Blondie In Brazil

I've Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:45:00 +0000

In case you missed it - I've moved. Yes, we returned to the US about 5 years ago and we're still traveling. I leave this blog up because before we moved to Maringa I could find little to no info on the city. There may be bits and pieces of info in here that might help other travelers and expats.

The Goodbye Post

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:36:00 +0000

You know what? It is incredibly hard to depart from a blog you’ve had for two years. This week I’ve had this post on my mind a lot – the goodbye post. I still remember the day I started the blog. We were living in the hotel and I was bored out of my mind. I started looking up the whole blog concept and just decided to register with Blogger and give it a go.

Two years later, here we are.

I’ve gotten a lot of flak for the title during that time. When it comes to negative commenters, it is always the leverage they use to put me down or make fun of my views. To tell you the truth, it may not be the most professional blog title in the world, but I would never go back and change it.
Why?

Because it represents so much of my initial feelings when I first arrived in this country. People like to go on and on about how there are blonds around Maringá and all over the south of the country. Yes, I know this. Brazil is a diverse place.

However, no one knows exactly what I felt when I walked the streets of Maringá those first few weeks and had people stare at me endlessly. Then to have my friends here tell me the reason they were staring was because of my hair. This was then followed up by having someone tell me the only way they would stop staring was for me to color it darker.

So if you’ve ever wondered – why Blondie in Brazil – well, that’s why. It represents a personal part of this experience for me.

It is with that (and with what feels like some welling tears) that I say good-bye. Good bye to this blog and to my expatriate experiences in Brazil. I don’t have any profound parting words because any reader can go back and read through the roller coaster ride this experience has been.

I will say I wouldn’t change that decision we made three years ago. Experiencing an expatriate life is like nothing I could have imagined. It has changed me as a person for the better, and even for the worse, and I accept both.

I say thank you to all of you who have read the blog and to all of you who have commented and supported me. Even the negative and harsh comments I appreciate because they made me reflect on my experiences, my way of thinking and the way I come across in my writing.

However, while I say goodbye to this blog and my expat life, notice I’m not saying good bye to you. I’m a writer and a traveler and a writing traveler has to have a blog. I launched The 3 Star Traveler this week. An extension of this blog, it will focus on my passions for travel and share a bit about my experiences with repatriation.

I will miss Maringá and all of you, but I hope you will stop by from time to time to check out what I’m up to. Until then – tchau, beijos and abraços!

The Best of Both Worlds

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:47:00 +0000

Living in a new country is eye opening. You find things you like, things you don’t, things you miss from home, and things you’d just as soon leave back there. It leads one to think that it would be great if you could combine all the things you love from both places to create one ideal world.

This is what mine might look like (from this point on home = U.S and here = places I’ve been in Brazil):

Changing deciduous trees from home; rainforest vegetation from here

Coffee shops from home; coffee from here

Flight options and schedules from home; flight attendants from here

Big cities from home; beaches and small islands from here

Clothes from home; shoes from here

Gym equipment from home; fitness instructors from here

Chocolate from home (or Europe); fruit desserts from here (mousse de maracujá, crème de papaya)

Chicken from home; beef from here

Diversity of easy to find ingredients from home; freshness and flavor of produce from here

Cocktails from home; juice from here

Whitetail deer from home; Capivara from here

Grass-covered backyards from home; outdoor grills from here

Cozy fireplaces and soft carpet from home; open air homes from here

Football from home; futebol from here

Of course, I’m just day dreaming here. I’ve learned the things you dislike from a place just help you appreciate those that you like do even more. But from time to time it’s still fun to dream.

What Will I Miss?

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:19:00 +0000

This is such a popular question for someone who is ending an ex-pat experience. Most often the asker is looking for something about the place where you lived – a food, a store, a characteristic. I've been told I will miss picanha, and inexpensive fruits and vegetables. Well, yeah, maybe, but the things I'll miss go beyond the obvious and tangible. They are actually things more associated with the ex-pat experience than the place itself.

These are the things that are more meaningful to me, things that I will wake up and think, “Wow, I wish I could be that or do that again.” They have more to do with how I spend my time and who I get to spend my time with, what I've developed into, the path my work has taken and many others.

Being an Ex-pat

This takes the number one slot. I am really going to miss being an ex-pat. I have loved experiencing a life outside my home country. I've gained invaluable knowledge about myself, I've changed for both the better and worse and I left the familiar to engage in the unfamiliar which personally means a lot to me.

I've found a whole new community of people some virtual and some that I've had the opportunity or will have the opportunity to meet. Three years ago, I had no idea that this community even existed. I don't even think I knew the definition of an ex-pat at that time.

I also now find that I am distinguished, in my own mind, from being a traveler. I've mentioned there is a huge difference between the two. While I will miss leaving ex-pat life I also welcome being a traveler again. However, I am extremely happy that I took that step to live in and not just visit another place. Not everyone has the opportunity to do that and I'm glad we took advantage of it.

It is going to be difficult to go back to a place and to some people who don't understand our experiences. Oh, how I dread the first comment I hear what roughly resembles “must be nice”. That is a typical response from someone who wants to pretend their life is miserable and travel would solve everything, but when it came down to it, they wouldn't choose to travel or be an ex-pat even if the chance were given.

I think when I return I will still strongly associate with the ex-pat group. I will still read blogs and revisit those commonalities shared by all ex-pats and even some long term travelers. I'm also setting myself up for developing more friendships with others who have experienced what we have.

Freedom of Time

I'm hoping that this is one that can extend when we move back, but I have absolutely loved my transition to working from home. It suits me so well. I am structured when it comes to my work and that combined with the freedom to make my own schedule has been such a gratifying combination for me. I will miss it if I need to go back to an office job, but if I can continue to write and make it work I am going to thoroughly enjoy having a pug sitting on my lap when I do it.

Time with My Husband

Well, this one isn't exactly accurate. Since moving abroad I think our time together has decreased somewhat due to his commute and business travel. However, we do get to spend a lot of time together on most weekends, and because we have been in this experience together we have leaned on each other a lot. My favorite part of living here has been the times I have with him, the things we get to do together and when we discovered new parts of this place together.

Friends

I honestly didn't think that I would make actual friends while I was an ex-pat. I'm not sure why, but I guess one reason was that being in a smaller town I knew the ex-pat ratio would be low. So while many people in other towns enjoy that community, it is something we haven't experienced. For the same reason, I felt that friendships with locals would be difficult as well.

I was happily proven wrong. I have found friendships I plan to continue even after I move. (You know who you are.) This has been one of those unexpected perks that has really enhanced the whole adventure for me.

Okay, so there are some things I'm going to miss too. So to suffice those that want the typical answer to the question, without much explanation, here you go.

Open-air dining – I love sitting outside to eat and the open feel of the restaurants.

Views of the Cathedral from our apartment – There is nothing like a sunrise or a blue sky with puffy white clouds.

Winters – They remind me of autumn at home with the bonus of palm trees. It's my favorite time of year here.

Doces vendor from the feira – No explanation needed.

Food feiras and all festivals in general – I like the combining of cultures, outdoor dining and unique foods you can't get other times of the year such as pastelão or the Portuguese desserts.

Japanese influences and sushi – One of my favorite things about this area of Brazil. It adds a diversity that is so appealing to me. It feels like a peaceful culture to balance out a rather hectic one.

The Latest Find

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:03:00 +0000

I’ve had my fair share of exciting finds around here. It took me months to locate oatmeal, then one day cilantro magically appeared, then I found the spice row at the Asian market and finally lemons sat staring me in the face on a recent supermarket visit.

I know you are thinking, “Lori, those things were there all along, you just didn’t see them.” Perhaps for some of them this is true, but I assure you for others it was seriously like magic. In fact, other expats I’ve talked with in other parts of Brazil have similar supermarket experiences.

