In this case, we turned it all over to the ship's agent and he had a professional laundry service take care of it. Very convenient, but expensive and tricky because all of our laundry came back sorted not by person, but by item! We had a bag of t-shirts, a bag of socks, and so on. It took two days for all of us to pick out our own clothes, and there still seems to be some anomalies in the sock category that may never be resolved.

The country was practically founded on salt cod, or baccalao, and they still sell it all over the country. Before they found a way to get ice out to the fishing boats, all fish was salted. Our agent, Eduardo, was surprised that a North American (me) would be interested in baccalao. But the part of Connecticut I call home, the Mystic-Stonington area, is still full of Portugese fishermen. Everybody makes fishcakes out of salt cod there, usually with baked beans and stewed tomatoes. First you soak it in salt water, then in fresh water. Then you poach it, flake it apart, mix it with mash potatoes, and fry it up nice and brown. It's firmer and chewier than fresh codfish, but it has a very nice taste. Eduardo was telling me it's an ancient art to dry and salt your cod just right so it reconstitutes into nice baccalao. My Larousse Gastronomique has scads of elegant recipes for salt cod (morue in French), including a sort of creamed cod paste called bandade. Those crazy French.

The other big score, which also doesn't need refrigeration, is the Eurasian chestnut, or castanas. Chestnuts come from the Caucasus mountains where our own Indo-european protolanguage originated, so they are a cultural legacy that goes back tens of thousands of years. The Roman Legionnaires were very fond of them and planted them all over Europe wherever they conquered the local Gauls or Etruscans or Ligurians. These are the same chestnuts you get at the supermarket back in the states. Very low in fat and high in carbos. They're not as shiny as the ones with which you may be familiar because out here the health department doesn't require they be dipped in formaldehyde. You're much better off getting the local American chestnuts readily available in the middle-Atlantic states, especially Pennsylvania. One of the many thrills of 21st century life is the resurgence of the American chestnut.

And for great photography as well as good eating, you can't beat the old coelho, or coney, or rabbit. The Joy of Cooking says Americans don't eat rabbit because of the Easter bunny. As you can see, in Portugal they sell rabbits with the heads still on.

For all I know, the head might be the best part. I prefer to serve my rabbits headless. Well we're almost in Funchal, I better go on deck and supervise the docking.

Andy the Cook