Feliz Natal!

The weather has been unusually warm the past few weeks - yesterday it was near 60°F (about 16°C). 16°C is considered cool, borderline cold there. I used to keep my office at about 20°C, and my staff would literally bring jackets with them for meetings. For easy conversions of °C to °F, here's the trick I found: double then add 30°. It's approximate, of course, but close enough to know if you need to wear short or long sleeves. Converting weights and measures took some getting used to, and the English system sure is challenging compared to metric. It's no wonder that 99% of the world uses metric.

Here's hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year. I'm off next week, and plan to make an overhaul to the blog, so stay tuned...

Someone caught Santa chillin' in Rio:

Still here...

I've been a little slow posting the past few weeks, what with the upcoming Holidays and all. I've been having some rather frustrating log-on issues with Blogger which has kept me off pace. In the meantime, I've been organizing our various pictures and videos from the past few years, and working on a few upgrades for FLFB, which you should be seeing in a few weeks. Stay tuned...

37000

I flew over the Amazon many, many times over the last few years, and never realized there was air-traffic control no coverage zone there. Apparently, it’s widely known within the air controller circles, and probably the kind of thing they talk about when they get together for picanha and Brahma on the weekends. You’ve all no doubt heard about the mid-air collision that occurred over the Amazon a few months ago involving a passenger jet and a corporate jet. The collision occurred at 37,000 feet. Here’s a link to a blog of one of the passenger’s on board the corporate jet who is writing to clear the names of the pilots. Reading through the stories of alleged corruption, cover-ups, worker strikes, and death threats for the two pilots, I can’t help but be reminded of “A Death in Brazil” (the book I told you about in a previous post). The situation is different, but the web of intrigue and drama seems straight out of a novela.

Following the continuing story here:
http://joesharkeyat.blogspot.com/

Cultural Learnings

Here's another funny Skol beer commercial. The last few seconds are the funniest.



It might seem odd that this commercial would be shown in Brazil - it could be misinterpreted that Brazil couldn't win any other way than cheating. Clearly, if that was the true message, the commercial writers and producers would not be able to show themselves on the streets anywhere in Brazil for fear of reprisals. So, I believe this is an example of a cultural perception bias. Here in the US, we tend to follow rules more strictly than in Brazil, for instance, so we would view this commercials as an outrageous act. But, I believe in Brazil this is probably perceived as a creative way to humiliate the Argentinians (their arch-rivals in soccer - think Yankees/Red Sox times 100).

Believe it or not, this concept of cultural differences towards following rules was a lesson we learned from our Cross-Cultural Trainer before we left for Brazil (more about this in another post). In anthropological terms, it's known as Trompenaars' laws of Universalism vs. Particularism. According to the class, Germans and the Scandinavians tend to be the strictest rule followers; The Chinese, Russians, and certain Latin American cultures tend to be less driven by the means, and more focused on the results. I really enjoyed our CC training class - I find these kinds of differences fascinating, which is probably one reason I enjoyed my time in Brazil so much. I looked forward to discovering these cultural differences or linguistic differences. (Overview article here, more in-depth cultural differences discussion here).

Generalizing here a bit... My perception was that the people in Brazil tended to find creative and unique solutions to problems; solutions which may somewhat push the boundaries of "the rules"; the kind of solutions that once the result was achieved - the rule that was overcome was re-written to match the newly developed solution. The solutions were often based on superior negotiation skills, interpersonal relationships, or just overwhelming personal commitment to finding a way.

In Brazil, they have a word for this: "jeito" (or "jeitinho" diminutive form). Basically, it means finding a way around your problem. Here's an article explaining a little more, although the author tends to focus on illegal activities - this is not what I'm implying about my experience. In my case, I saw this spirit in action at work overcoming challenges or, at times, when my boss's executive assistant would find ways to make things happen for us - like getting certain government paperwork rushed through or dealing with disputes with our cell-phone service provider.

This is an aspect of the culture that really left an impression on me. It's a filter for me now when I'm watching the news, dealing with the crisis of the week at work, or just life in general. I think I'm more apt to try to view a situation from the otherside as a means to finding a win-win solution.

This could also explain why Borat was probably one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. See it if you haven't, and you will appreciate cultural differences, even if they are made up.

Happy Seniors

A loyal FLFB reader sent me the following link.

"They're much happier"

The article speaks for itself.

Turkey

Here in the US, it's Thanksgiving. This is our first Thanksgiving in the States since 2003. One year ago today we were exploring Macchu Picchu, Peru. Perhaps ironically, "peru" in Portuguese means turkey.

Two years ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our home in Sao Jose dos Campos. For probably the first time in my career, I was working on Thanksgiving day. I followed the Brazilian holiday schedule while working there of course, which turns out to me more lucrative in terms of days out of the office compared to the US schedule. My Brazilian co-workers often refered to Thanksgiving as "the most important holiday for the US". It's hard to say if it's the most important, but certainly does signify a time where familes and friends get together, eat copious amounts of food, and generally enjoy a few days off from work.

