As if bad things never happen to men...

So the BBC Online has published an article about the dangers for woman travelling solo. Yippee. FUD galore.

Why the focus on women only? Why not write an article about the dangers of travelling solo and leave it at that? Sure it's a problem when women flirt in the wrong cultural context. But is it not a problem when men flirt with women only to wake up the next day in some strange room, without his clothes or wallet?

travel-inspired eating - Portugal

porco à Alentejana

They had some very nice hjerteskjell (cockles) at the fish monger's, so I made this traditional Portuguese dish for dinner last night. I used a version of the following recipe. I used 1/2 a (400 g) can of tomatoes instead of tomato paste, and olive oil instead of butter...

I served the dish with oven-roasted potatoes, a salad, and a lovely Portuguese white wine...

Ingredients
300 ml white wine
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
1 clove
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper

450 g loin of pork, cut into 1 inch cubes
450 g leg of pork cut the same way

110 g lard (or 2-4 Tb butter)

1 tsp concentrated tomato paste (or 1 sun-dried tomato, soaked, mashed)
2 Tb olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 sprigs parsley, chopped
675 g (1 1/2 lb) cockles (Long Island littleneck clams, or any small clams)

Procedure
Marinate the meat 4-5 hours. Drain meat, reserving marinade, & fry
gently in lard until golden brown all over. Strain the marinade &
add to pan. Cover & boil with the meat until it is very tender and
the sauce is reduced by half.

Meanwhile, make another sauce with the tomato paste, oil, onion,
parsley, salt & pepper, simmering it on low heat for 6-8 minutes.

Add the cockles & simmer until they open (discard any that do not
open). Shake the pan & transger contents to the top of the meat.
Cover. Simmer gently for 3 mins & serve in same pan.

Source

other versions of the same recipe