Things are there one day, they go back the next week and they are gone with no sign of them even existing in the first place. No space on the shelf, no price tag remaining. Then other things randomly appear out of nowhere. It’s both frustrating and entertaining.

Since engaging in this culture was important to me, I tried not to let my lack of finding things bother me too much. But as some posts will reflect, I did have my bad days. While I’d gladly substitute one of the amazing croissants from Açukapé or pão francês with butter for my standard oatmeal, the healthy part of my brain was telling me I still needed that whole grain oatmeal on occasion.

On a similar note, check out what we found at Pão de Açucar in Curitiba:

Cranberry juice! Seriously. We couldn’t believe it.

Produced in São Paulo, although we suspect the pulp is probably imported and the juice made there.

I love cranberry juice and I miss it dearly. I must say, though, if someone said I could give up cranberry juice forever and still have all the great juices of Brazil while back in the US. Well, that would be tempting. I do love the juices here. Who wouldn’t? They are amazing. I could use a little less sugar in most, but amazing nonetheless. However, there is still a special place in my heart for that astringent, tart cranberry flavor.

Did we buy it? For R$14.19 (8 USD) for a liter? Are you kidding me?! No way! I miss things, but my budget-minded personality prevails in most situations. I mean, I’ve gone without it for most of two years. I can last a little longer.

Plan B: Morretes

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:35:00 +0000

During our time in Curitiba over the holiday we were determined to make another visit the Ilha do Mel. I wanted more of that peaceful atmosphere – crashing waves, no cars (more importantly no car alarms), only the low rumble of boat motors. Fresh seafood didn’t sound too bad either.

We woke up to a rainy Sunday, but decided to make the drive anyway hoping it would clear up as we got closer to the coast. Well, it did…for part of the trip. I got excited as we drove on and the rain turned to more of a light drizzle and bright skies.

Then as we turned the corner on the final stretch of road, the skies opened up. Ugh. The timing could not have been worse and there was no sign of it letting up. We drove on to the parking lot for the ferry terminal and sat for a bit. Looking at all the cars and watching the rain we knew that it would be a day of sitting at a crowded restaurant, no hiking or good pictures.

We reluctantly made the final call and decided to drive back to Curitiba and stop in Morretes. Poor Morretes, the second class citizen of our travel itinerary, plan B.

People had been telling us about this place for a while. It is a city in the mountains that we soon learned holds some of the gold rush history of the country, similar to, but perhaps not as historically significant (depending on who you speak with) as a city like Ouro Preto.

That certainly doesn’t take away from its beauty though. Even on a foggy, rainy day which didn’t do the surrounding environment much justice, you could still tell that this was one beautiful setting.

There is a train you can take from Curitiba to Morretes that is supposed to be beautiful as well. For us though, driving ourselves 1 hour (versus a 4 hour train ride that costs more money) was a better option. Plus, as I mentioned, we were on the way back from the coast carrying our disappointment.

Wow, it turned out to be a great day. In fact, although I really wanted to revisit Ilha do Mel, I’m very happy that we didn’t pass up Morretes.

The city was a bit wet and dreary, but it was so inviting with a quaint, slightly European feel. I mean, they even had a guy giving gondola rides.

I do have to say, it is touristy! However, it’s not internationally touristy, but Brazilian touristy, so for ex-pats like us it still ends up being a rather authentic experience. We’ve heard many come from Curitiba to have lunch and this seemed to be true.

We didn’t hear one word of English the whole time, no shop assistant grabbing the English speaker when we walked in or waiters breaking into English once they heard us speaking at the table. I have to say it was really nice.

According to the big boards of historic explanation in the town center (which by the way, one side was written in English), the town does have a rich history as I mentioned before, however, if you ask someone around here why they go the answer you get will be “Barreado.”

Barreado is a traditional food from Paraná and now Morretes is one of the only places you can find it. It’s surprising that it hasn’t spread to other areas because it was overwhelmingly popular. It was obvious everyone was there to eat it, and every single restaurant in town served it.

We ended up at Olimpo which looked to be new in town, maybe not as historic as the others, but it had a great balcony. Honestly you can’t miss it, or the other places which serve the dish. This town is completely centered on this specific food.

Barreado is a meat stew made with beef, bay leaf, cilantro and other herbs. It is sealed in a clay pot to cook for 12 to 18 hours. Once at your table you eat it with mandioca flour, rice and fried bananas. This explanation is a good resource if you want to learn a bit more.

First, let me demonstrate for you the wrong way to eat Barreado.

You see, the waitress brought our food and asked us if we were familiar with the dish. We said no and apparently she must have slipped another question in there that we didn’t hear because she took our no to mean we didn’t want an explanation.

Only after we were halfway finished did we see a demonstration at another table. What you are supposed to do is mix the meat with lots (and I mean lots) of mandioca flour. Stir it up and mash the meat, add broth, stir it more and then eat it with rice. It literally looked like a meat paste when the waiter was done and I have to admit, not appetizing at all. Therefore, we kept eating it our way even after the demonstration.

I was completely surprised how much I enjoyed this dish. Usually when it comes to beef stew it all tastes the same, but the flavor of Barreado really stood out from anything I’ve had before. There was an intense, rich and smoky flavor, not to mention the slow roasting made it incredibly tender with no visible fat in sight.

Another ingredient that really stood out around the area was ginger. The small feira taking place during our visit was offering candies made of ginger and the ice cream shop we passed had a ginger flavor as well. I really wanted to try it so I was happy to learn our dessert would be bananas with ginger ice cream. It was great – spicy with fresh ginger and went so well with the bananas and cinnamon.

After full bellies of Barreado we walked around for more pictures of the city. I finally got my panela de barro (clay pot) to take back to the US. Wish me luck in the transport.

So all in all, it was one surprisingly successful travel day; an unexpected surprise.

What I keep realizing here is that it is in visiting these small towns like Morretes that you realize just how much of Brazil is left to explore. For me, these are the types of places that top my travel list for this country and had I not lived here I never would have known they existed.

Just Can't Get Enough

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:58:00 +0000

Are you tired of posts about Curitiba yet?

Me neither.

I just can't seem to get enough of that city even though I've visited and posted about it several times before.

We are in our last month of living in Brazil and we knew we wanted to say our final ex-pat good-byes to one of our favorite cities in person. We set off the middle of last week, knowing we would have a long holiday weekend to spend in Curitiba together.

It rained for most of the trip, but somehow that didn't matter because, well, it's Curitiba. The cooler weather and overcast skies just add to the city's charm.

I fell into my normal rut with contentment. I explored the Batel area and enjoyed coffee at Lucca while getting some work done. We ate fondue at Chateau de Gazon and drank Submarinos at the Bar do Alemão.

I've talked about all that before though, so let's move on to what was new and different. I find there is always something that falls into this category with each visit.

Despite the rain and being forced to watch a couple movies during the trip, my husband and I made it out to Botanical Gardens on Saturday. I hadn't been there in over two years and even then it was a very quick visit. We checked out the grounds and stumbled upon some things we hadn't seen before.

There was a new area that was all about plants and the senses. You were supposed to put on a blindfold and then follow the metal railing throughout the area to touch and smell different plants as you tried to identify them.

Quite a cool set up and the whole area was beautifully manicured. We didn't do the blind fold, but we did check out the different plants and snapped some photos.

Next stop?

You guessed it, Parque Barigui so that I could visit Harold one last time and was I in for a surprise! It was feeding time and I got some photos of 19 Capivaras as they munched on the grass near the lake. They didn't seem to mind anyone being around. They were less than 15 feet away! I could have hung out with them forever. I wasn't the only one interested. They were drawing quite the crowd.

Of course, you can't go to Curitiba without getting excellent food and despite our usual repeats we tried a few new places. For example, who knew that a Brazilian restaurant could do Chicago-style pizza so well?

A friend here told me about Michigan Avenue Pizza Bar and considering that I think Chicago-style pizza is one of the best foods on earth I was immediately intrigued, and well, skeptical. So far even the places we've tried in the US outside of Chicago, claiming to have that style of pizza haven't even come close.

