Mouth Shut Monday

Today I'm feeling the need to practice that age old advice "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".

Our Internet service has been on and off for days at a time. A tech comes out, supposedly repairs it and it goes off again a few hours later. Sometimes it comes back on by itself the next day sometimes it is off for days until a tech can come back out and fix it again.

Yet, no one at Net thinks there might be a larger problem going on here that needs to be repaired. They prefer the band-aid method.

The funniest part is that we paid our bill one day late last month due to my emergency trip back to the States. They charged us R$3 for paying a day late. Well, if we take into consideration how many days in the past two weeks we have not had functioning service I'm pretty sure they owe us money.

Yes, it is nice to have a voluntary break from technology from time to time. However it is also nice to meet work deadlines, make money and communicate with family and friends back home.

So instead of writing about how I really feel regarding this whole issue and risk offending, well, everyone, I leave you with some pictures from around the city. I'll be back with a post soon...if the Internet is still working.

Learning About My Coffee

On our last visit to Curitiba I decided to finally take the plunge and buy some coffee from Lucca Café. I’ve mentioned this coffee shop before. It is my favorite in the city thus far. There is something about the atmosphere that brings about the true café culture similar to what we have in the States, which is sometimes hard to find in Brazil.


They roast the coffee beans right in the coffee shop and the smell is amazing. There is a variety to choose from and they will grind the beans for you while you wait. I decided to go with the Cerrado Single Origin.

I know I’ve talked about great coffee here before, but this part of my experience in Brazil just keeps getting better and better. The Cerrado is now the new favorite for me. I’m not sure if it is the freshness, or the quality of the bean, but my morning cup of joe is now darn near perfect.

When I got my packages of coffee that day in Curitiba I noticed a stamp on the top from the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association along with an invitation to trace my coffee. I’ve just gotten around to doing this and what I have found is so incredibly cool.


Once you make it to the association’s web-site you put in the stamp number provided on the bag. Then the info pops up of exactly where you coffee came from. Mine is from Alto Cafezal which looks to own several different farms.

I was then able to explore their web-site. (An added bonus is that they have it translated to English). I have been able to read about the origin and location of the plantations including some information about the family who started it. There is also information on sustainability efforts. Many details are available for my perusal such as the fact that 30% of the coffee is harvested manually and 70% mechanically.

Such a cool find for someone like me who is a sucker for food history and tracing food sources. The bad news is I’m almost out of my new favorite find!

My Evolution of Eating

Look what we got at the outside the Japanese market this past weekend.

Yep, salmon. I’ve missed salmon so much. It was always my go- to fish around home whether I was cooking it or eating at a restaurant. We’ve been through the “there has to fish around here somewhere” discussion on my blog before, but I had to finally take the plunge and by some and see for myself how things worked out.

You see, when we first visited here we were told by a local acquaintance that we really shouldn’t eat fish around the city. Mainly because it took so long to transport you couldn’t guarantee its freshness. So as good travelers and ex-pats, what do we do? Yes, we listen to the locals as we are all taught. It made since to us as we are at least 6 hours from any water and one of those is a river.

So as time progressed we did notice that there was very little seafood on the menus around here. Occasionally you’ll see salmon, shrimp or calamari, but that is about it. Then we started eating sushi and that led us to realize that there has to be some source of good fish somewhere.

Well, there are two fish markets (that I know of) here. No seafood at the supermarket unless you want something so freezer burnt it is unrecognizable or if you count salted cod (bacalhau), which I don’t, by the way. Yes, I know it is a culturally-rich food for Brazil as well as countries of Europe and even Jamaica, but the only two ways I have enjoyed it is as a bolinho and a tiny bit in ackee and salt fish.

Okay, back to the fish markets. We learned about the first one when a friend invited us over for a meal with shrimp, moqueca. They told us that this certain fish market gets fresh deliveries of shrimp on Tuesday or Thursday. I can’t remember which. Regardless I can’t get there during the week because it is way too far to walk there and carry back fresh fish in the heat.

The second market I noticed outside the Japanese market last week and I decided it was finally time to take the plunge and see if I would live to tell about it.

This whole fish-buying experience got me thinking about my evolution of eating since we moved here almost two years ago.

We started out living in a hotel and for a month my only real meal was dinner when my husband and I would go out. I got so sick of the breakfast that I just stopped going and then lunch was usually a piece of fruit from the supermarket and a bag of chips. Yes, sad to admit this as a nutritionist.

