Brazil Trip: My Favorite Foods (and Drink)

 Romeo and Juliet, minus the Juliet

What's travel without the discovery of new foods? My favorites from the trip are specific to Minas Gerais: 1.) Pão de queijo (aka cheese bread): tiny rolls served fresh from the oven with a dollop of melted cheese baked inside, 2.) Tutu à Mineira: mashed cooked beans, served hot alongside rice and fresh vegetables, 3.) Romeo and Juliet, a dessert consisting of a wedge of mild cheese served with guava puree and dulce de leche, and 4.) Fried coconut served from a street cart: freshly fried and still piping hot. It's called beijo-something, which translates to hot kiss. Mmmm.

Pão de queijo

Tutu à Mineira

Fried Coconut


My favorite drink, of course, was the caipirinha, the country's most famous cocktail, made with cachaça and muddled sugar and limes.

Brazil Trip: A Lovely Hotel

In Ouro Preto I was treated to a stay at the Solar do Rosário, a 170-year-old, 41-room hotel that I became absolutely enchanted by. There are open entryways and windows around every corner, and tons of places to escape—little tables, chaises, daybeds—both indoors and out. The place is a sanctuary for secluded romance—unfortunately, I was traveling solo!

The hotel overlooks Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Rosário Church), one of the most interesting examples of the local Brazilian Baroque architecture because of its back-story: it was finished in 1792 after 30 years of construction by slaves who needed a safe haven for worshiping. 

But the best part is rooms here go for 400 reais, which (right now) is about $217 USD. Now that's affordable luxury.

Brazil Trip: Inhotim, An Art Lover's Paradise

The attraction that's garnered the most international attention in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in recent years is the Instituto Cultural Inhotim, a sprawling contemporary art museum that's been set up on 3,000 acres of lush, landscaped earth.

I spent a couple of hours there. But you could spend days. 

And, according to the latest issue of Budget Travel, it's the trip of a lifetime.

My two favorite installations: The Forty Part Motet, by Janet Cardiff; and Através by Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles. The Forty Part Motet is an open-air room in which forty speakers, raised to average human height, are placed in large circle. Each plays a singular voice. The collective sound is that of “Spem in Alium," a choral composition written by Thomas Tallis in 1573. Hearing each voice clearly as you walk around the room in front of each speaker, then standing in the middle and hearing it as a whole is staggering. The sound—resonating from the breezy sun-filled white room—is almost empyreal. I filmed it on my Flip: the video is shaky but the sound is good!

As much as Motet is auditory, Através is visual. It's also interactive. Visitors are invited to enter the installation by walking on the glass shards that coat the floor. Those shards (yes, I walked on them—in shoes) are one of the many barriers you're meant to cross as you make your way to the center of the installation, a huge cellophane ball (other hurdles include barbed wire and a shower curtain). See my video of the docent explaining it here.

Brazil Trip: Undiscovered Ouro Preto

Baroque architecture. Simple, sherbert-colored houses dotting the hillside. Passport (and visa) required. . .

Last week I was in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil, in the southeast part of the country, about 400 miles north of Sao Paolo. Before I was invited on the trip I had never heard of it, even though it's anchored by Brazil's third largest city, Belo Horizonte. But that's what makes it great: the tourists flock to buzzing Sao Paulo and Rio, leaving this place untrammelled and wholly authentic. (Practice your Portuguese, or travel with a guide!)

Minas Gerais literally mean general mines. The cities here sprouted up in the 1700s after the discovery of gold. The economy was built on mining; and sparkling Baroque churches soon became showpieces of the local bounty. Though flying in and out of the capital city of Belo Horizonte (translation: beautiful horizon) gave me the chance to tour the city, my favorite part of the trip was the old mining village of Ouro Preto, where many of those churches still stand.

Adventures Ahoy!

I'm slowly coming off of a whirlwind couple of weeks of traveling and entertaining—and I don't mind a bit that I've spent more days in a hotel or guest room bed than in my own. But, I would like to apologize for being an unfaithful blogger.

