A Little Protein in Your Salad Never Hurts

The other day I was going to lunch with some girlfriends. I am going to call them O and E. O is from out of town, hence the O, and will be moving here this July sometime. Can't wait! And E is an Ex-pat like me, hence the E. So I tell the girls what restaurant we will be meeting at. So I arrive at just before noon, and the restaurant is closed. Which did not worry me, because most do not open till noon. That is until I saw the hole in the wall on the side. No this was a permanent closing. S**T! O does not have a phone that I can call! E's phone is going right to voice mail. What should I do?

Then I saw a taxi at the next corner pointing my way. Okay O was here. Great. So I try to pull away from the spot I am parked in, but there are workers behind me. I have to wait for them to cross the street. By that time the taxi is pulling away. NNNOOO! So I pull away and chase after the taxi. Now, no one really honks their car horn in Sao Paulo. So when I am laying on the horn I would expect the taxi driver to wonder what that noise is. Nope. I am banging on the horn and trying to make him pull over when he FINALLY notices me and pulls off the road. Now I am pretty sure this was my friend, but not 100%. Luckily it was her. She pays the cabbie and gets in my car. Now what? Well E is still not answering her phone so I assumed that she could not cut the meeting she had and was not coming to lunch. Where should we go?

Well I started driving and chatting. I was actually paying attention to the road too, which is unusual for me. I called my husband, yes I was on the phone too. Hey I am a multi-tasker! He gave a reco on where to go. Okay! So I am blocks from the new place, and E calls. "Hey where are you? The restaurant is closed!" Umm, about that. Well come to find out that she kept on pocketing dialing people so she had to shut off her phone. Oops! So we head back to the same street we just came from because E said the restaurant down the street from the closed one was good. So we head back. In lunch hour traffic. It took some time.

The restaurant is named Olea Mozzarella Bar. Yum, sounds Italian. Well not really, but they did have bruschetta! And it was the best I have tasted so far. It is a buffet style restaurant. So what you do is go to the salad bar and then get appetizers, and then go back for lunch. As many times as you want. They had chicken, fillet mignon, snapper. So let's start with a salad. I get field greens, arugula, oh and you point what you want and they make it for you. Nice, don't have to do a thing. Okay, I get my salad with balsamic vinaigrette. And we sit down and talk. And talk, and talk. I am almost done. I have a few leaves still on my plate. I look down. What is floating in my vinaigrette? A grayish looking garden grub. Not a big one, maybe only a half inch long. YUMMO! I hope the vinegar killed it.

So I call over the proprietress. Her explanation: "Oh I am so sorry! You know we are very organic here. No pesticides. It makes the food healthier."

Um okay. But now I am wondering how many grubs I ate. O and E are laughing once the lady leaves. Cracking jokes about how organic my meal is. Did we stay? Yes, they had fillet mignon on the main table! I needed more protein people! Or just to wash the thought of the grub out of my taste buds.

In the end it was a fun lunch with friends, despite the grub. Of course they did not comp anything. Why should they, it was organic! Bonus!

Can't wait for O to arrive so we can do lunch again. And in the meantime, E and I will just have to find more bug salads to eat!

New Shocks and a Bruised Rib

March for us was a month of travelling. We hit the beach several times. One such beach was Praia Juquehy, pronounced joo-kay-ee, or close enough to it. This beach was beautiful. You know, every time we hit a different one, we say, this is the most beautiful beach I have seen outside of Rio. Of course, until we hit the next one. Juquehy is about a 2.5 hour drive outside of Sao Paulo. It is really not that far actually. But to get there you have to go over 38 speed bumps, one way. Really they are speed reducing mountains due to the size of some of these things.

We picked the boys up from school on a Friday and headed out. It is really a nice drive over bridges in the mountains. Scary at times, but really nice, see?

I wish I could take a picture of the road with all of the speed bumps. It is about 40 miles long, so that works out to be about 1 bump per mile. However, I could not because, well the bumps. But we finally got to the beach. We hit the turn off but it did not look right. It was a dirt road with construction all around and it looked like we were heading into the jungle. So we took the long way around. Not the best idea either.

See they built this little city by the sea. But they did not build infrastructure around it. The bridge to go over the run out path has no boards in the middle of it. If you jerk the wheel? You are in the ravine.

