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Posts Tagged ‘Brazil’

Day 216 – Elida F.

Posted in Something for others, tagged , , , , , , , on August 2, 2010| 1 Comment »

Feijoada and side dishes

I lived in Brazil for three years and absolutely loved the food.  One of the most typical meals is feijoada, in fact it is considered the national dish and is eaten almost exclusively at lunch time on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  In the US we don’t really have this custom of eating a certain dish every week on the same day, but it seems to work.  Feijoada is a heavy stew consisting of black turtle beans, a variety of salted pork and beef products (such as ears, tails, tongue, feet, etc), bacon, pork ribs and a couple of types of smoked sausage.  I know it sounds a little crazy, but it’s delicious!

You toss all of these ingredients in large clay pot and let it simmer for hours until you get this beautiful rich purplish-brown juice which coats your tongue like a velvety glass of Petit Verdot.

So my friend Carmen, who is from Brazil, was celebrating her birthday by having some people over for feijoada.  While I was there I met a friend of hers named Elida who is from Carmen’s hometown of Campo Grande.  Elida spent two days preparing this feast and it was delicious!

She came to the US on July 5th to attend her nephew’s wedding in New York and then came down to DC to visit with Carmen and other friends.  She is planning to stay until August 13th.

Feijoada: Brazil's national dish

This is not her first time to the States though; in fact her husband was an American.  Elida did something that I thought was really great too, she signed up for a mini English course that she is taking for three weeks.

Although now retired, Elida worked for many years for Banco Itau.  That was my bank actually when I lived in Brazil.  Now she dedicates her time to her family.  She will soon be a grandmother!  She told me that she was asking her son, “When am I going to have some grandchildren?” and the next day he came to her and said, “You’re going to be a grandmother!”  The baby is due in April.

“I’m going to use the $10 to buy an outfit for the baby” she told me.

I tried to get some photos of her but she preferred not being photographed.

I asked her if there was anything she needed or wanted that somebody might be able to help her with.  She thought and said that she didn’t really need anything but that her dream was to spend a day in Paris.  “My husband promised me that we would go there, but we never did it.”  Who knows… maybe one day that dream will come true.

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Day 196 – Daniela C, Antonella W., Amina F. and Steve L.

Posted in Gave the money to someone else, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2010| 4 Comments »

Piola, 1550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA (Photo: Reed)

I met Ryan and Mandy, my brother and sister-in-law, to watch the Brazil – Chile match at a restaurant called Piola in Arlington.  Despite it’s origins in Treviso, Italy, I always think about Piola as a Brazilian Pizzeria.  When I lived in Brazil there were several Piolas.  I used to go to one in Jardins neighborhood quite often.  Brazil has great pizza and although Piola is good, it’s not the best there.  For me the best pizzerias in Sao Paulo are Speranza, 1900 and Braz. 

Anyway, for the options we have here in the DC area, Piola makes a good pie.  When they opened up a few years ago in Arlington, I noticed a lot of Brazilians working and dining there.  So, that is how we ended up watching the Brazil game there.

A pizza maker prepares the dough before placing it in the wood-fired oven (Photo: Reed)

There were not that many people at the restaurant watching the game.  Granted it was being played at 2:30pm on a Monday, so perhaps people were at work.  Of the handful of fans there cheering on the game, most were clad in Brazilian shirts like myself.  When the satellite connection failed for nearly a half hour due to a thunder-storm, the table next to us pulled out their laptops, connected to a WiFi network and continued watching the game.  I migrated over to their table to watch the game and discovered that three of the four of them were from Brazil.  I decided to give them my $10 for the day!

Daniela, Reed, Antonella, Amina and Steve at Piola (Photo: Ryan Sandridge)

The game ended with Brazil eliminating Chile’s participation in the World Cup by a score of 3-0.  Although everyone in the bar was celebrating, part of me felt a little sad for Cecilia from Day 151.  As the game came to a close and people started to rush back to work, I tried to quickly take some notes about my new friends.  Unfortunately Steve had to leave immediately and the others only had a few minutes before they too had to leave too, so I had to work fast.

When the satellite connection failed for 30 minutes, Piola's manager sent everyone in the bar a caipirinha on the house! (Photo: Reed)

I asked them what they thought of Washington.  “I love DC,” says Daniela, “Rio is not as safe as Washington.  This is a very safe, cultured, cosmopolitan city.”  Antonella agrees and adds that “Sao Paulo’s traffic is crazy!”  She’s right about that.  I don’t miss the traffic in Sao Paulo at all.  As I was furiously writing down notes in my Moleskine notebook, I heard somebody else say, “We’re in the most important place in the US.”  It’s positive to hear them say such nice things about DC.  I loved my three years in their country too! 

The conversation shifts to what they plan to do with the $10.  I was very impressed by how they approached this opportunity.  After a good five or ten minutes of back and forth discussion amongst themselves in Portuguese they told me that they had decided.  “We’re going to pick a random address in the phone book and send the $10 to them with a note explaining about your project.”  That was pretty cool.  Nobody has done that before!  “And if they don’t want to keep it we’re going to tell them to give it to somebody else.”  “Parabens” to them for a creative and thoughtful idea.

It’s only fitting that I post this blog entry today as the world watches the final chapter of the 2010 World Cup.  Brazil didn’t make it unfortunately.  Will it be Spain?  Or will it be The Netherlands.  Whoever wins, history will be made as neither team has ever won the World Cup.  I have to root for Spain having lived there and developed a strong friendship with many Spaniards.  I can’t forget Carlos from Day 118 who hails from Spain or the Dutch recipients of the Year of Giving: Pieter from Day 140 and Karel and Maria from Day 200 – look out for their blog posting this week! 

Note: I am sitting here at home watching the game as I write up this blog entry.  It’s 0-0 in the first over-time period.  Viva España! 

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Day 53 – Beth H.

Posted in Donation, tagged , , , , , , , on February 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I am snowed in. 

We got about two feet of snow in DC so far and it is still coming down lightly.  Trees are down, cars are completely covered, and people are heading to Dupont Circle for a massive snow ball fight…the news reported that some 3,000+ on Facebook have said the are going to join the fight.  I think I will stay here for now.

Last night my brother invited me to go to the Capitals game where they beat the Thrashers.  On my way home, some friends sent me a message to meet up for a drink at the Russia House.  I made my way through the snowy streets and arrived at the Russia House.  It was pretty busy.  My friends showed up and we had a few Lithuanian beers.

Beth was sitting next to us.  The 30-year-old lives in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in DC.  Although she studied Art and History in college, now she works in energy policy.  In addition to her job, she is enrolled in Johns Hopkins’ International Energy and Environment Program.  Coincidentally we discover that we have both lived in Brazil.  I lived in Sao Paulo for three years, she lived in Rio.

Beth said she was pretty sure that she knew what she wanted to do with the $10, but asked to follow up with me later on it.  I just got an email from her now saying that she donated the money to the World Resources Institute’s International Financial Flows and the Environment program.  That was the fastest follow up I have had so far!

By the way, Andrea S. from Day 48 followed up with me and let me know that she gave her money to the Woodside United Methodist Church Food Pantry.  She wrote me a nice note and I have asked her to post as a comment on her day’s blog post.

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