Weekend Update: Eco Resort Fun

The view from my balcony.

This last weekend HRH took the kids and I to an Eco Resort about 5 hours away. It was amazing. I'm going to break it down for you like this:
The Place: huge property with lake, animal farm, vegetable garden, pools (normal, natural, and heated), sauna, spa, a million activities for the kids, all the courts you can imagine, lounge lawn (for real, there's a gorgeous grassy space with bed type sofas with huge umbrellas or veils that blow in the wind. I would lay there and read and drink - it's right next to the pool bar), several relaxation areas, bars, etc.

The Food: all naturally grown or raised on the property. What they don't have there they buy from the surrounding area. Everything is organic and superbly delish and fresh - so fresh. The food tasted different from anything we get here in the city. We had lamb, boar, pork, you name it. The milk, butter and cheese is all fresh and made there - yummy, so yummy. They had fresh lemongrass tea as well - one of my faves.

The Activities: the kids and HRH did so many things they were exhausted by the time night came along. Hiking to the farm area, tirolesa (I think called tyrolean crossing in English, not sure), 4 wheelers, horse back riding, high rope course, etc, etc, etc. Really fun. Plus there's a spa for us ladies.
We will definitely be going back next year and staying longer. We're thinking that like 5-7 days is good.
Check out these pics:


Check out this video of HRH on the tirolesa (tyrolean crossing?) - Turn the sound down, it's super loud:

Weekend Update: Mother's Day

The girls after the class wearing the looks they applied on themselves

Saturday I taught a makeup class. It was not the first time I gave a makeup class, but it had been a while since I had taught a group of people. There were 5 girls, 3 of which were very much beginners, my Greti which I'm always passing on my knowledge to so she's not exactly a beginner, and another girl called Bianca who has a makeup collection that rivals mine.

The idea was to start with the basics: foundation, concealer, bronzer, blush, etc. Once you know the basic things that make you look more beautiful, and you learn to identify and correct your flaws and work with your strong points, the rest is extra. From there we went to a night look, and you've guessed it, it was the smokey eye.

The look most women request from me is the dark grey, brown or black smokey eye. It's the looks that most radically changes the way you look, and the one the camera loves most. Once you learn to master the smokey eye, the world is your oyster. The black smokey eye is of course the ultimate goal, the one all woman aspire to perfect. Once you perfect the black smokey eye, you can do pretty much anything.

It's all about having the right tools and blend away. And that was the most important lesson of the day. As a follow up, I'll be going out with one of the girls to help her find the right brushes at the best prices.

Sunday was Mother's Day so we went over to my sister's house - for a change - where we had a massive Italian feast for 17 people, and that wasn't even with everyone present. We had a cheese and cold meats platter with the most delicious grapes. Then there were bruschettas for starters (the bread was cut too thick - by me - so it was a bit like one of those prank shows as everyone that tried to bite into it would get tomato all over themselves and the floor - hilarious). For the main course my sister made sundried tomato and arougula orzo pasta, and I make penne al pesto with parma ham and parmesan cheese. We also had medium rare filet mignon cut paper thin (by me - to redeem myself for the bruschetta fiasco) with a garlic olive oil and parsley sauce (made by my sister Mary). For dessert my sister made blondies and I made cream cheese marble brownies. Two other people brought a mandioc cake (traditional here) and flan.

It really was a feast and we had a really good time eating and drinking wine, laughing and enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon.

What about you? How was your Mother's Day celebration?

A Night To Remember

Saturday I was busing with makeup all afternoon. Our dear friend's daughter was celebrating her 15th birthday, and in South America it's a really big deal. It is a coming out party, a debutant ball, except there is only one debutant. The event was massive, over-the-top spectacular with members from the National Orquestra, 3 dress changes, 3 hair styles, 2 makeup looks, sushi bar, pizza bar, the most amazing hors d'oeuvres, every drink imaginable, chocolates, pastries, gorgeous cake, DJ, the traditional waltz, horse drawn carriage, smoke, fire works -- a really big ass deal.Amanda looked like the princess she is. I did a more burgundy golden and sparkly look for her first dress. This is the one she wore to arrive in the carriage and greet all the guests, dance a bit and grab a bite to eat - literally one bite and then she was whisked away for her second change.

