Today at work I got to go on a field trip to the University of Lisbon to speak with a contact there, which was pretty exciting. After work, though, I had a pretty quiet afternoon.
I am trying to use up some of my ingredients that I’ve more or less been hoarding in my cabinet–flour, sugar, eggs and so on, so I made Crepes, which was nice. I hadn’t really made them since last summer (when I had made them basically every week at least once). Here’s a photo of the mess I made:
And here’s a photo of the completed crepes. (not staged at all 😉 )
I stuffed them each differently because why the heck not. One of them had peaches and maple syrup, another had pecans, nutella, and raspberry jelly, another had rosemary pumpkin jam (made by my housemate Isabel), and another had brie and raspberry jelly. It was a fancy (though not super nutrient rich) affair.
After dinner, I had to do the sad work of making good bye cards for two coworkers whose last day is tomorrow. I meant to make these cards weeks ago and circulate them throughout the Pol/Econ section so everyone can write a thoughtful message, but time, alas, escaped me. Not tonight, though!
Tonight I painted to my heart’s content and listened to some music (which, weirdly, I haven’t done in what feels like ages besides the concert in Belem). Here’s some photos of the progress for one of the cards. 
first color
done!
Each took me about an hour… I tried to let myself be inspired by the Azulejos here in Lisbon, but I feel so much more connected to Mexican Talavera that I’m not sure I captured the Portuguese essence. Nonetheless, I am happy with both cards and I hope my coworkers think so too! One of the cards is actually for the departing Deputy Chief of Mission (and my idol) Herro Mustafa, who is now going to Bulgaria to serve as Ambassador. There’s actually a documentary about her called “American Herro” about her life–she was a Kurdish refugee as a child and came to the US at an extremely young age. She’s not even sure what day she was born. I’d like to watch the documentary when I get home. Anyhow, she’s an excellent diplomat and extremely poised while being so human and kind… I would love to be like her someday.
Anyway, I’m headed to Braga and Porto this weekend, so my blog tomorrow and Saturday will be a little clunky, but that’s okay! Thank goodness Kat built the blog to work from mobile 😀
Much love!
Lovely cards. Very Portuguese!