I thought I took a picture, but this is a different bridge that we took to leave. But you can see where there are no boards. Also, the road that they built for this little town was very interesting. They did not grade it, they did not put draining in so that the rain would be taken away. So the road was EXTREMELY bumpy. I think I have a picture of that.

Okay, so I did not take a good picture again. It is not my strong suit. However, can you see the car in the corner? That is not due to camera angle. It is due to street angle. By the time we got to our hotel my youngest was trying hard not to pee his pants, which was difficult considering the jarring, and I bruised my rib on the door handle.

But get there we did. And, oh my, what tranquility. We relaxed for two days. It was so nice. The first night we lost power due to a tremendous storm, but we did not mind. The weekend was wonderful. We ate very delicious food. We played cards. We took walks on the beach, and we rested by the pool. We needed the break and felt rested coming home. Here are some pictures of the paradise we found. The first is the best of the weekend, taken by my nine year old. Actually, I think he took all of these. A photographer in the making?

The Brazilian Ambulance Chasers

I have dance class on Fridays. I get to learn Samba, which is really really hard, Salsa, Bechata, Forro, and all other kinds of things. It is a really fun class, and very sweaty. Well this past Friday my husband was working from home so he let me take the car. Not one of his better decisions, but we will not tell him that. I don't have to go very far, maybe 15 kilometers, about 9 miles. But it took me forever.

I left my house at 9 am. By 9:30 I was on the south going lane of the highway, and I could see my house. I was literally right across the street. The traffic was miserable! I turned on the radio to give me something to listen to. Ah and what came on? The traffic report. Now Sao Paulo does something interesting with the traffic report. They list the amount of congestion in kilometers around the city. On Friday the traffic congestion was 100 kilometers. Yes! 60 miles of traffic in the city! Holy cow I was never getting to dance class! Well I could not pull off, turn around, get to an exit. I was stuck right in the middle of 60 miles of bumper to bumper. Well, I guess I will wait.

As I was sitting there, inching along, a police SUV comes blaring down the highway. This was the Policia Militar, the black cars that you do not mess with. I mean, last week one went past us on the highway with its windows rolled down and the cop in the passenger seat had his pistol in his hand on the open window panel. Yeah, you don't mess with these guys. But right behind him, a little Ford Fiesta was taking advantage of the hole the cop car made, following right along behind. And behind the Fiesta was a few motorcycles. Brave boys. But what impressed me most was that the Fiesta was keeping up. Then about 5 minutes later an ambulance comes screaming along. Makes another hole in between two lanes, since there is no place to pull over for the emergency vehicles, and continues on. But right behind the ambulance? At least 50 motorcycles.

Gives me a new meaning to the term Ambulance Chaser.

PS: I actually did make it to class on time. After 3 kilometers down the road, everything opened up. Took me a half hour to go 2 KM, and a half hour to go the other 13.

I Am So Not A Little Bit Country

Sorry Marie Osmond, I am so not a little bit country. I am with Donny all the way, I am rock-n-roll.

Actually, I can listen to pretty much any type of music, except country. Let's see. What is on my iPod? Well I won't go over every artist, but there is anything from Beethoven to Pitbull. Heck I even have Carmina Burana on there. If you are wondering what that is, it is the scary music from the movie "The Omen." There is latin, jazz, dance, rap, classical, pop, hard rock, calypso. You name it. I listen to it. Except country.

Well, I take that back. I do have a few exceptions. I am a woman; I am allowed. I mean you should see my food list exceptions, but that will be for another day. And yes, I have a cowboy hat that I bought at Target. And yes, I own cowboy boots. But that is TOTALLY different. Yes it is. For music, I do have an affection for Carrie Underwood, Randy Travis (though he is not on my iPod), and Kenny Rogers. Though I do not know if you can call him fully country. Oh and I do like that Joe Nichols song "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off." Well of course I would, he mentions Bon Jovi in it, duh. You are probably wondering why Randy Travis. Well he was actually the first country singer I can remember that I listened to and liked besides the Oakridge Boys. And really they are only one song. Hi-O Silver Away! Anyway, we were going, somewhere, can't remember, but on the radio came his song "I am going to love you forever." I think that is the name of it. But it is a beautiful song and he has a great voice. And you can understand Carrie. I mean, she is so darned cute you just want to chop her head off and put yours on her body - while keeping her singing voice of course.

