Long Overdue, But Never Forgotten

So I've definitely been MIA over the past month or two but I am back, back with a vengeance, because I'd say that I've probably spent half said month or two EATING and for awhile I even wrote about what I was eating (by hand!) in a little notebook I carry around. Let's start at the very beginning: Brazil. After I finished my five week course in conservation biology in the Atlantic Forest (which included heavenly meals prepared largely with ingredients from an organic garden on the premise), I headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest, fastest growing, and more importantly, most culinary city. In Sao Paulo, I ate myself silly. Here's what I recorded.

In the food section of a huge, open air fair, I went to a Japanese stand (Sao Paulo has a large Japanese population) and had:

- a sort of tempura pizza (no bread involved but it was round and flat like a small pizza) with shrimp, chopped onion, and a fresh green herb. one of the best things I have ever, ever eaten. they were making them right there, so I snapped some photos of the process, which entailed slathering a round metal grid at the end of a long handle in batter and the other ingredients, and then dunking the grid into hot oil.


- excellent yaki soba with chinese broccoli, cabbage, and carrots
- rice noodles with cabbage, carrots, and onions

All of these things I topped with some kind of delicious black garlic paste

At a different, similar fair, another day:

- pastel (pocket of dough deep-fried until blistery) filled with chicken and caitupury cheese
- crispy corn bread ball, cut in half, topped with shrimp and fresh herbs and plated with a chopped green tomato salad. when i reached for the hot sauce a woman warned me that it was powerful, but i am arrogant and proud and so i doused it anyway--it was REALLY hot. almost too hot...but I'm still here.

At a lancheonette (lunch counter), which are everywhere in the city and all seemed to be incredibly cheap and delicious:

- plate of rice, beans, a fried egg, sliced sausage
- small salad of lettuce, tomato, onion
- fresh mango juice

In Libertad (Japantown!):

- six takoyaki, which are a type of Japanese dumpling made with a sort of gummy rice (?) dough and baked I believe: 2 polvo (octopus), 2 queijo (cheese), 2 camarone (shrimp). SO DELICIOUS.

As a side note, I also picked up origami while in Libertad, and have since gotten pretty good. I can make, fittingly, several different marine animals.

Then one day, as I was traveling with a vegetarian, I went to a vegetarian India restaurant--a Hare Krishna restaurant, actually, and had a fantastic prix fixe meal (only option) consisting of:



- dal w/ lentils
- brown rice w/ corn and a fresh green herb
- quinoa w/ raisins, cashews, and a fresh green herb (there must be an herb-tasting course somewhere, right? I want to take one, I think my palate is underdeveloped)
- veggie kabob with meatless sausage, red and green peppers, onion, other veggies I can't remember, rather bizarrely topped with a strange sweet cheese
- little corn cakes topped with with a sweet tapenade of tomato and red pepper
- salad of some kind of bitter lettuce, apples, and walnuts, drizzled in a vineagrette
- fiber cake topped with a layer of chocolate goo and a white frosting
- I wrote down juice and I can't remember what kind it was but I remember it being phenom--all the juice in Brazil is
- warm Chai with milk & honey
- handful of pan masala



And that about does it for Sao Paulo--the standouts, anyway. Oh, except one night I went to a fancier, more international restaurant and had really delicious appetizers, the best being small toasts with slices of fig, brie, and honey. Simple, perfect flavor combination.

That was exhausting. I wish I remembered more. I also wish I hadn't gained 10 lbs since I left the States, but is anyone surprised?

Next post: Rio!