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Thursday, March 31, 2005

Mousse de Limão

As a collective, Brazilians generally love desserts. Another one of my favourites (in addition to mousse de maracuja and creme de abacate) is lime mousse. Similar to passion fruit mousse, it is more accessible to northern cooks as it is easier to procure limes than it is to procure passion fruit in non-tropical countries. So without further ado, I leave you with the recipe for lime mousse, taken from the Brazilian cybercookbook:

Ingredients:
1 can condensed milk [loads of Brazilian desserts are made from a base of condensed milk]
1 package unflavoured gelatin
3 egg whites
1/2 cup lime juice

Prepare the gelatin according to the package's instructions. Mix the lime juice with the condensed mix. Add the gelatin mixture once it has cooled down. Beat the egg whites and then fold into the condensed milk and lime mixture. Spoon into a bowl or individual serving dishes and refrigerate. Yum!

Taima

Last week I went to the concert of a Canadian group called Taima. The event was sponsored by the Consulate in honour of the Francophonie, and was amazing. Taima is composed of the duo of Elisapie Isaac and Alain Auger and their band. The music is a mixture of folk, rock, and haunting indigenous melodies and is sung in French, English, and Inuktitut. One of the things that made the concert so wonderful is the fact that Elisapie truly sings from her soul.

The word taima means enough or lets move on in Inuktitut and represents a vision for a Canada in which the country's Inuit and native and non-native peoples work towards common objectives and a positive future. Check out some clips from the duo's website.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Such Fine Company I am (a.k.a. Visitors Beware)

I have always thought that I have been a pretty lucky traveler. In the past dozen years, after travels throughout Latin America and Europe, and a handful of countries in Africa and Asia, I have come across very few truly dangerous situations (except for riding in kamikaze taxis with no seatbelts, but these are stories for another time). I’ve been hospitalized a couple of times, but always managed to get out the next day, not much worse for wear. Then, for some reason, I started to add up the number of times that I have been involved in robberies or muggings, and incredibly enough, the figure was far higher than I ever imagined. Unfortunately, the more frequent scenario is that the people I am with end up getting robbed, while I (knock on wood) have escaped mostly unscathed. Quick math shows that ten different friends, including my poor mom who had her skirt pocket slit in Guatemala last year, have been robbed or attempted robbed while hanging out with me in Latin America.

That being said, two weekends ago, a colleague of mine was on his way back to Canada from Brasilia through Sao Paulo. We arranged to meet in the city's historical centre for a stroll and beer. Seeing that I have very few pictures of Sao Paulo, as I am usually afraid to carry around my camera, I decided to take advantage of my male company to bring a small camera with me on the excursion. No doubt, my company would protect me.... Upon arrival at the meeting point, we walked around the artisan’s fair in Praça da República for a few minutes before heading to Bar Brahma (which, as an aside, is well worth the visit). My colleague hadn’t been in Sao Paulo for more than ten or fifteen minutes before there was a sudden commotion and he was pick pocketed. Now, I do need to say that all the appropriate precautions were taken, and because of this the loses added up to the local equivalent of C$1 and one health insurance card. It was almost laughable. Especially since I had told him to bring at least one piece of ID, " 'cause you just never know". Still, I was perturbed and felt badly that my colleague’s first trip to Sao Paulo resulted in an almost immediate robbery. My bag and the camera were fine (which means that the blog will still have the occassion photos).

Needless to say, we continued on our way to the bar and sat down for what was now a well-deserved drink. A few minutes later, my cell phone rang and the caller said that he had found an ID card with my colleague’s name on it. Amazingly enough, my colleague had put a post-it note with my phone number on the back of the card so that he could call me when he arrived in town. The caller then walked around the corner and returned the card. So by now we had regained the card and lost (well, given) another C$5 in reward money. A well deserved drink indeed. Hopefully the last for a while.

post-scriptum: Please don't think of avoiding Latin America because of my security-related stories. Latin America is a wonderful place full of amazing countries, terrific people, and inspiring histories. Just keep you eye on your belongings! Soon to be posted is my top-ten list of things I love about Brazil, inspired by ms.mac.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Lean Mean Driving Machine

Last Friday was my final welcome-to-Sao-Paulo driving lesson. After more a month off, I decided that scheduling two final lessons would be a good idea. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good about myself when my instructor TOOK OFF his seatbelt! Now, I would never recommend anyone to ever take off their seatbelt while in motion, let alone in Sao Paulo, but I must admit, that I did let his actions go to my head and felt my confidence surge. No doubt I am now ready to conquer the chaotic streets of Brazil on my own!

