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And then after every good meal, it is necessary to indulge in a lovely pudding; to skip this important part of the meal would be rude! There are a few healthy options but I have to say that there are many more unhealthy options, obviously I have had to try them all so that I can tell you all about them, so I am not to blame for my expanding waistline!
So let’s start with the good news. I have eaten a lot of fruit here, they may not be huge fans of vegetables but the Brazilians certainly know how to do fruit. With the lovely weather that they enjoy here, the fruits are fresh and plentiful, although I am still trying to get used to eating oranges that are not orange but are green instead. You can also get a nasty surprise as the only way to tell the difference between their oranges, lemons and limes is to sniff them or open them. Papayas, mangos, and guavas are easy to find and are the basis of the fresh juices that I am lucky enough to enjoy each day. Avocados are also a key part of the Brazilian diet, while
working at the SEN school, we picked avocados from the trees in the playground and later when ripened we enjoyed them with a sprinkling of sugar.
A superstar fruit that has started to break into the UK in the form of juices mainly is the açaí berry. It is grown in the Amazon and the Brazilians are very proud of it as it is said to have various health benefits, I know that I have heard it be called a ´superfood´ in the UK. In this part of Brazil it is most commonly served as a sorbet. It is eaten with fruit and granola and tastes really nice. The berry gives the sorbet a really dark purple colouring and the flavour is not sweet, but very refreshing; I think it tastes like a cross between a blackberry and a blueberry but it is difficult to put my finger on it well enough to explain it properly to you, even so, I do recommend it.
So eating all this healthy food and improving my 5-a-day count dramatically has meant that I am allowed more treats as well, (I am sure this is how a balanced diet works). So let
me take you back to the Pizza Rodízio...after eating my own body mass in savoury pizza, we move on to the sweet pizza, yep that is right, sweet pizza. The base is much the same as the savoury but the toppings are even more tempting. Coconut and white chocolate, or maybe you would prefer milk chocolate and strawberry? Many combinations of fruits and chocolates are offered, a really nice one is the pineapple and cinnamon but then I am a big fan of coconut too. The other thing that they add to almost every dessert including the sweet pizza is condensed milk. Some people claim that this is too sweet and say that they cannot even much when this milk is used so freely but I am never one to give up!
Condensed milk is one of the key ingredients in Brigadeiro, one of the most delicious little chocolate treats I have found. Very simply, it is made from condensed milk and cocoa powder, what else could you need in life?! They are very small, (apparently you only need one or two at a time) and are found everywhere. Often they are accompanied by Beijinhos. Beijinhos translates into English
as ´little kisses´, which is a perfect name for these tiny delights. They are a white version of the above but instead of cocoa powder, coconut is used. These are my absolute favourites and I shall miss them very much when I return home.
If Beijinhos get the award for the cutest name, then Cuecas Viradas gets the award for the most offputting name! This is more or less a doughnut, similar to yum-yums but rather than being separate sticks they are still joined and the dough is more dense than that of our doughnuts. The dough is slit in the middle and pulled inside out, and I assume that the name is given based on this appearance. Cueca Virada translates into English as ´turned underpants´, a name that hides a rather nice treat.
Many blogs ago I mentioned the best ice cream place in the world. I stand by this title. Visiting this restaurant has become a Sunday ritual, yes I have replaced the tradition of Sunday Night Bath Night with Sunday Night Ice Cream Night, I shall let you decide which you prefer! This wonderful place is a per kilo restaurant with at least 25 different
ice cream flavours to choose from and then a counter full of different toppings and sauces (including brigadeiro and beijinho). You can have as many or as few as you like and then you place your multi-layered pot on the scales and discover just how much you have crammed into you serving. Not the cheapest way to eat ice cream if you are anything like me but definitely a very tasty way to do so. And on the plus side when I am feeling the need to be a little healthier I stick to flavours such as papaya, strawberry and other types which are full of fruity goodness!
Anyway enough of my over enthusiastic love of the sweeter things in life, let me talk to you about drinks. Unfortunately Inka Cola has not entered into Brazil and I am still missing its radioactive glow. However, Brazil is injecting their own style of energy into their favourite soft drink, Guaraná. This drink gives you a caffeine kick and is said to stimulate you, as the guaraná bean contains twice as much caffeine as the coffee bean. It is strange to think that the Brazilians are constantly drinking this stimulant and
yet remain among the most relaxed people I have ever met.
Brazilians are also well known for drinking Caipirinhas, and these are extremely popular here. Unfortunately I cannot tell you what they taste like as Caipirinhas are an alcoholic cocktail and I am a tee-totaller. However, from my observations they are quite sweet and very strong. They are made with sugar cane rum, heaps of sugar, lots of crushed ice and then fresh lime; they appear refreshing although the people that I have seen imbibing this mixture do not appear very refreshed, particularly not the next morning!
One truly refreshing drink that is found here is Água de Coco or Coconut Water. It can be found in cartons and cans but is best enjoyed fresh from the coconut itself. They can be found everywhere here, there are many street vendors and stalls where you can select your coconut and watch them bore the hole into the casing before they put your straw in. It is lovely on a hot day and although the coconut is surprisingly heavy, it is a very good drink to have when you are on the go.
So you are now up to date on all the flavours of Brazil, I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have. They have been wonderful and many of them very interesting, I am not sure whether they quite live up to my sister’s cakes or my mum’s bread and butter pudding with lovely hot custard but they are still very tasty indeed.
Speak to you soon, take care,
Tasha
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