November sits right between two movie filled months, Michelle’s horror extravaganza in October and Andrew’s Christmas romantic comedies in December. It’s that time where many Americans make a full transition to having lives dictated by various holidays and parties for six weeks or so. Fittingly, it was a transitional month for our lives in Portugal as Michelle’s successful residency appointment (which happened almost exactly a year after we officially decided to retire and move) means we are officially into a new phase of our journey.

Games: Michelle met Deborah at a ladies lunch. She was in Olhão on an extended scouting trip and mentioned that she loves cards. We managed to fit in several rounds of her favorite game Hand and Foot during her stay. Hopefully we can schedule a rematch if she returns in 2023 because she beat us EVERY TIME! We also hosted our friend Karen and her son Bert for dinner and games. We played several rounds of Crokinole and one round of Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar. We finished quite a few puzzles while “watching” Manifest on Netflix, which is more accurately ambient noise we occasionally tune in to in order to make fun of the terrible acting and screenwriting.

Dia de Sao Martinho: November 11th is St. Martins Day and is celebrated in Portugal with friends and roasted chestnuts. Around this time of year chestnut roasting kiosks open around town and stay open through the winter months. We spent the evening at Cafe Bíanca with local friends, including one man who roasts his own nuts! It ended up being a wild night, we stayed at the cafe until closing and were regaled with stories about missing his hometown in the north of Portugal. One repeated story involved a different man at the cafe who we think was telling us that his sister in law is as hairy as a yeti and has to shave her chest often? We might have misunderstood.

Baking/Cooking: We have very generous friends that regularly gift us with scads of citrus. In November we had lemons galore. In addition to making several pitchers of lemonade, Andrew whipped up multiple batches of cheek puckering lemon bars, we gifted some of these to neighbors and friends.

Another cooking highlight was peel and eat shrimp with a garlicky aioli dipping sauce. For dinner with Karen and Bert we had roasted cauliflower with breadcrumbs and homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

Restaurants: We went to Capriccio Italiano, an Italian deli, several times in November. They serve antipasto, bruschetta, grilled vegetables, a delicious tiramisu, prosecco, beer, and cocktails. The proprietor is entertaining, good-humored, and we will definitely return for more laughs and Italian bubbles.

While Michelle was in Lisbon, Andrew went to Café Bianca for a soccer game and some regional cuisine. He paired Portuguese beer with Feijoada and tripe. The tripe was tender, mild and was mixed into a thick broth, with beans, sausage, and rice.

We celebrated Michelle’s successful residency trip with a fancy dinner out at Mósse! Service was excellent, the ambiance was delightful, and the food was top notch. In October we had a not so pleasant fancy dinner experience at a nearby restaurant and Mósse! was a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Thanksgiving: Deborah hosted an expat potluck on Thanksgiving day and it was an international affair which included Italians, Americans, and Brits. The food was lovely and the company was even better. Andrew cooked a Bourbon Pecan Pie. Michelle made Stuffed Mushrooms and Minty Lemonade with sparkling water and honey. Andrew scoured multiple stores for cranberries in a can and came up empty, so Michelle rehydrated some dried cranberries with cranberry juice, orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon and a pinch of cornstarch and our workaround cranberry sauce came to life. We even snuck in a competitive and slightly riotous game of Time’s Up! after dinner and dessert.

A Friend Lost: Very sadly our friend Jack passed away during the month. He and his wife Karen were among the first American friends we made in Portugal. We had met the two of them at a lunch gathering and hadn’t connected for a month or so.

The two of us went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate Andrew’s birthday in August. We were about halfway through a very large pitcher of sangria (“When I was a teenager I would buy a 2 liter of soda and drink it in an afternoon, the two of us can EASILY enjoy that much sangria during a long lunch!” Andrew said, haphazardly) when we realized that Jack and Karen had walked into Petiscais, a wonderfully modern restaurant adjacent to our train station. We recognized them immediately because of Jack’s amazing full head of curly hair. They were celebrating Jack’s birthday and happened to be lunching at the very same place!

We didn’t get to visit much because Karen and Jack left soon after that for an African adventure, unfortunately his health worsened soon after returning. They had us over to their house when he was feeling a little better for an impressive Cataplana seafood dinner. We played games, including Kenny G: Keepin’ It Saxy. The four of us helped Kenny avoid having a very bad day (thus winning the game) while laughing and sharing great stories about our lives.

Just after Thanksgiving we attended a ceremony celebrating Jack’s life and subsequently spent that afternoon and evening with Karen and other friends. We wish our burgeoning friendship hadn’t been cut short so unexpectedly.