Apricot Clafoutis

Here is your chance to delight in this classic French dessert. It is simple and lovely and delicious. A dessert for the health and calorie conscious person. The only real issue here in Brazil is finding the apricots at the exact moment of availability and full flavored ripeness. Tropical climes are not friendly to stone fruits. I recall going to my backyard in Santa Cruz, California and picking them fresh and beautiful . . . .

Apricot Clafoutis

Servings: 6
Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

12 ripe apricots
4 eggs
1 cup of evaporated milk (unsweetened)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons flour (1/2 cup)
zest of 1 lemon
Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F - 180 degrees Celsius or Therm 6.

Butter 6 individual ramequins.

Wash and pat dry the apricots carefully and remove the pits. Put 4 halved apricots into each ramequin.

In a large bowl, mix flour, eggs and then slowly add the evaporated milk.

Peel and grind the zest of the lemon and add it to the preparation along with the honey.

Continue mixing and pour into each ramequin covering the apricots.

Place in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

The secret in succeeding a clafoutis lies in the cooking time: after 30 minutes, insert a knife insuring that the preparation is still smooth and creamy (not liquid or compact).

Bon appétit !

Tattoos and other reactions

I know that all the expat women in the world have dealt with this problem hundreds of time, but for me this does not help in the least. 'Rio Rose' is finally leaving Brasil. Rosemary and Abel will be moving to Portugal at the end of September. We have been friends and comrades in Blogging for almost 4 years (5?). When I'm down she brings me up and when she is down - well I hope - I help her out. Now what do I do? She will no longer cook for us, she will take her recipes to Portugal and I will WHAT?

To counter this feeling of loss, of panic, of need - I got a Tattoo! Does this seem extreme? For me it isn't. I have always dealt with 'depression' with a new activity, or a new round of diet and exercise, or a few times in the past 'nearly' six years a few days hiding in bed - refusing to eat right - to take care of myself - this time a tattoo seems to me a much healthier effort to change how I feel. So I dedicate my new Tattoo to RioRose and her new adventures in Portugal. (Yep, those are freckles - I have faded red hair, green hazel eyes and FRECKLES everywhere the sun hits)

Bolinhos de bacalhau, Codfish fritters

Ginger begged me to enter this recipe. I must agree they are great. The original concept came from the Portuguese. The Brazilians took their recipe and improved it, adding more fish and less potato.

We ate them last night on the varanda along with cheeses smuggled from our last trip to Portugal. I made bread and we drank wine purchased at the Lisbon, Portugal airport.

Bolinhos de bacalhau
400 grams of shredded cooked codfish
300 grams of lightly smashed cooked potato
3 beaten eggs
4 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon of fine salt

Mix lightly and drop by tablespoons into very hot oil. The batter should be very light and very moist, almost runny looking. Fry until golden brown.

That's it! Better than any restaurant in Brazil or Portugal.

Winter Festival - Nova Friburgo, Brasil (Festival de Inverno 2008)

Every winter sometime in June / July / or August there is a winter festival in the State of Rio de Janeiro. There are normally concerts, street fairs, street dancing and eco-tourism activities scheduled in Petrópolis, Teresópolis, Nova Friburgo (including Lumiar). (Google Festival de Inverno 2008 for more information) On Sunday morning (August 3), I planned for one of the hikes scheduled by SESC Rio de Janeiro. Sunday dawn bright and clear. I wasn't sure about doing this walk, getting up at 6:00 on a Sunday, taking a hike with strangers (Portuguese speaking strangers at that) and I had no clue of where we were going but I went and I enjoyed.

15 or so of us met at the SESC office in Nova Friburgo, boarded the bus at 8 am and were taken for one hour towards Teresópolis.

This is one of the best choices I have made since living in this country. The hike, taking us through land of small farms, up dirt roads, across horse trails and up some pretty steep grades, took about 4 1/2 hours up to the base of the Three Peeks and 2 1/2 hours down back to the bus, made me once again appreciate the beauty of Brazil.

