Midgo

sieve egg to avoid having to make a whole pot
But does the metal bring the water temp in the mug down too much? I even take care to not leave the spoon in

Midgo

sieve egg to avoid having to make a whole pot
But does the metal bring the water temp down too much? I even take care to not leave the spoon in

BillBullock

Tea and coffee without milk is the way to go. I converted 25 years' ago when UHT long-life milk was the only milk available in some countries and I've never looked back. I make the tea quite weak which means removing the tea bag fairly quickly. Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong are ruined by milk of any kind.

macliam

The interplay beween England and Portugal during this period is fascinating - Philippa of Lancaster (Filipa de Lencastre in Portuguese) was John of Gaunt's eldest daughter, her brother was Henry IV and her sister Catherine became Queen of Castile.

John of Gaunt supported John of Aviz in his claim to the Portuguese throne, sending English longbowmen and officers to help in the war against Castile, who were attempting to absorb Portugal. Nuno Álvarez Pereira, the Constable of Portugal (head of the army) had studied English tactics from earlier in the 100 Years War, but he was not without his own "tricks". At the Battle of Atoleiros near Avis, he heavily defeated a Catilian army of 5000 by forming his 1400 men into a defensve square, the first such recorded use of the tactic. At the Battle of Aljubarrota, he used the same system of ditches and defensive barriers backed by archers as had been used at Crecy, to crush a Castilian army of 31,000, killing 9-10,000 in the battle and its aftermath. This battle marked the last real threat to Portuguese independence and John of Aviz became John I of Portugal (Dom João I, Rei de Portugal e Algarve) and the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, the oldest surviving international alliance was ratified by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386. The marriage of John and Philippa sealed the bargain.......

End of lesson 1

macliam

Leite do Dia Sem Lactose is available from Pingo Doce..... I've never used it, but it's often all that's left when the "real" stuff is sold out!

Most UHT milk is awful in tea....... sorry, revise that, it's just awful [Full Stop]

Midgo

I find that interesting, you a historian? Know any books about her life, I cant find much more on the net beyond Wikipedia about her
I like to remind my daughter that Henry and his brothers were all 'Bifes com alface' like her

Midgo

Simplify your life, eh?
25 years ago here it wasnt worth getting leite do dia as it only lasted a day in the fridge, so I just went native, milk-wise
Did that black tea drinking for a while, also simplifys things on my boat with no fridge,and if out in a café drink it like that, but specially in the marnin I like my milky tea

macliam

I'm Irish - it's almost the same thing - but if I'd seen a living in it, History was always my first love.

I can't recommend any specific books - I tend to gather information from everywhere, but there seems to be a book on Philippa by Isabel Stilwell, who, despite her name, is Portuguese (another Bife com Alface....). The first book in Portuguese that I ever read was a "Historia de Portugal" paperback that my SiL brought with her from Cabo Verde - it was first written in the mid-C19th, before the Estado Novo "revised" history . As a student of history, I was shocked that I knew hardly anything about Portugal, but loads about Spain - a country that didn't even exist until a couple of centuries after Portugal's borders were established!
Portugal is full of historical sites, mostly unexploited.

E.G. Below Marvão, on the Spanish border near Portalegre, is a village called Portagem. One day I was mooching about and I crossed an old bridge over the river Sever (which was the name of the town near to my FiL's house in the north). There was an old tower, mostly covered with climbers - but it had a plaque on it dated 1992. It commemorated the crossing of the jews into Portugal on their expulsion from Spain in 1492, 500 years before. The tower was part of the fortifications put in place by the Portuguese - and the name of the village translates as "Toll".. the money for safe passage paid by the jews when crossing the border....... This was in1492, the year of Columbus (check out his Portuguese roots), the year Granada fell and the Moors were defeated, the year "Spain" became a concept..........

philat98

Twinings UK ship to Europe. No mention of import taxes.

Midgo

I had found the Isabel Stilwell book, but I thought it was a 'Historical' Novel

Re "Historia de Portugal" This one?
I read the 'História Concisa de Portugal' and loved the TV shows of José Hermano Saraiva. Must read that again as I had (more) troubles with the language then

Hated History at school but now find it fascinating, especially Portuguese seafaring

Midgo

The problem is that they usually dont mention import taxes as its the Portuguese customs who deal with that
But if it comes from the UK the customs will get their hands on it and then you get an SMS saying that you have to fill in the online customs freeing form
Anyone managed to navigate that site? - I got stuck at the part when you have to guess the category number of the type of goods from a cast of thousands (that was for a dog harness)

barlaventoexpert

I had a similar problem the other day when someone, I know not who, sent me a "present" the other day, without completing a customs form. I suspect from some rural post office in the wilds of of England. where Customs refers to Morris dancing of the like.

As I had no idea of the product, nor, its HS Code number, (https://www.tariffnumber.com), nor who sent it, I've just let it sit. Without knowing the customs tariff classification number for the specific item, it's not worth drilling down on the site.

We have advised ALL contacts in the UK not to send anything apart from letters to us & we are not sending to them.

We do not use ANY UK based web merchants now. We use Amazon Spain & Amazon Germany and make sure all products originate from EU countries.

liveaboard

Some Amazon products seem to come from China (or wherever) but the items I ordered came rerouted through Spain. That was ok.
It's not clear to me where items are sent from, or if there will (sometimes) be customs difficulty.
They say "VAT included". That's nice, what about the customs duty?

Does anyone have any idea how that works?

Midgo

Midgo

I think its a minefield, and very difficult to find out where you stand. Par for the course.
So far for me since Brexit everything that has come from the uk has ended up in customs and for the rest of the non eu world it seems to be the lottery it always was
Some chinese stuff i ordered came in via Luxembourg
I know that a scary amount of EU scientific research grant money has to be returned each year due to beuraucratic and/or customs barriers to spending it in any sensible timeframe meaning that it remains unspent and hence must be returned.