“(The bill) contains provisions that will chill innovation. It contains provisions that will tinker with the fundamental fabric of the internet. It gives private corporations the power to censor. And best of all, it bypasses due legal process to do much of it.”  James Allworth, Harvard Business School

Under the proposed legislation, it appears this blog could be shut down by James Allworth or The Harvard Business Review if they objected to my quoting his article just now – and my blog would get shut down first on their mere say-so, and only after I initiated proceedings and fought (and paid for) a battle through the courts, could I be vindicated and the site opened again.  Imagine the scope for malicious activity there!

Click on the black ribbon on the top right of the blog page which will be displayed until 24 January when votes will take place in Congress.  Clicking will take you to the Stop American Censorship website to learn more about the proposals in the US House and Senate and how they could impact us all if passed.  The site also includes petitions and action steps for those who vote in America.

Another good video I found (thanks for the tipoff, Escape the City!!)

Update 19 Jan:  we had an effect:  read this article in the New York Times-International Herald Tribune about the impact Internet based protests had on legislators and their opinions, but we need to keep the pressure going.  Follow the link to the Stop American Censorship website to learn more, and if you vote in America, they have mechanisms on that site to send a message to your representatives in Congress to express your opposition to the proposed legislation.

We passed through some aldeias (villages) high above the north bank of the river and then we pulled over seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  As I scrambled out of the car, this is what I saw – a shallow, broad trough carved out of solid granite.

My friend, a wine maker and viticulturist himself, pointed out the details that explain exactly what this was – an ancient lagar where grapes were pressed.  The “mail slot” looking hole in the rock in the top photo and the two slots on the opposite side of the lagar visible in the second photo would have held the uprights of a press, which would have crushed grapes piled in the stone trough, or lagar.

In the third photo if you look carefully you can see a canal cut across the lagar leading to a notch in the lip of the rock at the top right, where the grape must would have run out of the press.

There is no knowing how old this is.  The Douro, particularly the area around Foz Coa has been settled for time out of mind, and legend has it Bacchus himself planted the first grapes in the Douro:  he stopped here in his travels and asked for something to drink, and whilst he was grateful for the cold water he was given, felt the locals could do rather better, and gave the region the grape vines that have thrived here ever since.  Perhaps he returned to this place to show them what to do with their first harvest.

Sr Rui makes short work of the bacalhau reducing it to steaks in just a few minutes

… At least for now.  I took the monster from my fridge to the butcher’s today, and Senhor Rui reduced it to manageable steaks in a matter of moments.  They are now wrapped up in my deep freeze, to be cooked up and served forth another day.

Meanwhile, I still have the smaller pieces I cooked yesterday, so will certainly have some other bacalhau dish tonight or tomorrow to use them up.

Two more photos before and after, as much as anything because I love his cutting block – it is a slice of tree trunk set on stainless steel legs, and clearly has seen much service, it is so worn down in the centre.  This one is in the back room, there is another out front, behind the cases of meat for sale, where he works to just trim or prepare your purchases.

Before

Moments later

More good news:  Finally had my first taste of the bacalhau, for a late lunch this afternoon.  The little side pieces I had managed to trim off on the first day from the still dried fish were small enough for me to poach and prepare today for lunch.

From what I have been told and read, all bacalhau is first poached, then the skin and bones removed, and then the meat is either consumed as is, or used as a basis for more elaborate dishes.  I went for more elaborate – I adore bacalhau com natas, which means with cream.  Every recipe I have is designed to feed 10 people, and I am not exaggerating.  It actually makes some sense – I have to say wrestling with this monster to make just one meal for just one person is pretty silly.  But… all I needed was to feed myself this afternoon, so I improvised.  Purists will probably howl, but… here’s what I did.

Poached the scrappy bits of soaked, salt-free bacalhau in a court bouillion (water, a bit of white wine, bay leaf, onion, cracked pepper), set aside and when cool enough to handle cleaned off the skin and a few stray bones.  Most recipes will tell you to strain off the poaching liquid (which is usually just water, milk or a bit of both) and use it to make a basic white sauce which will get a little cream added to it at the end – this way you have lots of sauce for that casserole to feed ten hungry people without the expense of too much cream.  I didn’t bother with making the white sauce.

Doesn't look like much, but it did taste good! Bacalhau com natas

Sautéed sliced onions in olive oil, set aside.  Sautéed cubed potato in olive oil.  Mixed up the potato, onion and the bacalhau torn into small pieces, added some pepper and grated nutmeg and piled all that into a small single-serving casserole dish, covered with cream (I have no cholesterol – yet!) and baked for about 45 minutes.

I am pleased to report, it was pretty good, only… it needed a little salt!

It’s de-salted and the flesh has fluffed up into quite a thick piece down the centre.  The next step is to either poach it or freeze it.  Just one little problem…

I got the two thin side bits cut down to sizes to fit in a pan and be poached, but the main hunk of beast is hopeless.  I have no pan it will go in, and no knife that will cut it – those bones are like steel girders.  At this point, I have wrapped it up tightly and tucked it into the bottom shelf of the fridge and will cross fingers it stays in good condition till Tuesday, when I will go beg my beloved butcher for assistance reducing this thing to manageable pieces that will either fit in a pan or fit in the freezer.

Tomorrow I will use the small bits to make bacalhau com natas – cod buried in potatoes and swamped with cream.

Lesson learned:  get it cut up FIRST, in its dry salted state.