Foods n' Things

Yesterday I went to Olinda, the town just north of Recife. It's pretty well known world wide because it has such a rich culture. I went there with my new amiga Juana and her boyfriend Renan, which is pronounced kinda like HayNUH. Their reason for going was to eat Tapioca and they invited me along. I was very pleased to find out that tapioca here does not mean oddly textured pudding.

Tapioca is made from these things. Mandioca.

The starch is somehow isolated then used to make a certain kind of flatbread type thing. It is pure white and has a really really special texture. You know how when you roast a marshmallow and the outside is dry and a little crunchy, but the inside is still gooey? That's the most similar thing I can think of except it's not gooey, just a little sticky. And it doesn't taste like much, cuz it's just starch basically, but they add salt or sugar, depending on whether you want a meal or a dessert and you can order them with all sorts of scrumptious things inside. It's basically Brazil's version of a tortilla, or crepe...but it's soooo different and cool.

They first cook the tapioca in a round thing, then they put what you want in the middle and fold it in half. I let Renan order for me so I got one with coconut and cheese...which sounds weird...but it was DELICIOUS. Next time I'm totally getting meat though. (:

This is Olinda. There are a lot of very very old churches and historical buildings there. So it's a neat place to walk around. The government is constantly renovating and trying to preserve stuff. They're also really well known for having an especially excellent Carnaval. That city further down the coastline, in the background, is Recife. Hi house!


Tonight I was just starting to think about going to bed when Leo and Renata (Leo's gf) invited me out for french fries...at like 11:30. At first I said no cuz I was super tired and not dressed, but they insisted. So we went out and ate french fries and drank beer. They also ordered shrimp, which was very yummy. The shrimp here have heads. And also all their legs and feeler things. It's basically like the shrimp come out of the ocean, get cooked, and that's that. No middle men. It was neat. Also Pedrinho (Carol and Leo's other brother) met us there. They're all so much fun. It'll be even better when I can understand all their jokes...