When Saturday night came around we decided we would give it a try. We decided to go for two individual stuffed pizzas. Me, the Americano (I mean, why not?) and my husband kept it real with the Mexicana which is actually a Brazilian creation. It has Doritos in it.

The final call – awesome! Not exactly the same, but darn close. It could have used more tomato sauce, but that seems to be a constant issue here. I must admit it didn't hurt that they had a video of a Cranberries concert on the tv for our entire dinner. Considering they are my all-time favorite band and I was eating one of my all-time favorite foods I was quite happy.

In other food, yours truly had the opportunity to try the first frozen yogurt available in southern Brazil, or so claims Yoguland. This modern, colorful little shop recently opened in Batel and it was so good I had to visit twice.

They have two flavors – natural and lichia (lychee). Given the healthy theme the idea is you are supposed to get fruit and granola toppings (yes, they were called “toppings”). Personally, I preferred it plain. I guess I was expecting that sweet, rather fake, frozen yogurt from home, but it was nothing like that. It had the same tartness you get from Greek yogurt, just barely sweet. It was fantastic!

On the second visit we learned the guy taking our order lived in the US for 7 years and just recently moving back to Curitiba. He actually went to the University of Tennessee, not far from central KY. Another “small world” experience.

I can't help but be sad that I won't be going back to Curitiba anytime soon. I'll likely return someday, because as I've mentioned before it tops not only my list for favorite cities in Brazil, but it is on my list of favorites of any city I've visited.

Next post? How our rainy Sunday led to a new discovery – Morretes!

Still Fun with Words

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:10:00 +0000

When a language is brand new there are lots of new sounds to laugh at, then you start to learn it a bit better and you find you are the one making those sounds that used to be funny. They become more familiar and less strange and comical. As much as a new language eventually becomes more than just words and sounds, there are moments when old favorites give me a good giggle.

Some days I find myself reminiscing about my rather unsuccessful journey with Portuguese and I remember when we first moved here and I was having a discussion with a girl who worked at the gym. She spoke some English and she was explaining to me how difficult words in English are. (If you don’t think English is a difficult language, check out this post.)

Her argument was that the language has several words that sound the same. Her examples were:

“Tree” and “Three”
“Sheep” and “Ship”
“Beach” and “Bitch”

If you are a native English speaker, like me, you are likely thinking to yourself that those words got a lot less similar sounding as the list went on, but to a non-native speaker, apparently not. That is the best lesson you can experience when you are learning a foreign language by the way; to have someone trying to learn your native language show you that, when it comes to difficulty, your native tongue is pretty crappy too.

Thoughts of this conversation then make me think about my favorite words in the Portuguese language. Often it isn’t even the words that give me a smile, but the way they are used or spoken here.

Rua – The “r” at the beginning of the word gets me every time. I find the word is almost always out of my mouth before I remember to make the “h” sound. Rua (road) is one that always makes me laugh because I usually hear people saying, “hoo-ah, hoo-ah”.

Sanduíche – Just an all around fun word. It is the word for sandwich and pronounced “san-whee-shee”.

Fubá – I remember the first time I said this word with a light accent on the “a”. I was quickly corrected that it is “fu-BAH”. The forcefulness of the BAH at the end almost made me jump it was so strong and loud. It's a flour made from corn, by the way.

Tchau – The best way to say goodbye. Probably my favorite and used in several languages. I love how Brazilians use it with so much conviction like “CHOW LORI!!!!” Then there is the double up like “chow-chow” said quickly and forcefully like “bang-bang”.

Well, at least those words I can pronounce. I have to say that mulher (woman) and Guarulhos (the airport) will never be part of my vocabulary. I simply can’t make my mouth create the appropriate sounds. Thank goodness I can refer to the airport as GRU since that word makes it into my conversations quite often with all our travel.

So I’ve always been interested…if English is not your first language, what words in my native tongue tend to give you a good laugh?

Burning Fields

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:20:00 +0000

I am always so fascinated by the burning of the sugarcane fields. These are some photos my husband snapped a couple weeks ago just as it was getting dark out.

The Part of Brazil I Needed to See – Part 2 – Ouro Preto

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:52:00 +0000

I can’t believe it has been a full week since my return from Minas Gerais. I haven’t even gotten around to sharing my experiences in Ouro Preto, the best part. Not to say that Belo Horizonte wasn’t great, but Ouro Preto, well, it was awesome.

When we first started walking along the narrow, cobblestone streets it instantly reminded me of Prague. That is, if Prague Old Town hadn’t been full of massive amounts of tourists and tacky souvenir shops when I visited.

That’s not to say that Ouro Preto didn’t have its minor inconveniences too. For example, the crazy drivers barreling down the narrow, one-way roads each time I stopped to take a picture. I couldn’t help but think how awesome it would be if they closed the roads to traffic and used a trolley to take people up and down the hills.

Oh wait, did I mention the hills? Man, there were hills! Probably the steepest of any place I have visited (which was a city and not specifically a mountain hike). They certainly added to the city’s charm, except of course, when you were huffing and puffing up them. Thank goodness it wasn’t too hot yet.

After being in Ouro Preto about a half hour I realized why my host was so caught up on seeing everything we wanted to see on one side of the Praça Tiradentes (the square or plaza in the center of town) before venturing to the other. It was because the Praça is at the top of the hill and both sides are downhill. So once you go down to see one and make the trek back up to the center you sure as heck aren’t going back down that side again!

I made it of course, and despite my break from running during my trip, they helped me to avoid feeling bad about the massive amounts of Minas food I consumed at lunch. Thank you, hill workout.

We stopped at a cool little place called Chafariz for a meal that started with house cachaça and Caldo Verde (soup with collard greens, potatoes and pork) served in a soap stone (Pedra Sabão) bowl.

It was followed by a buffet of foods specific to Minas Gerais such as Feijão Tropeiro (beans, farofa, fried egg, garlic, onion, bacon and sausage), Frango com Quiabo (chicken with okra) Frango ao Molho Pardo (chicken in brown sauce which is actually blood sauce). And yes, I tried the last one because what kind of world foodie would I be if I didn’t at least try it. Good, but just like the pig ears, couldn’t sit down to a whole plate.

Okay, I got a little side tracked with food and exercise. Rewinding to the start of our day.

I snapped a quick picture of the church of St. Francis of Assisi, then we headed down to the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Conceição which also held the museum of Aleijadinho, or Antônio Francisco Lisbôa, an 18th century sculptor who developed a degenerative disease mid-life leaving his hands disfigured yet he continued to sculpt beautiful works of art. (Unfortunately, no pictures in the museums.)

On our walk back up the hill we stopped at the fair so I could pick up some souvenirs carved out of soap stone from the area.

Our next church stop was the Nossa Senhora do Pilar. I am told this one of the only, if not the only, church that has undergone restoration. I have to say that after seeing churches of Europe, these didn’t seem quite as impressive. There was beautiful detail and the inside was covered in gold leaf, but unfortunately the funds aren’t there to afford the upkeep. On the other hand, I found the outside of the churches to be gorgeous with beautiful architectural detail.

Other visits included the Casa dos Contos which featured a pictorial view of all the Brazilian currencies that everyone is always telling about. It also allowed a tour of historic slave quarters. That’s always such an eerie, saddening thing to witness, but I feel very important to understand just how badly human beings were treated (and in some places still are).

The next stop was the mineral museum with stunning gem stones from the area. Given my interest in gems as an adult I really think I could have made a career out of staring at those beautiful things.

We finally wrapped up the trip with a walk through the Museum Inconfidência where I was able to fill my brain with all kinds of facts about the uprising and Tiradentes (had no idea that term was a nickname which means ‘tooth puller’ until my visit, by the way.)

