Weird Foods of Portugal:Adventures of an Expat
The beautifully-written stories overflow with rich detail, and unexpected happenings. Porto’s iconic Casa da Música hosts a near fist-fight in its cafeteria when a bald-headed tuba player confronts the author with gross disdain for public money spent on the arts (of which he partakes).
It’s the seamy side of town she discovers first after her conniving real estate agents and attorney lock her into a comically unsuitable lease in a building where she is presumed to be just another of the neighborhood prostitutes.
The best language tips come from the neighborhood dogs.
She learns what to eat, and what to maybe-not eat, discovers odd side effects from the country’s physiotherapy clinics, lolls steamy Sundays poolside at a posh Foz residence, and discusses communes and courage with the renowned plastics artist, Joana Vasconcelos in her Lisbon atelier. Fresh insights on Portugal and America are served up in an intimate, conversational style, and the adventures are delicious, hilarious.
Available in Audiobook, Large Print paperback, and eBook through independent retailers, and distributors worldwide.
Where I’m Going with this Poem:
(Also available in European Portuguese.)
“Wendy Lee Hermance’s prose and poetry are made of touching and surprising childhood memories – of shriveled apples, old pillows, fallen tree limbs, imaginary radio stations and things so difficult to put into words that we can only glimpse them between the lines of this highly compelling work.” – Richard Zimler, Best-selling Author, The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, The Village of the Lost Souls.
“ richly detailed childhood experiences, moving through adolescence, ultimately manifesting in adulthood… a hymn to “this lovely human mess” that is the speaker’s life, but this is a life filled with a myriad of experiences all described with a poet’s empathy and attention to detail reminding us all, as Hermance did in the last poem of the collection, of our capacity to find some things to love.” – Marjory Wentworth, NYT’s Best-selling Author, Out of Wonder.
What’s That Stuff? A Natural Foods Reference Guide
Simple recipes, detailed cooking charts, nutritional data, and surprising back-stories to foods are collected in this concise guide that will answer all those perplexing questions you were afraid to ask.
‘”How does one dance a Brazilian cassava?’
This question and more are answered in this witty little guide to soy foods, grains, legumes, seaweeds and much more. We used it in our retail stores as a training manual.” – Diane Markovitz,Tree of Life Distributors.
