After a lunch of stuffed potatoes, my husband and I were walking back from the mall. We passed this small beer shop which we have walked by multiple times before. It’s not really a restaurant or a bar. It is a place where you can get Germania beer in bulk, as in buying it by the keg for a party.
The small shop sells souvenirs and they do have the beer on tap so we threw caution to the wind and stopped in to order a chopp. As we were looking around the store, a gentleman, which I assume was either the owner or a manager, came up to give us something.
He presented us with two Easter eggs and a hearty “Feliz Páscoa!”
This wasn’t some commercial candy egg or plastic toy. This was an actual egg shell which had been drained, painted and filled with candy; in this case, sweet peanuts. My husband’s coworker had told us that this is a tradition carried on by some Brazilians which originated in Germany.
The eggs were beautiful and this was probably one of the most authentic gifts we have received while living here and it came from a complete stranger.
He talked with us about where we were from by first asking me the question – are you German? The conversation went on to the difference between cerveja and the chopp we were drinking. Apparently our chopp was the unfiltered variety that has a shelf life of only 12 days.
We’ve had Germania on tap at restaurants and it hasn’t been our favorite, but this glass was tasty. It was faintly similar to the unfiltered, unpasteurized beers we’ve had the opportunity to try on our various brewery tours during travels.
I have to say the whole short, unexpected experience was the highlight of our holiday.
The rest of the weekend focused more on chocolate. My husband received a Cacau Show truffle from a coworker that just happened to be graviola flavor which is a fruit from the Amazon region. I doubt this was anything like the actual fruit. I’ve only had it in juice form and it really lacked any flavor, but sweet. However the truffle filling had a flavor that seemed to be a combination of melon and citrus.
While we were at the mall prior to our beer stop, we decided to join the action at the Cacau Show store. The line was about 30 deep before we had lunch, but we came back to find only a few people remaining so we decided to wait it out and see what they had left in the store.
We didn’t get the egg filled with hazelnut cream that everyone raves about here, but we did get an egg filled with individual hazelnut truffles. I’m banking on the fact that it only has about 3 truffles in it, but it was only about R$12 so I’m not so concerned about it. We were both satisfied that we had at least made some effort to celebrate Easter with something Brazilian.
Unfortunately, between the other Easter candy I brought back from the US in March and other treats received we just didn’t get around to trying the truffle egg. We are going to save it for next weekend so we’ll see what surprises we find inside.
9 comments:
Melon inside chocolates? Sounds interesting. The eggs were really cute! I want some.
wow!! what pretty eggs, look good too, marina
Small gestures are, more often than not, more meaningful that large ones.
And the potatoes? Wow! They look mountainous in the pics.
All that chocolate is making my cravings go wild = )That was a very sweet gift for the store owner/manager to give to you. I have never seen these painted eggs filled with goodies. I asked my husband and he said he had indeed heard about them,so hopefully next Easter I can search and find one.. I'd love to see one.
A quick funny story- I do not remember the name on the chocolate, but we took my 8 year old in a chocolate store in Leblon and she just quickly picked out a small chocolate, so as we were leaving the store she opens it and eats a bite and goes -GROSS!! It had liquor inside it.. We had no idea. It was a slap the parents moment.. I wonder what they were thinking in the chocolate store because it was clearly bought for my 8 year old..oops
between melon and citrus is a pretty good description of graviola, one of my favorite fruits. I am always amazed how this gestures seem to "find" us when we most need them.
Those eggs were so pretty!! :) Glad you all had a good Easter! And all the pictures of the chocolate made my mouth water...
haha!
Sara - It was an interesting combo however one we've had here before. At the fondue place in Curitiba they serve chopped up melon (along with 8 other fruits) to dip in their chocolate fondue. It's pretty tasty.
Hi marina - Thanks for stopping buy with your comment. They are even more beautiful in person! :)
Drea - Totally agree. Yeah, the potatoes are massive!
Live in Brazil - We are trying to figure out how they painted them. There is a lot of swirling of colors. REally unique.
That is too funny about the chocolate. Actually you probably would get less of a reaction here in the US. Ha! Also, a good thing she said "gross" and not "yum". Ha, ha!
corinne - Yeah, I have to say I was feeling like I needed one. :) Great to know about the graviola.
Hi, Lori!
So you found out about the chicken egg shells filled with sweet peanuts!!
I was just about to tell you this, but I thought these eggs were popular in the US, guess not.
I don't know were this tradition came from, but this is one of the best memories from Easter when I was a kid.
Two months early we started to collect the eggs at home, carefully opening one top of the egg, doesn't matter if we were going to cook or fry, wash carefully and save. Then, at school, all the kids took their eggs to school to paint them,with "tempera" ink, with the most childish drawings. The teacher baked the peanuts at school kitchen and them we put the peanuts inside and sealed. I did this at school until I was like 8 yo, and at home, since I have a younger brother, until like 10 or 11. Actually you caught me on this: I don't know if it is a southern traditon or it happens in the whole country. At least in the city I grew up, one could buy the egg shells even in the feiras, and hand then to their soons, in case they didn't have saved no eggs. It was a very family thing, indeed.
And again, sorry the English skills. One day I'll explain why I think it's polite and necessary to appologise for this. Um abraço e Feliz Páscoa, mesmo atrasado, hehe...
Marcos - Thanks so much for sharing your story! In the US we hard boil the eggs and then dye or paint the outside. It is definitely not as exciting as all the work it takes to empty out the shell and refill it. The whole process sounds very special. So glad I got to experience it this year.
Post a Comment