Local

Our food is so local, it isn't even funny. Coming from the US where local is such a big trend right now, this makes me laugh. Half of the fruit we get is picked from the trees that line our streets. I just looked out the back window of our house and noticed that the factory that makes our bread/crackers/pasta is literally in our back yard. Veggies and other fruits are local. Meat is local. I've rarely picked up a packaged item at the store and not seen our state listed as the origin. And we live in a small state. It is amazing, and I think we are much healthier because of this. Brazil is so funny. There are so many things wrong, but this is something that is so so right!

Brazilian State Flags: Paraiba

Okay, this one, I'm honestly still trying to figure out. Google translate is giving me a pretty odd translation for NEGO. Anyone know more about this flag?

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. 

A great walk in Candeias

I don't normally describe any of the neighborhoods around us as 'cute'. We live in an area full of high rise condos, so that pretty much settles it right there. They're not cute. But if you wander enough you can find houses, most of which are usually pretty old, holdouts that haven't sold their land to be developed. So they still have big trees, and don't have the 8 foot cement walls that nearly all the new houses have for protection. Yesterday I went to pay bills (here comes a big parentheses topic: paying bills  is so different here than in the US, yowza, but I usually leave feeling like I've conquered the world, so maybe it's a good thing, but, a different post for a different time) and decided to keep walking in the direction I was going, because I knew a grocery store that I wanted to go to was relatively close. I was wrong on that, it was like 2.5 miles away, but it wasn't the destination, it was the journey, right?

I ended up walking through a little old neighborhood in Candeias, which is the neighborhood just south of us. I put up a little google map for you to see. Those are just average distances...The walk must have been at least ten times longer...or maybe it was just a warm day. So anyway, I'm walking through Candeias, and wouldn't you know, it's just the cutest little neighborhood I ever did see. First I walked by this little house that had kittens. There were two old hound dogs guarding the kittens too, which was adorable. But little kittens. I was petting one that was sitting on a pillar, until a dog started barking at me, so I left. I walked by a guy sitting on the corner, and he says 'that's a lot of kittens, right?'. Right! How great.

Then, a little further down, I found a breadfruit! What's the best kind of grocery shopping? The kind where you just find food at your feet as you walk. Wonderful! Then I passed a great adorable little house that was all shaded and hidden by all their trees, and it was for sale. All of the tiles were Brennand tiles (said so in the ad), which I'm just realizing I haven't posted about. Anyway, it was cute. I almost wrote down the number. I told Toby about it last night and he asked if it was on the water. No, but it was close? Does that count?

I ended up waiting in line for 30 or so minutes, to find out the credit card reader was down, so I didn't get what I was wanting (it was flax and cashew flour, incase you're wondering. I can only find it in one grocery store). But on the way back I passed by the kitten house again and saw even smaller kittens. Honestly the smallest kitten I've ever seen. Probably no heavier than a small orange. Tiny!

So it was a good walk. Go find a cute neighborhood for yourself, go for a walk!


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Fishing for Sea Urchins

I've been wanting to eat a little off the land for a long time. I tried it when we lived in Atlanta, but didn't ever get too much cool stuff. Mainly greens that you normally wouldn't eat. Okay. Dandelion greens. That's pretty much all I ever found, mostly because I was terrified that I would eat a false something or other and die. Or kill my husband. I'd never live that down. And another thing that I was missing, that is a favorite of Toby's is protein. I'm not much of a hunter, and fishing in Atlanta was tough to come by.

But here! Here there is an ocean right in front of me, begging to be fished! So next week, I'm going to try to catch a sea urchin. I figure, since they just sit there, the catching part should be relatively easy. The cooking, or lack of, I guess, seems pretty simple too. I'll give it a try with maybe two the first time, and if husband and I like them, I think maybe we'll have sea urchin every now and then. Sound good?

I've checked the tidal chart, and next Thursday I think I should be able to swim around early enough in the morning that not too many people will be watching. It's not illegal or anything, just weird I think. Lunch is our big meal, and we normally have soup for dinner, so I'm not sure when I'll serve them. Probably cooked in butter with toast? Sound good, Bobby Flay?

Cross your fingers that they taste good.

New Crab.

I wish I had taken a video of this weird little guy. I saw him snorkeling (incidentally, the same time I saw the octopus), and later on the voyage I saw a crab shell. Pretty guy! This was all at Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco.

Those lighter dots sort of in the middle are eyes...Or, based on the shell below, maybe they're not. And for sure those little wrap arounds in the front are the claws.

Brazilian State Flags: Para

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. 

I SAW AN OCTOPUS!!!

We were at Porto de Galinhas, a nice touristy city a little south of where we live. I was out snorkeling and saw an octopus! Yowza! I see some cool stuff out there, but this was probably the coolest. He was white and smooth when I caught him swimming, and he got scared and swam down to this piece of seaweed. Once he was down there he immediately got National Geographic on me and turned textured and speckled brown. It was amazing. I had to dive down to get the picture, so I missed the picture of him really textured looking. It was amazing. Then he spread out like this, my guess is to look big and scary. He was about 2 feet all spread out. Then he swam away. So I went to swim away and swam through his ink that he squirted earlier that I hadn't noticed! (the whole sighting was like 15 seconds, so the ink was still hanging in the water. Or at least I think it was ink, looked like oil?).

Also, my sister in law noted how this may be a special octopus, we can't find the 8th leg. Only 7. Let me know if you see 8. I don't.