Lawyers in Flip-flops!

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Rio gets pretty hot this time of year. If you pop out for lunch around 12.30 you may find that your favourite restaurant, which is 10 minutes walk away, will suddenly not seem so alluring. Ten minutes walk in 38°C (100F) heat? Maybe you should just grab some rice and beans from the crappy Kilo restaurant next to work.

 

50°C (122°F)? Really? Like most visitors (and locals too, I suspect) I enjoy quoting these signs when telling people how hot it is in Rio. But seriously, I saw one once which said 54 and it was no more than 35. I suspect these are sun-assisted temperatures, rather than in-the-shade temperatures that are more conventionally used.

 

I know what you’re thinking – 38 degrees isn’t that bad – it was as hot as that when I was in [Torremolinos/Death Valley/Timbuktu] last year for my holidays. OK tough guy, but were you wearing a full business suit at the time? Yeah, didn’t think so!

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This is a public service graffiti

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What do you think of this?

"First Graham Bell astonished the world with the telephone, then he spooked the criminals". It isn't very clear, but above this main text there is a telephone number in red with the text "Disque Denúncia" - it's a police number so you can report criminals.

 

I spotted it a little while back near Jardim Botanico and it sent me running for my dictionary. Assombrou is the third-person past-tense of Assombrar – which can mean haunt, amaze, astonish, stupefy, petrify and a bunch of other translations. When I asked a colleague they suggested that in this context you might use ‘freak out’, i.e. he astonished the world and then freaked out the criminals.

Anyway, however you translate it, it’s an unusual piece of graffiti isn’t it? So often graffiti seems to be anti-establishment and here is something encouraging people to inform on criminals!

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The Best Hotdog in Rio

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A couple of days ago I told you about my favourite Brazilian food book, Gastronomia de Rua – a guide to 19 of Rio’s best loved street food vendors. I have only visited one or two of the people featured in the book and I would love to cross a few more off. Sometimes the problem is that they sell their wares in some far-flung neighbourhood (compared to my neck of the woods), in other cases the problem is that you have to get up early to catch them. But neither of these things apply to Oliveira, the man who sells what is commonly held to be The Best Hotdog in Rio.

That's quite hotdog! Here in Brazil the word for hot dog is Cachorro Quente - literally 'hot dog'.

 

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The Yakuza drinks White Horse

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I had to do a bit of “work” this Saturday. I’m using the quotation marks there to indicate that it was only nominally work, because in fact I went to a bar to drink cachaça. However, it was work because I was on an assignment which hopefully I can reveal in a week or two (mysterious right?). Anyway, I was carrying out my assignment in a bar I’m particularly fond of in the neighbourhood of Catete, not far from where I live. As far as I can tell, the bar is officially named Britan Bar, but the owner is called Zé and so the name that most people use is Bar do Zé. 

Bar do Zé is old and dusty, it doesn’t have air conditioning, it doesn’t look particularly clean and Zé doesn’t seem particularly friendly. For all these reasons it is my favourite bar in Rio.

Bar do Zé - ramshackle in the best possible way.

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The Carioca Guide to Street Food

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Some time back I picked up what is pretty much my favourite Brazilian food book. It is called Guia Carioca da Gastronomia de Rua (Carioca Guide to Street Food), the work of Sérgio Bloch, Ines Garçoni and Marcos Pinto, and it is brilliant!

Such a great book if you’re into food and aren’t afraid to try something away from the air-conditioned safety of a restaurant.

 

The book lists 19 street food vendors in Rio, covering all the major categories, from fruit salad on the beach to acarajé in Santa Teresa, caipirinhas in Lapa to empadas (little pies) in Guadalupe. For each vendor we take a look at the food they sell, find out a bit about the particular street or square that they frequent and there is an interview in which we learn about how the vendor came to be where they are today and what they like about their job.

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