I learned more about Brazil’s history in eight hours by visiting Ouro Preto than I have in two years of living here. At the same time, as beneficial as all that knowledge is I have to say that I was most impressed by simply the city itself. Words and pictures can’t describe the beauty of the landscape in the area - the rolling hills and mountains behind historic buildings, and being fortunate with good weather, the bright blue skies that made my pictures pop with brilliant light.

Looking back I find myself not wanting to visit more monuments and museums, but wanting to have the opportunity to sit and soak it all in. I could have stared at that landscape forever. A beautiful place that Ouro Preto.

The Part of Brazil I Needed to See - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:54:00 +0000

I’m beginning to become a believer that as an ex-pat having a blog is essential. It is amazing how many people you meet and how much information you gather from others who know a bit more about a culture or area than you.

This past week I took advantage of an invitation to visit Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais, something that would not have even come about if it wasn’t for my blog. Corinne, one of my readers who is always quick to offer me helpful info, invited me there to show me around. When Azul ran a huge sale recently I decided to take advantage of the offer. Not only did I get to see a new area and try new foods, I also got to meet some great people including Corinne, and Eric and Emily.

The last day or so I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts about how my visit to this new area of the country affected me. What I’ve come up with is that it was truly the part of Brazil I needed to see.

I’ve really enjoyed Maringá. Despite my complaints about lack of availability and variety, I like the smaller city feel, the trees, and the Cathedral. In fact, as I walked around today, I had a renewed appreciation for it. The quiet morning and the light amount of traffic were incredibly appealing after visiting Belo Horizonte, a much larger and more populated city.

At the same time, however, Maringá is not very old; a little over 60 years (62 I think). There is a lot of interesting history that surrounds the building of the Cathedral, but it doesn’t hold a lot of history of the whole country. I loved experiencing a place that brought that all together for me.

I will honestly admit that I get overwhelmed with all of the beach, beautiful women and swimwear associations that can’t seemed to be ignored when people mention Brazil. I’ve stopped reading many travel articles about Brazil focused on the beach because writers can’t seem to finish a piece without making some mention of the above either as a joke or slide it in by using parenthesis.

If that is why you visit Brazil, good for you, but I needed to see how the place began, the role the Portuguese played and what makes certain areas of this country the way they are. Belo Horizonte (and a trip to Ouro Preto which I’ll cover in my next post) fulfilled this travel and cultural need for me.

I got to explore a nearby cave, Gruta da Lapinha.

I was taken downtown to see the historic main street and the Praça da Liberdade and the Igreja Nossa Senhora de Lourdes.

I walked around Lagoa da Pampulha and saw the architecture of Oscar Niemeyer.

I also got to check out the Botanical gardens inside the zoo.

And just in case you thought I would be without my favorite things I was even greeted by some large groups of Capivara at the lake!

The food I’ll cover later, but at the market I was able to pick up, or rather lug back, a soap stone (Pedra Sabão) pot carved out of stone from the area. They tell me it will turn black once I season and seal it. Given my love of cooking I couldn’t have found a better souvenir.

It was a wonderful trip that changed my perceptions in so many ways. My only regret is that my husband wasn’t able to see it with me.

There is more to come, but I’ll take this opportunity to send a special thanks to my hosts and all the info they shared with me. I appreciate it so much!

Things We Could Learn

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:00:00 +0000

My days here are typically filled with discovering things I’ll miss when I’m gone and remembering things I still miss from home. In the midst of all that, I also regularly discover a few things the U.S. could learn from Brazil. And just so there is no mistake that I’m generalizing we can also call it “things my home country (or maybe just city) could learn from the one I’m living in (or maybe just Maringá).”

Help Others

First I should say that I fall into the camp which believes that you should not take more with you when you travel than you can handle by yourself. It is a rule I try to live by myself. However, there are certain situations of obvious exception. One being a mom with small kids, in which case she is going to have more to carry than she can handle by necessity not by choice.

On my last flight home, I was once again taken aback by the helpfulness of the public and especially of flight attendants. There was a mother with a baby on the my flight and the attendants put her bags in the overhead bin for her, carried them to the bus and people nearby picked up where they left off assisting her. It was nice to see so much helpfulness.

Oh, and did I mention that if it is raining the airport workers will walk you out on the runway with an umbrella? Now, that is mostly here in Maringá and Londrina, but still very helpful.

Now compare this to a flight in the U.S. Ha, ha, ha! Now an international flight might be an exception, but on the domestic flights you, and you alone, are responsible for finding your overhead space and getting your bag down. People will scoff at you as you struggle to get out of the aisle (however, in fairness they won’t usually push you as can sometimes be the case here). Simply put, unless you come across an incredibly friendly person, you are on your own.

The helpfulness also extends to respect for the elderly, something I think is sadly dying around much of the States. These individuals here receive the ultimate amount of assistance from seats being given up for them to getting help to climb up a stair.

So helping others out a little bit during travel could be a refreshing change at home. However, I do still have to point out that if you are traveling for a week and have two suitcases weighing 70 lbs each because you can’t bear the thought of a trip with out 20 pairs of shoes to match each of your outfits; well, you are still on your own in my book. Take off those four inch heels, wear some tennis shoes and start lifting weights! And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

Credit Card Machines

Every restaurant we have been to here has transportable credit card scanners that they bring to your table. Can someone please explain to me why we don’t have this in the U.S.?!! Hopefully, I’m wrong. Maybe some places do and it is starting to spread. I hope so!

Bringing the machine to the table to swipe the card in front of the customer eliminates all the shadiness that exists around paying a bill at a restaurant in the States. The waiter takes the card goes to the register and enters the info. Often when more than one bill is being paid at once totals get confused and then there is that convenient tip fraud. You know, where the service staff just happens to give themselves an extra dollar or ten when you just order drinks and a snack. Oh yes it does happen, I was a victim myself. The waiter gave himself an $11.00 tip on a $6.00 bill by slipping in an extra one. Never did get that money back because the owners took the side of the waiter and I was in the process of moving at the time so I couldn’t follow up.

We have to get these little machines in the U.S.! It is way to logical not to.

Drink More Beer

Yes, I said it – drink more beer. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say drink more beer, but for some, just spread your weekend binge drinking out so it equals a week of moderate drinking. This isn’t a feeling I’ve developed just from living in Brazil. I had the same view upon returning from a trip to Vienna when my husband studied there. They sold both beer and wine in the school cafeteria and the drinking atmosphere was so relaxed and, well, accepted.

Then we came back to the mentality that you must drink to get wasted and cocktails are for happy hour and beer for pizza and parties. I have truly enjoyed ordering beer on a Saturday at noon or at a week night dinner out without anyone giving it a second thought. I’m not looking forward to going back to the old mentality.

Oh, and while you’re at it with drinking more beer in the U.S., lower the prices too for goodness sake. Oh how I will miss the 2 USD liter garrafas.

Stay Small

After being surrounded by family-size packs and economy bulk, coming to supermarkets here was quite a shock. Everything was just so tiny. This goes for bags of chips, crackers, cases of soda and even fruit. However, little by little the size of things is increasing around here. It is visibly noticeable comparing now with when we arrived two years ago. The small bags of chips that were equivalent to a personal snack size in the U.S. have now doubled. They aren’t as big as the U.S. yet, but growing.

My advice – stay small! Well, of course, that is unless you want to get big like we have in the U.S. (i.e. obesity rates). In the U.S. food manufacturers need to go back to small and consumers need to start eating small. Those foods aren’t good in the first place, but less of them is better than an more.

And guess what? With all my ranting and raving I actually missed my 2 year anniversary a while back. August 1st marked two years for living in Brazil. Just look at all I’ve learned!

Festas, Festas

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Here it is August and I haven’t even taken the time to post about this year’s Festa Junina. Well, it was actually another Festa Julina this year because it was postponed until July. We actually had two separate celebrations.

The first was at the English school where we celebrated the 4th of July last year. This year the teacher wanted to do something a little different so it was a bingo party. Yes, they have bingo around here, but something a little more festive was requested and I found a fun game set when I was last in the U.S. so I brought it back for the event.

