Until the day I die.....

I will PROMOTE tourism to the Azores and SATA Airlines until the day I perish this earth. The volcanic islands are beautiful (waterfalls, hot springs, beaches - but not pink, sandy ones - volcanic ones, hills crystal-clear lakes, neat cottages with red-tiled roofs). STREETS that are made from volcanic rock and sidewalks that have designs using volcanic rocks patterned with white rocks to make beautiful, natural designs. Restaurants (and not so expensive) where you can eat fish and seafood to your heart's desires and a dessert of "maracujá bavaroise" (passion fruit mousse).

Crime???? Almost non-existent! Many folks do not even lock their doors at night. Local TV - it's lovely - they run so many messages against DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (don't you wish our TV stations would too??) and against "DISCRIMINATION" (against ALL: gay, other nations, other religions, etc.) - and local people are very "worldly" although in an isolated place. Azoreans found out that certain "entrepreneurs" in China were selling "fashion jewelry" of LIVE turtles, fish or other creatures enclosed in a PLASTIC sack to WEAR and they were FURIOUS (as we all should be!!!) Here is a photo of these disgusting "fashion accessories":

I've asked that my ashes be shed there when I pass this world - cannot think of any other place I would rather have my ashes go. POSSIBLY, SATA airlines (after all the GOOD things I've said about them) would do this favour for me if my husband and daughter cannot fulfill the last desire.... Met only ONE person in ALL of Azores who was cocky & semi-rude......and he boasted that he had an American passport and grew up in New England. Everyone ELSE was so, so gracious.....so kind. It's like I have a HUGE "secret" that I cannot contain.....forget EVERY OTHER TRAVEL destination - Azores will fill all your needs....unless you are a type who needs CONSTANT entertainment....in that case, stay home and play on your IPOD or IPHONE.

MUST have been born in Azores in PAST LIFE....

As a Hindu, of course I believe in past & future lives. It was a DREAM afterall that led us to the Azores to begin with. My husband & daughter said they wanted to "swim with the dolphins" and they were thinking HAWAII (which is very beautiful; have been there and love it). However, Hawaii is price-wise out of our range. I went to sleep that night with "swim with the dolphins" on my brain. DURING the night I had the most beautiful dream I've ever had in my life - of a place with seas so AZURE blue that the sight almost hurt my eyes. I saw dolphins, whales, waterfalls, windmills, cows grazing on the hills, pineapples....and HYDRANGEAS.....EVERYWHERE, almost like weeds!!! It was such a vivid, beautiful dream that I almost preferred not to awaken, but awaken I did. "WHERE is this paradise?" I asked myself when I awakened. I didn't know. So I GOOGLED the combination of "dolphins, whales, hydrangeas, windmills, pineapples" and AZORES popped up. I have to admit, I'd never heard of the Azores. That very day I checked into airfares from where we live to the Azores and it was surprisingly CHEAP! What language do they speak? - Portuguese......yet, because of speaking Spanish fluently, we can understand around 70% of what they're saying and the people are so FRIENDLY that they TRY to understand our SpanTUGUESE! We WENT to the Azores and I have nothing but WONDERFUL things to say about the place and the people. HOWEVER - I had yet another dream after we returned. This dream, like the other, was so, so VIVID, but it was about a HOUSE - a gingerbread house in olden times and somehow I KNEW that house and knew (even in the dream) that it was in Furnas, Azores in a long time ago. I looked and looked for a photo online of "gingerbread house" in Furnas, Azores - eventually (but not using that criteria) I did find the HOUSE and this is the photo of how it used to look (only in the dream I saw it in colour):

This wasn't MY house - but the house, it appeared of a Dr. named Ernesto Canto. I was the maiden in the photo with the plait who was taking care of the children. A very dear friend in the Azores tells me that this house STILL exists but is in such disrepair that it is almost falling apart. I don't know about that - I only know that in another life, I WAS there....

Azores TV for those (like ourselves) who can't get ENOUGH of Azores.....