We were able to have a mostly authentic Thanksgiving day dinner in Brazil - the only table standard we were not able to find was cranberry sauce. There are no cranberries in Brazil as far as I was able to ascertain. (Blueberries were equally hard to come by, although someone did once tell me they spotted them in Sao Paulo) Beyond this realitively minor setback, we had just about everything else you probably had, or are going to have, today.

As for the turkey, we cooked what is known in Brazil as a "chester", which is either the same as turkey or some subspecies of turkey, I could never quite figure that out. But, it tastes like turkey nonetheless. Regular turkey is called "peru", but this bird they called "chester". Either way, it was tasty, and when cooked just right, comes out looking like this.
We had all the other standards: mashed potatoes, corn and other assorted veggies; I made some bread in our "Breadman" bread maker; salad; and a good bottle of Chilean wine.


Happy Thanksgiving.

Rio 22 - Restaurant Review

It's time for a new feature of Formerly Live from Brazil: Restaurant Reviews. In particular, you guessed it, Brazilian-themed restaurants. This past weekend, we found out about a Brazilian BBQ-style restaurant that recently opened up in Union NJ, off of Route 22. It's called Rio 22. Having been to quite a few authentic Brazilian BBQ restaurants (I've been meaning to post about these churrascaria restaurants as a topic here on FLFB, but haven't had the chance yet), my review will be based on comparing this restaurant to the real thing.

Atmosphere: Rio 22 has an upscale setting, very comfortable, clearly the kind of place to which you can bring a bunch friends, family, or co-workers and not have to worry about being too loud. This is similar to the ones I remember from Brazil. In some ways, it reminded me of "Porcão" from Rio de Janeiro, so I guess their name fits. Rio22 even had the red/green coasters on the tables to alert your waiter about your receptiveness to more meat.

Salad Bar: Conceptually, very similar. In fact, the layout of the salad bar was nearly identical, with various salads and plates of side-dishes arrayed around the circumference of a large table. The majority of the dishes were not the same as in Brazil, they were more reflective of local favorites. They did have a few fish-dishes (cod fish salad, and something with little octopuses), rice and beans, and chicken strogonoff which can be found in every Brazilian BBQ. I missed the sushi rolls, although Rio 22 has an entire Sushi bar to choose from - just not included with the salad bar (at least that I saw).

Appetizers: Every Brazilian BBQ lays out some appetizers on the table to go with the meal, typically fried bananas, Pão de queijo , french fries, bread, yams, small salgados stuffed with meat, and rice. Rio 22 had similar - french fries, onion rings, fried bananas, and I was happy to see pão de queijo . Very authentic pao de qeuijo, I might add. I hadn't had one of these in a while. Yum.

Drinks: They had imported Brahma. (See "Cervejas" below). I had a couple, but not a bucket. We didn't get any caipirinhas, but I imagine you could get a good one here.

Meat: Mmmmm. Meat. That about says it all. The never-ending, table-served meat included: top sirloin, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, roast beef, flank steak, chicken, lamb, and picanha. A real Atkins lover's dream, and your cardiologist's nightmare. I have been craving picanha ever since my BBQ post. I even stopped in at a local butchershop to ask for it, and they looked at me like I was from Mars. I just saw on Wikipedia that it's called "rump cover" in the US, so maybe I'll try that next time, although, if that's not what it's called, I'll get strange looks asking for that too. Rio 22's was a real treat, and it was excellent. It was really, really good to have this again. Another authentic touch was having farofa and vinaigrette salsa at the table for dipping or topping the meat, respectively.

Coffee: I had a good expresso after the meal, which tasted authentic.

Price. This is the most noteable difference. In Brazil, dinner for two at the local Rodizio always wound up costing about R$100 - including drinks and dessert. (roughly US$35 - US$50, depending on the exchange rate at the time). Here, it was about that much for 1 person. So, roughly 2x-3x the price. It's a bit of an unfair comparison though since meat, fish, and the going rate for cooks and waiters is less expensive in Brazil. For the price, the value you get is more than comparable to a night out at a good restaurant, if not more so given that it's all you can eat.

Recommendation: If you are curious about Brazilian BBQ, definately check Rio 22 out. If you know me, and would like to go, let me know and we'll plan a night. We went on a Sunday afternoon, so I didn't experience the nightlife. I have the feeling Friday or Saturday night would be a fun time to go, judging at least by the size and layout of the bar, and the drink specials.

If you go, let me know if you agree with my recommendation.

Asner: "...how'd you get so smart?"

<-- Click on TV for classic commercial with the answer. Does anyone else (besides my brother) remember this commercial, circa 1979?

One airplane ritual I forgot to mention in the "Spiderwebs" post was that I usually took along a book to read. I tend to read historical non-fiction - if I am going to spend the time to read something, I want to at least take away some interesting tidbits that I can talk about at cocktail parties. I have read a number of books on the US Civil War, inspired by what I consider to be the greatest documentary of all time, "The Civil War" by Ken Burns, and the opportunities I had to visit various Civil War battlefields. My "library" is heavily weighted with books on this topic.

