My Favorite Restaurant...

French Bistro for Date Night

For our date night, Brody and I went to a French restaurant that has been on my "Restaurant List" for awhile. The Bistro's teal door and romantic courtyard entrance immediately caught my eye as we strolled around our neighborhood when we first moved into our apartment in the beginning of February.

This note from the owners posted on a wall in the courtyard, sums up the entire experience perfectly!

Welcome! Ruella was created for us to celebrate the wisdom of living life intensely, with aromas and big flavors finding love. Remembering that the true success of life is to be happy and to have fun.
With affection, Danielle and ?

Yes! I translated the note above without using google translate! 

Covering the walls of the restaurant are unique black and white photos and colorful paintings. Each table has different chairs and is lit by candlelight.

To begin, I ordered a walnut and roasted pear salad with gorgonzola cheese. For my entree, I enjoyed the fetuccine pasta with pesto sauce, fresh basil, grape tomatoes and olives. 

 Brody ordered the artichoke heart and garlic pasta. I love the fresh rosemary garnish on his plate! 

I can officially say that Ruella is now my favorite restaurant in Sao Paulo! The food is delicious and the ambiance is perfect for a romantic evening! Even better, it is right around the corner from our house. 

Easter Eggs, Golfing and Paintings

Not unlike Americans, Brazilians celebrate Easter with lots of chocolate! This week my students brought me more chocolate than I could ever eat. The huge chocolate eggs wrapped in colorful packaging hang from the grocery store ceilings. Inside each chocolate egg are little bite-sized chocolates!

Notice the cute note from a student on a sticky-note!

Last night, Brody and I went to the driving range with some friends. Brody brought his golf clubs that he bought from a co-worker moving back to England for $50.

Brody, Lehi, Chris, Alwyn

Mari and Alwyn

and he broke one...

Here are two paintings that I have been working on this weekend. We are going to hang these above the bed to add more color to our all-white room.

Hope you like them! Have a Happy Easter!

Friends, Feijoada, and Beer

6 half-pint beers for only 25 reals!

Beer Tasting

After the International festival, Brody and I joined a few of my teaching friends for beer tasting at a brewery in Sao Paulo. Most of the Brazilian beer is pretty light. We had fun tasting darker Brazilian brews!

Iian and Kim
Kim teaches down the hall from me!

 

Hamilton and Maggie
Maggie teaches high school math at my school.

Feijoada and Samba Dancing

Last weekend, Brody and I spent our Saturday at a restaurant/ bar called Samba, in Vila Magdalena, known to be Sao Paulo's Bohemian and artsy district. We split feijoada with six of our friends.The feijoada was yummy, but the samba band and people watching was even better!

The Feijoada was served with ribs, sausage and farofa.

Feijoada is prepared with black beans, salted pork, beef,  and sausage.

Brody added this hot sauce to his feijoada. He added way too much!
This sauce packs a punch!

International Festival

On Saturday, my school hosted their annual International Festival. The school is transformed, flags are hung from the ceiling and booths are set up for each country represented by Chapel families. The American booth served milkshakes, french fries and chili dogs. The Brazilian booth served feijoada, brigadeiros, and caipirinhas. I volunteered for two hours selling tickets and serving drinks, so I was able to enjoy the festival for free.

The British booth was upstairs, they had bag pipers and served finger sandwiches, and delicious cookies. It was set up like a tea room.

The Lebanese booth and Argentinean booth were huge! The Japanese booth served sushi and the Chinese booth served egg rolls, vegetable dumplings and a delicious noodles.

Teacher friends enjoying the festival.
Erica, me, Vivian, Kahlie

Brigadeiros at the Brazilian booth. This candy is made from
sweetened condensed milk, chocolate powder and butter. 

The Mexican booth served Tres Leches cake, chips and guacamole!
The decorations were breathtaking!

Empanadas and Malbec wine were served at the Chilean Booth.

Flags on the ceiling and samba dancers on the stage!

We could not get over this man Samba dancer's costume!
Love the tie, sleeves and collar...without the shirt!

Tasting Chilean Malbec wine!
Vivian, me , Kahlie

Housewarming Party

On Friday, Brody and I invited a few friends from my school over to celebrate our new home in Brazil! I found two amazing recipes on Pinterest for appetizers and we served beer, a specialty cocktail, and wine.

Here are two photos of the spread before the party began...

I found this Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip recipe from closetcooking.com
It was a hit!

This is the specialty cocktail...

Champagne, vodka, beer, raspberry lemonade, sprite, starfruit

I could not resist adding garnishes to the glasses...

Found these roses at the supermercado...

I made this Goat Cheese and Roasted Pepper Crostini recipe from one of my favorite food blogs: twopeasandtheirpod.com. 

After appetizers and cocktails, we walked down the street to a restaurant for dinner, then some people went out! Overall, we had a blast!

More apartment photos...

I promised to post a few more photos of the apartment and here they are! 

Living Room

We are planning to hang the TV on the wall, but need to borrow tools from a friend.
Until then, it sits on our coffee table.

View from the front door

Looking into the apartment from the balcony

Clean kitchen! Laundry room is behind the sliding door.

Cookin' in Brazil

Brody and I are finally feeling at home in Sao Paulo! In fact, we have two fabulous grocery stores just around the corner from us. Pao de Azucar is where we buy the basics and Terra de Naturaleza is our organic produce grocery store. 

Last week, I found this dry chardonnay that I love! It is made in Peru and the description is beautiful. That is why I enlarged the photo below. 

Aroma: Fruity, with traces of pineapple, maracuja and apples

Last week, I bought four carambolas (startfruit) and we ate them for dessert during the week! Yummy!

This week, I bought Caqui a popular dessert fruit here. I love it because it is sweeter and juicier than a plumb and you can eat it with a spoon.

Last Monday, I baked this Broccoli and Chicken Casserole. Brody LOVED it, but I don't think it can be a weekly recipe because the calorie count is a bit high.

 Last Wednesday, I made this asparagus and squash pasta. Unfortunately, I can only find the large salt granules here, so this dish came out too salty.

This week I made this scrumptious smothered chicken with spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella. To accompany the dish, Brody sautéed asparagus.

 On Wednesday. I made chicken salad lettuce wraps. The chicken salad had almond butter, honey, gala apples, and red grapes in it.

 Our fabulous maid, Maria came for the first time on Wednesday and she made rice and chicken for us, too! We saved it for dinner on Friday!

Believe me, we are eating like kings here! I am really enjoying the fresh produce here and the fact that nothing has preservatives. Everything tastes so fresh! Bon apetite!