Juquehy Beach

A Relaxing Getaway

Last weekend, I traveled to Juquehy Beach with friends from the American School where I teach. There were five of us in all, and we had a blast! Sadly, Brody could not come with us because he was playing in a softball tournament with the American Society of Sao Paulo. The tournament lasted for eight hours and Brody's team won 2nd place!

The beach crew left at 6:45am on Saturday morning, drove for three hours and were able to set up our beach chairs by 10:00am! Unfortunately, it was cloudy most of the day. 

The beach was gorgeous. Surrounded by green mountains, it was the perfect escape for a weekend. 

 This man sold cashews on the beach, I captured his conversation with the man selling ice cream. Wouldn't you balance the cashew bin on your head if you could!? What great posture!

 My friend, Jenny, who teaches third grade bought these amazing lamps (below) from a man selling them on the beach. They are made out of dried Acai roots. We placed the floor lamp in the center of our circle, and acted like it was our lil' campfire!

 We ate corn and drank beer while resting on the beach!

 Jenny, 3rd grade teacher, Me, and Kahlie, 1st grade teacher

We posed in front of the purple flowers. Kahlie bought her pink rose on the beach!

 We ate on the outside patio of an adorable restaurant. The patio was decorated with colorful hanging lamps, and the wine glasses were huge! Sipping a dry Chilean Chardonnay was the perfect way to relax after a busy week at school.

The cup was almost as big as my face!

Colorful umbrellas 

This is a Coconut Caipiroska (made with Vodka). 

Kahlie and Jenny with the lamps!

Our decorated beach umbrella.

The water was very cold. 

I bought a colorful cover-up from this cart on the beach.

After dinner drinks, listening to live music. Mike and Rusty teach High School Math and ride the bus with me to school everyday.

New Dinner Recipes

Here are a few recipes that I have baked in the lil' Brazilian kitchen recently:

Potato and Chicken Casserole

Quick and Easy Spinach Quiche

from http://www.food.com/recipe/quick-easy-spinach-quiche-382094

 I substituted pie crust with simple crackers and shredded cheese with sliced pieces of a Brazilian cheese.

Tonight I made:

Melt in your Mouth Chicken

from: http://www.kitchme.com/recipes/melt-in-your-mouth-chicken-breast?invite=26xq-p

Only 5 ingredients:

1. Chicken breast halves

2. Light mayonnaise

3. Grated Parmesan Cheese

4. Salt and Pepper

5. Garlic Powder

Butternut Squash with Honey

Fruit salad with green melon and teeny, tiny plumbs

Final Product

5 Brazilian Fruits

1. Caqui:

This fruit looks almost exactly like a tomato, but it tastes like a plum.  http://www.enirvana.com.br/blog/caqui-fruta-do-outono-traz-inumeros-beneficios-a-sua-saude 2. Sapoti: A sandy-colored berry that looks like a potato and tastes like a pear. http://www.nutricaoemfoco.com.br/pt-br/site.php?secao=alimentos-S&pub=1152 3. Jabuticabas: Similar to a grape with rough skin http://maovisivel.blogspot.com.br/2011/07/sobre-jabutis-e-jabuticabas.html 4. Pitanga Considered the Brazilian Cherry http://www.sjbonline.com.br/noticias/pitanga-fruta-referencia-em-sao-joao-da-barra 5. Caju Too tart to eat. It is used to make fresh juice, and of course, for the cashew nut. The actual nut sits on top of the fruit. http://www.gbissau.com/?p=1349

Broa Caxambu

I am officially obsessed with these Brazilian breakfast biscuits made with cornmeal and fennel. Our local grocery store bakery bakes these daily, and they are always in a groups of three for some reason. These biscuits have replaced my Pao de Quejo obsession, and when I take a bite, I feel all cozy and warm inside. 

It is the same feeling that I used to get after eating gingerbread cookies during winter. Needless to say, these sweet morsels are becoming my new Brazilian comfort food!

Photo Source: http://adorocrochet.blogspot.com.br/2012_10_01_archive.html

Photo Source: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2v1_fDmdi6G0ZN5KXvGKUA

Photo Source: http://www.melindanacozinha.com/2012/03/broa-caxambu.html

I researched how to make these tasty biscuits and found this easy recipe here:

http://www.bemsimples.com/br/receitas/438-broa-caxambu

These are the ingredients:

Wheat flour, Cornmeal, Sugar, Baking powder, Eggs, Unsalted butter,Fennel

Plus, I can imagine tons of different mixtures, like adding chocolate or cinnamon to make it more of a cookie, than a breakfast biscuit. Even adding blueberries and raspberries to make it a bit more tangy and more of a scone is a viable possibility.  I can't wait to try baking these this week! I will let you know how it goes.

Fondue with the Girls

Friday Night Dinner with the Girls!

 The girls went out last night to celebrate the end of a super busy week of school! Report cards and goals are due next Tuesday, and Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming up, so the whirlwind of work and meetings has only just begun. But, we made it through the week!

Kahlie, upper-left teaches 1st grade, Jenny bottom-left teaches 3rd grade, Erica bottom-right teaches Biology in the high school.

 Hannover, a fondue restaurant in Moema, serves multiple types of fondue. From the traditional cheese fondue and meat with vegetables to chocolate fondue with fruit, one's taste buds are constantly surprised. We ordered a new type of fondue for me, we cooked the meat in white wine (could have cooked it in oil, as well) and tried 14 different sauces.

 Each sauce container was labeled with a number.

 Here are the choices: 1. Onion, 2. Garlic, 3. Olive Oil, 4. Condiments?, 5. Pepper, 6. Curry, 7. Cheese, 8. BBQ Sauce (this one was white!), 9. Chimichurri (I have no idea what is in it!), 10. Mint, 11. Honey-Mustard, 12. Jelly, 13. Rose, 14.Dill

 A photo from above, you can see the skewers with the meat cooking in the wine AND the 14 sauces.

A view of the restaurant

I love this photo because I captured the smoke from the fondue and the girls being silly!

 After dinner, Erica and I went to a bar with blue lights. I just happened to be wearing the perfect shade of blue to match the walls! Don't you love Erica's tutu skirt!?

Cheers! Saude! Chin!Chin! To a night to remember! 

Cookin' with Fresh Produce

After buying fresh produce at the feira last weekend, I was inspired to cook two new *healthy* casserole recipes loaded with veggies.

First, I baked a Squash, Tomato and Red Pepper Casserole with Quinoa. It was interesting trying to chop the acorn squash in my lil' kitchen! I followed the recipe exactly, except I did not buy the fresh herbs and I used sliced french bread instead of crumbles. I found the recipe here:

http://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/2012/08/recipe-tomato-squash-and-red-pepper-gratin.html

Here are the photos from my tiny Brazilian kitchen:

 I made a side dish of broccolli with parmesan cheese, red-pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

The red-pepper flakes added a kick!

Brody's Colorful Plate

I found this Loaded Cauliflower Chicken Casserole recipe on Pinterest. 

http://rachelschultz.com/2013/05/01/loaded-cauliflower-chicken-casserole/

I changed the recipe a bit by adding broccoli and using swiss cheese (because you can't find cheddar in Sao Paulo-- definitely not shredded). I did not use bacon and I added parmesan crumbles on top. 

Delish!