My husband was on call duty and I was responsible for selecting the numbers. A job for which I was reprimanded, I might add, because I didn’t shuffle them enough between number calling. I quickly stepped up my game, though. Wouldn’t want to disappoint an eager crowd as there were some pretty good sweets at stake, I must admit.

We were also the audience for quite the concert as three children at the school sung Bah, Bah, Black Sheep in English. It was great!

The second celebration was a party where my husband works. It is typically only for employees, but as seems to be the custom with the gringa, I was the exception so I was able to attend and experience it. It was actually quite a celebration, much different than the party we attended last year, but still with the same great food. I did my best with the costume, but I wasn’t about to rent a dress so I was bit of a tomboy caipira for the occasion.

For the food there was a pastel stand, pinhão (from the araucaria tree), pipoca (popcorn) and the sweets that are common at these types of events, namely paçoca (peanut candy), one of my favorites! (And just as I’ve written that I realized that all those foods start with “p”. Just a random thought thrown in there. Sorry.) The pastel (deep fried pastry, this time filled with ham and cheese) was nicknamed an A4 because that is the name for a standard size of sheet paper. They were huge!

The group danced the quadrilha and I say "the group" because I was conveniently on camera duty. Not that I don’t like to dance, but I’d rather snap photos at these kinds of occasions. This dance is comparable to square dancing in the U.S.

It was at this point that I couldn’t help but start humming – rocky top you’ll always be home sweet home to me… It seems many cultures have their version of this. I wonder where it originally started.

So our last Festa Junina/Julina was a lot of fun. Not being the type to enjoy dressing up I won’t miss that when June rolls around next year, but the pinhão, paçoca and pastel are a different story.

Açaí Berry Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:48:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I posted, with much excitement, about my finding açaí berries at the Japanese/Asian market in town. Not just the pulp, but the actual berry. I was looking forward to breaking into them and creating some juices of my own and maybe some of the frozen pulp.

Well, I got the berries out to take photos and started playing with a few in my fingers. I was surprised to find that they were hard as rocks. I even put them on a cutting board and tried to chop one in half. Nothing. I was able to slide the outside skin off and see the seed, or whatever it is, on the inside.

Still hopeful I thought maybe throwing them in my juicer would somehow magically transform them so I gave it a try. As I started to smell those hot, overheating fumes from the appliance I decided it was time to give up.

This is what I was left with and yes the juicer was as hard to clean as it looks. Some purple stains still remain on it two weeks later.

So this leads me to two thoughts.

One – How in the world do they process these things? Maybe it has something to do with the transport. Perhaps they harden as they spoil or get old. My husband and I discussed boiling them to see if the skin would come off, but I never ended up trying it. I didn’t want to deal with all the purple mess if there was a mishap. Plus, they were very inexpensive and while I don’t like to waste food (if you can call rocks food) it wasn’t much of a loss.

Two – They should really be charging a lot more for açaí around here if the berries are this hard to process. I already love the frozen pulp, but I have a new appreciation for the stuff as well as my current ability to get it at such a reasonable price after this experience!

Who Is Speaking?

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Talking on the phone is something I haven’t done much of since moving here. I do use Skype for friends and family back home as well as for taking care of business for travel, but as far as local conversations, phone use is non-existent.

I do have an inexpensive cell phone that allows me to text friends and speak with people when absolutely necessary, but the quality is such that if someone speaks Portuguese to me on it, I can’t understand. In fact, I know that no one who knows me here would call and speak Portuguese to me anyway so I can be pretty confident that it is a stranger that I don’t need to talk to anyway.

Speaking of strangers, this brings up some phone etiquette around here that I’ve always questioned. When my husband and I receive phone calls and say hello, the person’s response is almost always “Que fale?” which means “who speaks”. It actually translate to “what speaks” I think, but I long ago stopped arguing the confusion of this new-to-me language. I guess que as opposed to quem can be "who" also.

Upon hearing it for the first time, I knew what it meant. It led me to do one of two things – respond with “que fale?” or hang up. Why? Because that is what I have been taught to do since I was a kid.

This whole phone etiquette came to mind while I was in the house of a friend a few weeks ago. The phone rang, I heard her say hello and then she said her name. This reminded me that this caller must have asked her who was speaking first before telling her who he or she was.

The way I grew up the person receiving the call is the one in control. When someone calls in they should ask for the person they wish to speak to, and then the person receiving asks who it is.
The caller doesn’t start the conversation by saying, “who is this?” because they will be met with the response of “well, who is this?”

I know, I’m getting confusing. I do have a point, well, kind of. There are two reasons why, where I grew up, this is considered rude and unsafe. Notice it is not just a cultural clash of differences in what is perceived as rude, but an issue of safety growing up.

As a kid allowed to answer the phone, we are instructed not to give out any information - our name, if we are home alone, saying mom and dad isn’t there. First, we find out who is calling, and then tell them that our parent’s are busy if they can’t come to the phone.

So a phone call goes like this:

Receiver: Hello?
Caller: May I speak to so and so.
Receiver (two options): Yes, just a minute. Or, may I ask who is calling?

That’s the way it goes. The person receiving knows the caller, not the other way around. Basically because the phone call is coming into your personal business and privacy.

A phone call like the following puts me in a bad mood and pretty much tells me if you don’t know who you are calling and the fact there will be a female and male voice to answer the phone upon which point you can determine if it is me or my husband, then you probably have no business calling anyway.

Me: Hello?
Caller: Who’s speaking?

Click….I just hung up.

Okay, I know, I try to be more culturally understanding than I’m letting on, but I did find this difference ever so interesting, especially since these are hard and fast rules I was taught for safety as a kid, that have stuck with me.

Who knew I could write an entire post about cultural phone etiquette.

When Friends Give You a Laugh

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:17:00 +0000

A friend I've had since grade school stopped by my Facebook page last week to share a joke with me. How thoughtful considering it involves the topics of blondes and Brazilians.

I should mention that I feel I am allowed to share blonde jokes without feeling politically incorrect since I am one myself.

Here you go:

A red head tells her blonde sister, "I slept with a Brazilian man."

The blonde says, "OMG you slut! How many is a Brazilian?"

Ha!

The Answer is – Yes!

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Since living in Brazil there has been one question that gets asked of us over, and over, and over, and over again. “Have you had feijoada?” It could be a Brazilian friend, acquaintance or even a person back home with culinary interests.

My favorite answer for the past several months has been that I’ve had vegetarian feijoada. This always gave me a good laugh because it would usually result in a look of completely surprise by the person asking the question. Do they even make that? Well, yes they do, at the little vegetarian restaurant I’ve grown to love here. It’s full of soy-based meats which usually aren’t my cup of tea and not that good for you either, but in the end it is just black beans and rice and I like that.

To be honest, I was getting a little tired of the question. Personally, I feel that Brazil has so much more to offer regarding food than feijoada. I realize it is the national dish, and a visitor should experience it, but when it comes down to it you’re talking about black beans, pork and rice. As with most of the dishes, the farofa (toasted manioc flour with bacon) and the vinaigrette (tomatoes, onion, parsley and lime juice) really make the meal for me.

Well, my husband had wanted to try the real thing, and I figured I couldn’t keep making my claim that there were better foods than feijoada if I had never actually had the real thing so we set out to try it on Saturday.

There were a couple different options for Saturday feijoada and we headed to our first pick which, as it turns out, no longer offers it on the weekends. So our second pick was pretty much by default because it was along the walk back to our apartment. This place is actually a rodizio pizza joint during the week, but on Saturday it is traditional feijoada buffet.

The experience as a whole was quite pleasant. There were several people there and even a live band playing samba music. We really need to learn more about the different types of samba here. We know there are several and this was the kind we liked, but we couldn’t identify it. I had my heart set on a picture and maybe even a little filming, but as we finished up and I was ready, the band took a break to eat lunch!