Then we finally got our apartment and I learned of the feira. I tackled this experience head on with no fears. Still today, I copy down the names of things I see, come home and research them to learn what they are and how they are eaten. I didn’t let any language barrier scare me I walked right up and got what I want handing the vendor enough money that I knew would cover it. As time progressed I learned more of the language I was able to ask what things were and give exact change.

Even the supermarket has become a familiar spot. I actually know what aisle to go down for exactly what I need although I have my fingers crossed that it is still there.

Despite all this, there is one area that I still find incredible intimidating – the meat and fish counters. I’m not sure if it is all those random pieces of carcass or those beady fish eyes looking at me, but I haven’t taken the challenge of selecting meat and fish directly from a counter.

So, feeling adventurous I decided it was time to get us some salmon! Of course, I do have to admit that I took my husband with me so that I knew I’d be ordering it correctly. Turns out they already had it pre-packaged so I think I can handle it on my own next time.

The only problem now is the price. It will definitely be an occasional splurge at R$22 which ended up being about 3-4 servings depending on how hungry you are. Funny how I think that is expensive now since we routinely give that for red meat in the US, but I’ve grown accustomed to all these inexpensive food prices.

So we ate the fish on Saturday and I’m sitting here typing on Tuesday morning. So far, so good. Maybe the moral is – listen to the locals, but remember they don’t know everything. Or listen to several locals, but don’t always take the advice of just one.

Food Finds

Regarding food-finds, I think this might be my best week thus far. I love it when I get the chance to explore new places or when things pop up out of nowhere that I hadn’t seen before.

Let’s start with a little background. When I was in Curitiba the last time I enjoyed a delicious new food that I had not yet had the opportunity to try. At lunch one day I decided to be very Brazilian and go with the special like everyone else around me. Fortunately the special was chicken with passion fruit sauce. So tasty! However, the side was mandioquinha which I had never had before.

It was so good that I did a little research after that meal and learned that mandioquinha isn’t simply “little mandioca” as the name would have you believe. It is a different root vegetable also called arracacha, batata baroa and the Peruvian parsnip. It is smaller like a carrot with a brighter yellow color than a basic white potato and a richer flavor as well. They are native to the Andes and are grown and used in many countries in South America.

After seeing some pictures on the web I knew I had never seen it before, but I have had my eyes out like crazy at both the supermarket and the farmer’s market.

Okay, now fast forward to this week.

I decided to stop by the Tuesday morning feira after my run at the park because I needed some fruit and I hadn’t been to that one in a long while. I was looking up and down the rows when a small carrot-looking, white root veggie caught my eye. Could it be?

I asked the vendor and she said another name that I couldn’t quite understand although it had mandioca in it. I then asked if it was the same thing as mandioquinha. Yes! A very exciting find. I haven’t made it myself yet, but I’ll let you know how that goes.

Continuing on, today I decided to spend some time looking through the Japanese market here. I was taken to this market on my first visit to the city before we moved and I loved it then. The girl who was showing us around was pointing out all the different fruits all with new names for me to learn and as you can imagine I was mesmerized. I’ve been back one or two times, but since finding the feiras I haven’t spent much time there.

Another reason I hadn’t been back much was because the prices are a little higher than other places in the city. However, considering my last few maddening visits at the grocery store I’m thinking that for a place that looks like this when I shop, it is probably worth an extra R$10 on my bill.

I felt like exploring and the atmosphere was great for that. I was hoping there were some things there that I had somehow overlooked on my previous visits. As you would expect there sure were!

First let me say that I search hard for foods here. I will comb an aisle back and forth several times when looking for something I have in mind like a grain or spice. I go over it again and again to make sure I haven’t missed it. Then one day, things just show up. At times it seriously makes me feel like I’m losing my mind, however, I expect it is a lack of attention to detail on my part. Although, I do know things disappear and reappear around here all the time.

I was actually looking for quinoa because a friend told me they had it there. They did, but I wasn’t ready to part with R$17 to have a small bag of it. I may break down eventually, but today wasn’t the day.

I did come home with all kinds of other good finds though.

The girl that first took us there told us that grapefruits are pretty much non-existent in Brazil, but that this place would sometimes carry an imported variety. Well today was my day because there was a whole load of them. I hadn’t had grapefruit in forever so I picked one up and I was not disappointed. Just look at that pink, tart goodness.

A few weeks ago at a dinner with friends, we were discussing some tiny little bananas from the north that we had never had before. We learned the name was banana ouro (gold) and rumor had it that they were smaller than the banana maçã (apple) which is roughly about half the size of a banana in the States.

Well, I round the corner at the market and there they were. It is crazy how small they are. The second picture is a banana ouro next to a banana maçã.