One of these plane books was related to the topic of, you guessed it, Brazil. I believe I read this sometime during my first few months as an ex-pat; so, I already had some perspective on the country, and the book really came alive for me. The book is "A Death in Brazil" by Peter Robb. Do not be frightened by the title. The book it autobiographical in nature, telling Robbs' story as he meandered his way through Brazil's small towns and big cities, poor villages and fancy resorts. He intermixes Brazilian history, religion, culture, politics, and local foods into an vibrant picture of Brazil through a foreigner's eyes. I learned a lot about the country, and it helped me to adjust and learn to appreciate some of the cultural differences I myself was experiencing. The history of the founding of Brazil is fascinating - the legend has it that Pedro Álvares Cabral found Brazil by "accident" in 1500, however there is more intrigue to the story involving the Pope and secret agreements. The explorer's accounts of first seeing the native women "in all their unashamed nakedness" apparently goes on for pages and pages and pages in his official reports to the King of Portugal; this no doubt contributed to further Portuguese exploration of South America. Robb gets a great deal into the politics of Brazil, and equates it to the beloved Brazilian "novelas&quot; (soap operas). His writing style keeps the narrative moving forward while weaving a good sense of the culture and national identity into the mix. An excellent read. If you have ever visited Brazil, this would be a good book for reminiscing or putting your experience into perspective. If you have never been to Brazil or if you have somehow been inspired by my humble blog to learn more about Brazil - I recommend this book to give you a well-rounded perspective on this fascinating country.

I did manage to read a few more books then my usual pace while spending all that time in the air over the last few years. A couple other books that I remember and can recommend are:

"Between a Rock and a Hard Place", by Aron Ralston. This is an autobiography by Aron Ralston. You may remember his story from TV a few years ago - he was out one day hiking, when a boulder fell on his arm, and after a week or so of being stuck between "a rock and a hard place", he eventually used his trusty pocket knife to perform a self-amputation of his right arm. The story is not just one of "man vs. nature". It's really the story of Aron's passion for hiking, slot-canyoning, propensity for face-to-face encounters with bears, tales of avalanche survival, and assorted tales of outdoor adventure. The lead up to the inevitable dismemberment is well told and tension-filled, and is as much a psychological thriller as the story of the actual amputation. Would you have the guts to do it? I suggest this book for all the "outdoorsy" types. One moral of the story: if you are going to be out alone, doing something somewhat risky, always tell someone where you are going. Had at least one person known of Aron's general whereabouts, he could have been found earlier - not to say he wouldn't have lost the arm, but at least wouldn't have had to drink his own bodily fluids to survive.

"Freakonomics&quot;, by Levitt and Dubner. This is a fascinating book if you are into analyzing data and statistics, which I am. The author is an econmist, who pulls together seemingly dis-connected data to develop some interesting theories. For instance, he contends the drop in crime rates in the early-90's correlates to Roe v. Wade.

If you are interested in US Civil War history, I recommend "The Civil War, A Narrative" by Shelby Foote - if Ken Burns' piece is the definitve documentary, Foote's 3-volume set is the definitve narrative. Maybe someday I'll post some pictures from my visits to various Civil War battlefields, but I'll have to think of a good Brazil tie-in.

Interesting History Break

I'll take "Interesting Brazilian History for 200 please, Jack".

A short break from my musings on Brazil to hear from a few others. I came across two interesting articles today I thought I'd share.

1) Apparently, in the 1930's, Henry Ford started a rubber plantation in the Amazon in an effort to offset rising rubber costs. Due to a combination of rubber tree blight and cultural ineptitude, it was a miserable failure, to the tune of $200 million (in today's dollars).

Henry Ford in the Amazon

2) After the closing battles of the US Civil War, the then Emperor of Brazil sent recruiters to the Confederate states to seek out skilled cotton farmers. Some 10,000 confederates took him up on the offer, and emigrated to Brazil to seek what they considered they had lost at Appomattox. They settled in the town of "Americana", and managed to bring prosperity to the region. Although most of the heritage has now been lost, there are still celebrations reminiscent of the Old South.

Americana

We had talked many times about visiting Americana while we were in Brazil; I believe it was only about 3 hours from our house. I guess we probably should have made more of an effort. It would have been interesting to meet a Stonewall Santos or Paulo Longstreet.

Spiderwebs on a Plane

This week, while returning from yet another business trip, I realized it was the first night flight I had been on since Brazil. And, as I browsed through my mp3 player's directories, I realized I still have No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" onboard - and inspiration for my next post hit me.

Before actually living in Brazil, I spent a good amount of time flying back and forth - roughly 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there, repeat, over and over, for 9 months. I estimate at least 12 trips in 2004 x 10 hours each x 2 (round-trip) = 240 hours = 10 days in the air. As you can imagine, I racked up some serious frequent flier miles - by 2005, I reached "Executive Platinum" status on American, their highest rewards level.