She changed into her white debutant gown for the walts and to walk down the stairs and be received by her escort/date - officially (here they call him the Prince). For this dress I did a traditional bride/debutant look with flawless, luminous skin, flushed cheeks, liquid eyeliner, nude shadow with MAC reflects pearl glitter on top.

This was after she had cried and everyone had kissed her and rubbed all her makeup off. Not bad.

She later changed into a green dress which was short and easy for her to dance in. We left at this point because we were drunk, full, and not about to join all the 15 and 16 year olds on the dance floor for a humiliating round of you're-too-old-to-dance-to-this (insert trashy song of the moment performed by 18 yr old who looks like they were born and raised in an opium den).

Like a fairytale Princess!

The party was a huge success with over 300 people present. Amanda is really loved - she's such a darling princess, she really deserved all the attention she received.

I'm still trying to get my makeup pics from Greti (hint, hint). I'll post them as soon as I have them.

Dried Apricot, Brie and Bacon Risotto

Check out these awesome pics of the most amazing risotto!! It's a dried apricot, brie, chili (dedo de moça), chives, and bacon risotto. It came out perfect, amazingly delish.


It was creamy and luscious. Really worth taking note so it can be made over and over again. The way I cook savory foods is the famous pinch of this, handful of that, so it's difficult to write everything down in a recipe. Plus, this kind of food is really not a measure, mathematical, robotic thing - it's supposed to flow naturally. But in case you're wondering, it just a basic risotto recipe (minus the celery) with a very mild veggie stock. The dried apricots were thrown in halfway through cooking time, and the other ingredients only after the rice was cooked and turned off. I stirred it all together, put the lid on, and 10 min later......risotto perfection!

We had brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce, and peaches and cream for dessert. What were we celebrating? Good friends, good eats, and that it was Sunday and still many hours before we would had to go back to work.

I'll post pics of the amazing party we all (James, Greti, HRH and I) went to Saturday night. I made up 6 people and hope to get the pics from Greti (hint, hint) to post here.

Partying it up like a 20yr old: surprisingly, not that bad

This last weekend we partied like 20yr olds. I'm not sure it's advisable for someone of my age and "delicate" disposition to do that anymore. Thankfully I was able to emerge from the weekend's alcohol induced haze victorious, with all my faculties intact and my frontal lobe still active - barely.

It all started with a rather innocent invitation from our friends, James and Greti, to join them at their place for drinks and laughs. We arrived early and since it's rude to have people over and not offer them anything to drink, they promptly made sure our cups never ever reached the halfway mark. We had tons of fun but it was tough to open my eyes the following morning - not to mention get out of bed. I felt like I had eaten all the cotton in the world sprinkled with a little salt. Not cool. Thankfully my head didn't hurt. I guess that's just one of the many benefits of drinking expensive liquor - the main one of course being that it tastes like a Heavenly elixir and makes the week's slavery somehow seem like it's far, far away.

Saturday night we went to a night club (that sounds so bizarre coming from me). It is so far removed from my normal social agenda that it felt a bit like stepping into a time warp to a different time, a different me, a different crowd - and very different music. I have to confess I was kind of dreading it. The "hip" night club scene in all its glory is not my scene. Fish out of frikkin' water. But, I'll have you know that thanks to Lady Gaga and other super wonders of the partying crowd, I had a very good time. I even stepped out of my rut and tried a new and different drink, Red Bull and vodka. It's what the kids are drinking, and definitely what all the kids were drinking there, in industrial quantities I might add, so I went along with it. When in Rome. It was actually good. Not better than my faithful and reliable gin & tonic or Johnny Walker, but good nontheless.