Friday, March 18, 2005

Strange Signs III

This twelve step set of instructions on how to use an elevator well can be found in buildings around Brazil. Who knew it was so complicated!

1. Extinguish your cigarette in the appropriate location. It’s the law.
2. To call the elevator, push the button. It is not necessarily to push the button more than once and it may even damage the mechanism.
3. Wait for the elevator calmly. Do not take out your impatience on the equipment.
4. Before entering the elevator, make sure that it has arrived at your floor.
5. The elevator door is an additional security measure. Do not use any force or pressure on it.
6. Let people exit the elevator prior to entering it.
7. All elevators have a limit to the number of people who can be in it at one time. Please respect these limits.
8. Your ride will be more comfortable and quick if you only push the button of your desired floor.
9. Before entering the elevator, deposit your garbage in a can outside the elevator. Do not throw your garbage on the elevator floor.
10. Do not let children use elevators by themselves.
11. In the case of any abnormality, press the emergency button and calmly wait for help.
12. If you are only going up one floor, or down two, use the stairs. In addition to being healthier, it leaves the elevator free to attend other calls more quickly.

And there you have it! My personal favourite is the recommendation to not take out your impatience on the equipment!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Kitty Quality of Living

Aside from all my traveling, Felix's quality of life is doing pretty well. Here's a picture of him in one of his favourite places; on the balcony checking out the wilted plants that I refer to as my garden. Scraggliness also aside, he loves it! My potential new place in Recife doesn't have a built in garden box, so I will have to invest in some big plants so that Felix will not feel that his standard of living has dropped too much.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Quality of Living

Mercer Human Resource Consulting has just released their annual Quality of Living survey which compares 215 cities around the world using 39 different criteria including:

Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc);
Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc);
Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc);
Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc);
Schools and education (standard and availability of schools, etc);
Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc);
Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc);
Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc);
Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc); and
Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters).

As it turns out Canada did well, with all five cities in the survey ranking in the top twenty-five. Brazil, on the other hand didn’t do quite as smashingly, with Sao Paulo and Rio ranking 148 and 167 respectively. Not surprisingly, Baghdad was ranked the city with the lowest Quality of Living. Switzerland, Austria, and Germany had many of the top cities, the top four being Geneva, Zurich, Vancouver, and Vienna. Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal came in positions 14, 20, and 22 respectively. New Zealand and Australia did pretty well as well with Auckland, Sydney, Wellington, Melbourne, Perth, and Adeliade ranking in the top twenty-five. Now, I do have to call into suspect any survey which ranks Montreal below both Toronto and Ottawa (what can I say? Once a Montrealer, always a Montrealer ...), which is why I was happy to read on Mercer’s site that Quality of Living and Quality of Life, are in fact, two very different things.

According to Mercer, "the Quality of Living index is based on several criteria used to judge whether an expatriate is entitled to a hardship allowance. A city with a high Quality of Living index is a safe and stable one, but it may be lacking the dynamic je ne sais quoi that makes people want to live in world-renowned cities such as Paris, Tokyo, London, or New York. Sometimes you need a little spice to make a city exciting. But that "spice" may also give a city a lower ranking."

And this is why, the following survey is a much better indicator of quality of life. A much more accurate survey, Air Canada’s EnRoute magazine ranked twenty-four cities in the world according to five criteria: the beer/soft drink price ratio; the signature carbohydrate comparison (with a Parisian croissant as a baseline); the good-looking people factor; streetlife indicator; and the public order index, which essentially means the more jaywalking, the higher the quality of life. With these in mind, the top five cities for the quality of life are Rio, Rome, Paris, Mexico, and Amsterdam. Ah, that’s more like it!

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Pinacoteca



I spent the afternoon at the Pinacoteca do Estado, an art gallery here in São Paulo that houses over 5,000 works, majoritarily of Brazilian artists. The building is an architectural delight with a mixture of gallery space, exposed brick walls, and sunroof-covered courtyards. It is located across the street from the Estação da Luz station and beside the Jardim da Luz, São Paulo's first botanical garden, opened in 1825. As the garden can be a bit dodgy, it's probably better to enjoy it from the comfort of the Pinacoteca's lovely terrace café.

The temporary exhibit 60 years of Photography of Flávio Damm was one of my favourites. A native of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Damm's methodology consists of finding an interesting subject background and then lying in wait for a interesting subject to walk by and complete the picture. It is almost impossible to tell just by looking at the photos in the exhibit whether they had been taken two years ago or fifty years ago. Great stuff!

