Not so ordinary day

On our way to the park one afternoon, my daughter and I saw a young man on the street comfortably sitting beside a couple of huge garbage bins.  I couldn’t really tell the exact color of his clothes – a polo shirt and knee-length shorts.  From the opposite side of the street where we walked, I could only see shades of brown, gray, and black, including his shoes and beret hat.

He was firmly holding a plastic cup and with a small piece of bread, he was scraping whatever is left inside that cup.  I could tell that the cup was an empty container for doce de leite, a sweet spread made of eggs, milk, and sugar.  I have become very familiar with that kind of packaging since doce de leite became our perfect choice to jazz up several slices of bread for our cafe da manha (breakfast) or even lanche (snack).

Sinking his teeth into the tiny bread already coated with the spread, the man looked as though he had just found a bliss while in the middle of a long day of mining rubbish from nearby bakeries, meat shops, and apartments. 

More ’sweets’ from Brazil

Aside from the delicious desserts that come in various colors, textures, and designs, there are other similarly sweet things in Brazil that never go unnoticed, especially for an expat like me…

Tudo bem? (everything fine?) – The ‘oi!, which means ‘hi’ is always followed by ‘tudo bem?’ and the latter gives some warmth to the usual coldness of the ‘hi’.  While it might just be a usual greeting for Brazilians, it means so much more to me especially if it comes from strangers or people I meet in the stores, supermarkets, playground, etc.

Beijos e abracos (kisses and hugs) – in Pelotas, people kiss each other on the cheecks three times alternately after or while saying ‘tudo bem’.  I heard that Brazilians from other states kiss only twice but just the same, it’s a sweet thing. The kiss is a form of greeting for friends and relatives and an act of showing a warm welcome to someone new. 

When we were invited by a Brazilian friend for a dinner with her family and friends in her cozy home, the warmth from those hugs and kisses that came with friendly smiles really made us feel like we’re also part of the family.

Beijos in public – couples here kiss in public places. In the Philippines, this isn’t a usual scene. At first, I got the shock of my life when I saw couples on the park benches kissing one another.  While I have read before that this is indeed common in many countries, I was never prepared for it.  But those kisses are the tender and loving rather the lustful kind thus making them pleasant for the curious ones to look at.

City of ants

Just recently, the city government here displayed a number of these ants at the centro not really for children to climb and play with but to symbolize its sweets industry. Pelotas is famous for its sweets and people can’t seem to get enough of them.

There are perhaps as many variations as the number of docerias that sell them. These delights, which look like bite-sized cakes, are made using locally available ingredients like cassava, cocoa, coconut, milk, eggs, and fruits like ameixa (plum) and cereja (cherry).

Fala Ingles?

The question Fala Ingles? (Do you speak English?) always comes handy whenever I fail to go through a conversation with a Brazilian.  At the start of the conversation, I would feel confident that I could get through it with ease but often, as the conversation gets more interesting, I hear more complex words that have not yet been listed in my Portuguese vocabulary.

That question somehow became a statement of surrender, meaning, I’m lost and I would certainly want to have the conversation in English instead. 

Lately, however, I have consciously tried not to use that question so I can force myself to learn the language.  It has never been easy but I think I’m now beginning to see positive results.  With basic phrases at hand, living here has become so much more comfortable.

Coconut cookies

Have your afternoon tea with these delightful cookies! I came up with this fresh-from-the-kitchen recipe so that I could use the leftover shredded coconut that had been sitting in my kitchen cabinet for a couple of days.  I was quite lazy to look up for recipes so I just allowed myself to go by “instinct”, without strict rules to follow.  The cookies came out surprisingly delicious.  They are a little bit “cakey” and smooth and not so sweet, just the way I want them to be.

Here’s how to make them…

Dads, tie their shoes

What could be sweeter than this! My daughter wanted to remove the pebbles that sneaked into her shoes and my husband, after removing the source of her discomfort, was putting back those pink shoes. 

I have a similar experience when I was about her age.  I can still recall that early morning while we were all getting ready for school, my father managed to put the tiny ruffled socks on my feet as it was then too complicated for me to do it alone. 

Sitting on a chair, I watched his calloused hands do the job.  That was an extraordinary day for me because he didn’t do it all the time.  In fact, that was probably the first and last time he did it as far as I can recall. 

That’s the sweetest thing my father ever did for me.  It made me look at him without his usual straight and barely smiling face.  As a child, I took it as a message of pure and selfless love.

I’ll show this picture to our daughter when she’s older.  I’m sure it will speak of that same message of love.

So, dads, tie your kid’s shoes and they will love you more!

The homey appeal of churrasco

Of the many Brazilian delicacies I have tried, churrasco, which is the most famous barbecue in this country is the one that makes me feel at home the most.  It is because in my hometown in the Philippines, there is an equally great-tasting delicacy, which is prepared in almost the same way as churrasco.  We call it insarabasab, which literally means “grilled”. 

Although I’m not a meat lover, every bite of churrasco, no matter how small, always pleases me both physically and emotionally.  That familiar taste and smell never fail to create a piece of home for me.

The season for pretzels

Christmas reminds me of Jack ‘n Jill pretzels – those biscuit sticks thinly coated with chocolate, sealed in crisp matte plastic and packed in a small red and brown box.  They came as Christmas gifts from my classmates in a public elementary school -from someone who picked my name in the exchange gift portion of our class party or classmates who became my close friends.  

During Christmas, those pretzels were always a hot item, at least in my hometown in the Philippines.  They were cheap enough that almost everybody could afford them.  Just before schools would hold their Christmas parties, the local stores would stack up these pretzels, already wrapped in fancy papers that bear Christmas symbols.  The special ones would be wrapped in glossy papers and with a tiny ribbon on them.