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A Nasty Food Surprise

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Yesterday I told you about the Sanduichão (better known as Torta Salgada Fria), an enormous, savoury, sandwich cake, often decorated with large amounts of mayonnaise and tomatoes that have been cut into pretty rose shapes. Looking at the comments I think it’s fair to say that the non-Brazilians who have tried it (been subjected to it?) did not like it. Too much mayonnaise was a common complaint. But of all the comments, the one that made me laugh the hardest (in a mean way) was Brasilicana’s:

I am permanently prejudiced against the Sanduichão because my first experience with one was traumatic. It was covered in mayo (without all the veggies on top) and it was dark at the party. I cut a big slice for myself, thinking it was cake, and imagine my surprise when I tasted corn, chicken, and lettuce. BLARGH!

 

Ahhhh, I know it’s not nice to laugh, but I can’t help it – I’m a bad person I guess. As well as making me laugh, Brasilicana’s story brought to mind all kinds of food-surprise memories.

It does look like cake doesn’t it? With the lighting low, I’m sure we’d all make the same mistake… (Thanks to Rebecca for the link).

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British Christmas Food in Brazil (part 2)

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Yesterday I did my best to convince you all that I’m some kind of super-chef (it’s great having your own blog, you can tell stories that make you sound great). Today I’m going to continue in the same vein by telling you the story of this year’s Christmas day cooking adventure.

Pavlova – a delicious dessert that I didn’t make this year.

 

After the stress and hassle of last year’s Beef Wellington, I made a point of opting out of the main dish and instead offered to make sobremesa (dessert). I decided to do a pavlova – none of my Brazilian family had heard of this delicious dessert made up of layers of meringue, cream and summer fruits, so it seemed like a great option for wowing them once again. Problem was we ended up being dangerously short of time. And it was stiflingly hot. And we had to make the dessert at our place in Santa Teresa and then transport it across town to my mother-in-law’s house in Gávea. I had visions of arriving across town and unveiling some broken, melted mess.

So we switched to Plan B.

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My Favourite Brazilian Christmas Treat

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OK, don’t all laugh at me, but I heard a rumour going round that Christmas is fast approaching. I haven’t worked it out exactly, but my guess is that there aren’t many shopping days left until the big day itself. This information does not compute. I have spent every day this past week thanking whoever it was that invented air conditioning (and also thanking my father-in-law for donating an air conditioner a few weeks back).

Seriously, I put up a hammock yesterday. Hammocks and Christmas are not, in my book, words that go together.

Ah, my lovely hammock from lovely Colombia. This trusty fellow looked after me on an interminable boat ride down the Amazon and it's great to see him again. However, does this scene strike you as Christmasy? I guess the hammock does have a bit of a Santa colour scheme going on...

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Corny Stop Motion

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As I wandered home last night I passed a guy standing at a little metal cart selling sweetcorn (milho). This must be one of my favourite street foods – there’s just something pleasing about selling this as a quick snack. 

 

I know he doesn’t look it, but this guy was actually very friendly. It’s just when I took the photo (I did ask!) he put on his stern face.

Whereas most snacks are high in fat or sugar (or both!), here is a yummy snack that is relatively good for you. The sellers use the outer leaves of the corn as the wrapping, so there’s no need for plastic bags and all the usual packaging – once you’re finished you are only throwing away a biodegradable husk and some leaves! I wish it was more popular everywhere. 


However, last night I didn’t buy sweetcorn. I bought pamonha (sounds like pam-ON-ya). 

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A handful of magic beans

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Ah! We had gorgeous weather today – finally some weekend sunshine. I got up early and decided today I would do things. A half-built trellis has been taunting me for weeks and so today I thought I would finally put it in its place (up on a wall). I set to work and everything was going fine until I realised that I needed a thicker drill bit. This trellis has been an ongoing saga for so long now that it seemed only natural that there would be another hurdle. I wandered off into Catete (an nearby neighbourhood) on a long-shot mission to find a shop selling drill bits open on a Sunday.


I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to hear that after an hour and a half of wandering I found my drill bit in one of those shops that sells a bit of everything. I was delighted and probably overreacted a little – no one should be that excited about finding an 8mm masonry drill bit…


On my triumphant way home I stopped in on the Glória street market and picked up a few things. One item I really didn’t need but couldn’t resist was this:

 

Cacau – where chocolate comes from.


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