The reason I do not listen to country music is because most of it is about losing your woman, your dog running away, your horse dying, or your trailer blowing up. Well not really, but it is like scratching a chalkboard to me. And the songs pretty much sound the same after a while. And seriously, Brad Paisley needs to get rid of that hat. It makes his head look too small.

However, living in Brazil, I have learned to love country music. Brazilian country music that is. It is called forró. (Double r is pronounced as an "H".) Okay, yes, this starts sounding the same after a while too. But man, it is fun music. When you hear it, you just smile. It is always very happy, not one thing dying in any song at any time. Instead of the banjo like in the US, they use the accordion. It kind of sounds polka-ish. Now that I think about it, you can polka to this music. But all the words are happy. I think that is why I like it. So while I will not have K102/B105 programmed in any car I will ever own (yes I had to google to find those stations), the Forró station is the first we turn on in our car and consistently listen to here.

(Hey figured out how to put in a link to a song, hope it works! Forro song popular in Brazil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcm55lU9knw ). Check this song out. It is so much fun to listen to. My boys even know the words. And there is a line dance to it too!

Every Morning I Hit A Wall

It is summer here in Brazil. It finally arrived with a vengeance. Unlike the gradual build up of heat in 2011, the summer of 2012 started cold and rainy. It took a while to get warm, but when it did, yowza! It is similar to Florida weather, but my glasses do not fog up here when I go in and out of places. I think the reason for this is that air conditioning is a rarity here.

I know what you are thinking. "What did you just say? A Rarity? In a tropical country?" Why yes I did. Yes the malls and restaurants have A/C, but it is not on the frigid setting that us Americans are used to. It is usually on the just-this-side-of-comfortable. I am extremely lucky, though. First, because I have an awesome husband. Second, because his number one must have in an apartment when he was looking for one was A/C. Now this is not central A/C either. This is wall unit A/C for each of the bedrooms and the main living spaces. (The kitchen, maid room, and laundry do not have this luxury because it is even rarer for the lady of the house to go to these places.) We have many friends here that do not have A/C in their apartments. Unfortunately, they have to leave their windows open at night. It is nice if there is a breeze. It is not nice if the smell from the river is overpowering, or if there are an abundance of mosquitoes.

Oh wait, this is Brazil, and we live next to a river. No mosquitoes? Not possible. I actually just walked through a nest of them trying to get into our building's front door. It reminded me of the Merven's (I think that was the store) commercial where the lady is standing in front of a closed store with here hands and nose pressed to the glass chanting "open, open, open." Here is a factoid for you: only females suck blood to help her eggs grow, the males live on sugar from flower nectar. And the males are the ones buzzing to attract females. But then I wondered, why are they buzzing in my ear? I am not a mate for them. Then I thought about it. I really think that when we hear mosquito males buzzing they are really saying "Run away! Here she comes! Save yourselves while you can!"

So if you have no A/C, you need to have your windows open. But then you get bit like you are the blood donor of the year. I still get bit, and my windows are closed. My husband does not. He says it is because his Latin blood is too powerful for the female mosquito. She will die instantly with that much power going into her body. (No lie, he says this.) I think the bugs were hiding in the closet while I sprayed the house the other night. And how are they getting in by the way? Through the drains or power outlets in the house?

But it is so nice to have the A/C unit on at night. I feel bad for those that do not have it. We are nice and comfy in our beds and the room is at 65 degrees, well most of the time. In the middle of the night the unit gets a little tired and blows warm air, but it starts up again after a while. Most mornings I do not want to get out of bed. Not because I have a love affair with A/C. I actually do not like A/C in the States. When we lived up North I much rather have the windows open in the Fall and have the house at 50 than have the A/C on in the summer. My husband thinks I am crazy, but I come from a long line of crazies so he should have known that going into our marriage. No, I want to stay snuggled in bed because I know once I open our bedroom door I will walk into a wall of warm air so oppressive it is like a 10 pound weight pressing on your chest. So I let my husband get out first. I like to think of it as he being altruistic; saving me the pain. I mean come on, he is Latin. He is strong enough to endure so his little bitty, meek and mild wife does not get the air sucked out of her body. But it doesn't work, the wall is still there when I follow him a few minutes later.

