Madeira News Blog

This photo of Paul da Serra is from Tobi’s website HERE. Thank you.

These contributions are from Paul :

“The most zealously guarded secret in Portuguese cuisine, if not Portugal itself & monasteries.." reports the star.com:

There are only “..four people who knows the recipe of the treats that are produced there every day.” One is Clarinha, owner of the Antiga Confeitaria de Belem. The treats include the “pasteis de nata” the “pasteis de Belem.

Image caption (left) : Pastéis de Belém na Pastelaria de Belém, Lisboa, Portugal

Image caption (right) : Fábrica dos pastéis de Belém

“monasteries were technologically advanced enterprises where monks would do all kinds of experiments on wine, food, and plants.” “So when shipments of sugar cane began to arrive from Brazil in the sixteenth century, the monks in the monastery of Jeronimos mixed it with milk and eggs and created the very first pasteis de Belem”.

“A revolution in 1820 forced the closure of the monastery, and by 1837 the pasteis recipe had found its way into the hands of one Domingo Rafael Alves, the founder of the confeitaria and an ancestor of Clarinha’s. Soon his tarts were proving so successful that he scrapped the other stock from his general store in order to focus solely on the little treats.”  Link to full article: Tour of the factory – Antiga Confeitaria de Belem:

The first video of Zino’s Petrel at sea! Madeira Wind Birds report: Ultimate WP Pelagic Expedition: Madeira, May 2010 – 3-13 May, 2010 from Madeira Windbirds.

Expedition report by Hadoram Shirihai (Tubenoses Project / Extreme Gadfly Petrel Expeditions), with Catarina Fagundes and Hugo Romano (Madeira Wind Birds / Oceanodroma), and Frank Zino and Manuel José Biscoito(Freira Conservation Project (FCP) & Municipal Museum of Funchal) VIDEO Well done Madeira WindBirds and all the team involved!

Portuguese TV star on Britain’s Got Talent 2010. UNREALITY TV reports :
"Britain’s Got Talent 2010: Dance Flavourz Francis Cardoso is a Portuguese TV star. The leader of Britain’s Got Talent hopefuls Dance Flavourz has admitted that he already has a wealth of TV experience. The group impressed Simon Cowell with their carnival themed performance at their recent audition….." link to full article: 

Video: Season 4 Ep. 7 — Britain’s Got Talent: Flamboyant dance act Dance Flavourz take to the stage, led by Francis – who’s been peforming since he was 14 years old. With different styles and loads of colour, surely Dance Flavourz are the definition of variety?

The Sun newspaper reports: "THE leader of Dance Flavourz is already a celebrity in Portugal. Francis Cardoso, 37, said: "I used to appear on a number of TV shows and had my own dance insert on morning television." Francis added: "We love Latin groups and artists like Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin. "We get inspiration from big Bollywood productions and anything which features singing, dancing, fashion and colour." link to full article:

Portuguese-style menu may be good for the heart (the Southern European Atlantic Diet). Reuters Health reports "a new study shows that following the Southern European Atlantic Diet may also help protect the heart — as long as you don’t follow it too closely."

image caption : Tomato, spinach, fried seabass, mango, oil, salt and balsamic vinegar ?

"Residents of northern Portugal and a region in northwest Spain known as Galicia have "very low" rates of death from heart disease, Dr. Andreia Oliveira of the University of Porto Medical School in Porto, Portugal and colleagues note. In fact, heart disease death rates in this region are similar to those of France, Italy and Greece, where people tend to stick to a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruits and vegetables, olive oil, whole grains and nuts, and relatively low in dairy products and red meat.

The Southern European Atlantic Diet, the traditional diet of northern Portugal and Galicia, consists of lots of fish, especially cod; red meat; pork; dairy products; legumes; vegetables; potatoes; and wine with meals, Oliveira and colleagues explain." link to full article:

The President of the Canary Islands calls for a two-year extension of the Hispanic-Portuguese fisheries agreement. FIS Portugal reports:

"The president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, is calling for a two-year extension of the Hispanic-Portuguese fisheries agreement, which allows Canary Island vessels to work in the Portuguese archipelagos of Azores and Madeira, and vice versa. “It has worked very well and is on the verge of expiring at the end of the summer. We have agreed to propose to Spain the renovation of this agreement for the next two years,” Rivero said.

image caption : Poster of  Paulino Rivero. Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Within the framework of the fisheries agreement signed in 2008 between the governments of Portugal and Spain, 38 artisanal fishing vessels of the Canary Islands can work in Azores and Madeira waters, and another 38 Portuguese fishing boats, in the Canary Islands.
During the official visit to Portugal, Rivero met with the minister of Agriculture of Portugal, Antonio Serrano; with the president of the Republic, Anibal Cavaco Silva; with the president of the Portuguese Assembly, Jaime Range; with the minister of the Environment, Dulce Passaro; and with the mayor of Lisbon, Antonio Costa, EFEreports.

image caption : Nasa image Canary Islands 2002
Rivero and Serrano “closed ranks” with respect to the defence of their traditional productions.

