a week in bordeaux

Hello Lovely People!

The past month has been a bit of a crazy whirlwind! I landed in Paris and a couple days later headed down to the countryside outside Bordeaux where I spent a week helping my friends Eva, Carey and Elise with their food and photography workshop. We arrived just as summer was fading into fall and it felt like there couldn’t be a more perfect time to be there.

We visited a chateau dating from the 16th century, drank some beautiful wines and visited Bordeaux’s vibrant Marché des Capucins. We cooked for 14 people in a tiny galley kitchen and shared meals around a table decorated with fall foliage and tiny apples picked from the garden. We spent afternoons wandering among the rows of grape vines and picking wild peaches and figs along country roads with Didier, our local foraging expert (which is how I discovered, after all these years, that I actually do like figs!). 

The best part though, was making new friends and sharing ideas with all the wonderful women who led and attended the workshop. I am ever grateful that my life includes travel to new corners of the globe and the opportunity to meet and learn from creative and talented people from all over the world.

Since I left Bordeaux, I’ve been criss-crossing Paris leading a culinary tour and shooting for the guide I’m working on. Yesterday, I landed in Lisbon and have been running around town with my friend Filipe, getting ready for the arrival of our retreat guests tomorrow. (I always get butterflies the night before they get here!) So basically, it’s been four weeks of crazy, wonderful chaos and doing the things I love most. 

I should sign off now and get some sleep so I’m ready to welcome all our guests tomorrow. But I haven’t posted in awhile and wanted to drop in and say hi and share some images from my week in Bordeaux.  

I’ll be back as soon as things slow down a bit with images from Paris and Lisbon. In the meantime, you can follow along on my adventures via my Instagram stories!

XO,

Olaiya

small is beautiful: agua pela barba

I'm back with another Small is Beautiful feature! If you didn't catch my first two SIB posts, this project was born out of a desire to document and share some of the amazing independent businesses and creative projects near and dear to my heart. 

This week, I'm featuring one of my favorite Lisbon restaurants: Agua Pela Barba. I first admired the work of chef João Magalhães Correia (above right) via Instagram. When I finally made it in to the restaurant last year, I was thrilled that his food tastes 100% as amazing at it looks. João's ability to coax subtle flavors and textures out of seafood makes him one of my favorite Lisbon chefs. He and owner, João Alves (above left) have created a space that is casual, welcoming and one of the finest seafood restaurants in the city. If you find yourself in Lisbon, Agua Pela Barba most definitely needs to be on your list!

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An interview with João Magalhães Correia, chef at Agua Pela Barba in Lisbon.

Mad lib time! People could describe your business as Fisherman's shack meets contemporary food.

What is your background?
I grew up in Lisbon, where I first got into cooking because my mom was, to be honest, a really bad cook. The fact that I started living on my own very early also obliged me to cook for myself at a young age. I'd always wanted to do something creative and I loved doing manual tasks. This is why I decided to drop out of law school and follow my passion by attending cooking school. Traveling is one of the things that helped me grow as a cook the most. While working in Milan I noticed the amazing respect and passion Italians have for food and for their national products. This inspired me to go back to Lisbon to try and make people as enthusiastic about local Portugese products. 

How/when did you get the idea for your current venture?
About 2 years ago I noticed that Lisbon lacked a good quality modern fish restaurant that was affordable and not too pretentious or fancy. 
 
On a scale of one to shitting-your-pants, how nervous were you about starting your business?
Pissing-your-pants scared, which I guess is just below shitting-your-pants. There is a lot of competition in Lisbon and even though I knew the concept was good, I was also aware of the fact that this does not guarantee success.
 
What's the greatest challenge with your business?
It used to be getting people interested in the concept. Nowadays the biggest challenge is to maintain people's interest.
 
What do you love most about your business? What brings you the most joy?
I get the most joy out of people's satisfaction. People who spend their money and end up having a great night with food they loved, being able to see to that, that's what I love most about this business. 

What's on your bedside table (be honest)?
My phone and a Meditation book. 
 
Secret hobby and/or obsession?
Mezcal. It's not that secret though. 
 
Favorite city?
Lisbon
 
If you could get in a time machine, zoom back into the past and give yourself one piece of advice before starting your business, what would it be?
Always take time to rest, a rested head thinks more clearly.

