When the Middle East Meets Rio de Janeiro

Singing bossa-nova in St Michael's Jazz Fest: Ipanema's & One Note Samba. =) 

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers, but most especially to my mom, who might very well empathize with the cartoon... =P

The previous post

I think I need to learn how to blog again. The previous post was a bit confusing. =/ So here follows some [graphic] explanation for the unexplained in the last post. 

First I suppose I did more than most Brazilians do to celebrate Easter, but here, besides 55 days of Lent , during the Holy Week, people go to church everyday. Then, on Thursday they wash their feet. On the       "Great Friday" (not "Good Friday"), the day to remember Jesus was crucified, people dress in black and drink vinegar (as Jesus did, because Jesus drank vinegar, when asked for water). Then, on Sunday, 00:00 people break the fasting with nice food. There is also Easter Monday, which is a National Holiday, from the ancient times and people eat fish, coloured eggs, visit friends, dress new clothes. 

This is the "Palm Craft" we hanged on our door on Palm Sunday. It's super traditional.

And this is the church which looks like a synagogue - but also looks like a mosque. Only the external architecture, I mean.

Finally, this year I baked a squared "Simmel Cake". And since I couldn't find chocolate eggs or balls, I put 11 pieces of chocolate to represent the disciples. My interpretation of the Simmel Cake for 2013:

First Aniversary & Happy Easter!

The title of this post troubles me. Each topic deserves per si one post. But without internet the last month (or months?), I didn’t have the opportunity to blog much.

No complaints, tho, because, I borrowed Madame Adrienne’s internet USB whatever, and now – here am I! \O/ Merci beaucoup to her.  

So, May 5, and today is Easter in this part of the world. I already wrote my “Ode toEaster” last year, but I could never know, that in such an international city, I would celebrate Easter twice this year. Not bad at all.

In case you’re curious to know why, it’s the following: the Western Church (e.g. the Protestants & the Roman Catholics) and the Eastern Church (i.e. the Orthodox Church, the Coptic Church and a number of small Christian groups in MENA) have different liturgical calendars. Now, some Western Christians, living in the  East, want to celebrate special occasions according to their calendar. Personally, I am pleased with any dates as long as we celebrate, so I am more than happy to celebrate Christmas and Easter twice.

And it might be my impression, but it seems to me that Easter here is a bigger thing than Christmas. Well, I didn’t do much, besides putting my Palm leaves on the door (which actually, the owner of my apartment did) and washing my feet in a Church that looks pretty much like a synagogue. However, I sang in Church the beautiful Mozart “Laudate Dominum”  and after calling the family in Brazil and some trays of muffins, I am mixing my “SimmelCake”. Well, you might doubt that, since I am typing this post, but I was tired of standing in the hot kitchen and decided to blog a bit. =P

He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!!

Happy Easter!!! 

Listen for inspiration:

The Experience of the Desert

I have always wondered how life in the desert would be. Every time I saw a picture in a Geography book or saw a news show and those cities amid... nothing or the nothingness, that is, the ocean of sand, as I would call in my mind - how would that be? Of course, I have never dreamt that one day I would be here. Far East Asia was the picture I always had in mind as the kind of final destination for life. The never-ending daily grind of a Japanese metropolis or bucolic scenes among the Buddhist temples of Nepal or Cambodia were what I pictured for myself. 

When I knew I was definitely coming to live here, I was in a state of awe. In many ways it is as the desert wasn't near. Life in most part of the year is not as living in the middle of the desert but is the turmoil and infinite opportunities of a city which has over 20 mi inhabitants. I like saying you can find anything here you want to - you only need to discover where your "Sesame" lay (whether you can pay for your wishes, that is another thing). 

However you also cannot ignore that the desert surrounds you - it will make sure you don't. One of the first things I learnt is that you have to get accustomed to having dust everywhere. Your daily life will accompanied by that fine omnipresent layer of dust. Also in my first week, we had a sand storm. I was still in honeymoon, so I found very beautiful that I could see the buildings and the people, as if I was wearing orange lenses. 

By a combination of the desert surrounding you (and which makes most of the terrains of the country) and the localization of the country in the globe, you will also think it impossible to survive the heat in late spring and during the whole Summer.

It has its rewards though. Very early in the morning the most splendid light will invade your abode. The rays of sun come and wake you up gently very early in the morning. When the sun sets, as two lovers biding adieu, it loves the city fervently and displays exquisite architectures of blaze and colour. I never knew when I called this blog "In Quest for a Sunset" that I would find so many "definite" sunsets here. 