After a while I got bored and left. By then I felt like I had properly represented at my dear brother-in-law's birthday bash, so I left while I still had my dignity and feet (heels are poo). The youngsters were going strong and I imagine kept going for many hours after. Me, I was just thankful to be in my wonderful bed and comfy pillows. The nice thing about Red Bull and Vodka is that it gives you just enough energy to take off all your makeup and apply moisturizer before crashing. Nice.

Carnaval Weekend

Our friends paraded with this school - Beija-Flor.

This weekend was full of fun. Friday we went out with friends for sushi and had a blast. On Saturday I went to lunch with my friends and we had the most amazing salmon cesar salad and then we got frozen yogurt for dessert. We walked around and tried on makeup and perfume. I discovered that I'm in love with Chanel 5 Eau Premiere. I painted my nails a beautiful purple color and then took it easy at night with a bit of wine and a lot of Idol and SNL.

Sunday I had my friends over for a simple lunch. A couple of interesting things turned a regular dish into something fantastic. I made a fresh cesar salad as a starter and served it with crispy parmesan chips* I made myself! The I made tagliarini pasta with a tomato sauce (canned tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, black olives and capers), served with fresh grated parmesan cheese. It was amazing! Dessert was pears pached in simple syrup with rose water and served with rum raisin ice-cream. Heaven! The delicate scent of the rose water added a touch of class and an element of sophistication that elevetated the whole dish to spectacular. After lunch we sat around and watched the 1933 classic "Lady for a Day" - so fun!

Later in the evening we went out with some friends who are visiting during Carnaval and we had the best meat in the universe. I had forgotten just how good this restaurant was - Churrascaria Oasis - and I had forgotten how amazing picanha nobre is (a cut of meat only found in some high end churrascarias - Brazilian steak houses). Our friends had never been to a Brazilian steak house, and as expected were blown away. Picanha nobre really is the best, most amazing cut of meat, and the way they prepare it there is unequaled anywhere in our galaxy. A memorable experience and a great time with friends! After dinner they went to pick up their costumes and join the parade with the Samba School Beija-Flor. Can't wait to post their pictures!

Well, that's that. It was a great weekend full of good friends, good eats, and temperate weather. Who could ask for anything more?

Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo Weekend Adventure

All images were taken with a blackberry so you'll have to excuse the poor quality.

Last weekend we went to a beach town about 90min from where we live. It's not a fancy place full of pricey hotels, there's no Club Med there, it's just simple people enjoying the most spectacular beaches known to man. This particular place (above) is called Pontal da Atalaia, in Arraial do Cabo. It's paradise. You have to drive up this steep hill, park at the top, then walk down a precarious path to get to the beach. The water is crystal clear and no matter how deep you go, you can still see your feet. There were schools of fish swimming where we were, fishing boats that had been used earlier to catch fish and shrimp and bring in supplies to the small kiosks that prepare the most amazing fresh seafood and tropical drinks. The sand is perfectly white and super fluffy.

Here's the table we were at when we weren't in the water. The cup with the white milk looking liquid is actually a delicious elixir called Batida de Coco and it's made of coconut milk and cachaça (Brazilian fire water). They were so good we almost lost count of how many we drank.

There's a guy that passes by every half hour or so with fresh shrimp. It's just simply grilled with lemon and salt. So good! Those are my son's fingers in the shot. He couldn't get enough.

We finally left when the sun started going down. The climb back up the hill to get to the car is a bit rough. It's like you're paying a toll for having enjoyed such a terrific beach, but what can you do? This is the shot from the road heading down the mountain back towards the town. It's so beautiful, but it doesn't translate very well in this picture. You had to be there.

Every night we would go into the little town and walk around with the locals and get stuff to eat. The first night we were there Gui (my sister's boyfriend) took us to this very simple, fantastic place to eat Pastel. Pastel is a salty pastry dough that is filled with goodness (shrimp, cheese, bananas, anything you want) and then deep fried so that it puffs up and is very crispy and not at all greasy (the temperature of the oil has to be very high). These things were enormous and so scrumptulescent (that's a made-up word). This is a picture of my oldest son eating a Bobó de Camarão (shrimp and other delicious stuff) one. Yummy!

