This nice coconut

Is delicious. Also, on that note, we had guests in over the holidays and one guest got the first bad coconut we've bought. One out of however many we've had, I think the odds are good. 

Also, coconuts, are they a seed? A nut? A fruit?

Brazilian State Flags: Maranhao

A little backstory on these posts. We've lived in Brazil for about a year now. I can hardly name 5 of the 26 states (and 1 Federal District), much less pick out which flag goes with which. But as a designer, I love flag design and was interested. And I would also love to learn the names and locations of all the Brazilian states. Flags and information found here on Wikipedia. 

Pontal do Maragogi

Our neighbor owns a really great snorkeling joint. He let us bring some of our recent guests there to check it out, and it was super fun. They take you in pontoon boats out 6km (we definitely don't believe that, it looked like maaaaybe a mile, I'll google earth the distance and let you know) and let you swim in their reefs. As you know, we have reefs off our coast. Recife means reef (it's the city near where we live). So yes, reefs. Ours are like 40 feet off our coast, Maragogi (little city down the coast)'s are apparently 6km off the coast. It's neat swimming in waist deep water that far off the coast.

The water is pretty incredibly blue too. If you visit us, you're likely to see this lovely attraction. While we were out there I saw a new kind of 'Cheerio' coral. This kind of coral below we normally see is like Cheerio size, but this was like bigger than Fruit Loops. Probably...well, I can't think of a bigger cereal. Nice and big though. It was nice to see this new coral. 

There's also all sorts of nice fish, but lately I've been setting down the camera and just taking it in. I'd love to bring some sort of waterproof sketchbook next time I go.

They also give "free scuba lessons", but you pretty much get hooked up to the tank, and a guy with a snorkel and fins swims above you dragging you around. Methinks not work the 30 minutes of sales pitch you'd hear. 

 

Christmas in Brazil!

Well, we've lived here for a year now (one year this weekend, I'll try and think of a special anniversary post). We managed all the winter holidays here, a relatively American Thanksgiving, Brazilian Christmas, and  just plain old fun New Year's Eve. 

Christmas really summed up the experience. We were supposed to have 15 guests. Family, friends of my Mother in Law (she's originally from this city, so has friends still living here), that's about it. So we bought about 20 people's worth of food. Which for Brazilian Christmas means desserts. I made deviled eggs, my American contribution (people here keep asking me for the recipe. I don't have the heart to say: eggs and mayo!), but the rest was literally all sweets. There was a dish called salpicao (it is deeeelicious) which is mostly deli meat and mayonnaise, but also has dried fruits and pineapple, so it's pretty sweet. Mayo is a little sweeter here too. As is ketchup. But that's a story for another time.

We had a whole chocolate cake, cookies galore, and like a million brazilian snacky things. There is a picture below. This is for 15 people. So we're sitting around, and no one is showing up, but it's Brazil, so we're not expecting anyone to be any less than an hour late. We open all the presents, eat, and some family shows up. 3 people, so that's 7 total. We hang with them for a while, eat, chat, Christmas it up, and then they're off. We're looking at the not-dented-at-all food stash for like four hours, then we decide to hit the beds. This is like 10pm. Maybe 11pm. Either way, later than the hubs and I normally stay awake. I'm brushing my teeth, maybe already into my jammies, and there's a knock on the door. Whaaa, haha? Someone arrived to Christmas like 4 hours late. In the US you'd expect a call or for them to not show up, but this is totally normal here. They didn't eat anything. So we ate the unhealthy (but delicious) Christmas food until New Year's Eve.

Okay, end of story. I hope you all had a merry merry holiday season.

Brazilian State Flags: Goias

A little backstory on these posts. We've lived in Brazil for about a year now. I can hardly name 5 of the 26 states (and 1 Federal District), much less pick out which flag goes with which. But as a designer, I love flag design and was interested. And I would also love to learn the names and locations of all the Brazilian states. Flags and information found here on Wikipedia. 

Brazilian State Flags: Espirito Santo

A little backstory on these posts. We've lived in Brazil for about a year now. I can hardly name 5 of the 26 states (and 1 Federal District), much less pick out which flag goes with which. But as a designer, I love flag design and was interested. And I would also love to learn the names and locations of all the Brazilian states. Flags and information found here on Wikipedia. 

Brazilian State Flags: Ceara

A little backstory on these posts. We've lived in Brazil for about a year now. I can hardly name 5 of the 26 states (and 1 Federal District), much less pick out which flag goes with which. But as a designer, I love flag design and was interested. And I would also love to learn the names and locations of all the Brazilian states. Flags and information found here on Wikipedia. 

Art in Our House

We bought this piece of art a while ago. It's been hanging there for a while too. We're working on framing it, but that process is coming along slowly. In the Northeast of Brazil all of the sugarcane is handcut. This art is a pretty accurate representation of what the cutting process is. We've heard the rumor that for a worker to get his pay (it's a monthly base pay of like R$600 or something, not much), he or she has to cut 2 tons of sugarcane a day. It must be untrue, because 2 tons? Sheesh. Sugarcane isn't light by any means, it's like a heavy stick, but 2 tons? Someone prove me wrong.