Broa

it's a portuguese cornbread in case you didn't know. i didn't. never heard of it. but i saw a recipe for it in "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" (which i borrowed from the library) and knew i wanted to try it. it's a cornbread that uses yeast rather than baking soda or baking powder like the cornbreads i'm used to. and, i had recently spotted a portuguese chorizo & kale & potato soup recipe i wanted to try called caldo verde, so my menu for sunday was set. and to make it even better, i invited a certain soup ho and a certain fellow who reminds me of a certain clumsy vampire-wanne-be over to join me in sampling these portuguese goods and watch the game. the good news is that the bread was quite good. not so good news is that it didn't cook all the way through. i decided it was done based on time, color, and the thump test. i should've gone the extra step and penetrated the loaf with a thermometer. oh, well. the outside was completely done and that's what we ate, and i thought it was good. and so was the soup. i've never cooked with or, to my knowdledge, even eaten kale before. we always used it as a garnish in a restaurant i had worked in, and that sorta ruined me for ever thinking of it as real food. what i learned is that kale tastes good, but it's worse than leeks to clean. oh, what a pain. but a tasty, simple (other than kale-cleaning) soup. it's worth repeating, methinks--both bread & soup.