The past 19 days have included a trip to Brazil, a weekend at a new resort in San Antonio, a couple of days entertaining family in Dallas—which included stops at the Dallas Aquarium, Fossil Rim wildlife park, and the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine—and a night at a new friend's house on Lake Cypress Springs in Mount Vernon, Texas. Oh yes, and then there was that blizzard in Dallas that virtually shut the city down for 24 hours. And the handful of days at the cheese shop and nights out on the town. Oh! And I was touring the Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Museum in Fort Worth just this morning...

The good news is I'm going to be up against some serious free time in the coming days and will have some idle hours in which I can write. That's if I don't fill them up with more adventures....

Where Have I Been?

Wondering where I've been?

Here's a photo. Details to come!

Dallas Day Trip

You know that sadness that hangs in the air after a house-full of out-of-town friends departs for the airport? Yeah, me too. That's why, just after they all took off, I did too. In typical Sunday fashion, Dan and I went on an adventure. Destination: Garland, Texas.

To those of you in the Dallas area, Garland is just another suburb. Sure, it has its series of stripmalls and stoplights, but do a little digging (or just read this blog...) and you'll find some gems. Garland happens to hold several superlatives and oddities: Texas's biggest municipal golf course, a nickel arcade, the only tract of land in the world where eight types of oak trees grow together in the same ecosystem, a New York pizzeria, and (!) a Mennonite restaurant.

Our first stop was Firewheel, Texas's largest public golf course. Because it's the off-season, you can golf for next-to-nothing, especially on weekdays after 3 p.m. But, it was freezing outside, so we opted to hit a bucket of balls at the driving range ($7), which shot the husband's happiness level through the roof. From there, we drove 2.5 miles to Spring Creek Park Preserve, an old-growth forest with a well-maintained walking path that skirts a limestone-lined creek. 
 
What better place to go after a brief stint of nature-inspired solitude than a nickel arcade? Upon entry, Nickelrama appeared to be just like any other arcade—teeming with giddy children, flashing lights and screeching sound effects emanating from rows of video games and Skee-Ball consoles, several Disney cartoon-themed birthday parties simultaneously underway. The difference is that here you pay to play in nickels, and the most expensive attraction—a roller coaster ride simulator—costs 6 nickels, or thirty cents.

In need of sustenance after the hour of intense gaming, we went next door to Sali's Pizza and Pasta, which we had read about on Yelp before we took off. First of all, the cheese slice I ordered was the closest thing I've had to New York pizza since I moved to Dallas. I'm talking about the kind of New York pizza that's cheap, greasy, piping hot, and available 24 hours a day at pizzerias in the city. (for the record, I've had good pizza in Dallas, but it's good in a different over-topped or brick oven-baked kind of way) Back to my cheese slice: it cost $1.45. Reason No. 2 why I liked it so much. In a somewhat bizarre turn of events, Dan and I weren't in the mood to drink, but the smoky wood bar in the back was serving drafts for $2.25 and pouring wine for $2.95 a glass. Pitchers were $6.95. Reason No. 3. 

While we were leaving the shopping center a previously unheard of establishment caught my eye: Marlo's House, An Authentic Mennonite Restaurant. Unfortunately we were full of pizza, and the place was closed, but holy smokes, what a find! Marlo's bills itself as "the finest Mennonite restaurant in all of North Texas," also admitting that "actually, we are the only Mennonite restaurant in North Texas that we are aware of." The menu is decidedly meat-and-potatoes-ish, but with a few surprises, including the indulgent Canadian delicacy poutine, a plate of french fries smothered with gravy. All I know is next time I'm jonesin' for a bowl of Wareniki or a platter of Perogies, I'm heading to Garland...
  

Damn Good Pickles!

I cracked open the first jar of my very own Damn Good Pickles over the weekend, and (drumroll, please) they were actually damn good! Now I can officially vouch for the accuracy and deliciousness of this recipe. Next up: spicy dills!