Next came the spices. I’ve had a hard time finding my favorite herbs and spices around here. I look and look in the spice aisle, I translate names and go back to try to find them and still some never show up. Well, until today. I could not believe the spice aisle at this market nor the fact that I had apparently missed it on my previous visits.

I about fell over when I found hot paprika. I had purchased some in Hungary this summer and completely fell for its spicy flavor. Last week, much to my sadness, I found that bugs had gotten into. So there went the paprika that I would probably never have again. Oh, but I was wrong because they have it here! I also found white pepper. They even had Indian curry which I had yet to see here. I am stocked up on curry from our trip to Europe last summer though so I let that one be. It smelled amazing though.

So what a great days at the markets this week. Definitely a week mixed with finding new things and also my old standards. Can’t get much better than that.

Display Awards

If there were awards for supermarket displays I have no doubt that Maringa would win. Who knows, maybe there are such awards and I’m just not aware of them.

I’ve never seen so much effort put forth to display such common items. For example, brooms.

Most often I am amazed that someone has taken the time to do all this work and I’m even more amazed when I got back two days later and the display is gone. The supermarkets here are an environment that is always changing.

I will say I get a bit nervous when I see a display such as this made of wine glasses. Especially as three unsupervised children run by. A bit of an accident waiting to happen and I’m secretly hoping I’m never the one to cause it.

Speaking of displays the eggs are up! Remember these? All those chocolate filled Easter eggs on display high above your head at the stores.

I had the opportunity to watch a guy putting them up the other day and let’s just say my senses will be a bit heightened from now on as I walk under them to get to the cheese. Something about a single wire and heavy metal bar that makes me a bit anxious, but the eggs are light so that is a good thing.

There is a reason the eggs are light and this is because there is barely anything in them. Last year I posted about how excited I was to try them only to be disappointed with my 6 chocolates. What was so funny was that my friend here told me she was going to warn me about it how disappointing the eggs were, but then decided I should learn for myself.

Oh, I learned. This year we will be saving money and just buying a box of the regular chocolates and pretending they are wrapped for Easter. However, my disappoint and future chocolate shopping plans make the egg displays no less impressive. Always something entertaining around here.

A New Kind of Convenience Food

I may have complained in the past about the lack of convenience foods. Me? Complain? I know. It is quite shocking.

Jokes aside, I will be the first to admit that learning to do without my shredded cheese and the occasional ready-to-go, canned beans was an adjustment. I set out completely overzealous about wanting to make things from scratch. Then I realized that I only wanted to do this when I wasn’t busy or felt like cooking.

I’ve gotten used to the sacrifice to the point where it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice at all anymore. I enjoy doing things from scratch and I hope when we move back I’m not so pressed for time that I resort to my old habits. Although, I confess there are many a nights when black beans sound great and I wish I didn’t have to wait 10 hours to have them.

Despite the lack of my cheese and beans, I have learned that some vendors at the feira have created their own version of pre-prepped, convenience foods. And I am not at all ashamed to admit that I love it!

Meet this week’s abobora . Isn’t she beautiful – all peeled, seeded, chopped and washed?

I really had never cooked with pumpkin at all before except for, you guessed it, the canned version. I have peeled a butternut squash, but fresh pumpkin isn’t all that popular except for pies and breads, although I think that is changing.

At least I know it will be changing for me. I love cooking with fresh roasted pumpkin now. However, I do not love peeling them; especially the ones here because they have very deep indentions that are almost impossible to work around without a flesh wound.

That is where my ready-to-cook pumpkin comes in. I practically want to hug the vendor when I find it at the market.

So, let this be clear - I am a liar. There is at least one convenience food around here and my aching, nicked hands are darn thankful for it.

Would you buy this?

So, they now have orange juice concentrate at the supermarket, but unfortunately it is sucky.

Just a few pictures...

Nothing too exciting today. I thought I'd just post a few of the pictures from my visit to Curitiba last week. Have a great weekend!!

An art gallery in Batel. It reminds me of some of the historic homes back in Lexington.

I stopped in a place called Missouri Cafe for lunch fully expecting it to be Brazilian food in a restaurant with a US-related names. What a total surprise! They had KC BBQ, a NY Reuben and a NO Muffeletta on the menu. Inside there were signs featuring the different cities of Missouri. Then there was a sign that hit pretty close to home. It kind of weirded me out a bit. You know, those coincidences that don't seem possible.

We went to the Coritiba vs. Cascavel futebol game. I think it was the first round of the Parana state tournament so it was a relatively light crowd which I was very happy with. There were some great goals scored so it was a fun game to watch.

