Tagged: shortbread
Sesame Seed Shortbread Triangles
A crazy, hot day in Lisbon yesterday. I didn’t even know they were rebuilding the river-side, so I jumped out of the train in Alcântara and made my way to Cais do Sodré hoping to get the last of the Tejo before I leave (ah yes, to PARIS). My day wasn’t particularly busy, and I could always take advantage of my trip and drop by the “El Corte Inglés” (my favourite excuse) to check out the supermarket. I know, when you’re expecting a girl to be at Zara looking at the latest trends (I consider seasonal ingredients a trend, if you know what I mean)! Very unfortunately, not even the “El Corte Inglés” had a full turkey, and I really wanted to make roast turkey for Saturday’s dinner. I came back to the Chiado lighter, you might say…
As I’m climbing the steep street that goes from the Armazéns do Chiado to the Praça de Camões a recent pregnant lady comes up to me, and asks if I want to take a picture for a magazine. This is not very uncommon in the middle of the city. A quick shoot in the middle of the street, and we continue our lives in peace. But no, this one I surely didn’t expect! They actually gathered a bunch of people from the crowd and led us straight to their little atelier (or all-purpose studio) in the Rua da Trindade: &SoWhat. This is an alternative beauty salon, which makes the productions for most of Edit Mag‘s fashion magazine (I suppose). The magazine’s anniversary will be in September, and their idea was to make cover photographs of different people found in the centre Lisbon. This might seem like an everyday happening for most, but I have to admit to being absolutely surprised with the production they organized. I even got to take the picture home! How cool is that? 
Goa Fingers (My Homemade Twix Bar)
This is not the first time that I’ve tried to make this candy bar. The recipe is no secret, and travels around in the internet a lot. The other name it carries is Millionaire’s Shortbread. Unfortunately, my other attempts at making this candy bar were unfruitful, and in no way presentable in a culinary blog!
I guarantee one thing though: once you get the hang of this, you can adapt to your style and make really interesting little snacks for coffee or tea. I named mine Goa Fingers, because of what I added to my shortbread and caramel. The taste simply connected to something exotic. There’s a special reason for being Goa and not New Delhi (for instance). The portuguese were the first Europeans to bring spices from India (by sea), and had a very strong community in Goa. Some of its occupants still know how to speak portuguese. Isn’t that interesting?
The caramel with the spices is just heavenly, and challenging to avoid…