There are a few flight options from NJ to Sao Paulo. Flying direct, overnight, there was a Continental flight out of Newark and a American flight out of JFK. The flights out of Newark were usually 767s, and the rest were 777s. Takeoff time was around 11pm, and arrival at around 6-8am, depending on the time of year. If you wanted to travel during the day, the best bet was early morning on American out of Newark, stopover in Miami, then onto Brazil. This put you on the ground in Sao Paulo by about 10pm. There is also a direct American flight out of Dallas I took a few times during business trips to the West coast. I even once took a Japan Airlines flight out of JFK. This was a direct flight to Sao Paulo, but the plane was just stopping over - most of the passengers already on the plane were Japanese who had just flown the 12+ hours from Tokyo - so the air onboard was a bit stale, to be kind. The fish-jelly-rolls for breakfast didn't help matters either.

The flight from NJ to Sao Paulo is about 9-10 hours and luckily my company has a policy allowing business class for any flight over 6 hours. I preferred the 777's over the 767 for seat comfort and roominess, but the 767 had the advantage in terms of entertainment. On the 767s, each BC seat would receive its own portable DVD player with an album of about 20 DVDs - which included a well-rounded selection of just-out-of-the-theater first runs, old classics, and even TV series like the Sopranos or Cheers. I remember watching "Animal House" one night and laughing hysterically. I watched The Godfather I, II, and most of III on one flight. On the 767, you could watch movies all night, but on the 777 you were limited to just one-time through on whichever movie you picked from the in-flight selection.

The in-flight routine brought comfort to me, and I got very comfortable with it. Knowing what to expect, nearly minute by minute, took a little of the anxiety of the long flight away.

Here's how a typically flight might go, either to or from Brazil:

10:30 - Pre-Board, Flight attendants hand out choice of orange juice, champagne, or water (usually got the water), choice of newspapers (never got 'em - too hard to fold), menu
11:00pm - Take off
11:20pm - Plane leveling off at 35,000ft.
11:25pm - Flight attendants take dinner order - I would usually get the steak, but sometimes the pasta if I was in the mood.
11:40pm - Flight attendants hand out Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. (These were great).
11:45pm - Warm nuts and wine. (I never thought about warming nuts before serving, but a few seconds in the microwave makes a difference).
12:00am - Hot towels, followed by linens for the tray table
12:00am - Around this time, the in-flight movies would start. I saw more movies in these 9 months than I have in the past 5 years. "Lost in Translation", "City of God" (not the Val Kilmer one), and this Japanese movie with subtitles that I can't remember the name of stand out as a few good ones.
12:10am - Fresh seafood course - cold crab, salmon meat
12:20am - Salad course
12:30am - Dinner
12:45am - Dessert - my favorite was the sundaes with whipped cream and butterscotch or caramel topping. I felt bad for the people in the first few rows of coach who had to smell all of this and had to be satisfied with the "Famous Amos" cookies or whatever they had.
1:00am - Clearing away the dinner plates and linens, and giving out bottles of water.

That was the last service from the Flight Attendants until breakfast. At that point, I'd just finish watching the movie. After the movie, I'd usually surf the in-flight music options. I listened to a lot of jazz and classical music - I even bought a few CDs of some jazz artists I heard onboard.

Or, I would fire up my mp3 player. Then, like now, my mp3 player carried my standard travelling albums:
- Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here" and/or "Dark Side of the Moon"
- a few _Opie_and_Anthony shows
- Shades Apart, "Save It"
- No Doubt, "Tragic Kingdom"
- Other random albums or songs


The album that got the most play was "Tragic Kingdom". I played it so much, it has become forever ingrained in my memory as the soundtrack of my flights to and from Brazil. Hearing the opening drum break and horn line of "Spiderwebs" (first song on the album) places me right back into the over sized seat of business class on an American Airlines jumbo. I became a bit superstitious about this album being on my mp3 player and the supernatural effects it has upon the safe passage of my flight. So, now it has become a standard on my mp3 player - even if I don't listen to it at all during the flight, just having it there brings good luck.

Between about 1am and around 5am, I generally would try to sleep, but I never got much "Quality" sleeptime. Mostly, I channel-surfed the inflight audio selections until it repeated (about a 2 hour frequency), then I might drift into a light nap. I can still hear that hollow whirring kind-of sound of the world rushing by at 500mph. The flight attendants would usually be reading or just chatting.

By 5:00am or so, they'd wake us up for breakfast. I usually just got a bagel and some fruit.
6:30 - begin decent
7:00am - landing and onto the whole customs routine (I'll save that for another post).

Flying business class internationally meant free use of the airline "lounges". My vote for best American Airlines club is Miami, followed by Sao Paulo. All the lounges offer unlimited booze and snacks. The Miami one has a tropical theme, and the one in Sao Paulo became my respite from the chaos after going through customs and the last of Brazil for another trip. The one in JFK is just standard, and it was there I usually felt a little depressed thinking about the long trip ahead and about being away from home for the next few weeks, so I have mixed emotions about that place.