What other local business/project do you think is Small and Beautiful?
For my personal booze fix I like to go to this place called A Tabacaria. It's a small bar in Rua São Paulo with an antique interior and good quality drinks, including a very nice Mezcal. The skilled bartender and chilled crowd make it a great place for me to have a drink after work. In the afternoon I like to visit my friend Inês who owns a mobile cocktailstand called MEXE currently placed in Martim Moniz. She makes deliciously fresh and original cocktails that are perfect for these sunny Lisbon days.

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I hoped you enjoyed this Lisbon edition of Small is Beautiful! For those of you interested in exploring this beautiful city further, there are still a few spots left in my Lisbon Like a Local culinary & creative retreat this October! 

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a portugal state of mind

I’m back home after six amazing weeks in Europe. It was a life-changing trip. I know I've written that before, but somehow it's always true. When I travel, I arrive home a different person from the one I left behind on my Seattle doorstep.

If I talk a lot about the transformative power of travel around here, that’s because it never ceases to amaze me. I keep expecting travel to become banal or boring or, at the very least, predictable. It never does.

Time away from home always manages to leave me awestruck at the vast and varied beauty of the world. And humbled at my small place in it.

One of the highlights of this last trip was the ten days I spent in Portugal. This sea-swept, sunny little country seems to take up a bit more real estate in my heart every time I visit!

I spent fantastic week in Lisbon seeing friends and doing research for an upcoming retreat. This city is a painting of bright sun, sparkling river and pastel-hued buildings arrayed along sidewalks paved in cream-colored limestone. To climb one of its many hills and look out over the city is breathtaking. Wandering Lisbon's ancient alleys for something as mundane as lunch with a friend takes on an intoxicating air of mystery. And the locals, at first reserved, are quick to offer a smile and a helpful piece of advice if you take the time to strike up a conversation. 

Then Beau joined me and we headed for the rolling, sun-drenched hills of the Alentejo. This part of Portugal is all golden grasses, vineyards, olive groves and placid cows napping in the shade of cork oak trees. I love bouncing over its dusty roads in our rented car--stopping for lunch at a tiny local taberna or pulling off to buy cherries from the back of a farmer’s truck. Wending our way up a one-lane road to a hilltop castle with stunning 360° views of the valley below always leaves me a bit giddy. And watching the sunset from the terrace of a 19th-century olive oil factory (now converted into a fantastic restaurant) leaves me feeling the whole region has been sprinkled in some sort of magic dust. 

I treasure all these golden Portuguese moments. I'm grateful, too, for the effect they have on me once I'm home.
 
Before this trip, I was running around like a crazy person, trying to jam an unreasonable amount of work into each day. I was stressed and irritable and argumentative (to the point of throwing a blanket on my husband’s head when he refused to acknowledge my infinite wisdom).
 
That version of me now feels a million miles away. A Portuguese state of mind lingers on, leaving me unable to recall what I was so stressed about exactly. I'm finding it easier to focus on work instead of scrolling manically through Instagram at five minute intervals. I’m energized to dive into creative projects that have been languishing on my mental to-do list. I'm miraculously able to stop working at a reasonable hour these days in order to take walks along the lake with Beau before we head home to open a bottle of wine and throw together a simple dinner. I’m sleeping like a champ.
 
Travel can do that. 

Which is precisely why I keep exploring. And also why I invite you to come with me: this last trip to Portugal was so inspiring, I want you to experience it for yourself!

I'm thrilled to announce I'm teaming up with my friend Filipe to bring you a week of food, wine, creativity and beauty in sunny Lisbon this October!

Filipe and I have so many amazing experiences planned for you. We've filled this retreat with the sort of people and places no traditional tour guide could take you to--some of our most talented creative and culinary friends and visits to our very favorite, locals-only spots!

You'll cook Portuguese specialties alongside local chefs and sample the custardy sweets the country is famous for. You'll travel to an organic farm and harvest sea urchins by hand at the shore. You'll visit the studios of a jewelry-maker and a ceramicist and learn to make your own wall-hanging with a local artisan. You'll stroll historic streets sampling hyper-local wines, cheeses and other Lisbon specialties.

This is going to be the best trip ever!!! (I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.) This retreat is the perfect way to banish burn-out, inject creative inspiration into your life and experience this stunning country.

Registration in now open and I absolutely cannot wait to share my Portugal with you! Click the button below to join us!
 
XO,
 
Olaiya