Okay, so let’s talk about the food. I’ve mentioned that feijoada is a national, traditional dish which in most cultures translates to - it has a lot of random animal parts. In the case of feijoada this comes in the form of the pig.

I must also mention that almost every person we’ve met here has told us we should try feijoada. Then when I express concern about random pig parts they quickly tell me that they would never eat it out. They would only eat their grandma’s or moms. Well, okay, so you are suggesting I go out and eat, but telling me you never would. Hence, the reason we’ve been here two years and haven’t had it yet.

Most restaurants who offer special feijoada days are kind enough to separate out all the parts so you can choose beans, along with the meat you want, or no meat, as they just had black beans as well. This is why you see all the different crocks in the picture.

So depending what you enjoy you could have your beans with calabresa (a sausage), carne seca (dried meat), costela (rib), pé (pig foot) or orelha (pig ear). Hmmm…can you guess which one I went for? I stuck with calabresa, a tiny bit of carne seca and then just beans.

At one point when there were no people around, I did a little digging with the spoon in the pot of all the random parts. I was tempted to try the pig ear and then pulled up a nice flabby piece of flesh which practically initiated the gag reflex. The pot with the feet was full of pieces of bone. Then there was this one pot that we couldn’t identify – rabo. Considering that google is telling me that rabo translates to bum, posterior, stern or tail, by the looks of what was in that pot, I’m going have to go with tail.

The thing is if someone would offer me a tiny bite of say ear or a small piece of meat off the foot, I’d probably try it (sorry, no-go on the tail). However, I do not want a big piece of said part staring back at me from my plate. I just can’t stomach it.

So, the feijoada, minus certain parts, was very good, but I had no doubt it would be. However, I will say it made us feel like complete crap the rest of the day. We literally walked in the door and hit the bed for a nap. Even after the nap we could barely move. It wasn’t the typical bean bloating and all that, we just felt awful. Personally I think it is all the pork fat that my body simply isn’t used to. It was a good, cultural experience, but I doubt I’ll be dining on an afternoon of feijoada again anytime soon.

After the experience my prior opinion still stands, however. If you are in Brazil, try feijoada, but please don’t stop there. There are so many other foods that I would consider much better especially if on the coast. Moqueca (a stew made with peppers, onions, meat or seafood and coconut milk) and Camarão na Moranga (shrimp and cheese baked in a pumpkin) come to mind.

At lunch I asked my husband if you can truly say you’ve had feijoada if you didn’t have all the parts. I don’t know what others would say, but I think I’m going to go with yes. Finally I can stop talking with people about it because – Yes! I’ve had feijoada.

Cowboys and Cow Ribs

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:13:00 +0000

Imagine if you were attending a local festival celebrating your culture. Perhaps it is a bit of a mini-family reunion where your extended family has traveled to join in the festivities. As you are seated around your table waiting for food, someone approaches the table to tell you that there are foreigners present and they need a place to sit.

Would you welcome them to your table?

Let me tell you about my Sunday.

Early in the week we had been told by some friends about a festival taking place just outside the city. Costela ao Fogo de Chão festival, or more a way of cooking and eating, that celebrates the Brazilian Gaucho, cowboys typical to South America and from what I’ve learned most prominent in the south of country. You will likely hear of them in Argentina too which creates a bit of a rivalry from what I hear.

We made the decision to attend the festival after Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day and arrived to look around, not exactly sure what we were in for. We knew the costela (ribs) were a big draw, but we didn’t know what else was involved. The day turned out to be quite the cultural and culinary adventure, one we weren’t at all expecting.

We soon found a gymnasium-type facility decked out in colorful decorations, overflowing with people and filled with dinner tables. In the middle of each table was a round base, and in this base was a massive piece of cow rib.

Throughout the dining rooms there were tables set up with vinaigrette (tomatoes with onion, lime juice and parsley), lettuce, mandioca (yucca, manioc), rice, farofa (toasted mandioca flour with bacon, onion and corn) and rolls. The idea was to surround your table with family and friends, fill your plate from the salad bar and then feast off the slab of ribs elevated in the center of the table.

We weren’t exactly sure how things worked. Many of the tables were reserved and we had started to think that it was a private event or maybe that we needed to have made reservations. Finally we saw a gentleman dressed in gaucho attire and we decided to ask him what we were supposed to do and if we could eat.

Immediately he asked us if we were German (as usual). My husband told him we were from the US and from that point things just happened so fast. Before we knew it he had grabbed a lady who happened to be an English teacher. She was asking us if we had someplace to sit and told us to hold on while she found the boss.

It turns out that the boss was the head of the CTG (Centros de Tradições Gaúchas) organization. He appeared very happy to see us and in a few minutes we were directed to the table of his family. As it turned out two members spoke English and even though my husband told them he spoke Portuguese and I spoke a little they continued to communicate with us in English. Incredibly hospitable, in my opinion. They were having a bit of a family reunion and let us know that their family was from Rio Grande de Sul (known for gaucho traditions) and had moved to both Curitiba and Maringá.

I have to say it was the most welcoming, gracious experience I have had in our two years here. Looking back, the whole event and how we were treated was unbelievable. Here we were complete strangers, foreigners at that, and we were simply wondering if we could get a table to eat. They welcomed us to the experience, and were clearly excited for us to witness a piece of their culture. We were even addressed during the announcements!

So let’s talk about this costela (the rib meat of the cow) as it was certainly the main attraction at this event. Our new friends told us that the ribs are salted the night before and then the cooking begins about 5:00 a.m. over the open flame. That means they cooked for about seven hours before making it to the table. Fogo de Chão, which you may be familiar with because it is the name of a popular chain of Brazilian restaurants in the US, is roughly translated fire of the floor, or fire of the earth.

The meat was coming out all over the place, and if you weren’t carefully, chances are you would get bumped in the backside with a big slab coming out on a long metal pole with a sharp hook which the meat was attached too. From there, on the table it goes and the designated carver slices off pieces for everyone around the table.

The meat itself was just okay. This was much more about the experience itself. It was very, very fatty and resembled a roast beef like my mom makes at home with the carrots and potatoes. I can appreciate the fact that it is loved around here though. I just can’t eat it like most Brazilians do, fat and all. I carefully picked around the fat to get to the better meat. As is the case at most parties here, a second portion was practically forced upon us, but after that I was done for sure. The rice, vinaigrette and farofa were much more to my liking.

At dinner the family was telling us about their horse. He was described as a champion and after we ate we went out with a large group of people to walk through the stalls and take some pictures of him. We were met by a barn full of horses, some wanting a bit of attention, others content to eat their hay and still others a bit moody.

The champion’s name turned out to be Zeus. Zeus fully met the criteria of being a self-confident champion. He was bit irritated at being bothered during his hay munching. As one of the men teased him a little, I have never in my life seen a horse practically bust through a stall gate to try to bite someone. Zeus may have been beautiful, but he was not all that friendly. In fact, they closed up the stall and I didn’t even get a picture. He looked like his day was going bad enough already and I didn’t think a photo would sit too well given his current mood.

We did meet some other friendly horses. The names were the best part because many of them were in English. My husband really liked Cowboy.

Hanna was my favorite; a sweet girl with her head out of the stall welcoming anyone who passed by to give her a scratch. I couldn’t help but laugh when two young boys walked up to give her hay and started calling her Hannah Montana. Apparently she is popular here too.

What a completely unexpected day. In fact, until about 10 minutes before, we weren’t even sure we would go. I’m so glad we did and it makes me wonder if I’ll ever have the opportunity to return this type of hospitality and cultural experience to a complete stranger someday.

This culture and culinary experience was a good fit for both my blogs so you'll find this cross-posted at Fake Food Free.

Reaching Normalcy

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:48:00 +0000

I do believe I have the worst case of ex-pat blogger’s block known to man. I keep thinking of ideas for posts, I start writing and they lead nowhere.