Sometimes we forget where we live and how great it is. The heat kind of poaches our brain and we have to take a step back, maybe take a 90min trip in order to gain some perspective and remind ourselves of why we live in Rio.

Weekend Update: Tania Bulhoes

This is a beautiful, gorgeous shaving set. It's sterling silver, and the whole thing costs about $700. A present fit for a king.

Saturday my sister and I had to do last minute Christmas shopping (by last minute I mean 20+ days before Christmas). We had very few things on our list, literally like 3, but that was enough to send us over the edge. After wading through throngs of mindless goyim moving in zombie-like fashion to spend an entire month's salary buying presents their family and friends may or may not like, totally unaware of what the holiday is about and creating an atmosphere that was so far and removed from "Peace on earth good will towards men", a concept which I doubt they've ever heard, I asked myself "What would Baby Jesus do?" and then I got it: "Sit down for a delicious cappuccino and financier at Garcia & Rodrigues". So that's what we did.

After spending way more than we should have on water and coffee, we headed back to the hell hole that is the mall. We still had two things to do and we needed to be smart about them. Buying the perfect present for someone includes getting something that you can afford, so it's tricky business when all you see and all you love is the top of the line, most expensive things. We needed an extended break to renew our spirits. Cappuccino is not enough, not when you're looking at a sea of oxigen deprived drones moving in quase-dead fashion creating traffic jams and confusion.

This is a silicone based hand and body lotion that absorbs immediately into the skin leaving behind the softest, most angelic epidermis you could possibly imagine. I will dream of this until I go back and buy it. It's heavenly, but the price is not.

Then we saw it. The heaven's opened, the light shone down and a choir of angels announced the first sighting and splendor of Tania Bulhoes. For all of you who don't know what this is, and are guessing that it's a store, you are mistaken. It is so much more than just a store. It is an oasis for the weary, a place of peace and joy. It is a haven, a sanctuary - if you will. A place where the weary mall traveler can enter and be immediately envoloped in the tranquility of a water wall, the beauty of the comforting apothecary-like walls of luxurious, decadent, extravagant, and magnificent array of bath and body products.

Sterling silver trays and candle holders, Swarovski crystal embedded perfume bottles, and other accessories, decorate the tables at the center of the store. Old world velvet chairs and chaises line the walls, while tasteful flower arrangements in muted colors welcome the grateful client. Every possible pamper is offered and sold. I know there is a huge store/spa in São Paulo, but I've never been. While the store here in Rio is much smaller, it is still grandious and imposing, although I'm sure not as much as the "mother ship".

Click here to go to the Tania Bulhoes website to get an idea of what I'm talking about. I believe all images are of the SP store.

Weekend Update: Saquarema

There's a cute little church on the top of the hill where you can see the whole city. The view is breathtaking and the church is beautiful.

This past weekend (wow, it's taken me long enough to write about it...) HRH, Thing 1, Thing 2, Meury, her boyfriend Gui and I went to a nearby beach paradise called Saquarema for a bit of RNR. It was so hot this last weekend there were moments when I didn't think my skin would stay on. I was literally melting. So gross. The nice thing about this place is that while the sun beat down on us with all its fury, there was a constant breeze to refresh and cool. The water was cristal clear and fresh. The beach we went to was not crowded so we were all just the right amount of distance from others. (Okay, I'm lying just a tiny bit. There was this douche named Aloisio who was a little too close, even though he was technically pretty far away. He was such a douche in fact that from now on instead of calling people jerks, we'll just call them Aloisio. He didn't stay long, so thank God for small mercies. Not even Aloisio could dampen our moods, we channeled him out and had a blast anyway.)

HRH's beer tower.

