It’s that time of the year again. The weather is hot, school is out, and Luso-Americans are contemplating their summer holidays in Portugal. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s this was my favorite time of the year. I marked the days off as we approached our departure date. Like…
Author: Nelson De Sousa
Nelson De Sousa
Nelson De Sousa is a Portuguese food blogger and creator of the Facebook Group “Cooking Portuguese Food” and its companion website www.cookingportuguesefood.com . He has been cooking since the age of thirteen and is passionate about food in general and Portuguese food in particular. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey Nelson spent most of his summer holidays helping his grandfather with his small farm in Murtosa, Portugal learning animal husbandry and agriculture. While attending Pace University for his bachelor’s degree Nelson was the morning disc jockey at 640 AM WPUB. Whilst studying for his master’s degree in international affairs at Rutgers University Nelson went on the intern at the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations from 1998 to 2000 and was also a former contributor to the Newark, New Jersey based newspaper "The Portuguese Post". In 2010 Nelson interned at O Lagar Restaurant in Union, New Jersey where he worked under Chef Agostinho (Augie) Gomes, who is the chef de cuisine at Taste of Portugal Restaurant in Newark New Jersey (consistently voted best Portuguese Restaurant in New Jersey). Nelson is also the winner of the Rumba Meats recipe of the month for his Portuguese Oxtail Stew. In his spare time Nelson is an avid ham radio enthusiast operating under the callsign KD2CYU. He lives with his family in Raritan Township, New Jersey.
Red, blue or green? Which is your favorite? I am not referring to the colors themselves, I am referring to Portuguese soccer teams. Benfica, Porto or Sporting. Which is your favorite? For those of you that don’t follow soccer in Portugal, red is the color of Sport Lisboa e Benfica,…
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Does the name José Pedro Amaro dos Santos Reis ring a bell with anyone reading this? He was born on September 14, 1956, at the Estrela Military Hospital in Lisbon and died November 30, 2017, in his house from liver failure, a disease he endured since 2001 from hepatitis C.…
a Portuguese person will always have something to complain about. How are you? If you are Portuguese, the chances are that you aren’t well. You have aches and general pains and you likely haven’t been sleeping well. If you are feeling well then someone you know is not feeling well…
Do you find yourself being a Portuguese investigative detective when you go on a trip outside of your home state or province? Let me explain: When I travel for business or pleasure, I tend to be hypersensitive to Portuguese food, culture, language, and people. I am on the lookout for…
Valentine’s Day falls on a weekday this year and if you are staying home with the special person in your life this means someone is cooking an equally special meal. After a busy day, it is hard enough to cook this special meal let alone make a dazzling dessert to…
I often wonder if the song “Pictures of You” by rock band The Cure could have been a Fado. If Robert Smith, the lead singer, and guitarist of the band had been born in Portugal rather than Blackpool, England it certainly would have been. I can remember the day in…
This article is being published in English and Portuguese because I want people in Portugal, especially my friends who still live there, to understand what it was (and is) like to grow up Portuguese in America. When I was 21 I entered a shop on the Torreira Beach in Murtosa,…
When you hear the phrase “living underground” images of guerrilla fighters or some resistance movement comes to mind. Lone idealists or outlaws removed from the “grid” evading the authorities or a banned political movement hoping to wait it out until change is heralded in the capital. For Luso-Americans living, it…
“My father did most of the cooking at our house. I am unsure when this started since my first memories of him were cooking dinner. There were two reasons why a Portuguese man in the 1970s went against the cultural norm (both in Portugal and America) of women cooking: (1)…