Perhaps this is because things just aren’t all that exciting right now. I wake up, I work, I workout, I cook, I sleep. That is pretty much my day and thinking about it makes me realize that I’ve reached that place in this new life that can be referred to as normalcy. It will be changing soon, but after two years in this country I am there.

I’m not passing up opportunities as we eat out with friends and coworkers and we have a few festivals to attend this weekend. All which keep the cultural experience alive. However, other than that things aren’t overly exciting. Perhaps those events this weekend will produce something resembling blog entertainment and I do still need to share our experiences over the 4th weekend which involved bingo and sushi.

In other news, all I had to do was mention the flight prices in South America and along came a deal. I’m happy to say I will be flying up to Belo Horizonte in August to meet Corinne and Emily! I very excited to meet them and to experience another part of this country that will be new all over again.

And now that I think about it, today was a rather exciting day. I absolutely love our Japanese/Asian market here. They bring in fruits from all over Brazil and a few from around SA while selling foods from local vendors as well. I found açaí berries! Not the pulp, but the actual berry. This was the first time I’d seen the berry in its natural form and I’m thrilled to trying juicing them myself. So on the culinary side, things are still very exciting!

Looky – I Found Lemons!

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Oh how I love it when the supermarkets around here make a liar out of me!

We’ve been branching out lately and trying some new stores around town. While we had been in practically all the grocery stores in town, my husband stopped in a new one when I was still in the States and really liked it. Since then we’ve been doing most of our shopping there.

A week or so ago we were shopping the produce section and browsing the exotic fruit row. You know, things like Granny Smith apples, plums, pomegranates and special varieties of pears. I truly enjoy how exotic is one of those words that means completely different things in different areas of the world.

I practically yelled across the store to my husband when I found one of these.

Lemons!!!!

Okay, there are two things regarding this that I need to mention. The first is that I’m not a crazy person. When I say I can’t find something around here it isn’t after simply walking in the store looking and then reporting that it doesn’t exist. No, it is a bit of a two step process.

To begin I check a couple of stores and if I don’t find it, I ask someone which often turns out to be one of my husband coworkers. When they act as if they have never heard of an item before, that is when I make the judgment call that they probably don’t have it here. This was the case with lemons. Many people had never seen or heard of them and those that did told us they don’t have them here.

The second thing I need to mention is that I was tipped off about lemons existing in Brazil a couple months ago. Miranda, who had the same reaction to a lack of lemons in Brazil as I did, went to São Paulo recently. She was happy to email me upon her return to tell me she had found limão siciliano (the name in Portuguese) at the market there.

To be honest, I am a bigger fan of limes than lemons, but I did buy one just because I could. One ended up costing R$1 or 50 cents USD which is about what they cost at home.

So yes, I withdraw all previous claims which may have mentioned there were no lemons here. That was not a lie because at that time and according to all my sources, there were not. However, things are a changing around here it seems.

Big Travel News!

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:46:00 +0000

It is hard to believe that we made this decision to move to Brazil over two years ago. Since that time we have always had the idea of more travel on our minds. First we thought we’d do a lot of traveling in Brazil and South America. That was pretty much nipped in the bud once we got here and saw flight prices.

Man, Brazil desperately needs a discount airline. When you think about all the good places to go around here, you would think there would be one. Jet Blue (Azul) is helping, but not quite there yet. I thought that the US was bad after seeing prices in Europe, but South America takes the cake. I mean, come on, Ryan Air has its faults, but you can’t beat flying for 20 euro even with a bag charge.

Sure, I know everyone raves about bus travel in Brazil, but I’m going to be honest with you, for me, choosing to take a bus is like self-induced torture. I love trains, but I can’t stand buses.

So our travel throughout the two years quickly turned into the idea of an extended SA trip at the end of our time here, and once again that has changed too. We are still trying to find a stellar deal to some select countries (Chile & Argentina) during one of the random airline sales, but it isn’t looking hopeful.

So once again we set our sights on a different location. Europe is always in the running and we thought I’d go to Ireland with my husband again while he worked and then head off to Italy, but that wasn’t feeling right either.

Picky, picky, picky.

Hmm…so what does that leave us? Where could we travel that is affordable, incredibly interesting and offers some of the most amazing food on the planet?

Southeast Asia, anyone?

That’s right, the trip is planned (at least most of it) and I can hardly contain my excitement! The month of October, after we leave Brazil, but before we settle back into the States, we are going to be soaking up all the Southeast Asian culture we can.

Our itinerary is set and we will be off to: Hong Kong, Bangkok-Thailand, Chiang Mai-Thailand, Krabi-Thailand, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia and Bali-Indonesia!

I plan to take you with me, but likely under a new blog. The Brazil theme isn’t going to fit well as I take on life’s new adventures. I’m still working on that though.

In the meantime, start throwing your ideas at me. If you’ve been to those areas, I’d love to know what you did and your favorite foods. All advice and friendly traveler warnings are welcome!

Being a Traveler is Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:35:00 +0000

I come across many different travel articles and posts and I enjoy reading them all. There have been some especially funny ones lately about being a good traveler, not being a travel snob and about being accepting of other cultures as a traveler.

That last topic always gets me thinking. A traveler and a person who is a traveler and also an ex-pat must share similar characteristics. However, not all things are the same. I think it takes the same basic skills to be both – patience, sense of adventure, openness, and acceptance. However, if there is one thing living abroad has taught me is that being a traveler is much different than being an ex-pat.

Being a traveler is easy.

When you come into a new world as a traveler it is easy to go with the flow; easier to accept all the little things that make cultures different. They are fascinating. Our senses are heightened and everything is new and different.

And more importantly it stays new and different mostly because you are there a short time. The adjustments you have to make are welcomed – eating local foods, keeping the same hours, shopping the same way, respecting cultural gestures and personal bubbles (or lack thereof).

Even if there two or three weeks it isn’t long enough for anything to get old and you haven’t yet had the opportunity to miss anything from home. (Even though as avid travelers we convince ourselves that we would never do that. (Miss things from home. As if! )

I think most of us take on the ex-pat experience because we enjoy travel and being exposed to other cultures in the first place. I know that is why it was intriguing to us.

I had plans for myself, big plans. I would be open and accepting, avoid complaining, become completely fluent in a language in two years, learn how to make every local dish and embrace every single opportunity that came my way.

Then life started to happen and I started realizing - wow, ex-pat life is actually nothing like traveling. I try to hold on to the same attitudes and beliefs, but the truth is it has challenged me in ways traveling never has and likely never will.

When you live in a foreign country the right way (and by that, yes, I mean legally), you are experiencing real life as a grown up. Not that grow- ups don’t travel, I just mean the responsibilities start popping up.

This whole issue of being accepting and understanding of another culture isn’t something you adjust to for a couple weeks, it is something you face day in and day out with no break. You must adjust, no exceptions, and you must do it quickly. Quite frankly there are days where these criteria make it bit less fascinating and more along the lines of stressful.

Your cultural clashes are more than just disorder when boarding an airplane, but they arise in how you communicate, what time you eat dinner and what resources you now have available to you. Your interaction moves beyond a curious local and the hotel receptionist or hostel manager and on to setting up internet service, having the bathroom light fixture repaired, paying the rent in person every month and forking over a crazy amount of taxes to your new government.

You meet new (great) friends and keep in touch with old ones, but your experiences are much less new to those around you. When you return back to your home country for a visit less questions come your way about what you saw and what you do. It’s not like you just returned from a trip and have exciting stories to share, you are just visiting from your home-for-now. (This one may actually be a good one as I’m not one for all the questions!)

I think I’ve managed okay with keeping a travelers attitude…externally. Internally? Probably not so much. As in, when I’m sitting in the apartment and cars honk instead of stopping at the stop sign on the corner, or the guys with big boom boxes on their mopeds come blaring down the streets shouting an ad for a pharmacy. Let’s be honest, curse words have been known to fly even if I’m the only one who hears them.

