What the Heck Did I Just Eat?

We went to the Municipal Market this week. What is that? It is a central market in the middle of the city where you get lost on the way there but you go and get fruit, veggies, meat, cheese, whatever. The restaurants of the city go there to buy their stuff too. We have been to one similar in Barcelona last year. Since I did not get a picture of the Brazilian market except for a few things, I included a picture from Barcelona so you can understand what we saw.

It basically looked like this. Just dirtier, and in a different language, different continent, different hemisphere. You get the picture. Anyway, we did get a picture of some of the meat that they sell. Now don't let Winnie The Pooh see this. He will get upset.

Hmm...do I want a little one or a big one? Don't answer that. We also saw cow and pig hooves, ears, and intestines. You name it, we saw it.

There were also exotic fruits and such. We got to try those as well as different cheeses. Some weren't so good, some were extremely delicious.

Here is one you may know.

This is a Banana. Yes, you all know a banana, but you may not have tried a really fresh, tasty Latin banana. They do not compare. The ones in the States have no flavor compared to these. You need to buy organic to get close to how delicious there are.

Some you may not know...

These are oranges. Yes you know oranges too. And yes the way they packaged them makes them look very interesting. Don't squeeze the fruit! They are the size of a grapefruit and extremely tender, sweet and juicy. Yes, my description fits the packaging as well.

These are pears. Right about now you are probably saying, "Come on Jennifer, I know what a pear is." Yes, you do, but these are champagne pears. They are juicy and sweet and taste like they have been soaked in champagne, but without the buzz. Packaging here doesn't help either. Like the mesh panty? It protects the fruit from bruising.

Now you will not know the last two, I promise.

This is a Rambutan. A what? A Rambutan. It is the Asian cousin to the Lychee. It tastes like a peeled grape. The spikey things are soft. you cut it through the skin but not in half. Then you take the pulp out and eat around the seed.

"AAAHHHH, No don't eat me! See me trying to run away? That is why the picture is blurry. I am running so fast!"

"He's dead, Jim. But his brain is delicious!"

Last fruit is the Mangosteen. Never heard of it. Ah, but is good, no? Yes. It is very good.

Here it is. Great picture. Thank you, I know. It's tough skin is a deep purple color. And again you cut the fruit around, but do not cut it completely in half. You get to eat its brain too. Actually it looks like a pod for alien incubation or something like that. It kind of tastes like a plum.

There is a seed thingy in one of the slices. It's like a King cake so when you find the seed baby you win. What do you win? Choking on a seed that you did not know was in there! Yes, you don't know until you bite down. Surprise! A chipped tooth and the Heimlich Maneuver! Yey, just what I always wanted!

We actually had a fun time at the market. It is the only place that I have found just plain old oatmeal too. Of course I bought some. Not to make oatmeal, but to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, one of my favorites. My kids like them too. And hey, they reduce cholesterol! Maybe. I bought 2 kilos not thinking about weight, but volume. Not a good idea. I have two plastic grocery bag sized containers full of oatmeal. I can probably get about ten recipes per bag. That's a lot of oatmeal! We will be eating cookies through next year!

All in all, we got to taste interesting foods, spend a lot of money on exotic fruit, and got to spend quality time trying to figure out how to get out of Central Sao Paulo without getting lost. A day can't get much better than that!

Saturday Afternoon Television

It is the first day of Carnival and we are not going anywhere. We are staying in Sao Paulo for the holiday and enjoying the quiet. It is rainy though so there is not much to do today. So my husband decided to turn on TV to see what Saturday afternoon TV is like here. Well what to watch when you are in between football and baseball season? We really don't do basketball unless it is college, and we have not seen that on ESPN yet. So my husband turns on Brazilian Women's Beach Volleyball. He has no idea who is playing, but he does not seem to care. It is a very enjoyable sport to watch he says.

He was hooked as soon as the station came on. Why? Well, uumm, I think the title says it all - Brazilian Women's Beach Volleyball. (Well the official title of the tournament is "Queen of the Beach", but you could be talking about a drag queen swimsuit competition for all the information that title gives you.) They are not wearing Brazilian bikini's but the "required uniform." These women are tall, built, are sandy and playing volleyball, oh and their cracks are showing. I think that pretty much says it all don't you? He even got my boys hooked into watching it.