Falcon Photography

• I’m spoiled. I miss my Kinko’s. Having fun with the local copy shop in Macaé, Brazi. Even with technology bridging the gap, I am frustrated. #

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• Bom dia! Slept in, had a filling breakfast, & now off to see what this city and beach has to offer me. Pictures later. #

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• Finally got my act together and updated blog. Sad thing is that it took me leaving the country to do that. Anyone want to meet me in Brazil? #
• Chronicles of my Brazil trip. Maybe I will be more consistent in the future. http://blog.kfalcon.com/ #
• Have been off everything preparing for this implementation for so long. Need to catch up with everything. Where to start? #
• A shout out from Brazil to @CeeCeeUK. Congrats on your new job! #

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Boa noite! That’s good evening in Portuguese. And what a good evening it was. I had the pleasure of eating dinner with Jorge, a colleague and his girlfriend Natalie (sp). We ate a one of the restaurants along the beach. I was a sojourner along for the experience.

First things first, a cerveja, or beer to get things started. I asked (in English) to our waiter about whether they had any dark beers. I prefer them to pale ales. He responded that they did have a dark beer, Brahma Malzbier, but it was a sweet beer not “dry” as he described the pale beers I have tasted so far on this trip. I’m game I told him thinking that “how sweet can it be?” Well, let me tell you, it was dark, yes, AND IT WAS SWEET. You know how a bite into a lemon or lime will quickly take you off guard… that is how I felt. It was not intolerable so I drank it but I order a Brahma regular after that.

Now on to the meal. We had a shared meal with all the fixings. Here’s the list of food. Steak (cut similar to rib eye) with sausage & cheese. Yes, I said cheese. It looked like a pat of butter when placed on the steak but didn’t melt. Rice, French fries (rice AND French fries are served together a lot), added to spice up the French fries were some fried bananas (yuck) and some fried Yucca, a dish that looked similar to pico de gallo. No one ate any of this but hey, it looked good. But wait there’s more. Finally a dish that looked like small red/black beans, chopped cilantro (I think), small chunks of ham (I think), and some seasoning all tossed together.

The collective food was enough to feed 4 people and all of it was very good. I am still trying to figure out the method of eating farofa. It is a dry corn meal looking dish, which is actually a roasted flour. It is typically served along these types of meals. I tried it straight up. DRY. Don’t do it.  I put it with my rice, still dry. Mixed it with steak juice. Wet but didn’t get any specific taste from it. I am not giving up on this. Going to keep trying it until I figure it out. Will keep you informed.

After dinner, we did what most people here do… we walk along the beach. They have a boardwalk, sidewalk, & a bike path to accommodate all types of methods of transportation. We walked one way (southwest) until we ran out of boardwalk then turn around. By the time we  reached the street where the car was parked, we all were all moist with perspiration. The weather is still very warm & humid during the day and not much cooler in the evening. The ocean breeze helps a little but I was hot from the walk. So we decided to call it an evening.

I want to thank my host, Jorge & Natalie, for reaching out to a visitor and making him feel welcome to their city. Enjoy the pictures.

So one thing I haven’t done a lot of so far was to capture the view of my food here. I am usually very hungry by the time served so I usually was part way through when I realized, no picture. I will try to get more pictures for you. I have a few pictures but I can tell you that so far, the food is not spicy. Generally, I have been told the food is not spicy. Now this is quite a bit different than the three alarm chili that can be found easily in Texas so if I run across any spicy food, you will be the first to know. Let me recap some of my notable food experiences so far…

Breakfast. European is how I would describe the breakfast here at the hotel. Lots of fruits. Mango, pineapple, kiwi, watermelon, etc. suitable to satisfy most fruit fanciers. Cheese, meats, and breads. Just like Europe where you see a selection of cured meats, cheeses and many types of bread are also available. And also, the more American breakfast items, scrambled eggs, bacon, & toast. Although they have a few unique items. Mini croissants that are filled with crumbled bacon, cheese bread, which look like a cheese puff but has a cheese baked in (tasty). I never have a problem with breakfast.

Lunch. I understand that lunch for Brazilians are their biggest meal. Unlike Americans who typically eat their largest meal at night. Lunch here is a big deal. I only have a picture of lunch from the food court at the local mall where I ate the other day to show. It is of a shrimp dish. One thing I have noticed is that they use real (read metal) utensils with fast foods. I was very surprised to find a real fork & knife when I ate lunch the other day. The other thing of note. Rice. Rice is a staple and it not uncommon to have many starches on your plate. For example, today, I ate a great little restaurant on the beach that served rice, French fries, & farofa, which is a manioc flour that is toasted. It look more like the consistency of corn meal. It is a favorite in Brazil and though I have tried it, I didn’t go gonzo over it. Maybe I didn’t eat it correctly so I intend to try it again but it just didn’t knock my socks off (like the Caipirinha). Now for dessert at this beach restaurant, which is called Ilhote Sul (sorry don’t have a translation for this). It was described a brownie and I thought, Hmmmm, that should be interesting. It was fantastic. It was a warm brownie covered with warm chocolate fudge sauce (I think) and a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. Heavenly. People who know Blue Belle ice cream knows that it is a wonderful brand. Well when I tasted this ice cream, I swear it was as good. My first thought was, Amy would love this dish. The brownie was soft, chocolate sauce warm, and the ice cream balanced the two. Yum!

Dinner. I have eaten a few local restaurants and can say that I am trying to find and eat the typical meal. I don’t know what that really is yet. So I have of course when reviewing a menu (sometimes it is in English) looked for any dishes that I have had before and wondered if they make it similar to what I know. The other night, I went to a pizza restaurant and ordered a “Portuguesa Especial” which is a pizza with (musserala, presunto, bacon, cebola, pimientao, azeitonas, palmito, & alho). Very good pizza. Will definitely go back for another meal there. The crust is thin. No deep dish style here. The fun part was climbing the stairs to the second floor. Very short, tall steps and let me tell you. Too many cervejas (beer) and you will definitely need to get down. I cannot say that I have had a great steak yet. My colleague doesn’t eat meat so she was at a loss to put me in a prime steak house. She has told me she would inquire for me. Until then, don’t hand me that plastic fork, I have been spoiled.

So in my last post I mentioned a Caipirinha as Brazil’s national drink but what I didn’t tell you was that I HADN’T drank one. Until now. So let me give you the story.

In my hotel, they have a theme of food each night and the bar offers something similar by way of music/happy hour items. Well it just happened to be Bossa Nova night when I had the pleasure to try a Caipirinha for the first time. First let me tell you of the Caipirinha.

Well the base ingredient is Cachaça which is made from sugarcane. Wikipedia has a recipe if you want to try making it at home. Ingredients are very simple. Cachaça, lime, and sugar. That’s it.

I had the luxury of having my first made by Michael, the bartender in my hotel bar. Even better was the fact that it was free! Thanks Michael. So how does it taste, you ask? Sweet and refreshing. I could see this being a great drink for the beach or while lounging by the pool where the heat would compliment the sweet taste of the drink.

OK so back to Bossa Nova music. On this night, we were entertained by a local group that the hotel hires to provide some happy hour music. Bossa Nova is a style of Brazilian music that means new trend in Portuguese (why are you surprised? Look at where I am). It was a style that was popular back in the late 50s and early 60s. It is a style based on Samba and jazz. It is great music for the bar, easy listening, smart lyrics, with that jazz flavor. All I know is that it goes well with a Caipirinha!