The last weekend here in Uberlandia - and it was a doozy.
Friday evening, we made plans to go clubbing with our clients Marise, Pedro & Tatiana. Tatiana picked us up from the hotel and took us to London Pub, styled loosely after its namesake. They were celebrating their 20th anniversary that night. Tatiana had already arranged for tables for our group of 8, and I started off on my caipirinha experimentation, accompanied by a fine selection of munchies. Tatiana knew everyone - turns out she used to work there. Meanwhile, the band had setup, and they started belting out Soul and Motown standards. Groovy.
A bit before midnight, we spotted a gathering outside, and recognized many of our CSC pals waiting to get in. The band finished up, and we made our way from the Pub part of the house to the inside, where a DJ had people doing their thing on a dancefloor. We linked up with the rest of the CSC crew while the main event for the evening came on - a father & son samba band. Time to try out our new moves. The band gave us international visitors to Uberlandia a shout-out, and invited us to come on the stage and dance, which some of the thicker-skinned of the lot did. The music was LOUD, and I found out that I had more or less lost my hearing. I limped off to the farthest corner to see if I could recover any of it. Another attempt to get on the dancefloor, accompanied by loss of hearing and disorientation. I get the message - I might be a tad too old for this stuff. I get back by 1:30 AM, and am among the first back. The hardiest partiers amongst our group got home by 6 AM.
Saturday noonish, I head out with a few others to the Municipal Market to pick up stuff for the planned Sunday potluck. Nirav & I pick up curry powder, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon and cardamom - a reasonable spice haul for the Indian dishes we'd planned. I pick up some doce de leite and a couple of bottles of liquer for good measure.
Lunch is al fresco, at a restaurant serving traditional "feijoada" - black (or kidney) beans stewed with assorted meats in clay pots, accompanied by rice and salad. Simple but tasty stuff. Many of the other CSC-ers had spent the morning shopping - I noticed that their haul comprised of nail polish, Havaianas flip-flops and cachacas.
Stuffed to the gills, I sink into my bed with the A/C cranked on to high for an afternoon snooze. Evening hike to the mall with Mike to pick up more potluck ingredients, wine for the host & flowers for the hostess. My plan is to make vegetable pulao and raita. I am working with two mighty handicaps - an inability to cook anything more complicated than instant noodles and the non-availability of many spices and ingredients. Its all been improvisation upon a recipe from Akila to devise a shopping list and get some semblance of what's needed. This promises to be fun.
I skip dinner on the strength of the lunchtime feijoada, and get some work, blogging and Skype-ing with the family in.
Sunday morning, our gracious clients organized a trip to a nearby farm-restaurant. I'd told my CSC colleagues to be ready by 10:30 at the hotel lobby, but I must've gotten my wires crossed, as we found that Marise & Pedro were at the lobby by 9:30. We scramble to get the group roused out of slumber and ready to go, and the group finally get going by 10:30. A short drive through the countryside, we are at Recantos das Aguas, a picturesque restaurant framed by a lake and hills.
We relax for a bit, and I take a stroll to check out the stables. We spot a troop of marmosets on a nearby tree, a dozen cameras come out and the group goes "ooh-aah". A nearby mango tree is fruit-laden, and also laden with guinea fowl. I spot a strange-looking tree with clusters of round, purplish, grape-sized fruit growing straight out of the trunk and the branches. I pick one and take a bite - and its not bad. Turns out it is jabuticaba, a tree native to these parts.
It is soon time for a speed boat ride on the lake, which is vast. Save for a few fishermen, the lake seems uninhabited.
On to the next thing - horseriding. I am part of the group of pioneers with Christy and Mike. Christy's a farm girl and Mike's a skilled horseman, and they get on the saddle pronto. I eye my mount tentatively - the guy is massive. Luckily, he turns out to be as gentle as they come. The vaquiero leads us on a ride around the farm. I bring up the rear. My noble steed plodded gently, and I grew confident by the minute. We complete the circuit in 20 minutes, and made way for the next lot of riders.
I am in the mood to take on whatever they've got, so on to a swim in the lake with Marc and Mike. We are the only ones swimming, and attract some curious gazes from the Brazilian families enjoying Sunday lunch and beer. We swim to the far side of the lake and back.The water is warm.
