Se apaixona por Portugal | "Falling in love with Portugal"

Se apaixona por Portugal or falling in love with Portugal would be an understatement. I just returned back to Prague from my Spring holidays traveling throughout Portugal and when the time came to go, it was a very hard to say goodbye. There are only incredible things to say about Portugal, along with everything and everyone in it. 

Arriving late in the evening, I was able to see Lisbon at night. Lively, sexy, dimly lit beautiful alleys and cobblestone for as far as the eye could see. I could only imagine how beautiful this city was with the sun shining. Waking up the next morning, I walked out on to the terrace at our hostel and was greeted with the most breath-taking view. Bright orange rooftops crammed next to one another and a beautiful cloudless blue sky. 

As with most of my travels, I tend to not have any solid plans that I need to abide by or fulfill. Most often I love to get an early start and simply wander throughout town, the streets and enjoy getting lost. In Lisbon, this was the perfect place to wander. Around each corner were the most beautifully tiled and decorated houses, streets and buildings. The embellishments on the exteriors of the buildings changed constantly and kept your eyes staring at the beautiful patterns. It is a photographers dream. I'm pretty sure I stopped to take pictures every other building I walked by. In addition to the beautiful tiles that Portugal is known for, the street art in Lisbon is incredible as well. It filled the alleys and stairways and was amazing to see how much detail and effort is put into this. 

Markets

 

 

Markets: Time Out: 

If you consider yourself a "foodie," or simply just love good food, eating and socializing, Time Out market is one of the best places to go in all of Lisbon. Opened in 2014, Time Out market has a concept of a market feel, while having high-end restaurants and shops within it. 24 restaurants to choose from all with various cuisines and incredible chefs, 8 bars and a farmers market. Also, absolutely do not miss getting an "egg tart" from the incredible Manteigaria in the market.

Market: LX Factory

Another incredible area to check out when in Lisbon is the LX Factory. With over 200 business ranging from Cafes, restaurants, design houses, show rooms, clothing stores, bars, it has everything to offer. LX Factory offers amazing culture and design to look at. While there, make sure you stop at Mez Cais LX. This quirky, yet incredibly lively restaurant is the place to get amazing margaritas, listen to good music and eat good food (do not miss out on the avocado mousse)! It has a great vibe and both times I went there (yes I went twice in 7 days), every table was full.  

Porto

After spending our first days in Lisbon, my friend and I took the train to the city of Porto. As being the birthplace of Port wine, I knew I was going to be in heaven. Give me all the red and white port wine, please! Porto was a lovely, very walkable city. Small and incredibly charming. Incredibly friendly and warm people. I can't say enough amazing things about this town. Since we visited during the winter season, it was raining most of the time we were there. I would highly recommend visiting in Spring/Summer. 

First things first, we checked into our adorable Airbnb and scoped out the best places to brunch, grab wine and to eat good food. We walked around town and stopped by the infamous library, Livraria Lello. Although being overly congested with people, the library itself was charming. It felt like stepping into a Harry Potter novel, with the beautiful hanging staircase and old, worn wooden shelves. There is an entrance fee of around $11-12. 

We then braved the wind and rain and wandered throughout the streets, looking at the architecture and made sure to stop and do a port wine tasting. Also, make sure you try the local and famous dish of Porto, Franceschini. This sandwich is filled with various meat, and covered with melted cheese in a hot tomato and beer sauce.  Yum, right? It was actually incredible.

After exploring both Porto and Lisbon, I can truly say that Portugal has been one of my favorite places I've been to. If you are planning a trip there, see all of my recommendations for places to eat and cafes to stop by below. 