The flight was indeed long (like this post), but the routine made it more bearable. Actually, I miss the adventure of the flights. Each flight meant I was heading to another few weeks of discovering Brazil, and discovering a bit about myself too.

Sao Paulo from window of 777:

Cervejas

While in Brazil, I was fortunate enough to sample some of the local brews. Well, "sample" might be understating it. Brazilian beer is good. Really good, in fact. The beer is always served at the perfect beer temperature - just to the point when little ice-crystals start floating around in the glass. Refreshing, crisp, and delicious.

My favorite local bar was "Dekave", just around the corner from our house. I would say about once a month or so, when we had had just about enough of work for the week, a good friend and his wife, and Sweetie and I would head over to Dekave for a few "baldes de cerveja" (Buckets or beer). Picture this...a shiny aluminum bucket, filled with ice; and nestled snugglely in the middle of their ice blanket are 4 or 5 cold, cold beers. The waiter pours the beer into your glass with skill to leave the perfect head on top. Drink. Repeat. The waiters have this style there of instinctively knowing when your glass is about 1/3 empty, and as if on autopilot, come over to top of your glass. By the time this has happened a half a dozen times, you have no idea how many bottles of beer you have consumed. Oh, well. When the bill comes, you'll have some idea, if you can still perform long division at that point. We all had a lot of fun at Dekave, and although I don't remember every night, some of my fondest memories from Brazil are of those good times, just letting the hours drift by with just the right mix of friends, conversation, and beer. Sadly, Dekave closed her doors a few months before we left Brazil, but given our friends had left Brazil as well, it wasn't the same anyways.

The beer we drank was mostly Bohemia. It's one of the most popular beers in Brazil. Brazil doesn't seem to have the limitless variety of micro beers you can find here, but you won't be disappointed by their mass produced varieties. All are much better in my opinion than beers like Budweiser, Miller, or Coors. I would say the lowest on my Brazil list would be akin to an Amstel Light in quality. I'm not a beer classifying expert, but I believe they were all lagers. Also, there is no such thing as a "light" beer in Brazil. "Light" and "Dark" only refer to the color, not calorie count.

My list of favorites:
1. Bohemia - best taste, generally slightly more pricey than the rest, but worth it.
2. Antartica - great taste, seemed to have more of a "kick" than the others.
3. Brahma
4. Skol - at first I didn't like this one, but it grew on me. It's one of the cheaper beers too.
5. Honorable mention: Xingu. Xingu ("Shin-goo") is a dark beer, almost sweet in flavor, it's not one to drink if you plan on drink more than a few in a night, but once in a while it hit the spot.

"Imports" in Brazil are not as popular. You could find imported Budweiser at Wal*Mart, but since I won't touch the stuff here, I couldn't imagine drinking it there. Heineken could also be found, and actually for cheaper than you can in the US (there's apparently a Heineken brewery somewhere in Brazil). There was a German beer, Erdinger , that could be found somewhat widespread in town. It was quite expensive compared to the others, but it was really the only imported beer we drank while there. (Side note, I found this beer today at the local liquor store and bought a 6-pack. Funny that a German beer would be the catalyst for this post about Brazil).

Here are some beer commercials from Brazil. TV in general is quite a bit more revealing than the US (see post on Boa Noite, Brazil), but these are tame and should not offend my more sensitive readers.

These are in Portuguese, so if you don't speak it, you may have some trouble getting the jokes. But, the visuals should be enough to give you the idea. The first two are my favorites.

Basic premise of the first one: This guy goes to eye doctor because everything he sees is square (square used as a metaphor for routine, ordinary, plain). After drinking a Skol beer, he begins to see circles everywhere - it's a miracle! The lovely eye doctor's assistant says "no...not again...he's cured".

In the second one, another guy, hearing about the good fortune of his buddy, tries his luck at the eye doctor's, pretending not to see circles. However, the lovely assistant is on vacation, so a different assistant is on duty. Hilarity ensues. At the end, he says to the lovely model, "Dona Carminha, come back from vacation, for the good of science!" Well, maybe it looses something in translation...

Enjoy.

Discovery Atlas: Brazil

Tonight, the Discovery Channel will be featuring Brazil in their Discovery Atlas series. I'm anxious to see what they cover. From the looks of the website, it appears to focus a on the Amazon, Carnaval, and Rio - the iconic "Brazil". I hope they delve a little deeper..

Here's a link about the series: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/atlas/brazil/brazil.html?clik=visit_site

Bem-vindo

According to my Statcounter account, it would appear I’ve had my first visitor from Brazil. This person was searching search.blogger.com (the Portuguese version) for “desfile lingerie”, and came across the 11th listing, which was my post on Boa Noite, Brasil. I’m willing to bet my site wasn’t exactly the kind of “information” he was seeking regarding lingerie parades, but he landed here nonetheless. I wonder if he stayed around long enough to read any of my other posts? I’ve had no other hits from Brazil since then, so I guess he didn’t bookmark it.

