The Bathroom

I made a comment on Facebook last year about this crazy bathroom that I encountered.  It's the women's bathroom at the restaurant Van Gogh here in Santos, and I've never seen a bathroom like it before, nor do I anticipate seeing one like it ever again.

It's our favorite place to eat pizza, and their other food is good, too.  But it's worth the trip just to see the bathroom.  (Women's only. Otto, Andy, and Sam tell me the men's room isn't the same.)   When we were there last, I remembered to take my camera so you could see it, too.

This is outside of the stall where the sinks are.

This is INSIDE the stall. Never will you experience so many angles of yourself, ahem, "using the facilities".  Oh, and no smoking, by the way.

And apparently because people have had problems finding the door to get out, they've installed these helpful arrows on the floor pointing the way to the exit.

It's really something to behold.  The pictures don't do it justice!

Festa Junina

Before we leave the month of June, I'd better get a post up about Festa Junina!  This is a festival celebrated throughout the month of June celebrating St. John the Baptist, St. Peter, and St. Anthony.  But more predominately it celebrates the food and culture of the people that live in the interior of Brazil on farms and ranches. 

Here we were on our way to the Festa Junina at school.

Sam danced with his classmates - you can see him in the back. They did a great job.  And I may be bias, but I think Sam had the most spunk of all the Grade 2 boys!

Mom, Bill, and Otto waiting between dances. 

Andy and the Grade 5 classes did more typical square dancing, called quadrilha here.

There were many game to play and prizes to be won.  Andy was checking out one of his toys while Nana displayed another.

Sam waiting for a turn to play.

There was even a trampoline!

A couple of Sam's friends. Pretty girls! I love the dresses that the girls wear for this festival.  So colorful!

There was lots of yummy food to try!  Here was a table of sweets for sale.  

Sam and a couple buddies.

Andy and a friend.

A last shot before leaving - the boys with Andy's quadrilha partner.

Fun times.  And very full of people!

First Family Visit

A quick note to anyone that may be connected with Blogger that might possibly be reading - I'm not a fan of the new blog editor!!  And now on to more important things....

Mom and Bill were here for a couple weeks!  Luckily we had lovely, sunny, warm weather while they were here. We've had many chilly, rainy days since their departure.

We took them to my favorite place to eat feijoada, the traditional Saturday meal, at Hotel Parque Balneário.  I love the two gentlemen that perform bossa nova music while you eat - should have taken a picture of them!

Here was the view through the window.  Such a pretty day.

A picture of the dessert table that Mom took.  She took the picture, not the dessert table.  But she might have been tempted.  I know I was.

                           

Andy and Sam wore their new Santos jerseys.

Here were Mom and Bill at Praça Independencia on another beautiful day.

We relaxed a bit at Praia de Pernambuco on their last Sunday here.  (Mom and Bill took these shots.)

We had a great visit, but still have lots to do that we didn't get around to, so come back soon!

Tea leaves and spices and everything nices....

If I have developed a habit of buying anything while living here it has been teas and bags of different leaves and spices.  Some things I've never seen before, and it's reasonably priced.  Cinnamon sticks are downright cheap compared to what you would pay in The States or Canada.

Boldo do Chile is a leaf native to Chile, as you may have guessed, and supposedly good for hangovers or stomach aches. It was discovered when sheepherders realized that the sheep that grazed in a certain area where the boldo do Chile was growing didn't have the intestinal problems that the other sheep developed.  And it has a somewhat unappetizing taste and smell. 

There are also olives leaves from which you can make tea, with a fairly mild, palatable flavor.  Supposedly there are many health benefits from consuming olive-leaf tea, so I may try to drink it more regularly.  There is maté, of course; the toasted maté tea pictured here (with orange peel) is very tasty.  There is something called cavalinha in the back, which translates to horsetail in English.  There was quite a bit on the internet about it, but I'd never heard of horsetail before.  Not sure how it tastes yet.  

There's a bag of chamomile from the feira (open-air market) and a bag of green tea (chá verde). The large bag of bay leaves (folha de louro) that I need for my Louisiana and Cuban (and now Brasilian) cooking didn't make it into the picture.

And whole anise (anis estrelado) - smells sooooooo good.  It reminds me of the pizzelles (Italian waffle cookie) that some good friends of mine make during the holidays.  I LOVE those cookies, and I can't wait to try some tea.

I don't think I've gone overboard, yet.

Frango assado

Here, chicken is frango.  And roasted chicken is frango assado, one of my favorite (and easiest!) things to make when the weather turns cooler.  This is the first time I've made a roasted chicken since we've been here.  The temperature was cool for a few months when we arrived, but the rental cookware didn't include anything for roasting.

So today marked the first purchase of a whole chicken, and I knew it would be a little different when I saw Contém: pés on the package: Contains feet.

Here's what I pulled out. The neck is included as well (attached, no less), the heart (propping the feet up in the photo below), and I think its head is what laying on the right.  I believe what looks like a beak is its tongue?  (Do chickens have tongues?)

I WISH I had nails like these. Really!  I mean, I'd probably wear them shorter, but compared to my paper-thin, short...  Okay, I'm thankful I'm NOT a chicken butchered on the cutting board, but the nails are lovely.

And where am I supposed to put them, exactly?

I didn't leave them sticking up; I tucked them along the bottom. I can hear it sizzling now and it smells maravilhoso!!!!  We'll see if anyone tries the feet.

Bolo de Laranja e Maçã

... also known as Orange and Apple Cake. 

