Typos

Argh. I swear that some day I will write a single entry without typos. I'm just not so sure when. So, until then, I apologize profusely for all the that you have to put up with.

The last weekend

Well, now that my presentation is finished I can focus on much more important things- namely talking about my last weekend here in Brazil. It was a big weekend, and I’ve lots to talk about, so here it goes.

The weekend started on friday night by going to the photo exhibition that Vanessa had pictures in. Then we celebrated Juliana’s successful completion of her qualification exam with some tasty sushi and tempura made by some friends. I of course ate more than I should have (big surprise). Then we watched a movie.

On saturday we did something I’ve been looking forward to for weeks: we went to a municipal market where there were stalls of foods and other goodies. This is how I ended up with and entire suitcase filled with food. I am not kidding. I have 2 Kg of peanuts. 2 kg! Am I crazy? Yes. But these peanuts are really, really good. If you are nice to me I might give you some. I also managed to acquire cachaça (the national liquor), doce de leite (two kinds), banana candies and hot peppers. I’m actually a little worried that all this food is going to put my bags over the weight limit, even though I left plenty of room for expansion when I came.

After the municipal market it was on to a birthday celebration with some very tasty feijoada, pork and black bean stew (a national specialty). Then we went to the Feira do Livros to browse the books. Finally, we got milkshakes (pinapple!) and managed catch a bus, dodging the big thunderstorm that hit around 5pm.

Saturday evening, I (sigh) had to work on my presentation for Monday, but managed to enjoy more sushi (made by Vanessa and Juliana this time) and the company of some good friends. Tired yet (believe me, I was)?

The reason I worked on my presentation Saturday is that I had big plans for Sunday. I was watching the Confederation Cup final with some Brazilian friends at bar. Not just any bar, it's called Agua Doce - a Cachaçareia. Its a big place and they had a projection screen to watch the match. In case you live under a rock, the match was the USA vs. Brazil, following the USA’s dramatic win over Spain in the Semis. In case that rock you live under is on a different planet, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: football (the game we know as soccer) is kinda a big deal here in Brazil (I think it may come before God and country). I’d say there were at least a hundred people in the bar- of which I was (I think) the only one cheering for the US. So I cheered very quietly, with tiny arm gestures- I have no death wish. By the end of the first half, my friends were threatening to disown me, as the US was up by 2 goals. Alas, that didn’t last through the rest of the game, and I was very sad to see the US lose. I won’t torture myself or you with anymore details except to say that our goalie was bloody amazing! The result of all of this football watching in Brazil is that I think I may have caught a bit of the football fever... be careful or I might spread it to you.

I now interrupt my weekend recap to say a few words about the way Brazilian women dress. Now, I am by no means an expert of fashion, and even if I were my expertise would be wasted in my current line of work (poor graduate student). But I’ve got to say, they have drape-y (that’s a technical term), sexy shirts down to an art form. I saw a plethora of bias cut soft knit fabrics in many colors and patterns gracefully adorning the upper halves of Brasileiras throughout the bar. I can’t say that I’m surprise by this, but it did have me feeling a bit frumpy in my pink Ann Taylor polo shirt. Now back to the update (its nearly done, for those of of you still actually reading).

After the disappointing loss (and more food), Vanessa and some photographer friends picked me up and we went to the final free concert at the Feira do Livros. This is where I really wish I had had my camera. We were at the very front of the crowd and I could have gotten some really cool pictures. The music was really good, however my eardrums may never recover. I don't think I've ever stood that close to gigantic speakers. After the concert we piled back in the car, picked up some pizza and headed home to eat a late dinner.Thats it! Pretty much the whole weekend- and now I need another weekend to recover, but I wouldn't have miss a bit of it. This may well be my last post from Brazil. I leave tomorrow and am not sure if I'll have internet access then.

So for now, Tchau, Ate mais!

Know what this means?

So as much as I'd love to tell you about my weekend: soccer (heartbreaking), music (cool), photography (wish I'd brought my camera), food (a whole suitcase), women's fashion(drapy shirts), there is one small problem: I have a presentation in 1 hr (see above), which I suppose I should spend some time on. So more later.

Notice to Colds

For the record, I hate all colds.

