There is no other food I can remember as long as I can remember the pastel de nata.
All I needed was a spoon and a pastel and I was a kid with a dream realized. More than 30 years later, carefully digging out the center of this perfectly mastered, world-famous dessert continues to be a small joy for me.
The down side is that I can’t quite remember the exact moment I first tried it, sadly, which I hear is quite the religious experience. In fact, I witness it all the time and, I admit, it both pleases and pains me.
I see it when friends bite into this delicious, imperfectly round tart for the first time: their eyes roll back into their heads, in sheer disbelief of what they have just tasted. And yet, I have no memory of what it feels like to “experience” the pastel de nata this way because, to me, it’s just always existed.
Oh what a bitter-sweet existence it is.
-sandy.