I've known about this recipe for a few weeks now, and having made it for the second time today, felt an obligation to share it with you.  My Portuguese teacher, and more importantly my friend, gave me this recipe and I REALLY like it. There is nearly an entire orange and apple in the cake and it's delicious. 

I've tweaked the recipe a bit both times, as I usually do with any recipe. (Tweak was a new word for my teacher. This language thing can go both ways, and I'm always happy when I can share some knowledge with her considering all the help she's given me.)  Different flours here and there, less oil, less sugar, etc... But she tried a piece today and I got a thumbs-up, and said I should share away with all my friends in the US and Canada, and whoever else that's out there reading.

This is the version I made today.  It's not as fine a crumb as if you use all white flour.

Emulsify the following in a blender:

1 orange, peeled, seeded, and roughly cut up; chop some of the orange peel and add

1 apple, cored and cut up (but leave the peel)

3 eggs

1 +1/2  cups sugar (could even use a little less, I think)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

In a medium bowl combine 1 +1/2 cups white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, and about a tablespoon of baking powder. To this add the mixture from the blender and combine.  I used a bundt pan and baked for ~35 minutes at about 325 or 350 degrees F (180-205 degrees C).  Sorry to be a bit vague, but baking temperatures and times aren't very exact here. When it starts smelling good, check on it!

This was taken in the reflection of our microwave - the spots that are apparently on my shirt are actually on the door. I'm trying to achieve the holding-up-the-cake with one finger trick. More of a mini-cake from this perspective.

Feel free to tweak the recipe to YOUR liking and enjoy!

New things to taste...

This is one of my new favorite fruits. It is an atemoya.


Per Wikipedia, it's a cross between a sugar apple (Annona squamosa) and a cherimoya (Annona cherimola). It is also known as a pineapple sugar apple. And Cubans know this fruit as an anón. It has a creamy texture, is very sweet, and reminds me a little of a lychee. It's delicious. I just bought some more at the feira this morning, and hope these are as good as the last few that I bought.


Next up, Halls. We have these in North America of course, but Brasilians seem to have a love affair with them. There are so many different kinds, and they're located right next to the gum and candy at the checkout aisle. I haven't seen too many people partaking this summer, but as the weather starts to cool now that it's fall, I suspect consumption will increase.


This was a new flavor that looked interesting. Maracujá (passion fruit) with a chocolatey center - and CREAMY, as you can see. The boys and I each tried one, half assuming with all these flavors that it wouldn't taste like a cough drop at all, but rather just a candy. Nope - it's just an interestingly-flavored cough drop. And since we didn't have a cough and don't particularly like the flavor of cough drops we spit them out. But good to know I have a large variety to choose from when I DO have a cough.

Here was an item I had been eyeing for a while in stores, and finally took the plunge. I'm not sure why it says NOVO as I'm pretty sure these have been around for a while.


It's kind of a cross between marshmallows and gelatin.


Sam likes marshmallows; Andy not so much. Here were the reactions.

The first bite.

Thinking.


He was giving me the so-so hand motion here, which I believe is the same sign for the equivalent Portuguese expression, mais o menos.

This wasn't as much of a reaction as us noticing that a moth had just flown in from the veranda. Maybe there were two, as it seems we're looking at different spots on the ceiling. There were many moths appearances that week.

None of us cared much for the new sweet. But it looks like Andy liked his dinner.

Yummy panettone dessert

I was looking through A Tribuna this evening and saw this vision of deliciousness in the Pão de Açúcar advertisement (local grocery chain). They take out the inside of the panettonne and layer in a creamy custard, put the top back on, and cover with ganache. Brilliant!!




Panettone is very popular here for the Christmas season, which is in full swing here as everywhere in North America. I've seen Panettone sold in Canada and the U.S. around the holidays, maybe on an endcap. But there is a LARGE presence of Panetonne in the stores here, due to the big Italian influence in this part of Brazil, I suspect.

If you want to see the very nice lady Brazilian chef demonstrate for you, here's the play by play of how to make it from YouTube.






And here's a link to the recipe in Portuguese. Below is the traslation from Google, with a few modifications, as it didn't quite make sense. The leaves of gelatin are a new to me, I'll have to look for those. If you're in The States or Canada, maybe use one envelope of plain gelatin??

Between watching the video and having the recipe below, it should come out pretty close - I think I'll try to make it this weekend. :o) Hmmm, just remembered I don't have my mixer OR my kitchen scale. Well, I may try anyway.

Ingredients

Filling: White wine English cream
190 ml of white wine
200 g of sugar
7 egg yolks
juice of half a lime
425 g of heavy cream
4 leaves of gelatine


Preparation:

Boil in a saucepan half the amount of wine, lime juice and 100 g of sugar.
Meanwhile, in a mixer beat the egg yolks with remaining sugar until creamy.
Add the remaining wine and stir in cream.
Join this cream to first mixture over low heat and stir constantly. Allow to cool.
Add the 4 softened gelatine leaves in cream and heavy cream
lightly beaten. Mix together and chill a little.

Note: To soften the gelatin, it must be hydrated in cold water, then
sifted into another container and softened minutes before using the microwave
(20 seconds) or in a double boiler on low heat.
For filling, cut off about the top 1 inch of the cake, and remove the excess inside dough, leaving the sides approximately 3 cm thick. Add the cream, and add the part of the cake that you took out making to separate layers with the cream (watch the video!).

Coverage: dark chocolate ganache
150 g of cream
250 g dark chocolate
Melt chocolate in double boiler. In a saucepan, heat the cream until it is warm and stir in the melted chocolate. To decorate, spread the ganache around the cake.