Anthony De Sa

Anthony was absolutely wonderful - I believe all who met him were enchanted.
A fun day promoting Barnacle Love, but boy was it busy! We started very early at Lapointe's in the west end and chatted with not only Angie Poirier, the host, but also the camera crew. We then dropped into Lisbon Bakery, where Anthony ordered lots of custard tarts to give as “thank yous” as we visited locations (and he did, I am sure the Chapters staff never had that happen before). The bakery owner, Maria, was absolutely thrilled and asked us to return later so she could get a photo and have him sign her book. I had given her a copy some weeks ago to encourage her to be on A Channel; she backed out, and so did the fish wholesaler. Anthony said he was not surprised, that Portuguese people did not like to draw attention to themselves.
While Anthony was at Rogers, I drove back to Lisbon Bakery. Maria said the tarts were still too hot and I had to come back - with Anthony. When we returned, she was on the phone with a cousin, and handed the phone to Anthony, asking him to talk to her cousin "she does not believe it is you"...he was treated like a celebrity! Maria then refused to take any money for the tarts. I felt badly, she would not be convinced.
We stopped in to Collected Works and on an impulse, Anthony asked if we could go into Muriel Dombret's. He loves shopping, he was very funny about his knowledge of Starbucks (Oh, stick with me, honey, you have so much to learn!). Anyway, he wanted to buy something for his wife. It seemed fitting that Anthony quickly discovered that the salesperson was Portuguese - I mean, really, what are the odds? So, they chatted away and we walked out with a lovely dress(I would have bought it for myself).
We went to the Portuguese Embassy at noon for a meeting with Ambassador Corvalho. Photographs I took will be published in the July edition of Diplomat & International Canada. I took one of Anthony beside a traditional portrait of 3 Portuguese women. I had to reassure the ambassador I would not provide this for publication; he did not want to promote this view of Portugal; he photo he requested is one with a shot of an airport behind; a more modern view, he said.
Anthony was a featured writer at Writersfest that evening; even without tarts, he charmed the audience!