To be continued. :) 

New friend

I've just met a new friend from the 19th century... but it's not a vampire! I wish... Dear readers, I wanted to introduce to you:

It's name is Wackel-Orgel. Such a big friend, that the camera couldn't get all of it at once! Its sound is incredible...  It literally blows you away. And to be singing there, with powerful music of J.S. Bach surrounding you, feels just like to be embraced by a good friend. 

Who would predict I would find such pleasures in the Middle East? ;-) 

Life is somehow unpredictable - and I like the positive aspect of it. 

- Who could tell I would have a wonderful Asian room mate? (even though sometimes it seems I am as Asian as she is); 

- Who could tell I would find a kindred spirit in my apartment building who wakes up listening to Amélie's soundtrack? 

- Who could tell I would find a nice vocal coach here and sing more than I have ever sang in Brazil? And specially, that I would be singing in a Jazz festival in a few weeks? =P 

- Who could tell I even went to an Early Music concert here, which was one of the best I have ever attended? 

- Who could tell I would, one day, teach Musical Theatre? And direct a Musical? O.O

What comes next? 

Foodie

During the years of military dictatorship in Brazil (1964 - 1989), newspapers used to publish recipes protesting against the censorship. So much to tell and still having to be quiet.

Time has come to talk about food. You'll be presented to the delicious local cuisine today!

Firstly, it's important to state that there is nothing such a "haute cuisine" here. Yet the local produce is awesome and the fresh ingredients make up for anything that someone might require. I myself am more a fan of the terroir trend than of eating expensively, therefore I am 100% satisfied.

Nothing bellow have I cooked myself - I only took the photos, usually with a poor mobile camera. The transliteration is not the official one - I took the pronunciation as the rule, so think you're reading in English.

Fool

This fava beans dish is usually served as a breakfast course to be eaten with local bread. You can also add sausages or boiled eggs to eat if you want to have something even more substantial. Spices commonly added are salt, garlic, black pepper, cumin and parsley. 

My verdict: one of my favourites to be eaten at any time of the day. I even have my favourite street's kiosk to feed me on fool, but it seems that many people agree with me, because they start selling it at seven and by lunch time everything is gone. =P

Rice

This is a rice photo, not a rice pudding photo. It's incredible how people here can put the rice like this and yet,by some secret that passes from generation to generation and is oblivious to the Brazilian ex-pats, when you serve your rice, the grains pour at your plate like a Spring rain and do not stick together as Asian rice. The yellowish colour is somehow related to the countryside, as a friend of mine explained. Cooks in the capital city will serve you bright white rice.

My verdict: I have a rice tin here and I didn't know what it was for rice, but thought it was for pudding! Rice here troubles Brazilians who want it how the locals like it, but we are somehow unable to obtain the same results with the same product. The cooks I asked about their secret, told me they first fry the rice in oil before adding water, but that is exactly what we do in my state, Minas Gerais. Local rice is very yummie and is both the base and the side dishes for many recipes here. I'm for the countryside style and like more the golden-style rice. Additives that make the rice white are a big no for me.  

Waraq Enab

 

A roll stuffed with rice and wrapped in grape leaves. You can have vegetarian Waraq Enab with rice only - and maybe some herbs - but you may also add chicken or grounded beef to it. It's seasoned with tomato sauce, onions, lemon (here the green small one, that we call 'lemon' anyway, but the official name in English is 'lime'), salt, pepper and cumin. 

My verdict: another favourite. It's so nice to see the leaves being sold in the market, a proof that with creativity nothing in Nature is wasted.  I also like how everyday food has little meat in it, in a way that makes it balanced without the need of exaggerating anything. But I feel rather demotivated to cook my own rolls - the idea of working with the grape leaves seems to me to require abilities that my clumsy person doesn't fancy to. 

Yoghurt sauce (with chicken in the background)

I have eaten several different yoghurt sauces without a particular recipe to draw my attention to. I love them all, tho, I hope to leave the country knowing how to make one or two.

My verdict: although the sauces are very delicious and I enjoy having something creamy on the top of the salad that is not cheese - for the sake of some variation - I confess I had some very romantic ideas of yoghurt in the MENA Region. All the ones I have found so far have an ingredient list in which milk is just one of several ingredients more similar to periodic table elements than to things you would expect in a cookbook. The positive thing is that I can buy non flavoured yoghurt in an 1 kilo bowl.