Hey guys – just a quick postinho today, but lots more on the way! I thought you might like to see this panorama of the Lagoa. Rio has been so wet and dark and moody lately – hopefully this will give you an idea of what I mean.
There you go – a nice big panorama of the Lago…
What’s that you say? You can hardly see anything? OK, see if this crazy panorama-scroll gadget I found works for you…
My introduction to Mexican food in South America was disappointing. I had been in Argentina for 3 weeks and was starting to feel that I should eat something other than those bife de chorizo wonder-steaks for which the Argentines are rightly famous. There was a nice looking Mexican restaurant nearby so we decided to go along and get some spice in our lives.
The waiter approached with a fearful look in his eye, nervously holding a plate of nachos as if they might explode at any moment. His eyes widened further as he warned us that the sauces were muy picante. We approached the sauces with caution – I put tiny morsel on the point of a nacho and touched it to my tongue and waited. …and waited. Nothing!
To cut a long story short, the entire meal was utterly bland. I went on to find out that the people of many (though not all) South American countries are not particularly enamoured with the spicy heat and strong flavours associated with Mexican cuisine.
The next time I had Mexican food I was in Mexico and it was a revelation!
Crossing the border into Mexico in 2010. Exciting times lay ahead.
I was blown away by the mind-blowing flavours – salt, spice and sour in almost every bite!
Real Mexican food – full of punchy flavours that brighten your day. Nothing like the bland imitations I had tasted in England and Argentina.
I hinted recently that I had some big news to reveal. Well the time has come, here it is. There’s a new activity to add to your list of things to do in Rio: Eat Rio Food Tours!
Tell your friends!
The idea was hatched in a bar (naturally) many months ago. I was chatting with Diana, my US/Colombian friend who moved to Rio earlier this year. Diana is as food-obsessed as me, but she actually knows what she’s talking about! She has a degree in Restaurant Business and a Masters in Gastronomy (pretty fancy right?).
So there we were, discussing all our favourite Brazilian dishes and ingredients and lamenting the fact that so many visitors come to Rio but miss out on the best stuff. Well, we chatted away, drank some beers, ate some bolinhos and by the end of the night our plan was decided: we would take people out of the comfort zone of Ipanema, away from the mediocrity of Devassa and show them the best food in Rio!
“Shampoo” is a funny old word isn’t it? Apparently it originates from the Hindustani word ‘chāmpo‘ meaning “to press or knead the muscles”. The Portuguese word sounds pretty much the same as its English counterpart, but the spelling is quite different: Xampu (the letter ‘X’ is a bit of a tricky one in Portuguese, having 4 different sounds depending on its context).
Now normally I don’t give shampoo a lot of thought – I wash my hair in the morning and then move on with my life. But this changed recently when a friend told me something interesting. She said that since she moved to Rio, her hair had been really misbehaving, getting wispy and unmanageable. She went on to say that a carioca friend had told her that the secret was to use Xampu sem sal (shampoo without salt).
My first reaction was “They put salt in shampoo?!”. One would have to assume that they do.
Coincidentally, just a few days later Mrs Eat Rio went shopping and returned with a bottle of something called Phytoervas:
It might not have salt, but this shampoo does have omega-3, omega-6 and quinoa – delicious!
In one of those weird twists of fate, I discovered during my very next shower that my own bottle of shampoo had run out and so I was forced to give this xampu sem sal a try. Readers – my life has been transformed!
If you happen to stroll through a street market in Rio around now you will almost certainly see lots of these:
Jabuticaba (zha-bootchy-CAH-ba).
As fruits go, this one is pretty remarkable. First of all there is the tree. You may have seen these images before, but I think a fruit tree this unusual is worth a second look:
A heavily laden jabuticabeira. As you can see, the fruit grows directly out of the trunk and branches.