If you're fortunate enough to be from this area, there's a good chance you enjoy the splendor of Portuguese cuisine on a somewhat regular basis. There's also a great chance that you grew up with it on the table every day like I did. There was no chicken soup when you were sick, it was "canja". Your peanut butter and jelly sandwich was probably on a papo-seco (pronounced pop-sec or pops for the non-Portuguese readers) and there was nothing a little chazinho didn't fix. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to learn how to make the treasured recipes of sweet bread, my mother's kale soup, and carne assada.

I will make time to learn though because I am determined to serve these meals and food to my family in future years to come. And hopefully my mother will muster up the patience to teach me.

In the mean time, I appreciate Fun 107's Half Price Hook-ups. Every now and then we get Portuguese restaurants featured and I can enjoy different versions of traditional plates, although I think I'll always be partial to mom's homecooking. But if you want to give Mom or Vavo a break, check out some sweet places that feature some of my favorite dishes.

 

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