Now I'm hungry and thirsty. We get a Torre de Chopp (literally, Beer Tower), which is 2.5 litres and I sample the lunch spread - nice selection of vegetables, meats and desserts. I do justice to the spread, and then try some of the assorted desserts. I quickly realize that Brazilian desserts are not to my taste - way too sweet. Suitably stuffed, we get on the van to ride back.
A nap, and on to our potluck Chez Mario & Hegena. Mario, Larissa's dad and his wife Hegena have a very nice place, with space for outdoor cooking & entertaining. We are greeted by two friendly Retrievers, and make our introductions to our gracious hosts. Larissa helps us get settled in, and we stake out our cooking stations and grab a bunch of utensils. The plan was for all of us to make something representative of our culture, so I (with a lot of help from Akila) decided on veggie pulao and raita. Nirav, my Indian cooking buddy, was going for chicken curry. The prep work is notable mostly for the marked absence of any disasters. Soon, my "improvisation on a pulao theme" is done, and it doesn't taste half-bad. The raita's a breeze as well, thanks to some deft tomato-dicing by Jill. The caipirinhas that Mario'd been steadily plying us with must've helped in the cooking process, I sense!
Some of our lot had opted to make hors d'ouevres, and I kept steadily snacking on cold cuts, cheeses and canapes. The final results are quite impressive - an assortment of buns and dumplings from China (May), a quiche from Sylvie, a Polish salad with arugula, blue cheese and cashew nuts courtesy of Anna, a Vietnamese chicken and red cabbage salad from Chi, a German spaetzle contributed by Marc & Mike, apple turnovers from Christy and many other international delights.
With hardly a pause after dinner, the place turned into a disco, with thumping music and lights and the group got busy dancing, alternated with playing a couple of frames of pool with Mike. I introduced some Bollywood hits to the dance mix, and "Chammak Challo" is pronounced dance-worthy by the discerning international crowd. Great night !
#ibmcsc brazil
Friday evening, we made plans to go clubbing with our clients Marise, Pedro & Tatiana. Tatiana picked us up from the hotel and took us to London Pub, styled loosely after its namesake. They were celebrating their 20th anniversary that night. Tatiana had already arranged for tables for our group of 8, and I started off on my caipirinha experimentation, accompanied by a fine selection of munchies. Tatiana knew everyone - turns out she used to work there. Meanwhile, the band had setup, and they started belting out Soul and Motown standards. Groovy.
A bit before midnight, we spotted a gathering outside, and recognized many of our CSC pals waiting to get in. The band finished up, and we made our way from the Pub part of the house to the inside, where a DJ had people doing their thing on a dancefloor. We linked up with the rest of the CSC crew while the main event for the evening came on - a father & son samba band. Time to try out our new moves. The band gave us international visitors to Uberlandia a shout-out, and invited us to come on the stage and dance, which some of the thicker-skinned of the lot did. The music was LOUD, and I found out that I had more or less lost my hearing. I limped off to the farthest corner to see if I could recover any of it. Another attempt to get on the dancefloor, accompanied by loss of hearing and disorientation. I get the message - I might be a tad too old for this stuff. I get back by 1:30 AM, and am among the first back. The hardiest partiers amongst our group got home by 6 AM.
Saturday noonish, I head out with a few others to the Municipal Market to pick up stuff for the planned Sunday potluck. Nirav & I pick up curry powder, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon and cardamom - a reasonable spice haul for the Indian dishes we'd planned. I pick up some doce de leite and a couple of bottles of liquer for good measure.
Lunch is al fresco, at a restaurant serving traditional "feijoada" - black (or kidney) beans stewed with assorted meats in clay pots, accompanied by rice and salad. Simple but tasty stuff. Many of the other CSC-ers had spent the morning shopping - I noticed that their haul comprised of nail polish, Havaianas flip-flops and cachacas.
Stuffed to the gills, I sink into my bed with the A/C cranked on to high for an afternoon snooze. Evening hike to the mall with Mike to pick up more potluck ingredients, wine for the host & flowers for the hostess. My plan is to make vegetable pulao and raita. I am working with two mighty handicaps - an inability to cook anything more complicated than instant noodles and the non-availability of many spices and ingredients. Its all been improvisation upon a recipe from Akila to devise a shopping list and get some semblance of what's needed. This promises to be fun.