The heat was intense, but it was nothing 50 cans of beer couldn't fix, so we brought our cooler and drank like we were trying to prove something. About 3 hours in we got hungry and ordered some freshly caught pargo (red porgy) from the kiosk about 50 ft from where we were. What I'm going to tell you know is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - so help me God. It was the best fish I've ever eaten in my whole entire life! It was cut in half (half had the head still attached and other other part had the tail), dipped in batter and deep fried. It was crispy, crunchy with just the right amount of seasoning, on the outside. The flesh inside was tender, moist, and oh so very delicious. The tender bits of fish just melted in your mouth. The flavor was mild (like milk) and the smell was like the sea - fresh, crazy fresh and wonderful. We ordered french fries to go with it, but really, who cares. I'm telling you now for the record that we will be going back, if for nothing else, for that fish manna from Heaven. I'm sorry I have no pictures to put here - my camera's batteries pooped out, but I promise to go overboard with pics the next time around.

Thing 2 and Thing 1 - they loved it.

The kids swam and went hunting for little tiny crabs. HRH rested and had a much needed and overdue break from work, and I relaxed and worried about nothing but keeping everyone coated in sunblock for two full days. On Saturday evening we made fresh shrimp and penne with a fresh tomato sauce and drank chilled chardonnay. That's the life! I need to do exactly that for like 3 weeks straight. I'm already making plans.

Weekend Update: Unexpectedly Pleasant

Prainha

This weekend I had a very detailed plan of things I wanted to do. I didn't do any of them. In the end my weekend was turned inside out and I really can't complain because it was excellent.

On Saturday I was going to go to the park to read in the morning, maybe drink some iced tea and go for a stroll. After that I was going to go to the market and buy some basic ingredients for a great cold pasta, then watch a movie, have tea and cake, and then the day would be over and movie night with the kids would begin. What I actually did was: turn my house into a clothing bazaar complete with suitcases of merchandise spread out all over my livingroom for friends to rummage through and buy. Children (a small 5yr old and a baby! were in my apartment as well - although I do have to say they were extremely well behaved) were running around and "participating" by slobbering all over the place. The baby was too cute for words though, so he was forgiven. The boys were going to spend the entire day at a friend's house, making my house a haven for refined ladies and peace. That fell through - Jesus take the wheel! Thing 1, Thing 2 and a friend all came back home (they spent the morning in school), and wouldn't you know it, the party/bazaar/mahem/Chinese marketplace was still going strong.

We had to run out and find some kind of lunch for everyone, make it, clean up, serve it, and OMG! what an adventure. After cleaning up and clearing everyone out (no small feat), we watched/slept through the movie, The Scarlet Pimpernel - the fun version from the 80's with Anthony Edwards and Jane Seymore. When I got up I felt refreshed and ready to: make dinner, clean up after dinner, make popcorn, clean up after popcorn, watch a movie with the kids and then finally, finally lay down in deep, sweet, sleep. Holy Santos! Despite all the hectic confusion and complete absence of sanity, it was a very fun day filled with laughter, shopping and good company.

Sunday was going to be a day of gourmet cooking and relaxation, but the plans changed only slightly. Instead we packed our caravan and headed for a paradisical beach. The boys and HRH went hiking and I sat at the beach, on a comfortable chair, reading and drinking ice cold Coke for hours until the boys came back. If I could only use one word to describe my time there it would be serenity. Pure serenity.


Then we all had a delish grilled cheese they only make on the beach here called queijo coalho. It grills up golden on the outside and is soft and almost bouncy on the inside. Yummy! We had ours coated in oregano first, then grilled with a creamy garlic sauce drizzled on top. Be still my heart! The guy told us the mayor wants to outlaw selling any type of food on a stick (this cheese is made and eaten on a stick - fun!)??!! It seems some morons eat it then - get this - throw it on the sand!!! Quel horreur! The sticks dirty up the beach and are dangerous. Seems to me that people need to be educated and told what to do (in certain beaches) as those of us who aren't useless pigs should not be penalized by having our precious cheesy goodness beach snack abruptly taken away from us!

