France

The breathtaking Jura mountains...

My last post mainly talked about Ireland and was written from my parents’ house in France. Right now I’m writing about France, but my current location is my hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Phew… after what seemed a never ending intense work cycle in January and February, we’re finally allowed to relax a bit and spend some time with our families and friends, so here I come blogging again. There’s so much to catch up here… in December we spent the holidays with my parents and brother in France. We celebrated Christmas in Geneva, Switzerland – they live right on the Swiss border – then we travelled to Paris for New Years and then we spent my birthday in Amsterdam. Needless to say, food was VERY RELEVANT during this whole trip. I might have material for a whole lot of blogs in the next days. Oh dear.

Sharing is love

Guinness extra stout: even better when shared with friends.

A post continuing the story of our Irish trip is now long overdue. Since we came back I’ve been thinking about Germany, the reasons that led us here and the constant displacement we feel in this country.

Observing how similar the Irish are to Brazilians in terms of personal relationships and behavior towards others was a serious wake up call as to how we had, after a year living in Bremen, unwillingly absorbed some German manners.

What’s left of the flag

first seconds in Irish soil...

It’s been a while since I last posted. And it’s been less than a week since I’ve returned home after one of the most amazing trips we’ve taken.

We went to Ireland.

It was love at first sight when, still on the plane, the view from the window caught my eye. A beautiful emerald green patch, studded with little white curly ripples was right before my eyes. At first I thought it was a huge field, but after a few seconds I realized the little white ripples were moving… IT WAS THE SEA! I had never seen anything like that. That deep emerald green sea was one of the most beautiful views I had ever seen.

I called Pedro, who was still half asleep from rolling out of bed at 4 in the morning, and we both soaked up the view as much as we could, since our camera was stuffed inside our hand luggage and we certainly couldn’t get to it without disturbing the gentleman who was sitting in our same row. As the plane approached Dublin we realized that not only the sea was green: even though it was almost winter, that island was studded with all the most beautiful shades of green. I was already fascinated and excited like a little kid, and we hadn’t even gotten out of the plane yet.

More on the trip, fish&chips, Irish breakfast and beer soon!

Quickie

Eggplants have been surprisingly cheap during the last two weeks or so. I didn’t really expect this in November, but I still don’t understand precisely how do seasons for some vegetables here in Germany work either, so I guess I’ll just go with the flow. Since I love eggplants, I made it my mission to make Pedro taste them in a number of different ways and see if he likes them, and if so how he likes them best – I only made them once last season, when he still didn’t eat vegetables, so I guess that doesn’t really count. Turns out he totally loved them when I simply grilled them and sprinkled a bit of salt, some bits of sautéed garlic, an excellent olive oil and some fresh thyme. We ate them as a really light dinner, with crusty bread and a good glass of wine.

pictured: eggplant, bread, Misfits tee

Freimarkt

A dash of color

Yeah, Germany. October. I’m sure you already thought of Oktoberfest. You know, that huge tourist-money-sucking festival in Munich.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for massive beer&alcohol consumption. However, I don’t like going bankrupt just to get drunk. And 9 bucks for a beer at Oktoberfest seems completely out of line, especially when you can buy the exact same beers at pretty much any supermarket for less than 1 euro. Since we’re living in Germany we kinda feel like we HAVE to go to Oktoberfest at least once while we’re here, but the beer prices really make me think twice

Culinary roots

pictured: crunchy goodness

It’s interesting to notice that most of the posts I’ve published so far mainly focus on Italian food, considering that my official nationality is Brazilian. That kinda got me thinking about my gastronomical – and cultural – roots.

Our family moved from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Torino, Italy, when I was 6 and my brother was 3. I do have some interesting food memories that come from before the big move, like begging my mom for carrot soufflè (really, I LOVED carrots as a kid and still love them today) and telling my mom I might be getting a cold soon just to get to drink my grandma’s medicinal honey-guaco syrup.

My favorite brand of coconut milk

self explanatory, right?