Delicious Ambiguity: Surreality

Being the explorer that I am, I took the opportunity yesterday to walk into Funchal. It's the capital and hub of the island where everything is happening.

This is my route. According to google maps, this is 4.3km. It took me almost 45 min taking pictures and stopping to admire the view.

My trip into Funchal

I still can’t get over how beautiful this place is.

Where the journey begins...

Another botanical garden in the city

In Funchal, I searched in vain for a shop I browsed the day before. It was a home store with the coolest gadgets ever, mostly things I’ll never need in the kitchen, but feel like I need when I’m in this store. Kind of like sharper image. I mean, who needs a crane massager? Well, I feel like I do when I’m in there... Nevertheless, the search continues. Later, with blistered feet (I walked in boots. Not smart), I sat at Indiana (the coffee shop), talking to Maria (my cousin, I suppose?) and drinking another fabulously smooth espresso, which, again, I did not take a picture of. But you’ve seen an espresso, right?

Pigeons in the coffee shop. Maria calls them her "cleaners."

Then I met my lovey to head to the shopping center near where he trains. There is a massive supermarket there that I’d wanted to go to, and we needed plates. Good excuse. Once there, I realized a startling similarity to Wal-Mart. I was way too excited, and proceeded to put everything in the shopping cart, disregarding the fact that we had to take two different busses to get home.

An hour later, a massive bag in each hand, and a huge plate set in Miguel’s, we were back on the bus which suddenly felt extremely cramped. It was not a pleasant experience, and I hope to never do it again. But, the good news is that, now we have sparkling new plates and enough meat for the next week and a half.

Later last night, I started feeling a little sore throat coming on and proceeded to guzzle Vitamin-C like a mad woman. I CANNOT be sick now. I realize that months of doing very little during the day have sapped my endurance turning me into a weak little baby. So today, I just took it easy, cleaning, grocery shopping, watching TV, and cooking. My latest culinary creation was found on Pinterest by my husband. He eats so many granola bars that when he saw this recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker, he made sure to hint that he wanted them. Like the wonderful, loving wifey that I am, I whipped them up today. No big deal…

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup light brown sugar
¼ cup honey
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ 100g bar of chocolate

Method:

Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan; set aside.
In a large bowl, stir the oats and rice cereal together; set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the brown sugar, honey, and butter together over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour the melted mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Pour the oat mixture into the prepared pan and press down to ensure that the ingredients are tightly compacted in the pan. Sprinkle the top evenly with the miniature chocolate chips and press down on the top lightly with the back of a spoon.
Cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in plastic wrap or keep in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Tonight we took another walk around the promenade to bring you... more gorgeous photos!