A few of my favorite things: Beiju

While we were in the interior, we also enjoyed a snack that both my husband and I love. Beiju. Think crepe--only different. And for my gluten-averted friends, your answer to the crepe because it is made with tapioca, not wheat flour. We had beiju at this little place right on the town square in Sao Sebastiao, and they were excellent!



Step-by-step making of the beiju---

1. Tapioca flour, called "goma de mandioca", is put in a metal form on a hot grill



2. Brush on some butter



3. Add filling--we had a "Romeo e Julieta" which is guava paste and cheese, my fave.



4. Time to eat!


Do I blog about food a lot???

O Interior

Sunday we spent the day visiting family in the "interior"--that is--the countryside of Salvador. It is green, green, green with rolling hills, lakes and rivers, and lots of small farms. With that comes fresh, delicious farm products, and one of my favorite things--"feiras", or farmers markets. We were in the town of Sao Sebastiao. There are many farms in that area that raise cows for meat and dairy products, so cheese and REAL milk (as opposed the the boxed, room temperature supermarket shelf variety we use in Salvador) is found there. For dessert we had homemade "ambrosia", which is not at all like the weird 50's throwback of marshmallow, whipped cream and canned fruit that still seems to show up at the random potluck or thanksgiving table in the U.S. Brazilian ambrosia is a type of doce de leite made from fresh milk and tastes like caramel with spices like clove and nutmeg. In the interior there is also an abundance of sugar cane and regional fruits. Liquors made of these fruits are popular--and definitely home brewed. These are liquors of two popular fruits---caju and jabuticaba:



This was a liquor de cacau (so tasted like chocolate) dressed up for the festival of Sao Joao, a popular countryside festival of Northeastern Brazil:


I hope to get back to the interior for some feiras one day soon....

Market day

Early (early...) this morning I went to the fish market--"Mercado do Peixe"--in the lower city with my mother-in-law. There you can find dozens of vendors selling a variety of fresh fish and seafood, often at great prices. As opposed to many parts of Brazil that have meat-intensive cuisine, Bahia is more well known for its seafood, and going to the fish market helps one to appreciate the amazing, fresh seafood available here. I took my camera along to snap some photos, if only it had a set of fresh batteries! So, plan foiled. BUT, I did snap some photos of my bounty once I arrived home. Honestly, it is a terrible representation of the variety of seafood available--fish, shrimp, lobster, crab, oysters, octopus, squid...but, just to add some visual interest here are a couple of pics:

Shrimp (with head and tail)


Red snapper--to tell it is fresh you look at the clarity of the eyeballs (cloudy eyeballs=not so fresh). My little friends look nice and bright-eyed!


On the way back, I gave my camera one last try and alas, it was able to muster the energy for one fuzzy snapshot of the coconut trucks! We stopped here and picked up a few fresh coconuts for 50 centavos each. They are now chilling in my refrigerator....can't wait to crack those puppies open (I am addicted to coconut water, it's true).



Now...back to bed. *Yaaaaaaaawn*

I've been listening to....

Maria Gadu. This is actually something we picked up around Christmas time. This song was featured in a popular telenovela which seemed to rocket it to popularity in Brazil, though is quite beautiful and probably would've done so on its own. The whole album featuring this song is solid:

Jambu

One of the ideas I've had for this blog is a recurring post on the different fruits of Brazil. Because I love them. So much. The fruit--and juice--were among the things I truly missed when we were back stateside. In fact, the first time I walked down the produce aisle of the market I had an overwhelming sense that I might, well, cry. I missed the fruit here so much! When we visited Itacare this past summer (more on that later) the jambu fruit was abundant. On one of our day trips, some little girls were selling plates of jambu on the side of the road. Pictured is said plate--and that would be my hungry little hand creeping over to snag a jambu fruit asap:
I can't say that jambu is my favorite fruit, but i do think it is a beautiful color and cool shape. To me it doesn't have a ton of flavor, it is just kind of crispy and pear-like, without that pear flavor. I think the coolest thing about Jambu is the tree is shaped just like the fruit, so it's easy to spot a jambu tree, which is also very pretty. So, in my book jambu doesn't score high in flavor but does get big presentation points.

Iemanja

Looking back at my blog and the Lavagem do Bonfim, I was reminded of another summer festival unique to Salvador. In early February--before Carnival--my friend Daryl and I ventured out to see the festival of Iemanja (Yay-mahn-JAH). This festival commemorates the Candomble goddess Iemanja , who is the "mother" goddess of the Candomble orixas (AW-ree-shaws), or saints, and therefore the most revered. She is also the goddess of the sea and is identified by her blue and white dress. She is often pictured holding mirrors to indicate her vanity. During the festival, people offer objects of vanity to the sea to ask for blessings. Mirrors, flowers, perfume, combs, and soaps are among these offerings that are either tossed into the waves--usually the flowers--or taken in baskets to the temple of Iemanja where they are later sent out to sea. Some people hire local fisherman to take them out so they can make their own offerings, or they construct small boats to float out to sea. (One must suspend all judgement of environmental pollution to appreciate the celebration, though the local paper did have a humorous comic the next day of the goddess wading out of the water and coughing up loads of crap onto the beach...) On the beach in Rio Vermelho, near the temple of Iemanja, a variety of Candomble ceremonies are held on both the eve and the day of her commemoration. We arrived at around 8:30a.m. to find offerings, drumming, ceremonies, and celebrations in full swing--surely lasting late into the day and night.

'Splainin to do

How does one explain months of blogging absence? Allow me to contruct a picture story for you, it goes something like this:


February:


(yep, that would be a positive pregnancy test)

and Carnival! (unfortunately carnival + pregnant lady=lame party for me)

March-April-May










That would be a coast-coast-coast trip to the U.S., and some traveling and working in between. Whirlwind!

June-July

Back in Salvador, pregnant baby bump and baby items in tow, finding a (nother) place to live, getting settled....happy to say that's all taken care of now and life is calming down, for now. Baby is due is just a few weeks! More tales and details to follow...