I skip dinner on the strength of the lunchtime feijoada, and get some work, blogging and Skype-ing with the family in.
Sunday morning, our gracious clients organized a trip to a nearby farm-restaurant. I'd told my CSC colleagues to be ready by 10:30 at the hotel lobby, but I must've gotten my wires crossed, as we found that Marise & Pedro were at the lobby by 9:30. We scramble to get the group roused out of slumber and ready to go, and the group finally get going by 10:30. A short drive through the countryside, we are at Recantos das Aguas, a picturesque restaurant framed by a lake and hills.
The Germans discuss the election results, while the French enjoy the view
We relax for a bit, and I take a stroll to check out the stables. We spot a troop of marmosets on a nearby tree, a dozen cameras come out and the group goes "ooh-aah". A nearby mango tree is fruit-laden, and also laden with guinea fowl. I spot a strange-looking tree with clusters of round, purplish, grape-sized fruit growing straight out of the trunk and the branches. I pick one and take a bite - and its not bad. Turns out it is jabuticaba, a tree native to these parts.
Marmoset
Jabuticaba - fruit growing right on the branches
Not partridges on a pear tree, but guinea fowl on a mango tree
It is soon time for a speed boat ride on the lake, which is vast. Save for a few fishermen, the lake seems uninhabited.
The bridge across the lake, with the supports arrayed in an odd fashion
On to the next thing - horseriding. I am part of the group of pioneers with Christy and Mike. Christy's a farm girl and Mike's a skilled horseman, and they get on the saddle pronto. I eye my mount tentatively - the guy is massive. Luckily, he turns out to be as gentle as they come. The vaquiero leads us on a ride around the farm. I bring up the rear. My noble steed plodded gently, and I grew confident by the minute. We complete the circuit in 20 minutes, and made way for the next lot of riders.
OK, now how do I parallel park this thing ?
I am in the mood to take on whatever they've got, so on to a swim in the lake with Marc and Mike. We are the only ones swimming, and attract some curious gazes from the Brazilian families enjoying Sunday lunch and beer. We swim to the far side of the lake and back.The water is warm.
Left to Right, Marc "Spitz" W, me and Michael "Gross" F - the CSC cross-lake swimming team
Now I'm hungry and thirsty. We get a Torre de Chopp (literally, Beer Tower), which is 2.5 litres and I sample the lunch spread - nice selection of vegetables, meats and desserts. I do justice to the spread, and then try some of the assorted desserts. I quickly realize that Brazilian desserts are not to my taste - way too sweet. Suitably stuffed, we get on the van to ride back.
The group, with our gracious clients/hosts
A nap, and on to our potluck Chez Mario & Hegena. Mario, Larissa's dad and his wife Hegena have a very nice place, with space for outdoor cooking & entertaining. We are greeted by two friendly Retrievers, and make our introductions to our gracious hosts. Larissa helps us get settled in, and we stake out our cooking stations and grab a bunch of utensils. The plan was for all of us to make something representative of our culture, so I (with a lot of help from Akila) decided on veggie pulao and raita. Nirav, my Indian cooking buddy, was going for chicken curry. The prep work is notable mostly for the marked absence of any disasters. Soon, my "improvisation on a pulao theme" is done, and it doesn't taste half-bad. The raita's a breeze as well, thanks to some deft tomato-dicing by Jill. The caipirinhas that Mario'd been steadily plying us with must've helped in the cooking process, I sense!
The subject was lions - seriously ! Olaf showing his South African lion pics
Some of our lot had opted to make hors d'ouevres, and I kept steadily snacking on cold cuts, cheeses and canapes. The final results are quite impressive - an assortment of buns and dumplings from China (May), a quiche from Sylvie, a Polish salad with arugula, blue cheese and cashew nuts courtesy of Anna, a Vietnamese chicken and red cabbage salad from Chi, a German spaetzle contributed by Marc & Mike, apple turnovers from Christy and many other international delights.
Comida from around the world
My veggie pulao
Gustavo & Larissa
With hardly a pause after dinner, the place turned into a disco, with thumping music and lights and the group got busy dancing, alternated with playing a couple of frames of pool with Mike. I introduced some Bollywood hits to the dance mix, and "Chammak Challo" is pronounced dance-worthy by the discerning international crowd. Great night !
#ibmcsc brazil
No comments:
Post a Comment