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...