It turns out that when I’m teaching two courses in the early Fall, I do have time to cook — but not to blog.  C’est domage, because there are some exciting things to tell you about.  Now that one course is over, I can fill you in.

First of all, I have discovered some delicious Portuguese wines, and they are tremendous values.  We visited the store Portugalia in Fall River, MA, a couple of months ago.  There were all kinds of dried beans and legumes (deep fried fava beans —  a great salty snack with lots of protein), cheeses, bacalhau, pickled peppers, and WINE.  I tried two Dao red wines, and I particularly enjoyed the Cabriz Reserva (only about $16).

Having found something I liked, I then researched how to get more, without driving an hour and 45 minutes to get to Fall River.  As usual, the first task was to find the importer and distributor, in this case — the same company (Aidil).  I called them and asked where I might find a retailer near me who carried it   I was thrilled to find that Central Street Market, in Hudson, MA, carried the Cabriz and a number of other wines from the same distributor.  I went right over there, and to my delight, I found several more wines of similar quality and even better values.  Convenient location, great people in the store, wide selection, and some good foods, too, like Portuguese dried chickpeas

Note the price, and the unusual directions (many food writers insist that salt be added to legumes only after they are all cooked.).  These were absolutely delicious, tender, plump, and wholesome.

Other wines I liked were from Monte Velho, both a red and a white (and only $7.99/bottle).

Other delights during these two months included a Lambrusco at SRV in Boston, a Corsican rosé, some vegetarian meals at home, and my very first wine from Minnesota (which was pretty good).

This by Tinrocket 1.0.2 (101)
Heirloom tomatoes atop fava bean pure on toasted rye bread with caraway seeds | Roast radishes and their wilted greens | Roasted zucchini wedges | Armenian cucumbers |