are mentioned the better.
Born again, I am determined to shed the seven kilos I've gained since we arrived in Europe in March.
On arrival at Casa dos Esteios, the lady of the house greeted us warmly, introduced us to Daniella, a hospitality student, and offered us afternoon tea of juice and "love cookies" (bolinhos de amor, a local specialty). The B&B is set in a kiwi-fruit farm, in the village of S.Miguel de Paredes, about 45 minutes by train from Porto. Surrounded by pine trees, it is totally private, luxurious and perfect for relaxing by the pool.
Later, I said to Beautiful Husband "Why don't we treat this place like a health farm. We can swim, read, eat lightly and maybe be able to fit back into our clothes by the time we leave Europe." He agreed. He could also edit his new book and watch the world cup on the big screen television.
Breakfast on the first morning was prepared by another Daniella, and consisted of crunchy rolls, brioche, yoghurt, fresh fruit, ham, cheese, and bolinhos de amor. The next day, omelettes and sausages were added. By day four, a sponge cake (pao de lo, another regional specialty) had arrived.
Every day, we wander down to the pasteleria for a mid-morning pingoo (like a machiato, but really, really strong), and we share a pastel de nata and a whatever else takes our fancy from the luscious display.
On the day that Portugal beat North Korea by seven goals, the B&B owners generously invited us to watch the game and join them for lunch of caldo verde, Portugese chicken with pilaf, chips and salad, green wine, port and more love cookies.
We had originally booked for three nights, but by the end of lunch, asked if we could stay for five.
Steven is working hard, and watching lots of football with student Daniella (who knows more about the game than he does!). I'm trying to increase my laps of the pool by ten a day.
In our first week, we've eaten a lot of pateis de nata, and portugese chicken. We've tried to continue the original health farm idea by having a salad for dinner...
We decide to stay another week.

The Threshing Machine

My beautiful husband has been calling me the above moniker for a few weeks now. Hmph.
He'd be beyond forgiveness save for the delightful idea of bringing me to Europe.
Two years ago, we were staying in Tuscany and took a drive to Volpaia, a tiny 13th Century village near Radda in Chianti. There was a bar and one restaurant, La Bottega. It had a terrace with a view of vineyards, rolling hills, forests and a stately house or two. We looked at the menu - roast pork with herbs for E6, handmade pasta with truffles for around the same price. We ate there a few times, and declared it one of our top two favourite restaurants in the world. And vowed to come back.
So, we invited our good friends The Wynns to come and rent a house in Volpaia for a week, and join us in eating our way through the menu. The house was a three storey terrace house, E88 a night for the four of us. We could eat out every night and stay within our budget. Each day we'd excitedly ask each other what we were going to have that night. The rabbit stew or the beef in chianti? Paul decided the wild boar stew was his favourite, Belinda liked the spinach ravioli with sage butter, but Steven and I couldn't make a firm decision (we loved it all).
One day, beautiful husband and I walked for two and a half hours along a dirt track between Volpaia and Panzano. Views of forests, pencil pines, wild boar (behind a fence, so obviously domesticated wild boar!), chianti pigs, vineyards, olive groves, more stately homes. We arrived in Panzano hungry, and discovered that the famous butcher I had read so much about was open for lunch with a choice of a E10 "Mac Dario" or E20 "Welcome". As soon as we walked in the door, we were handed a glass of wine and invited to try the nibbles on a table in front of the meat display (it is a real butcher shop!). I passed on the lard on toast, but the salami was fragrant with herbs, and we sprinkled perfumed salt and olive oil on bread. Seated upstairs, we ordered the Mac - a burger with rosemary potatoes, vegetables and bread. I stabbed my burger, and for a second wondered how chef had managed to get red wine inside....
Crunchy and hot on the outside, bloody on the inside. The wine was E3 for a quarter litre, and for dessert, delicious olive oil cake and mocha coffee for E2.
A few days later we went back and shared the Welcome. Four dishes - all cold. Steak tartare (strips not mince), shredded pork, pork roast with crackling and meatloaf with red pepper sauce. The meal was fantastic. Communal tables filled with excited and delighted Italians and tourists, all gobbling up huge amounts of meat and chatting to fellow diners about how they knew about this wonderful place.
It is a unique restaurant, and Dario is a genius.