Meu novo amigo brasileiro, se você retorna aqui, escreva uma nota em “comments” com sua opinião sobre meu blog.

Interestingly, I've been getting about 100 hits per week. Ok, so I'm not exactly waiting around to be bought out by Google, and most of the hits seem to come from me or people looking for lingerie or "Chile presidental parade"; but, still, I'm surprised.

BBQ, Part II

The last time I posted the picanha had just hit the BBQ, and was cooking nicely. As you can tell from some of the pictures, the BBQ itself is much different than the propane grill type we are accustomed to. It's more similar to a pit-type BBQ.
Behind the grill area, is a wall of bricks with 21 holes each across their face. These holes form a grid-like pattern, and with a couple of adjustable height cross-bars in front, you have the ability to easily adjust the food's location with respect to the heat. This is why there are do many different types of skewers, to accommodate how to best support and position the food. I was better able to control the cooking with this setup, versus my propane grill in NJ.

Now that you know the secret to how the meat was cooked, here are the rest of the details on the picanha. After it chars on both sides a bit, take the meat off the fire and scrape the excess salt off (this is a trick that Pupio, the butcher from the butchershop I mentioned previously, taught me). Then, back to the flame. It took about 45 minutes or so to thoroughly cook a big picanha like this one - but worth every minute of the wait.

The taste of the picanha was really moist, tender, and flavorful. The natural taste of the meat - remember, no fancy sauces here. Can you really tell the difference in taste based on where the beef was from? Absolutely. The meat from Brazil was great, don't get me wrong. Brazil is known for their beef, and I can see why. But, the Argentinian was really special.

So, there you have it. That was a typical Sunday night in Brazil. I usually fired the BBQ up around 4pm, and we'd sit outside and have some quality time by the pool, maybe drinking some Bohemia's or Caipirinhas (look for these in other posts), just soaking it all in.

To bring it all together, here's a quick video.



Click here for FULL SCREEN.

Backyard BBQ

As I started back on Atkins again this week after putting on the "Re-Patriation 10", I've been eating a lot of beef lately. Beef - they say that Americans eat too much meat...obviously "they" have never been to Brazil. Brazilians have some very strong meat-related traditions, and the preferred style is BBQ. I'm sure in another post I'll deal with "Churrascarias", the Brazilian BBQ restaurants. (You've probably seen ads for ones in Dallas while perusing through the magazine conveniently provided in the seat back in front of you.) In this post, I'm going to guide you through what became a near weekly ritual for us - cooking BBQ in the beautiful BBQ pit on our gorgeous indoor/outdoor back patio.

This photo only shows the BBQ pit area, which was great in itself; I'll have to find some more pictures of the whole patio area. It really was my favorite room in the house. On weekend mornings, I would often just sit out there, relaxing, watching the hummingbirds stick their darty-beaks into the Bird of Paradise plants, and thinking "You don't see that in Jersey". I miss it.

Back to the BBQ routine...

A very popular cut of beef in Brazil is called "picanha" (pee-con-nhya). It's a cut you don't get at the ShopRite here, but, hey, it's all from the same beast. This particular cut comes from somewhere near the back end, I won't get too specific. Follow the link. I used to buy Argentinian beef from this great butcher shop in town. Good quality meats are about 1/3 of the price of here, much more than that if you consider that I got TOP quality beef at unbelievable prices. The piece like the one below probably set me back about R$25 - roughly $10. Imagine.

1. First Step: Buy the essentials. The Meat and coarse salt. And, of course, charcoal made from eucalyptus trees.



2. Fill the BBQ pit with the charcoal, and light. Usually the lighting involved copious amounts of alcohol-gel to get it going. In reality, if I had the patience, I could have used one bottle per year of the stuff vs. the bottle that went up in flames every two weekends.

3. Prepare the meat. The style here is minimalistic - no fancy BBQ sauces, no spicy rubs, or "secret" sauces - just meat and salt. Instructions. Cover meat with salt. Pat. Let stand. (for those with high BP, don't worry, the salt comes off later).





4. Choose the skewer. I had many to pick from: Single skewer, Double Skewer, or the "clam shell". I usually went with the clamshell for picanha - the skewer ones poked holes in the meat and I figured would let the moisture out. In the artsy-shot below, you can see the Bird-of-Paradise plant in the background, and our pool.


5. After clam-shelling, it's onto the pit. That's the picanha in the middle. I usually made some hotdogs for Edge, and a basket of mixed veggies, which you can see on the side.



This is getting to be a long post, and I'll admit that I am a bit frustrated with Bloggers ability to put the pictures where I want them without having to adjust the code. So, for now, I'll leave you full of anxiety as to what comes next for our dear picanha.

Feeling a little older today

Off the subject of Brazil for a post...

Last night, I attended Back to School Night at Edge's school. He's in 8th grade now, believe it or not for those that know me or him. The school seems nice, familiar. His teachers all seemed friendly and enthusiastic about teaching. The curriculum is more PC than I recall from my days. Now that the PC culture that has developed in the US has made being proud to be American nearly criminal, I just hope he will learn the facts, and not be editorialized to during class.

