FOOD!!!

one of the things brazilians do very well is fresh bread. i went to the local market at night and the man at the counter told me the bread wasn~t fresh because it was made that morning. he wasn~t going to sell it to me until i told him i dind~t mind. jeez, how spoiled, to throw away bread made just that morning! i am used to preserved bread bought at safeway so it~s such a treat for me to get fresh bread daily!

i have also come to adore this cheese spread everyone uses. it~s called cremosa and it~s a white creamy cheese that comes in a glass cup with a tin lid. it~s spreadable, like butter, but has the flavor of cream cheese but less tart. it~s my new substitution for mayonaise.

the other night, julianna made pasta. she cooked onions, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and garlic in a pan and served it over buttered parmesay cheesy spaghetti. it was really good! and different, considering there was no red sauce. plain wheat bread was served on the side.

there are so many types of juices here. they are hard to explain in terms of flavor. of course we all know what strawberries taste like, and they do a mean strawberry juice. there~s also maracuja, which is a fruit that i confuse with everything, including an avocado (they look the same) and tastes very bitter unless mixed with sugar.

there~s passion fruit juice which is always gone when i go to buy it! my favorite! there~s mango which tastes exactly like mango puree. and the other great ones are goiaba and caju, both tropical fruits. caju looks like a small bell pepper and comes in the same colors. it bears the cashew nut, which protrudes from the fruit like a stem. what makes the juices so good is that they actually taste like the fruit, go figure. there~s not a lot of sugar, preservatives, color and flavor added. it~s simple and delicious, like most everything here.