The second exhibit that caught my eye was the Jardim da Luz - Seus personagens, Seu Encanto [Garden of Light - Its Personalities, Its Charm] series by Paulista Paulo Mac Dowell. This series of photos was taken in Jardim da Luz as a chronicle of the people who are there on a daily basis. From children, to families, to elderly men meeting their friends, to homeless people sleeping on benches, to office workers enjoying some sun over their lunchbreak, the series offers a terrific view into the gardens. Unfortunately it is still best to avoid the garden when alone and especially after nightfall.

New Neighbours


There's a lot of construction going on in my neighbourhood these days, with high-rise condominiums and apartments going up all over the place. Since I arrived in September, a construction team has been preparing a plot of land for construction which is in direct view from my living room. In the last three weeks, construction has progressed quickly and, although I had always assumed that it would be more condos, I found out yesterday that it will, in fact, be a mega Wal-Mart with floors and floors of underground parking. Right there, off my livingroom balcony. Not exactly what you want to stare at while having a coffee on Saturday morning. I am consoled with the fact that Wal-Mart will likely not be building a floating store in Recife, so this shouldn't be my view for much longer.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Stange Signs II


These signs are all over Recife! Two questions: What is average for shark attacks? and How much above average is the risk in this particular spot?

Monday, March 07, 2005

Fun Things I did in Montreal and Ottawa

The fun about going home for a short period of time is that you get to do everything that is fun in a fairly condensed timeframe without having to excuse or explain yourself.

So here, without further ado, is my list of fun stuff to do when in Montréal for a weekend:

→ Lunch at Café Santropol on Saint Urbain at Duluth. For those who are not acquainted, Santropol defies explanation (sorry!). It is a Montréal institution which serves ginormous sandwiches on thick brown bread (as well as soups and other delectables) replete with yummy ingredients. Personal favourites are the Killer Tomato, Sweet Root, and the Santropol sandwiches. You can stay for a half an hour and have a quick bowl of soup or for three hours sipping on cup after cup of Curiosi-tea. Check out the website, there are some pretty cool before and after pictures on the building of Santropol.

→ Bagel shopping at Fairmount. There is a serious bagel war going on in Montréal. On opposing sides are those who swear by Fairmount Bagels and those who espouse St. Viateur Bagels. Personally, I fall solidly ono the side of Fairmount. Both shops are open twenty-four hours a day, and the best time to go is at 2am on your way home from the pub, when you are sure to encounter a good-humoured queue waiting for deliciously warm bagels.

→ Perusing Saint Denis Sreet. Full of boutiques, nooks, and curiosities (as opposed to the curiosi-tea of Santropol), spening a couple of hours on St. Denis is a great way to spend an afternoon. Just remember to bring warm accessories should it happen to be minus twenty ...

→ Checking out the Montréal skyline from Mount Royal, perferably at night. Okay, we didn't have time to accomplish this this time around, but the view of Montréal's sparling lights is worth braving the cold or the heat.

And now for Ottawa (yes, my critical friends, good times do exist in Ottawa!)...

→ Dinner at Haveli's. Like bagels in Montréal, there is a raging debate in Ottawa about where the best Indian food in the Byward Market can be found. Based on a weighted grid with the highest weight given to the restaurant's version of butter chicken (other categories being ambiance, service, and price), I can without hesitation state that Haveli's wins the contest! Yummy!

→ Dinner (different night) at Khao Thai. A relative newcomer on the Ottawa scene (est. March 2004), Khao Thai is a delight for the tastebuds. Great atmosphere and prices also help. I recommend anything made with eggplant!

→ Drinks at the Empire Grill. Order a martini and ask for the Ultimate Starter Dip, a sundried tomato paté served with bread or pita which hasn't been on the menu for several years. If the server hasn't heard of it, get him or her to check with the chef. They'll love you for it!

→ Skating on the Rideau Canal. Thank goodness we made time for this. No trip to Ottawa in winter is complete without a spin on the world's longest outdoor skating rink.

→ Cross-country skiing in Gatineau Park. So sad ... there was no time for this, plus my skiing partner was off in New York. Next time, next time ...

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Home

The concept of home is a funny one. No matter where I am heading, it always seems that I am going home. Whenever I would head to Montreal during the six years (!) that I lived in Ottawa, I would invariably say that I was going home. Of course, on Sunday afternoon, when it was time to return to Ottawa, I was also going home. When I left Brazil two weeks ago, it was clear that I was heading home. Yesterday, while I was packing my bags and getting ready to catch my flight, I knew that I would soon be home. No doubt, it isn't a bad thing to have too many homes! I was however a little bit sad to not be heading back to my little apartment in Ottawa, affectionately known as the Crackhouse. Although the majority opinion was of the mind that it was definitely time to move onwards and upwards, I still have some nostalgia for the nest that was my home for so many years. In any case, it was/is good to both go home and be home.