Here is a website where you can stream Azores TV for those of us (our family, for sure!!) who can't get enough of Azores. It is one of the few places where cows and pigs (although we are not consumers of either meat)are left to ROAM freely - not in inhumane "pens" where they can't even turn around. Azores - where cows outnumber humans. It is so beautiful to watch them grazing on the hillsides and to see free-range chickens. This is how farms were meant to be, not some horrid industrial nightmare "factories" where animals are fed antibiotics because they are forced to live within their own filth and never leave a pen - never walk - until butchered. If they can do humane farming and humane dairy farming in a place so remote as the Azores....why can't we in America??? Also - I have to tell you that perhaps it is the GMO seeds used in American flour. I have lately become gluten-intolerant (which I never was). In Azores they voted NOT to use GMO seeds for flour. They make the BEST BREAD in the world (and no, I do not vomit after eating it as I do in USA). What will it take for us to WAKE UP and see we are doing things all the wrong way??? We import "farmed fish" and "farmed seafood" from Vietnam and China - many documentaries show these fish are fed chicken poop....and then we wonder why so many people we know have cancer??? We act as if we had some other planet to move to - WHERE might that be??? In Azores things are "squared" - that is to say "RIGHT w/ NATURE, RIGHT w/ the WORLD" - cows and pigs an chickens are all free to roam the hills - none are cooped up in pens. A relative bought "quejadas" while in Azores (they are indescribably delicious "cream cakes" made for centuries with the age-old recipe: flour, sugar, eggs, milk and salt.....no chemicals, no preservatives, no additives - you buy them FRESH at the grocery store. Anyway, she happened to buy them as "gifts" to give to others in America but about 2 weeks later than when she arrived home. She was totally floored that she couldn't present the "quejadas" to anyone and had to throw them away because they were all mouldy.... OF COURSE THEY WERE and that too was as it should be!!! In USA we put enough chemicals in baked goods to last a year or two.....who TOLD US that chemicals are safe to eat??? Something else unique to the Azores is how they use natural, volcanic material. They realize it is very strong, so they construct houses and buildings using volcanic rock as the "framework" - very intelligent. Also, how CLEAN the Azores are - everything is recycled and Azoreans are ultra-freak-cleans about their houses and streets. We MISS the Azores (and will return as often as funds/health will allow) - so as we can't get ENOUGH of Azores, here is a streaming Azores TV website: http://acorestv.pt.am/ Enjoy!!! We have no desire to travel to any other place - why should we??? Long ago we said we would go to Ireland for our 25th Wedding Anniversary - but we no longer have any desire to go there - it will be AZORES. We love SATA Airlines and it's a direct flight (4-1/2 hrs.) from Boston. One can swim with wild dolphins, see whales, watch sailfish skim across the waters, see waterfalls, windmills, volcanic "cooking". Public washrooms are ALWAYS clean (we never encountered a single one that was nasty - can't say the same of some BOX STORES in USA!).....and plentiful. The PEOPLE make it special. During the Spanish Inquisition many Jews from Spain and Portugal were welcomed with open arms in the Azores (although staunchly Catholic, it's not uncommon to see "menorahs" outside churches) - and the last remaining Synagogue in Azores is being lovingly, carefully restored inch by inch to preserve....the Jews, sadly left, for Brazil and other places, but Azoreans (who welcome ALL) feel this is an important part of their history, so that is why they are so carefully trying to restore this Synagogue. "Thank you's" are done a la style Mexican - you won't necessarily hear "abrigado" (THANKS) often - but mysteriously a bag of vegetables, fruit or flowers may appear on your doorstep the following day. And GOSH, the Azoreans TRY - even those who do not speak English or Spanish - they try and try so hard to communicate with one. We love these people so much!!!

"Dave" the movie (1993)

Don't let the age of the movie make you think it's outdated - it is JUST as current in 2014 as it was in 1993. The film stars Kevin Kline as "Dave" (an exact look-alike for fictitious U.S. President "Bill Mitchell") and Sigourney Weaver as the First Lady. Of course I'm not going to SPOIL this film if you haven't seen it....but....the President is in a stroke-related coma....and the evil powers that really run the White House don't want the American public to know, so they hire "Dave" (a simple man who is innocent and believes in what is best for his country) to play the role of the President. At first, the corrupt and evil powers within want him just as a puppet. However, Dave has a conscience and just because he's "simple" doesn't mean he's stupid!... This film is as FRESH now as it was in 1993. You can rent it on either Amazon.com or You Tube (for $1.99 for 24 hrs.) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106673/ Enjoy!! It really makes one think about what is TRULY going on in any government.....