Help...gasp...can't...gasp...breathe....

Beef...It's Not What's For Dinner

I am a carnivore. Most of my family is, well actually all if I am making hamburger. Just thinking about a nice juicy steak makes my mouth water. Soaking up all that bloody juice with a dinner roll; still hearing it moo when you cut the tender juicy pieces with a knife. Yum. Now I am hungry. And then you have Sam Elliott's sexy voice telling you "It's what's for dinner." Sure thing Sam I am. I will eat steak on a break. I will eat steak with a rake!

When we arrived in Brazil in August 2010 a filet mignon cost $14 Reais per kilo. If you go with the conversion rate of .6 and a kilo is 2.2 pounds, that means a pound of filet mignon was US$3.80 a pound. (Here is the calculation because I know you are saying that is not right :14x.6=8.4, 8.4/2.2=3.80) I know what you are saying. Okay it is filet every night! And we did eat it a majority of the time. I have some new and delicious recipes for good red meat. Anyway, how can you beat that price? Well, Brazil did not beat it. It buried it into the ground so deep we will never see it again.

When we left for Christmas that same year the price was around R$20 per kilo. In June 2011 when we left for the winter break the price was up to R$35 a kilo. And finally with we left at Christmas 2011, the price was at R$65 a kilo. So in a year and a half, the price increased 364%. Now what are you saying? Probably something like "holy pooh Batman!", or something very close to it. I think it would make sense if they were feeding the cows gold leaf or caviar. But the grass they are eating is not the kind for funny brownies. And yes, other cuts have gone up too, but not as drastically. Problem is finding them in the stores because they go so fast. So what's the deal?

Actually, the real question is "Is it worth it?" Now I am only giving price quotes from my local supermarket. I will not go buy it at Wal-Mart (there are usually green meats in the same case as the good stuff, but why risk it.) And the same with other stores in the area. I go where the Brazilians have told me to go. There is one other, but I do not have a car so it is harder to get to. But back to the question, is it worth it. While we were in the States for Christmas and New Year 2011/2012 we went to several restaurants. In the past these places had amazing food. And of course, loving bovine, I had red meat. It did not taste like anything! No flavor, nada, zilch! I have now understood the comment that Argentina and Brazil have some of the best beef in the world. I have no idea what they are feeding these cows, maybe it is caviar and gold leaf. Because eating a Brazilian steak is for me like eating a Betty Crocker Brownie - a savory, tasty, scrumptious treat.

It is worth it? Yes. Can I afford it? No. So in the meantime, I scour the cases waiting for it to go on sale, which is rare. But I like rare meat, especially with a nice peppery crust seasoning.

The art of closing a letter

Mailing a letter is going by way of the dodo. If you are like me, you email just about everything. Sometimes, if it is not too urgent I will even email instead of calling on the phone. Especially if I have other things going on. Now emails are pretty impersonal. There is no "Dear so-and-so" for an opener or "sincerely" or "With Love" to close the note. You just write the person's name and close with yours. Or you are too lazy to finish your name and just close with your initial. That is how I usually do it. Until you email a Brazilian.

Now the Brazilian culture is very friendly, very open. You are constantly giving kisses and hugs. I like this. It makes you feel like part of a family. Well, Brazilian emails are just as friendly. Sometimes it opens with only my name, but others it is Querida (dear or darling) or Minha Amiga (my friend) in front of my name. But it is the closings that have thrown me. I got one the other day that said "Abs," as the closer. Were they trying to give me a hint? I know I am a little squishy, but really no need to be insulting. I get enough from my children about how they can manipulate my tummy to make it comfortable, but they can't do that to their dad's. Then I figured it out, Abs is an abbreviation for Abrazos - hugs. Okay, that is better. I like that. But then I got another. But this time the closer was "Bjs,". Hmm. Um, what? If you don't get that one, have someone younger explain it to you. Is this another hint? And it came from a woman just so you know. I thinking, what the heck? Then I figured it out. Bjs is short for Beijos - kisses. Okay that is better. But I guess it is pretty much the same thing.