The Worst Thing about Brazil

I find it literally suffocating. At first I thought it just was just affecting me physically, but as time goes on I see that it drains me mentally as well. It negatively influences my body, my attitude and my will to accomplish any minor goal I’ve set for myself.

I barely sleep, physically I’m exhausted without doing a thing, my skin is breaking out and I feel like a loaf of bread that has been left proofing too long. My mind jumps from one project to another without the ability to focus. The mere thought of going to the gym makes me sick to my stomach. My outdoor workouts leave me drained for at least 2 days afterward.

I’m talking, of course, about the heat.

I never knew I was such a wimp; that something so simple could get me down, but apparently I am and it has. The most common comment from those experiencing any form of winter is usually something along the lines of – “I bet it is nice and warm there.”

I would imagine that with this comment comes a thought of beaches, swimming pools, shaded chairs, flip-flops and exotic fruit. Well, I have the flip-flops and exotic fruit, but that would be it. It’s not their fault. This is the picture of Brazil that many people have painted in their minds due to various reasons. However, it is not my reality.

I’ve learned that a love of summer in the US is contingent upon the presence of good air conditioning. People (myself included) love sweating away at the grill in the heat and humidity of a Kentucky summer, but then they retreat inside a cool house. We like to sun on the beach, melting like a popsicle, but will duck into a tourist shop or back to the hotel room for a break from the heat. We exercise in gyms so cold you barely sweat. We get accustomed to the heat for outdoor fitness, but quickly recover in our cool kitchens with a drink.

Summer at home is not summer here.

I’ll be the first to say that our living conditions are not exactly uncomfortable, but this time of year they are not comfortable either. The apartment hovers between 85 to 90 degrees F and once the afternoon hits there is no breeze coming through. The intensity of the sun beating down on our living and bedrooms is like a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of you.

We have these things hanging on our walls whose name translates to the word air conditioning, but quite honestly they are comparable to a very ugly painting; just an eyesore with no real function at all. I will say we decided to suffer through the water torture dripping of the one in the bedroom last night and it cooled the room down to 82. At least we slept a little better.

I used to think that you could acclimate yourself to heat, but now view it as a genetic and cultural ability to withstand this weather in Brazil. Some people actually enjoy it, which is beyond my comprehension.

So as excitement grows in other parts of world with the nearing of spring, I am equally excited for opposite reasons. I will gladly say good-bye and good riddance to summer in Maringá.

Lent?

Okay, so this is one of those posts that is also a request for information. There are a few things we’ve encountered recently that I don’t quite understand. Perhaps there are some really simple explanations or perhaps it is due to huge cultural differences. I don’t know, you tell me.

Let’s start with the facts. The Catholic population in Brazil is 85 to 90% depending on your source. This is a place that I consider VERY Catholic. I mean, Catholic holidays of the church are recognized as national holidays. The US is about 22% Catholic, again, depending on your source. I am part of that percentage which is why I am pondering the following issue.

Last week was Ash Wednesday, which means we don’t eat meat and we also take up this practice on Fridays throughout the rest of Lent. Or do we?

In the US, despite the lower number of Catholics, about this time of year every fast food restaurant around starts advertising their fish sandwich, cheese pizzas start getting special and seafood is much more noticeable.

However, around here (Curitiba, actually, although Maringa too) every person I saw on both Wednesday and Friday last week had a big slab of meat in front of them. Only one restaurant menu I saw even featured a fish option. My husband started talking to a coworker at lunch who was dining on red meat. He said he was Catholic, yet offered no explanation as to why he wasn’t abstaining from the stuff.

Now, I understand the idea of being a certain religion, but not practicing it. Many people I know would consider themselves in this situation. I also want to make it clear that I’m not making any kind of judgment call. I really don’t care if you eat meat on Friday and you are Catholic. That is your business, not mine, although I personally choose to abstain.

I’m just curious as to whether we have simply encountered the 10 to 15% who are not Catholic in this country, or if these Lenten practices really aren’t that big of a deal in Brazil. Do the majority not follow the church here? Is it just because Brazilians love red meat so much? Or maybe it is very different in different areas of the country?

I’m all ears. If you have knowledge, experience or opinion on the subject, spill.

Capivaras in Barigui

We spent a couple afternoons in Barigui park during our visit to Curitiba. The islands were overflowing with baby capivaras. We stopped along the bridge to watch them play for a while, then they all started moving in our direction so I took a video.

You can faintly hear them making their guinea pig - like noises. It's funny because they go under the water at one point or another and come back up. You don't realize there are so many there until they start showing their cute little heads.


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