The boys were all ravenous so we made a traditional weekend meal of: huge contra-file steaks, rice with corn, french fries, fresh tomatoes and loads of Coke. The only thing missing were black beans. I made chipotle mayo and ketchup for dipping and enjoying. It was a fantastic feast and well deserved! Desert was chocolate ice-cream - of course, what else?

Weekend Update:

So, how was your holiday weekend? I had originally planned to drink too much and eat way too much red meat (I hadn't so much planned it as wished it), but in the end I did something very different and very pleasant.

It all started on Thursday night, I guess, when I went to see my sister's show at Melt. Their band is called Beeliv and it was so cute. Totally fun and kind of a layed back, no violin, Coors style thing. Fun songs, upbeat, pleasant and really entertaing.

Friday night I went over to James and Greti's and had pizza a tons of gin and tonic - good times.


Saturday HRH had meetings and training all day with his staff so I catered the event -for real. I made pasta caprese (my own recipe) and garlic bread for lunch, and almond brownies for dessert. I read with the kids and make them some special dinner. I got my new set of flatware I ordered and it's so good. Now we're eating in style! I had ordered The Scarlet Pimpernell from Amazon.com and since that arrived the day before we all watched it together. What fun! Later in the evening I watched Taken with Liam Neeson and it was surprisingly good. I mean, really good. He's a friggin' action hero. I'm not joking. Very high impact, action packed and solid storyline. I recommend it.

Sunday I spent the morning reading Maximum Ride 3 with the kids and watching Robin Hood (the one with Errol Flynn). Later all the grandparents came over and we had the pasta caprese from the day before (even better), the kids had croque-monsieur, and for dessert we had cognac poached pears and ice-cream. Yum! We also played Taboo together and that's always great for laughs.


Monday I went over to my friend Tati's and 4 of us girls had a very pleasant spa day. We moisturized, plucked, masked, exfoliated, cleansed, heated, cooled, painted, powdered, buffed, polished, sanded, pealed, soaked, massaged, aired and scrubbed ourselves until there was nothing left to do. We watched old movies, ate quinoa mushroom burgers and avocado salad, drank wine and laughed. Quel fantastique! HRH took the boys to the beach and they basically spent all day playing in the water, the sand and eating sandwiches. They had a blast. All the girls fell in love with this face powder Tati has from Kryolan (review coming soon) and now I can't live without it. Smooth, super fine powder. Long lasting and very awesome. Made me look like a diva. With that in my arsenal I could face anything and go up against anyone. There would be no stopping me.

Sunday Beans

Sunday night we were invited to James and Greti's for Boston Baked Beans and a new bottle of Hendrick's Gin. I made the cornbread, James made the beans and we all ate. It was some seriously good eats and I have to say we will not soon forget. The beans were caramelized to perfection. There was that smokey bacon flavor that matched perfectly with the maple syrup/mollasses. There was happy and lively conversation, never ending options of alcoholic beverages and a nice dessert (peaches with amaretto, almond slices and vanilla ice-cream). The night was a success - but then it always is with our fantastic group of friends.

Here are some picks of the prep and the final product. Enjoy!

The heart and soul of the beans. This is where are the flavor is and James' sauce was intense and awesome!

White beans, bacon and loads of onions layered in a baking dish ready for sauce and oven time.

The final result after 6 hours in the oven. Caramelized bacony goodness.

White cheese cornbread. Because we can.

My bowl of beans, cornbread and a healthy amount of super awesome butter. So good!

Weekend Update: Tea for Two

This weekend was a great success. I was able to do everything I wanted to a bit more. On Saturday Tati and I had tea together at a cute coffee shop and it was so pleasant I wish we did it every week. I saw a couple of fun movies with Thing 1 and Thing 2, cut their hair and made some special lunches and snacks with them. For dinner Friday night we had sausage sandwiches from Casa do Alemao as well as their famous croquettes. It was so very delish I can hardly describe it here, but I'll try. The sausages are made by them and they're spectacular. The bread is super soft and fluffy. The croquettes were wonderfully cruchy on the outside and soft on the inside. We had chicken and meat croquettes. I found out later that they also had cod croquettes, so I guess we'll try them next time. The thing about eating there is that it's cheaper than McDonald's and a gazillion times better. I don't think that comparison is fair considering these are artesenally made yummies while McD's are just a bunch of processed garbage with some salt sprinkled on top to make it taste ok.