This year one of his teachers appears to be younger than me. Much younger - probably by a decade or more. I guess that threshold was bound to be passed at some point, and moves me one step closer to being officially "old". This particular teacher said "like", "you know", and "umm, ok" a lot, which I hope isn't reflective of the English, oh excuse me, now it's called "Language Arts", education he will be receiving. She also was a bit of an "uptalker", which drives me crazy. Other teachers are as I remember my 8th grade teachers: there's the strict one, the one that makes you record everything from the blackboard into a notebook word-for-word, the wacky-cool one, and the "hot" one. Let's hope there's not the "drop the pencil and lookup the girls skirt" one (you ex-Falcons will remember).

I guess I can go into a whole Brazil tie-in here too and talk about Edge's school in Brazil. Or I could drag this into a trip down memory lane for me and 8th grade. It's late though, and I'm tired - maybe in another post. Sing it Nena.

Copa

I was fortune enough that my last day in Brazil (13/Jun/2006), was also Brazil's first game of the Copa do Mundo (World Cup). Fortunate in that I at least got to experience one game of the Copa, Brazilian style. Here's how it went...

As you no doubt understand, "futbol" (pronounced "foo-chee-bowl" there)is religion in Brazil. Next to the 85% who claim to be Catholic (this is another interesting thing, 85% Catholic but I don't recall anyone going to church, ever), almighty Futbol is 100%. Each Brazilian male, and a healthy percentage of females, is required by law to have a favorite soccer team, and support them vehemently and to debate until words fail anyone who supports a rival club. Since the weather is nice year-round, so too are the soccer leagues. I never quite figured out how the leagues work - there just seems to be games on TV nearly every night. At the gym I went to, there was either a soccer game or novela playing nightly, but a soccer game of a local or regional team always trumped the novela. Period. Rumor had it that wearing the wrong team's colors into certain sections of the big cities is reason enough to rumble.

Brazil's first game was against Croatia. Croatia's not exactly a soccer powerhouse, but, hey if they made it to at least start the Cup, they had to be decent. About a month before the games, the schedule of work delays and closings appeared. The first game was at 4pm, so the plant closed at 2, just to make sure everyone had enough time to get to the bar, friend's house, or local restaurant where they and their friends/co-workers/family would gather to watch. The more games Brazil plays in, the more time off from work for everyone, so this is additional incentive to cheer for the home team. Not just my company either...every company. Stores lit up Green and Yellow starting about a month before, with as many Copa promotional tie-ins as possible. One sterotype that is proven true in Brazil is their love of the game, and their ability to play it. They recognize that the world recognizes this too, and they love it all the more. The Copa, in a very real sense, is Brazil's national pride on the line.

As game time approached, traffic slowed to a trickle, the streets cleared, and all that could be heard was the murmur of crowds and extermely loud party-favor noisemakers. Some noisemakers were powered by hydraulic cylinders, just to be sure. I met up with about 10 or so co-workers and headed over to a local watering hole. We were lucky to get an upfront seat, close to the ad hoc movie screen and projector setup for the game. Soon after, the beer started flowing, and the party was on. The game wasn't I believe Brazil's best effort, but they won 1-0. The crowd went wild at the goal, like you might in the States if your team scores a 50 yard last-second Hail Mary pass to win the game 24-23. Great stuff. Work and social life mix more than I find they do here, and watching a much anticipated soccer games is no exception. Thanks to my friends in Brazil for indoctrinating me in the ways of the Copa.

Altough I left Brazil the next day, I still followed their games. Of all countries to loose to, they lost to France and were denied getting out of the first round, something never before dreamed possible. Brazil and France are not at odds with each other as say the US and France are, but there is a bit of a rivalry. Argentinians consider themselves like the French of South America, and the Brazil/Argentina rivalry is well-known, therefore by default France is not a favorite of Brazil. When France eventually lost to Italy during the championship game, I felt better.

And so it went, my first and only Copa 2006 game in Brazil. Maybe for Copa 2010, I'll be back.

Boa Noite Brasil

Watching TV tonight, I ran across "Sabado Gigante" on the Spanish TV station. For those of you not familar with SG, the closest I can describe it is like a Hee Haw in Spanish. The show lasts for hours, and is a mish-mosh of comedy skits, live band performances, and commentary; all the while beautiful latinas in revealing outfits prance around in a seemingly pointless manner. I am willing to bet more than once when you were flicking through the channels one lonely Saturday night and you came across this show and the former caught your attention. The host Don Francisco, a German-Chilean, has apparently been hosting the show for decades. He tapes the show in Miami every week, then flies home to Chile. Nice.