It’s clear to me that traveling and living there are not at all the same. I think it is easy to be judgmental as a traveler thinking that some people aren’t getting a true piece of culture. You know, those tourists (how we shutter at the word). Then you become an ex-pat and might think, as I often have - wow, this whole embracing another culture is not as easy as I thought. Maybe I have more tourist in me than I would once admit. Surely not.

As a traveler I feel fortunate to have experienced the other side, the ex-pat side. As an ex-pat I am also excited to be turning back into a traveler soon. It will be nice for everything to be new again.

Here’s the links to some of the articles I was speaking of the in the first paragraph in case you are interested.

6 Ways To Not Be a Holier-Than-Thou Traveler
10 Things every traveler should do
How culture shock broadens your cultural perspective

I Had a Feeling…

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:38:00 +0000

Over this past weekend we finally tried out the newest place in town – Flor Café. It had been described to me as being “chic” and unlike anything else in Maringá. The outside certainly had us intrigued. It is in a two story building on a corner with large windows around the front and side.

True to its name, Flor Café does have flowers. In fact, it is like a coffee shop slash home décor shop. Half of it has couches that I can only assume are for sitting, but they look a bit more like an upscale furniture store display. Surrounding this area is all kind of home décor gift items for sale as well as candy and flowers.

Although the service counter is filled with the typical pastel, empanada, fried snack selection that every single café I’ve ever been to in Brazil has, the rest of the menu is kind of nice. Lots of desserts and specialty coffees/hot chocolates. And get this! The sandwiches actually come with chips or a small salad!

This issue has been an ongoing point of discussion among my husband and I and we were surprised when the lack of a “side” was also mentioned by a visitor not long ago. When you order a sandwich here you just get the sandwich. Not that I enjoy eating lots of chips, but sometimes you just crave a little something else. We are so used to the whole ½ and ½ soup, salad, sandwich combos in the US it feels like something is missing when you just get a sandwich. Anyway, apparently you can get that something at Flor Café.

We did have dinner while there. We shared the mushroom bruschetta. My husband had the croque monsieur on which they went a bit crazy with the cheese. Is there even a sandwich under there?

Oh, that little swirl of orange with black specs in it, that’s maracujá. It tasted like they cooked it down into a reduction and crushed the seeds. That stuff is so amazing. I wished they had drizzled the whole plate!

I had the individual escondidinho de carne seca which is one of my favorite Brazilian dishes. It has been described as a Brazilian Shepherd’s pie with the top made of mandioca (yucca, manioc) instead of potato. This one came out wrapped like a gift. I have no idea why. Too keep warm? To make it fancy? I’m not quite sure.

So this is where it started.

I had a feeling with this being such a chic, modern establishment in the city that there would likely be English somewhere. The place does have a bit of international flair. When it came time for dessert, I got up to look at the cakes and pies at the counter. A waiter asked me (in Portuguese) if I had questions. I asked him about one of the cakes and he proceeded to describe each one to me.

He was about halfway through and he said, “Where are you from?”

And there it was.

Turns out he lived in Tampa for five years. Later he started a conversation with my husband, and, of course, apologized that his English wasn’t very good. Yeah right. I didn’t even noticed an accent and his use of the word “cool” gave away that he had been in the U.S. a while.

Always a small world around here. It's nice that we are continually meeting new, friendly people.
So as for Flor Café, a cool place for sure. I probably wouldn’t go back for dinner because it wasn’t exceptionally exciting and a bit overpriced, however, if I’m in the mood for a fancy coffee or hot chocolate I’ll be swinging back by.

I guess I should clarify that the dinner wasn’t overly exciting except for one item offered. I got a picture off the menu.

This is brie cheese baked in a pastry and served with honeycomb. How tasty is that? However, at R$52 on a menu of things costing R$20 or less it is quite a splurge.

The Last of the Food Fests

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:58:00 +0000

A week or so before I left to head back to the US for my visit in May the city held another World Food Feira. I’ve been so fortunate to have experienced these events multiple times, but I fear this may have been my last one. I think there might be another one coming up soon, but I’m not sure I’ll be here to enjoy it.

This one was exciting because…ta-da! My favorite sweets lady got a sign for her booth!

She also had some new treats to share which were 50 centavos more expensive per item, by the way. I have a feeling it might have been to cover the cost of the new sign. Luckily, her sweets are worth every penny. In fact, I feel kind of sorry for all the other doces booths there. They don’t get much business when she is around.

First, was the usually cocada in the cup. I like this so much more than the variety that is laid out to dry and get crunchy. This type you eat with a spoon and my absolute favorite is the one with maracujá (passion fruit). Oh, and I’ve discovered the secret to getting it just the way I like it. Buy it the very first day.

I love it when it is really tart along with the sugary sweet syrup it is mixed in. However, as it sits for the two weeks that the feira takes place, the sugar seems to take over and it loses all of the tartness associated with the fruit. My husband suggested I go ahead and get it the first night there and I was pleased for sure.

Her new item this time was doce de abóbora – pumpkin candy. This certainly isn’t a new thing, but I have never seen her offer it before. Now this is some interesting stuff. My husband loves it. I love pumpkin everything, but I just can’t seem to develop a fond taste for this sweet. It is sugary like the others, but carries this raw squash flavor with it that is difficult to explain. I can enjoy it in small bites, but I only want a little. I guess roasted pumpkin is more my thing.

Now, shifting gears to the Portuguese tent. The last time I went to this particular fest a good friend of mine taught me all about the Portuguese desserts. A lady, who has some mad skill at pushing marketing her product sells traditional Portuguese desserts. The pastries travel in from Sao Paulo state and you can only get them at this fest each year. They are first come, first serve and once she runs out, that’s it.

Knowing this bit of important info we headed to the booth on one of our first nights at the fest. Having never been to Portugal and using only these desserts as my judge (not a good move, I know), I would say the popular desserts there are based in egg-heavy custards and nuts. Very different from my neck of the woods, yet good at the same time.

Unfortunately I have no idea what the names of these items are. When I said the woman selling them was good at marketing I really meant she talked incredibly fast. Even my husband had a hard time catching every word. So basically we chose by looks and a few random words such as nozes (nuts) and specific fruits.

The first one consisted of a dry paper-like pastry holding a sweetened, egg custard. It was thick and rich. The pastry probably doesn’t sound too appetizing with my description, but it went well with the custard.

Next, this one was chosen based on that huge walnut on top. We have walnuts here, but they are very expensive so I jump at the chance to get them when they are included in other things I’m buying. It was similar to a nut pie or tart. A pie-like crust filled with a sweetened nut paste.

Oh yeah, we did have some actual food and not simply sweets while we were there, but nothing out of the ordinary that I haven’t posted about before.

So maybe I’ll be surprised if another feira pops up before I leave. But otherwise I send a sweet farewell to one of the best things about the city of Maringá.

Big News at the Bakery

noreply@blogger.com (Lori - Blondie in Brazil) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:08:00 +0000

I walked into the bakery late last week planning to pick up the same ol' bread for toast and sandwiches. Although I find the integral (wheat) bread rather boring I buy it often. I enjoy the white breads here, but also crave something a bit heartier and integral has been the only option.

I walked up to the shelf where they keep the fresh baked, wrapped sandwich breads and did a double take when I saw this:

Multigraos!

The bakery is making multigrain bread now! It is full of wheat, soy, oats, sesame, flax, corn and rice along with some other grains I haven't translated yet. And it's made without sugar.

Yes, this may seem like a small thing, but it is a huge step for Maringá. I've often walked around Curitiba and seen lots of whole grain breads sitting in bakery windows and wondered why this was so difficult to find around here. You could find a packaged version at the supermarket which also contains about 30 preservatives and the simple wheat varieties were available, but nothing hearty and grainy and full of fiber.

Who knew that such exciting changes were happening in my little part of Brazil!