On Saturday after going shopping with Meury, Gui and Tati we went to a pizzeria where we ate a fabulous aubergine pizza. OMG! If you live in the area you must try it. The restaurant is on Via Nove and is called Cugine. The atmosphere there is pleasant and inviting, service is stellar and the food is perfect. To top it all off, it is an inexpensive place to go. That combination is killer no matter where you go or who you are.

Instead of having dinner with Meury and Gui on Saturday night - as originally planned - we had lunch on Sunday. Perfection. The meat was juicy and pink without all the dripping blood so normally associated with pink meat, the bernaise was divine and the potatoes crunchy. The salad was perfectly cooked and dressed and the wine was exquisite. Here's what our menu looked like:

Starter: Mushroom bruschetta with fried quail egg on top

Entree: Contra file (very nice steak meat left in one whole piece and then thinly sliced after it was cooked and rested), bernaise sauce, potatoes royale, green bean and grape tomato salad with pickled onion and vinagrette

Dessert: Cheesecake (I know you're thinking "You just had that last week", but really, once you've eaten it you'll know that we can't possibly have it often enough even if it is once a week)

Samurai-Jack ate the entire meal with us, the only thing he didn't do was drink wine. I'm pleased to see that he has such a sophisticated palette. He loved the mushrooms and everything. Miojoboy on the other hand had hamburgers. Whatever.

Tata for now mes amis...

Weekend Update: Anna Olson's Country Apple Pie

During the week I kept our menu pretty frugal by making a number of different soups and they all came out amazing. I made an all veggie soup with a really delish roast chicken broth. I roasted a carcass as well as the head and feet of the chicken (nice), then boiled it, took out the bones and feet and stuff (not beautiful to look at but great in soup because of all the cartilage - natural thickener), added the veggies et voila, a really, really healthy and slurpalicious vegetable chicken soup. I also made a roast pumpkin soup with cayenne that was to die for, and then towards the end of the week fish chowder using the fins from cacao (baby shark that is cheap and easy to come by here in Rio).

On Sunday my brother Aaron and his girlfriend Patti came over for lunch. We had roast chicken thighs in gravy and prunes, rice with matchstick potatoes, and sauteed carrots in butter and sugar. For an appetizer we had small rice patties with sweet Thai chili dipping sauce (possibly my fave dipping sauce ever!). We all played Risk for hours and Aaron won. For dessert I made Anna Olson's Country Apple Pie. It's a super easy recipe and my pie came out exactly like hers. I was very pleased with myself. The real reason for this post is to share her recipe with you all. With winter upon us this is a perfect weekend treat. I hope you give it a go.


Anna Olson's Country Apple Pie
makes one 9 inch pie

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 6 tbsp to 10 tbsp cold water as needed

Filling

• 8 cups peeled and sliced tart apples, such as Spy or Spartan (I used Gala)
  
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 egg whisked with 2 tbsp cold water for brushing
• sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Pastry

1. Combine flour with salt. Cut in butter and shortening until mixture is a roughly even crumbly texture.
2. Add lemon juice and water and blend just until dough comes together. Shape into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Filling

1. Toss all ingredients except butter together and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 °F.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of dough to just under ¼-inch thick. Lightly dust bottom of a 9-inch pie pan with flour and line pan with dough. Fill pastry with apples and dot top with butter.
4. Roll out remaining half of dough and place over apples. Trim and cinch edges of pie and cut in holes in top layer of pastry to let steam escape. Brush top of pie with eggwash and sprinkle lightly with sugar.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 °F and bake about 40 minutes, until filling is bubbling. Cool pie for at least an hour before slicing. (Super important: make sure you put your pie dish to bake on top of another bigger oven tray in case there's any dripping. You don't want the drippings burning and smoking all over your brand new Brastemp oven you just bought and almost suffocate to death trying to clean it while the oven is still hot so you can bake your chicken - I learned this the hard way.)