Fun weekend in Rio - Part 2

That is the second time this week that I posted before I wrote - sad that I must be getting confused.... if you find this blog not complete - come again later!

Saturday in Rio - I wanted to walk in the Lapa area just outside of the center and visit the antique stores and Camillo (as usual) wanted to eat leitao 'the best in the WORLD' in the center - so we combined the two.

Brazilians love to eat out - literally outdoors. And the more friends the better - we started with plans for 6 and ended up with 10 friends. The leitao can be ordered by portion or in advance the whole pig... but for 8 - we decided by the portion and ended up with enough people to have gotten the complete package....
(Boteco Casual, Rua do Ouvidor.Travessa do Commercio, phone 221 2626.)

On weekends in this area there are many small places open to the locals - some days there is music on the streets and many people just strolling to enjoy the old buildings (that are slowly being refurbished / restored or in the least painted) and the warm sunshine.

This historic part of Rio is quite charming and a must see. Although somewhat tarnished, it hints of the grander that was Rio when the capital of Brazil.
The day was clear and beautiful, the food good, and the friends fantastic.
After a two o'clock lunch that lasted until well after 4:30, no one wanted to walk in Lapa -

I said please 'this was the original plan of the day' so to keep me from being grumpy, we went. Everything had closed down and no music - I did get to take several photos of the wrought iron balconies. And I will go back on another early Saturday to see all the action.

Instead of taking multiple taxis we all piled into Abel's car and returned to Leblon - everyone was still in the mood for ACTION - there was a jazz festival starting... we stopped to see, walk through the crowds and then hungry and thirsty again went to Rosemary's for wine and cheese.
All together was a great day.

A Weekend in Rio (part 1)

This last weekend we had so much fun in the City of Rio that I thought you might enjoy remembering it with us. When we were staying in the city more often, we tended to do just what we do here in the mountains on a weekend, go to the gym, eat, and watch TV. Now that we are trying to go into the city every other weekend or so, to see family and friends, and by making plans in advance we ended up with a very good time.

Friday we drove the car in - this in itself is a change, we usually take the bus. Camillo likes the bus and I like to drive. Our 'difference' in age showing I suspect. Friday night we had dinner with Paulo and Lenira at D'Amici's in Copacabana (Leme). It was raining, we had to take a taxi (dry law) because we all planned on enjoying wine with dinner and the restaurant is somewhat overpriced (pretentious) [we have a little mental formula for value vs. price that includes quality of food (good not excellent), price of wine (way out of line), service (below good) and general ambiance (very nice - a little crowed for the prices)]. Despite other factors, we had a great time because, 1) we went to have a great time and 2) we love this couple - they are well read and Paulo especially has many OPINIONS! so discussions are HOT! (guess what, I also have opinions!) Lenira and Camillo generally just sit back and watch the fireworks show. This week's debate - education in Brazil - I have a more ground roots outlook and Paulo has a more top down approach. I think teacher education and classroom resources should be improved, and he thinks that the suggested program to give teachers a laptop so they can communicate with other teachers in Brazil is a good idea. This debate was from polar opposites you would have enjoyed it. I still wonder how a laptop in the outer areas helps when often there is no electricity (being changed rapidly) often no telephones (more cell phones than land lines available) and definitely limited areas of Internet connection. See I am still arguing.

Protecting the birds

In my prior blog, I talked about the birds flying into our large upper window. Tracy posted a comment which I felt important enough to put into the main body of the blog for those of you who may not read comments. Please take the time to read the referenced article. Thank you Tracy! - GingerV

Anonymous said...
Hi Ginger, Sorry to hear about the birds mistaking your windows for a thoroughfare. One thing that I've seen a lot here in California is to place reflectors on the windows. These reflectors are in the shape of birds. Here's a wonderful article by Partners In Flight on the topic:

http://library.fws.gov/Bird_Publications/Glass.pdf

Boa Sorte! Tracy