But I really hate colds that happen between May and September. Viruses should take vacations, too. I hate the scritchy throat, runny nose, stuffy head, aching ears and generally crappy feeling that is somehow a thousand times worse when there is no snow on the ground. Maybe it's because you can't snuggle up under a heap of sweaters and blankets when it's 80 outside without risking death from heat stroke. I don't know. Regardless, I hate it, and now that I'm on my second summer (I know it is actually winter here in Brazil- but it doesn't count when the temperature always stays above 50) cold I'll tell you something, I'm not going take another one on. So hear me out viruses: you are not welcome in this house, go away and don't think of knocking anytime before November, and I would seriously reconsider ever coming back.

P.S. I'm not actually that sick, so don't get worried.

Can I stay and go?

I can't believe that my visit to Ribeirão Preto is almost over. In just one week (give or take a couple hours) I'll be on my way back to Ithaca.

Crazy.

As I suspected, the time has flown, and now I'm a jumble of conflicting feelings. I'm looking forward to home just about as much as I'm regretting the fact I have to leave so soon. Anybody found a way to be in two places at once?

Here are some things I'm looking forward to on my return:

1)not wearing the same 10 things over and over and over (and over). As a corollary, I'm also looking forward to more than 2 pairs of shoes.

2)phone calls with my sister

3)the gym (no, I'm not crazy- besides I'm a little afraid of the prospect of a swimsuit)

4)being covered with clay

5)friends and family

6)the lake:

Here are somethings that have me totally bummed about leaving:

1)missing the food; especially biscioto

2)not learning nearly enough portuguese (I feel like I'm just starting to get somewhere)

3)all the great people I've met (in and out of the lab) who have made me feel so welcome

4)that I haven't seen nearly enough of the country

5)Sophie (the cat) and Teela (the dog) (maybe I can fit them in my suitcase?)

6) and definitely, these guys, my totally awesome roommates... they better come visit me.

Cook this today (no. 4)

Dinner

Sweet

All I can say is yum. Seriously, make both of these as soon as physically possible...

Cook that!... Part II

So I like my "cook this today " section.
But I realized today there was a fatal flaw in my plan when my Mom told me she was going to try the tasty pasta recipe I posted. It is a delicous recipe and I was happy she wanted to try it, but I posted it last week. So it's not there anymore.
Now, since in all probablility, my mom is one of two people who looked at the recipes (myself being the other) it wasn't a big deal to email it to her. However if I ever have a few more readers, it could be a problem. So now I'm thinking the set-up was just a little short sighted (just ever-so-slightly idiotic).
So we'll try again, now giving cook this today its very own proper blog postings.

Disconnected

I just finished 72 hrs without internet access. Yes that is right, 3 whole days without email. Without cnn.com. Without blogs. Without all the things I normally waste hours of my life on, say for example, this.

I assume that most of you are quite horrified.

I keep telling myself it is good for me- to get out and see the world. However, I've got to say I do miss it, just a little bit.

Other than that, it was another great weekend here in Brazil. Saturday I stuffed myself silly at a barbeque my hosts, Zeki and Rose, had at their apartment. I couldn't eat for nearly 12 hours afterwards. The food was really good! Then on saturday night I saw free concert at the Feira do Livro, this big 10 day book fair with free concerts. Sunday for lunch I cooked some Indian food for my roommates; they like it, so that was a success.

Oh and I spent some quality time with her:

Cook that!

You may have noticed that I like food. Just a little bit. Little, you know, like the size of China. To share my like with all of you I've added a new item to my blog (its right there a the top, so you can't miss it) called...

Cook this today:

Go on, take a look, you know you want to. Now you don't even have to think, just click and a tasty meal will present its self (okay you might have to do a little work, but it will be worth it).

I promise to change them (almost) everyday. If I don't you can yell at me.

Cool, no?