Places to be obsessed with: Lisbon

Cafe: Organic Cafe Estoril - Rua da Misericórdia 139
Cafe: Bowl Lisboa
Cafe: Royal Cafe (incredible veggie burger) 
Restaurant: A Cevicheria** (has 1 michelin star) - absolutely do not miss going to this place. It doesn't take reservations, but has the best fresh ceviche I've ever tried and the vibe is incredible. 
Restaurant: Costa Do Castelo
Drinks/Food: Mez Cais or Mez Cais LX (Mez Cais LX is located in an incredibly cool and trendy area call the LX Factory). 
Drinks: Fox Trot
Drinks: Park Bar or Topo

Places to be obsessed with: Porto
Drinks: Candelabro 
Restaurant: Cruel
Cafe: Zenith cafe (great vibe and amazing food) 
Cafe: Progresso

Hope you've enjoyed this post! If so, share it with others and make sure to follow my adventures @tripleoblog on Instagram. Cheers! 

Pesto Chicken Caprese Salad

I am so happy to be getting back into the swing of things and picking back up creating recipes, shooting and writing blog posts and sharing them all with you. These past 3 months of student teaching have been crazy and I couldn't be happier to finally be a license/certified Elementary Teacher here in Minnesota! It is definitely time to celebrate and there is no better weekend to go out and enjoy friends, family and the summer weather than over Memorial Day weekend. 

I was trying to think of how I could get back on track with my healthy eating, while still keeping the recipe flavorful and filling and I knew that this Pesto Chicken Caprese Salad would be the perfect thing! Light, healthy and full of variety, this salad will have something everyone can enjoy & share! 

To make this recipe even better, it is super quick easy to throw together and can be done in a variety of ways, with or without meat, add veggies, etc. To simplify, you can use already made pesto sauce, but I have made my own! 

I can't wait for all of you to try this recipe out and bring to your Memorial Day get togethers this weekend...or just eat it all to yourself! Why not? :) 

Salad Ingredients: 

Shredded Romain Lettuce
Arugula
2 chicken breasts (cubed)
Cherry Tomatoes
Shredded parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper (to taste) 

Dressing Ingredients: 

1 cup Basil leaves
3 Tbsp EVOO
Pine Nuts
1 garlic cloves (or minced garlic)
Juice of 1 lemon 

Directions: 

1. Cut chicken breasts into cubes and put onto wooden or metal skewers
2. Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side at 250 degrees
3. Shred romain lettuce and add to the large bowl along with the arugula
4. Cut cherry tomatoes into halves and add to the salad along with the mozzarella and add to the bowl
5.  Add cooked chicken to top of salad and shred parmesan cheese over
6. For the pesto, add pesto, pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic cloves and EVOO together in a food processor and blend until creamy. 
7. Add dressing to the salad to your liking. 
8. Enjoy! 

White Chocolate Dipped Mocha Cookies

Hello weekend!! I have been in full force Christmas mode recently and frivolously brainstorming tasty and adorable holiday treat ideas...and when I came across this recipe, I knew I needed to make them immediately. They are the perfect combination of minty and sweet, but not overly sweet, because of the dark cocoa powder which is included. Also to add a boost if extra flavor, I added in additional chocolate chips. 

These cookies will be the perfect thing to serve at any holiday party and will be the cutest ones at any cookie exchange! To make these cookies really stand out, I melted some white chocolate to dip in, and sprinkled a variety of green and red sprinkles to make them that much more festive! Chocolate on chocolate with sprinkles? Who wouldn't love these!! 

To see the full recipe, you can find it on the adorable website, Sally's Baking Addition, here.  Enjoy! xx

Cranberry Almond Bundt Cake

This post is short and sweet just like this recipe! Isn't it the best when you can utilize the leftovers you have from a meal or a holiday gathering, like this past Thanksgiving and incorporate them into a new dish. It just spices your meals up and allows you to get creative! Well, that is what this recipe and post is all about. I am a huge cranberry fan and I could eat them all the time. Therefore, since I had a large amount cranberries leftover from Thanksgiving, I knew this Cranberry Almond Bundt cake would be the perfect recipe & who doesn't love a beautiful bundt cake!? You MUST check out this recipe and it can also continue to be the perfect dessert for this holiday season! You can find the recipe here!! 

P.S. I subbed whole fat greek yogurt in place of the sour cream to reduce the amount of calories! Its a 1:1 transfer ratio! 

Make sure tag @oliviasobjectsofobsession if you share on social media & follow along on snapchat @oliviajoan21 to see live recipes every Monday!