Marinated Olives

I was on a layover long, long ago in a time when we still had layovers in Lisbon. The hearty ones on the crew trekked to the top of the hill overlooking the city and ended up in a little dive bar, packed with people and loud with music and laughter. On the long worn wooden bar was a huge glass vessel filled to the brim with Marinated Olives. The bartender ladled out a huge scoop into a wooden bowl and plopped it in front of us along with huge glasses of deep red house wine. We devoured that bowl and a few more as I wrote on my hand the herbs and flavors I could discern that were enveloping each tender, buttery olive. I don’t think I got it quite right, I may have to go back and find that bar, which could be difficult given the amount of Vino Tinto we consumed but I will never forget those Olives and the layers of flavor they had. Every Christmas I make a huge batch of my version of “Olives Lisboa” to share as hostess gifts. I would much rather gobble down a few dozen olives than chocolate or cookies and I like to think I encourage others to do so as well.