FfNl*: Brigadeiro

So who doesn't like chocolate? If you said,"Yes that is me, I'm a chocolate hater", I warn you now, you should leave this post. Now, to whoever remains (which can only assume must be 99% of you- because if you don't like chocolate, I think you are a little crazy and I'm not sure we can be friends), I will now introduce you to brigadeiro:

This is a delicious, yet simple dessert to make... it has only 3 (I know crazy, right?) ingredients: cocoa (or Nesquick), butter and condensed milk. You cook it until thick, make little balls and roll them in chocolate sprinkles. Now if that all seems like too much work, you can make a cohler (spoon) version with the addition of a little milk. Ana Maria, in my lab, made this version:

Then you just grab a spoon and dig in. Yum.

*programming note: I'm a lazy person and typing Food from Norahland is just too much work. Also my father has trained me that a geeky acronym is always better, so henceforth, Food from Norahland shall be known as FfNl. Any questions?

As if I needed another way to waste hours of time on the internet

I have a confession. Secretly, I am addicted to looking at those slide show galleries that magazines put together for the web. Everyday, I dutifully go to cnn.com and check the headlines. Now, if I were a good person, I would actually read more articles, making myself a well rounded, informed adult (well maybe not well-rounded, but at least nominally informed).

Instead, after a brief perusal of the headlines I cruise to the bottom the page and zero in on Entertainment Weekly's 17 shows for TV "Revirgins" (which reminds me yet again that I should put Freaks & Geeks on my Netflix list) or Money's Ultimate Mutual Funds (I'm not sure why I look at ones like these... to be useful, one would actually have to have money). Now if only they had one of these galleries on the 48 must know secrets of the immune system, I might actually stand a chance of completing my PhD. Let me know if you find one like that.

Anyway, yesterday, following this usual pattern I happened upon Time's 25 Best Blogs of 2009. I'm pretty new at this blogging thing, I just haven't made the time before I started making my own, so I was excited to see the array of what was out there. Maybe you've seen a lot of them? Let me know how you like them. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be adding a good number of these blogs to my daily procrastination routine- but some of them may actually make me a more well rounded, informed person.

Hopefully I'll still have time for a photo gallery or two.

Curítiba!

After a 10 hr bus ride (at night, thankfully) I arrived in Curítiba. It is a beautiful city! I was well taken care of by Vanessa's (my roommate) family and had a great time. One of my favorite sites: Jardim Botânico (botanical garden).

Curítiba has a special bus line that hits all the tourist sites, which is very conveinent, so one day we took a tour around the city. One surprising feature of the city: it has probably the best organized bus system I have ever seen. It is a bus system that is run essentially like a subway, with these tubes located all over the city and separate bus lanes.

Also it has a great system set up for recycling (and quite possibly the cutest stickers associated with recycling)...

Other highlights: food and craft markets(yum)! Festa Junina/Baby shower (a funny tradition: everyone brings diapers to the baby shower...)! Pinhão nuts (seriously, the biggest pine nuts ever)!

Thanks again to Vanessa's wonderful family for a great time!

Food from Norahland... The Tapioca Edition

Okay.

So I know you are all thinking, "I know what tapioca is- why is Norah wasting her time with this silly post?"

The tapioca you and I know is something like this: The floaty, chewy balls in bubble tea, maybe a the thickener used in pies, or that yummy pudding you eat with raspberries every summer. Maybe you even remember my previous post on biscoito.

So when I said tapioca to my brazilian friends they said (looking rather amazed), "You know what tapioca is?"

I said yes, and then tried to describe all those tapioca-y things familiar in the US. The amazed looks turned to confused, and they said "that's not tapioca...". This is tapioca:

The tapioca known to brazil is a kind of empanada/omelet-y/crepe like item that is (I am told) common in northern brazil. I was lucky enough to try one at a market in Curítiba. They take coarse tapioca flour, which I am coming to appreciate as a great ingredient (I sure hope there is a source in Ithaca, as I'm not sure how much will actually fit in my suitcase), and put it a hot pan. With a little water, this makes the base of the tapioca- a chewy crepe type circle. Then it gets filled with whatever you want, salgado (salty) or doce (sweet), in my case it was mozzarella, coconut and butter. Then the round gets folded ,empanada or omelet style, and sealed together. Eat it hot or at room temp- it is delicious!

And so my love affair with tapioca continues...

Curítiba bound

Okay... I'm sorry, I really meant to post earlier this week, but somehow it never quite happened... I have new appreciation for people who manage to post everyday (or even more frequently)!

