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Portugal, Spain and Brazil
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Portugal, Spain and Brazil

A 85-day adventure by Brendaboo Read more
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  • BrendabooPortugal, Spain and BrazilBrendaboo

    Caipirinha

    December 15, 2015 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail. It's made with lime, sugar and "cachaça" which is a hard liquor distilled from sugarcane. You can get one at any bar, or at eating establishments that serve alcohol, or even at the beach. We finally tried our first caipirinha after being in Brazil for 19 days.

    Many online reviews rave about the caipirinhas at Academia da Cachaça located in Leblon so that's where we went. Academia da Cachaça serve the traditional caipirinha made with lime but also caipirinhas made with pineapple, passionfruit and other seasonal fruits. We ordered one with lime ($R 12.50) and one with passionfruit ($R 17.50).

    The traditional lime caipirinha is reminiscent of a margarita or pisco sour but not half as good. The taste of the cachaça is just downright unpleasant. I preferred the passionfruit caipirinha just because the passionfruit hid the taste of the cachaça better. Overall, I'm not sure it's an experience I need to repeat.

    The caipirinhas at the Academia weren't large - the ones we saw on the beach were twice as tall - but on an empty stomach, boy did they pack a punch. We both felt pretty zoosed after we drank them down so we staggered over to the Pão de Açúcar across the street and ended up ordering a pizza margherita to soak up some of the alcohol.    Read more

  • BrendabooPortugal, Spain and BrazilBrendaboo

    Local markets in Rio's Zona Sul

    December 17, 2015 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We finally found some local markets in Rio. The discovery came about while searching for tours in Rio and I came across a "Fruit Tasking & Food Market Tour" at http://www.fruitbrazil.com. Although we never took the tour, we did take advantage of the weekly produce fairs listed for Rio's South Zone:

    Monday: Rua Henrique Dumont in Ipanema
    Tuesday: Praca General Osorio in Ipanema
    Wednesday: Praca Edmundo Bittencourt in Copa
    Thursday: Rua Ronald de Carvalho in Copa
    Friday: Praca Nossa Senhora da Paz in Ipanema
    Saturday: Rua Frei Leandro in Jardim Botanico

    We went to both markets listed for Copacabana and were astounded by the wonderful selection, quality and price. Yesterday, at the Praça Edmundo Bittencourt market, we bought 3 beautiful heads of different lettuces for $R5 ($1.82 CAD) and 8 small papayas for $R5. Today, at the Rua Ronald de Carvalho market, we bought 2 large papayas, 8 passion fruits, 24 oranges, 6 small cherimoyas, a bag of tomatoes and a big gooey piece of manioc cake all for $R29 ($10.57 CAD). The best bargain were the oranges, 2 dozens for $R5!

    We experienced a bad case of sticker shock when we returned to Canada from Thailand. Methinks the sticker shock will be even worse returning from Brazil.    Read more

  • BrendabooPortugal, Spain and BrazilBrendaboo

    So much for "No Cheese"

    December 23, 2015 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    I have such a weakness for pizza.

    Not far from where we're staying, "Bella Blu" offers an all-you-can-eat pizza deal for $R27.90 (about $10 CAD) on Mondays to Thursdays after 6 pm. It's marginally more on Fridays and weekends. This really is a great deal since the price for just one pizza is normally about $R40.

    I'd been resisting and resisting eating pizza till I could resist no more...

    The all-you-can-eat pizza works a little like a churrascaria but instead of meat, the waiters come by offering you slices of different pizzas. There was a surprising variety of pizzas on offer even discounting those with meat toppings. None of the pizzas were vegan though, due to the generous use of cheese. I think I must have tried 7 different pizzas including one with palm hearts. I picked the ham off the Portuguesa pizza that came with mozzarella, tomatoes, onions and quail eggs. My favourite was the one with arugula and sun dried tomatoes.

    Then came the dessert pizzas... oh my. The one with coconut and condensed milk was amazing, only to be outdone by the one topped with mozzarella, banana and cinnamon. I would never have thought to add mozzarella with banana but boy, it really worked.

    The crust on the pizzas were nice and thin and I prayed my gluten relief pills would do the trick.

    I admit though that Roch and I both suffered the next day with bad bellies... I mean really bad bellies... from too much cheese... argghh!    Read more

    Trip end
    December 23, 2015
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