Tata for now!

Weekend Update: Makeup and Movies

I had a blast this weekend. On Saturday I started off by doing Terra's makeup. She wanted some photos done. I imagine she wanted more variety and a dozen different looks, but it didn't work out that way as I wasn't going to spend my entire Saturday there without some kind of remuneration. In the end I did one look I felt would be versatile enough for whatever she decided to do. I wanted to give her a bit more of a youthful look because I had seen some pictures of her before with a lot of brown makeup on that made her look 10 yrs older than she is.

I ended up working a glittery grey and silver look on her eyes, no false lashes, and very defined and beautiful eyebrows. I used MAC Fleur Power on her cheeks and my MAC highlighter as well. On her lips I used a mixture of pink and nude lipstick with shiny beige on top.

She has beautiful curly hair so I just crunched the curls with mousse et voilà.

After I was done there I went to Greti's and we had tea, sandwiches, cake and popcorn. We watched Persuasion and Enchanted. It was so fun. Greti watched Persuasion the way most men watch sports; shouting, cussing and overly involved.

Later that evening I saw What Happens in Vegas with HRH and was pleasantly surprised. It was fun. I don't like Cameron Diaz at all, so for me to say that the movie was fun, even with her as the main star, that's because it was.

On Sunday night we all went to Andre and Lua's to see Idol. My God! It was so exiting. We were on the edge of our seats. Next week is the finale and we are going to make a party of it complete with cheesecake. Do any of you remember how I said that Kris was going to be there for a long time because he's got the little girl vote? Well, now you know that there is a prophet among you. You heard it here first, folks. Although even I couldn't have foreseen that he would be in the final 2. He's been surprising us and getting better and better all the time. I'm glad with the progress he's made. I can see him being a real star. I think Adam needs to watch out. There are some that think Kris has a chance at winning Idol. I don't think so and I refuse to entertain any thoughts of Adam losing, but there is a very, very slight possibility - I guess. I mean, weirder things have happened.

Tata for now...

Weekend Update: Good Food, Good Friends - who could ask for anything more?

This Sunday we had a low key quiet day. After going shopping in the morning (Fukui-san's fave activity) we felt we needed to sit still and not do anything else all day that would involve spending any more money. We brought the kids back from their friend's house where they had a sleep-over and got to work on lunch. We wanted to make it special because my dear sis Virginia was coming to visit and it had been a while since she graced us with her overly bubbly and chipper self. Samurai-Jack has been begging me to make chicken wings so that's what we did. After cooking them for a while with nothing but a bit of oil and garlic salt I poured out all the water the chicken released (gold!) and poured a terriyake and corn syrup glaze all over it. It went back into the oven to caramelize and perfect. They came out beautiful, glossy, and delish.


We made arroz maluco (crazy rice), which is really just random ingredients mixed into the rice along with matchstick potato chips (I served that on the side). It was perfect with the awesome gravy I made with the chicken juice. All I did was thicken it up a bit and I'll be the first to say that it was the best gravy I've ever made. It was thick and decadent and we drowned our rice in it and then sprinkled batata palha all over it. Oh, Jesus, take the wheel!


Corn on the cob is always welcome. Sweet delish corn that is tender, hot, buttery and just waiting to make a total mess of your hands, chin, and lodge in the gaps of your teeth. So long as you've got plenty of floss for the "after party" it's all good.

After lunch we ate the smallest amount of ice-cream for dessert I've ever seen anyone eat. We weren't enthusiastic about it at all because we were so friggin' full. Then Fukui-san and I went to Lua and Andre's to watch 3 hours of American Idol they had recorded. It was awesome! Wow, I can't believe I almost forgot to mention that Fukui-san made his famous Chocolate Irish Cream Liquor for us to have during Idol. I think we can safely say that Sunday was a very fun day and we had tons of laughs and good times.