The Spanish official pointed out the “very good disposition of the Portuguese authorities in advancing a line of understanding with the Canary Islands.” Africa could be a “very attractive” market for both parties, he further noted." link to full report:

Condor Fishing Bank, Azores closed for two years to serve as the largest and sole, live laboratory of the North Atlantic Ocean in the world. FIS reported in Summer 2010:

"The research project, in collaboration with the University of Açores, the regional government and shipowners and fishers associations, will serve as reference for the future management of local seafood resources. “In these two years we are going to study [everything] from bacteria to cetaceans that inhabit the Condor Bank,” indicated Guy Menezes, of the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries in Horta. This research “will have influence over future policy decisions,” he added.

image caption : Pico island from Horta – Açores

Similarly, he noted that next July the Azores boat Noruega and further on the shipGago Coutinho, equipped with the robot Luso and the submarine Luta, of the Rebikof Niggeler Foundation will also arrive on the scene.

"In its beginnings, this project was purely scientific, but, naturally, it has a component more applicable to fishing,” Menezes said.

The scientists hope that once the fisheries in the area remain interrupted for 24 months, “some alterations in terms of the abundance of the species that inhabit it” are observed.

“This project is unique in global terms: nowhere that we know of has a [fishing] bank been closed purely for scientific experimentation on a large scale,” Menezes pointed out." Link to full article

Madeiran elected President of the Portuguese Table Tennis Federation. ITTF reports:

"Carlos Leon, for many years the driving force behind table tennis in the Atlantic island of Madeira, was elected President of the Portuguese Table Tennis Federation on Wednesday 2nd June 2010.."

image caption : Jose Miguel Ramirez (GUA) vs. Dymeis Gongora (CUB) – Table tennis men’s singles – Rio 2007 link to full article:

Descobrir Portugal a pé (Discover Portugal on foot).

image caption : walk to pico ruivo in Madeira

The Visao magazine Fotogallery of 10 walks on the Continent not Madeira : link:

From Der : It’s that time of year when the upper bedclothes start disappearing, and unfortunately also high season for a bicho (bug) that until now I though was harmless … but now I know better … the hard way as usual. The Centopeia (type of centipede) that has lots of long legs and whiskers, that tends to hang around on walls and ceiling corners, I was told by a doctor that it is attracted to the heat of our beds during the night, and has a rather nasty bite.

I awoke on Wednesday morning with an itch and small lump on my left index finger, and just thought it was another bloody mosquito. I applied copious quantities of that wonder potion ‘Betadine’ during the day, but unusually it had no effect whatsoever, and by that evening I had a throbbing highly swollen index finger, with a sizable black blister. The pain was quite intense. A trip down to the local chemist at around 11 pm, and the close analysis of my digit by two wonderful lady chemists resulted in a remedy of anti-inflammatory capsules, which surprisingly didn’t need a prescription (although the box said otherwise). I ought to go to the Medical Centre I was advised. Sod that I thought, it’s just another bloody mossie bite.

By the following morning, after a fairly painful and sleepless night (despite a reasonable dose of that non-prescription sleeping draught ‘Coral’), I removed the sticking plasters and almost fell out of bed in horror. In simple terms, multiply the pre-described symptoms above by ten, and you will have some idea.

Still thinking it was a mosquito bite, I decided that a trip to the Medical Centre was perhaps the best course of action, so off I went. Lots of people waiting, surprising considering it was a public holiday, but after a wait of just 20 minutes, I was in with the Doc, and a few minutes later I was in the treatment room. I won’t describe what happened then, just in case you are reading this at dinner time, but after a rather messy twenty minutes  I was despatched, prescription in hand. The Doc. told me what it was and what had caused it, and told me a little about these unpleasant creatures … the Centopeia.

So from there straight off to the chemist, and I have now have 4 prescription items, which thanks to residents discounts and some reluctant swopping of doctor’s preferred brand names with generic equivalents, I only spent €14 instead of the RRP of around €22. I have to take these all for a week, including antibiotics, one on a strict timetable that starts at 7 am each morning (hmm … I don’t think so!).

With just time for a quick coffee in the local square before the creature hunt back home, the waitress, spotting my heavily bandaged digit asked me what was up. I explained that I had been an early breakfast for a Centopeia, and I was then bombarded with facts, fiction, and tales of the dirty deeds of these ugly beasts. She told me that they often bite around the mouth area of the victim whilst sleeping, and in her words it is a ‘dangerous’ creature.

Back home again  I immediately spotted such a beast on the wall, and as most will probably know they don’t immediately leg it once spotted, but prefer the ‘play dead’ strategy, hoping that their dark brown bodies blend into the pale emulsioned walls, invisible to the human eye … ha! Anyway I caught it, inspected it, and it definitely was sporting  that ‘well-fed’ look, and even had a semi-insecti-smile between it’s bristling mega-whiskers. He was sent downstairs rather rapidly via the sewerage route, just like his cousin the day before. In Portuguese that is expressed as ‘a vinganca da vinganca’..

It’s not my intention to cause panic and a mass evacuation of the island, but if you see one these creepy crawlies in your bedroom, you might want to be sure that it sleeps elsewhere … on the sole of your shoe being a highly recommended alternative.

Many thanks to Paul for sending in contributions for this blog.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please only send in ‘exceptional’ or very topical photos by email attachment, as they take quite some time to process. Links to photos that are already online take much less time. Anything submitted for inclusion will be ‘cut and pasted’  to the blog very likely unchecked and unaltered, so please check anything through before sending it in, especially ‘automatic translations’, to avoid any ‘afterthoughts’. Blogs will be published when there is sufficient material to make one worthwhile. I can’t always respond to emails, so please accept my thanks in advance, and the attribution on the blog itself. Der.

You can email dermadeira-blog@yahoo.co.uk with any articles etc., but to save time and delays, please use the comments for minor contributions and to ask any questions. Please don’t send in copyrighted / restricted material.

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