I had a really great time last weekend. I attended my very first Festa Junina. Festas Junina are traditional celebrations in June that center around the three saints days during the month (don't ask me to name them!). The parties involve music, dressing up like country-folk (caipira), and of course lots of good food and drink. Foods like corn on the cob, a tasty hot dog (cachorro quente) dish, corn cake, and various sweets made from peanuts. There also is usually a 'bride' and a 'groom' and a host of little plays and jokes that are traditional.

This weekend I'm headed to Curitiba,in the south of Brazil, with my roommate and her friend Fabio. I expect to have a great time, and hopefully will have plenty of pictures to show for it.

Muito Frio

I know I've spent the last couple weeks saying how beautiful and warm it is here. I can't say that any more.

Well it is still very beautiful- lots of blue sky and sunshine. However, warm? Not so much.

Apparently, my boasting of warm weather was enough to curse most of Brazil with cold, cold weather. Last night the temperature fell below 40- which when houses aren't equipped with heat is pretty darn chilly. Lucky for me I have lots of blankets and heeded the warning that I should bring some colder weather clothes, although now I'm kind of wishing I brought a hat!

Everyone tells me this is abnormally cold, so I'm hoping it warms up again soon!

Rock n' Roll and Biscioto

Good Monday morning! I had a great weekend, and you? It went something like this: sleeping, beer, food, sleeping, food, snooker, ice cream, sleeping, beer, classic rock, more beer, snooker, more beer, more music, food, sleeping, food, successful skype downloading (finally), food, and finally more sleeping. The perceptive of you may have noticed a small imbalance in the quantity of each events listed above....

Now for a few more details.

By the end of last week I was pretty tired, and so were my roomates, so even though we had planned on going out friday night, we ended up just doing a lot of sleeping interspersed with a beer or two and some pizza frigideira.

Saturday started out another relaxing day involving a nice place to eat where I had feijoada (a classic brazilian dish of black beans and pork), more food, and really, really good fresh fruit juices. Next it was on to counting votes at USP. Vanessa had to count votes for student elections, so I tagged along and practiced my portuguese listening- I swear everyone here must think I'm a mute (which I'm sure is amusing to those of you who know me). Then I proved, in case there was any doubt, how god-awful I am playing pool in a fun game of snooker. This was followed by some really good ice cream- the place was amazing- an ice cream buffet where you get whatever kind of ice creams you want with all the imaginable toppings. Oh man was it good! Then it was time for a little nap... you see we had to rest up for a night of rock n' roll. We met up with my friend Marcela and some of her friends at a bar in downtown Ribeirão Preto called Vila Dionísio where they serve up cervejas & rock n' roll. I, being more scatterbrained than usual, forgot my passport for identification. Luckily I was able to cob together appropriate identification to prove my advancing age. It was a great bar and a great time, I recommend it if you are ever here. They had two live acts which mostly played classic american rock- think a lot of Beatles and other classics- they were great! I talked to some people, and had consumed enough alcohol that I was less embarrassed about trying out my Portuguese. We were out until nearly 4am- ending with a late night stop for Kibe and some other tasty middle eastern fare whose name escapes me at the moment (it might have something to do with the advanced hour or the few cervejas I consumed). Then sleep.... a lot of sleep.

Sunday was a very relaxed day of which the highlight was good lasagna and, finally, a successful download of Skype on my computer. For some reason, it has been very difficult for me to get it. I decided that maybe I should try to download it from the Brazilian version of the site instead of US, in case the downloading server was different. I don't know if that was the reason, but it worked. The amusing part is I now get emails from Skype in Portuguese, so I guess I'll get some reading practice in.

And now for the section I will christen Food from Norahland... today, Biscioto:

Friday afternoon concluded with a fun and entertaining discussion of biscioto. Now I though biscioto meant cookie in Portuguese, but after a lot of discussion and some helpful diagrams from my fellow labmates- and taste testing, of course- I learned about this delicious snack. These biscioto are rather like cheesy poofs minus the cheese, and these in particular are made of polvilho, a flour made from mandioca (which I believe is yucca). They taste amazing and totally addictive- finally I had to have Marcela take them away from me so I would stop eating them!