Of Coffee…

Brazil is the leading producer of coffee in the world, accounting for about a third of all coffee produced.  It might be expected that Brazil is a country of excellent coffee.

It isn’t.

Mainly, because, although it does grow wonderful tasting coffee, it then exports all of those wonderful beans to be enjoyed by other countries.

The inferior coffee left behind was sometimes stretched with ground up, burnt peanut shells. 

Brazil had two main types of coffee that were popular. 

One of the most popular coffee drinks served in Brazil is Café com Leite, which as the name suggests is coffee with milk.  This was my mother’s favorite.

The second, cafézinho, was a very small cup of coffee, about the size of a shot of alcohol.  This was actually a good thing since cafézinho is very potent.  Made of very strong coffee, with a lot of sugar added, the resulting concoction more closely resembles syrup than liquid. 

What’s odder is that cafézinho is often given out for free at gas stations.  Along with coolers of water complete with a communal drinking cup.

In spite of the fact that my mother hates sugar in her coffee, she did occasionally enjoy a cafézinho.  My dad is also partial to strong coffee.  This created a bit of fun when we came home on furlough.

My wonderful grandmother and her husband always welcomed us into their home on our furloughs.  Now, my grandma’s idea of coffee was a pale amber color and seemed to have only a passing acquaintance with coffee grounds.  My parents were less than fond of the mild brew.

Their solution was to get up and make the coffee.  Unfortunately, my Grandma was used to her watery brew and eyed my parents black concoction with distaste.  After a few mornings, she gently told them that she was okay making the coffee. 

In the end, they each made a pot of coffee suited to their tastes and gave our family a fun story to tell.

But no matter how strong you like your coffee, chances are it may have been grown in Brazil.

 

 

Of Idioms…

Since I am in Wales visiting my sister (she married an Englishman), I have been thinking a lot about idioms.  Those phrases that people use that make perfect sense to people with whom they share a nationality, but which cause a lot of head scratching for those who don’t.

For instance, in England, they use the phrase “lost the plot” to say someone is out of their mind.

In Brazil, the idioms have the added ‘confusion benefit’ of being in a different language.  Americans would refer to clunker cars as lemons, whereas in Brazil, the word for a car that’s a lemon is a pineapple.   I’m not sure why people associate poorly running vehicles with yellow fruit, but apparently we do.

In America, it rains cats and dogs, but in Brazil (were idioms based in reality) you would be more likely to be clunked on the head with a knife and fork than a cat or dog.

And then there are the phrases that when translated into English make no sense whatsoever.  In a bakery we were often helped with the phrase, “Pois não” which literally means, “Because No.”  Although, it might sound rude, it was an expression used to offer help.

"Sei la" literally means, "I know there."  It's used to mean, "I don't know."  So, apparently, if you know there, you don't know here.

"Legal” has the same meaning in Portuguese that it does in English, but it can also mean that something is “cool”.  This is helpful to know so someone’s not offended when they’re told that their new car is lawful, when what they were hoping to hear is that their new car is the best thing on four wheels.  

The truth is that once you get past the confusion of a new idiom, they’re fun to add to your vocabulary. 

At the very least, you can enjoy the look of bafflement on someone’s face when they have no idea what you’re saying.

Do you have a favorite idiom?

Of Whipping Cream…

Before moving to Brazil, I was a child of Cool Whip.  For me, the topping you put onto pies, cakes, and sundaes came from the freezer and had to be thawed.

In Brazil, we couldn’t find Cool Whip. 

We were left with two options. 

The first was a box of powder that after being added to liquid and beaten made something that resembled whipped cream but by no means tasted like whipped cream.

Our second option was real whipped cream.

In Brazil, a lot of dairy comes from either boxes or cans and is shelf stable.  We bought our first box of whipped cream and carefully put it into the fridge since warm whipping cream won’t whip.

After pulling it from the freezer we got out our transformer (Brasil is 220 and all appliances we’d brought from the States including our Kitchen Aid were 110).

We hooked up the mixer in the living room to the nearest transformer and crowded around to watch our whipping cream turn into luscious whipped cream.

Excitement grew as the cream thickened more and more.

Excitement faded as the cream began to clump together and we realized we had created butter.  Butter is all very good but not quite as exciting as whipped cream.

We did eventually learn to whip cream properly.  We abandoned all the boxes of chemicalized powder in favor of real, genuine whipped cream.

And became whipped cream snobs.

After our return to the States, with Cool Whip in abundance, I find I no longer enjoy the taste or the thought of the chemicalized fluff.

So, although I find whipping cream in a carton in the refrigerator section of the supermarket, rather than in a can on the shelf, I find myself committed to the pursuit of real whipped cream.

In honor of whipped cream, I’ll share a favorite recipe from Brasil.  I have Americanized it so there is no need to pursue the more exotic ingredients.  If you wish to make that version, look up Mousse de Maracuja on a search engine.

One can of sweetened condensed milk.

Enough juice to fill the can and perhaps a little extra if you like things tarter.  You can use pure passion fruit juice, which is the proper way to make it.  I was unable to find it in any local supermarkets so I used lemon juice instead.  It is important not to use any juice that is sweet or the result will be too sweet.

A small carton of whipping cream.

Combine the condensed milk and juice.  Whip the whipped cream being careful not to turn it into butter.  Fold in the juice/milk mixture.  Refrigerate until chilled.  

Enjoy!