Anyway, why am I bringing this up? SG reminds me of a couple of Brazilian TV shows. These type of variety shows are all the rage in Brasil (of course, Novelas and Soccer rule the airwaves; I'll come back to that another day), two I remember the most are "Boa Noite Brasil" and "SuperPop". Both are shown live, with production values not quite what you would expect from Oprah or Letterman, but more in line with Jerry Springer or Maury. They each come on at about 9 or 10pm, and run about 2 hours. Boa Noite Brasil is hosted by Gilberto Barros, a rather large man, who captivates his audience one day with wacky "Battle of the Sexes" contests, the next a serious topic like recovering from cancer or some other illness, and another day would be a "desfile de moda" - fashion parade. By fashion, most nights meant lingerie or bikini show. Gorgeous models parade on stage in lingerie and high heels while Gilberto and a panel of fashion experts talk in detail about the "fashion". Yea. Right. The fashion. The camera pans up the girl's body slowly, stopping about 1/2 way up and then again at about 3/4 of the way up. This would shock even Richard Bey's audiences.

In this clip, the show's topic is "Electrolysis - A treatment for cellulite". I don't remember seeing this particular show, but I'm willing to bet the girls were on the benches, bastically naked, while Gilberto and crew discussed the pros and cons of electrocuting your ass to remove cellulite. In this clip, one of the models falls off the bench. Remember - the show is live. Gilberto does his best to cover.




The other show, Superpop, I believe considers itself to be the Oprah of Brasil. The hostess is Luciana Gimenez, who's claim to fame prior to hosting the show was sleeping with Mick Jagger and having a baby by him. (As a side note, when the Stones were in Rio this year playing a free concert for 1.5 million of their closest friends, the country was a-flutter with the big question - will Mick go to see Luciana? He didn't.) Luciana does tackle some more serious issues like Oprah might, but still throw in a transexual discussion and, of course, desfiles once or twice a week. My wife liked Superpop, and I guess I did too. As I got better at Portuguese, it started making more sense. This is a commercial for Superpop which runs covers a bit of everything you might expect to see.



Go to Youtube and do a search for "Boa Noite Brasil" or "Superpop" and you'll see what I mean. You don't really need to understand Portuguese to get a feeling for the shows.

Tribute

A tribute to my favorite TV show, Sao Jose dos Campos style.




Click here for FULL SCREEN.

Special thanks to my wife and Edge for their camera work, and patience, as I scouted locations, obsessed over shots, learned how to get copious amounts of smoke from a cigar, and spent insanely long hours putting this together.

Soldiers Commercial

I'm doing a little testing here of linking to video. I have some of my own videos I was considering sharing, but I didn't want to publish them to YouTube for the whole world. So, consider this a bit of a test.



But, there is a Brazil tie in here for me. This commercial came out during the '05 Superbowl. The Superbowl is broadcast in Brazil over Spanish ESPN, but without the commericals. Curious about the Superbowl commericals that year, I searched online and found them. This one stood out to me. By then, we had been living in Brazil for about 6 months. When you live outside your country for a while, your native patriotism tends to increase in proportion to the time away. Anyway, this one really hit home for me, and I'll admit, I got "choked up" by it. Somehow, the part when the cooks start clapping really gets me. Even today when I watch it, I always think about sitting in my home office room, in Brazil, watching it for the first time.

Coxinhas

I was thinking about the food that I miss from Brazil. For example, Brazil has a whole category of food not typically found here, at least not outside of a waiter-carried serving dish from the last wedding you went to. "Salgados". Salgados translates to little salty filled pastries, which is a good description. There are many types, generally all served warm, in all shapes and sizes, with fillings ranging from ground beef, chicken, shimp or heart-of-palm (Brazilians' love heart-of-palm, but I never acquired a taste for it). One kind in particular that I miss is called a "coxinha". A coxinha [pronounced "co-sheen-ya"]is shaped by hand to look like a pear, made of some-sort-of-potato, with shredded chicken inside then deep fried to a golden brown. Not exactly what a sane person would call healthly, but damn tasty nonetheless. The regular size ones are large enough for a between meal snack all by themselves, but there is a mini variety which can be eaten a dozen at a time. The soft potato insides gush out a bit when you bite into one, but that's part of the experience. They are sometimes also stuffed with shrimp or catupiri, Brazilian cream cheese, but I always got the chicken, aka "Coxinha de Frango".

Googled

Google Earth recently updated the resolution on their coverage of Brazil. This was our house (2nd from left, brown roof):



By the way, I'm back. I guess this means I need to update the title of my blog. By the looks of it, it's been almost exactly 1 year since my last post. I have to admit, a lot has happened since the last post, including a few trips to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, my brother and family visited us in Brazil, as did a good friend a few months later, Macchu Picchu (you may remember Macchu Picchu from grammar school - you know, Peru, Incas, death-defying cliffs), Natal, Foz do Iguaçu, and of course our triumphant(?) return to the States.

A friend of mine over at winebythecolor.blogspot.com has inspired me to at least seriously consider getting back to updating this blog. I just might.

So, if there is anyone out there who actually reads this blog, if you are waiting for the conclusion of our Lagos Andinos story...just wait longer. Maybe I'll post it.