Fado Wine from Portugal.....

This white wine (haven't tried their red) "Fado" from Portugal is absolutely the best and so, so cheap: https://www.ultimatewineshop.com/brands/fado Some of the wines in the Azores were $1.99 each and delicious....it was cheaper to buy wine than water....

Caroline Kennedy was RIGHT....

TOKYO — Japan accused critics of its annual dolphin hunt -- including U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy -- of being hypocrites for not lamenting the killing of cattle and chickens in their countries for food. The southwest fishing town of Taiji finished its annual roundup of bottlenose dolphins Tuesday, a longheld tradition that Kennedy called "inhumane" in a message on Twitter. Japanese fishermen Tuesday trapped 250 dolphins in a cove using nets and killed about 40 of the animals for eating by severing their spines. About 50 were kept alive for sale to aquariums and the rest were set free, according to Sea Shepherd, an environmental group known for its anti-whaling activities. Japanese officials and others were surprised that a diplomat from an ally would lash out at a traditional cultural food. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a news conference Monday that marine mammals, including dolphins, were "very important water resources." "Dolphin fishing is one of traditional fishing forms of our country and is carried out appropriately in accordance with the law. Dolphin is not covered by the International Whaling Commission control and it's controlled under responsibility of each country." Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen said Kennedy is attacking ordinary fishermen. "We have fishermen in our community and they are exercising their fishing rights," he said. "We feel that we need to protect our residents against the criticisms." A State Department official who asked not to be named because it is against policy to discuss the matter publicly said Kennedy proposed issuing her statement last week. The final wording of her tweet was the result of collaboration between Kennedy and other embassy officials and reflects official U.S. policy, the official said. Masayhisa Sato, a Japanese lawmaker, suggested Kennedy acted inappropriately in her role as an ambassador to criticize a hunting tradition in a host country that she finds distasteful. "I wonder whether it's appropriate for ambassador to comment on this," Sato said. In office just two months, Kennedy took to the social media messaging system Twitter over the weekend to condemn the hunt portrayed by opponents as needlessly cruel. "Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing. USG opposes drive hunt fisheries," Kennedy tweeted in both English and Japanese. "USG" refers to the U.S. government. Japanese who spotted the Tweet responded. "The drive hunt is a traditional fishery that was established long before the foundation of the United States of America," said one message posted in response. "Isn't it inhumane to kill millions of cows and sheep for consumption?" asked another. The Taiji hunt, in which hundreds of dolphins are driven into a small cove and killed, was the subject of a graphic documentary in 2009 that won an Academy Award. Kennedy's dolphin tweet could complicate relations between two vital allies, said Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University of Japan, in Tokyo. "There are far more important questions between the U.S. and Japan. The key to the dolphin business is getting Japanese to oppose it. But will this help? Or on the contrary, will it start a nationalistic reaction against meddling by a (foreign) country," said Dujarric. THANK YOU CAROLINE KENNEDY!! YOU ARE ENTITLED TO YOUR OPINION - yes, these fishermen have their "rights" but you also have the right to criticize it and thank you for your candor.....while these other diplomats are "wondering" on the appropriateness of your comments.....meanwhile, thousands of dolphins are being slaughtered and those who are killed are killed in a most INHUMANE way. God bless you Caroline!! MOREOVER I have to say that this inhumane practice in 2014 should not even exist!!! I appeal to the PEOPLE of Japan - you have such a deep loving affection for all that is of nature - you even celebrate such naturalness in your festivals. This is inhumane and should not continue. These are LIVING sentinent mammals and the manner in which they are killed is cruel, very cruel.

Calamari (Squid) Marinated Skewers......

This is a recipe we got from the Azores at the restaurant "Cais 20" - well actually, we THINK this is how the recipe goes as it's a guarded secret and we tried over 20 times to get it "right"

Recipe is only USD $1.59.....step by step easy to follow instructions. 49 years experience as a gourmet cook. Pay at: Paypal: farrshimla@gmail.com and please mention WHICH recipe you want. Oh my!!!! DON'T WANT to BRAG - but they were DELICIOUS!!!!!