Guide to Brazilian Food Part 2

Posted on by taniacreations

Side Dishes…

There are a number of varieties of side dishes in Brazilian cooking, each region holds their own.
Here are a few that are all time favourites of mine.

Palm heart salads are very tasty and very light, if I could do a diet eating just that and fresh asparagus I would be happy for a long time even on diet! They don’t even need seasoning but they are awesome with some olive oil and salt.

Deep fried bananas are delicious with red meat.
Deep fried zucchinis are delicious with anything.

Then you have polenta from Italian’s influences.

My tummy smiles just to think about it!

(Orble Votes: 52)

Don’t do the Dishes

Posted on by taniacreations
If you need to tell your husband, kids or flat mates that you can’t do the dishes because you just painted your nails use this picture as proof that it really ruins your nail polish.
At the time I had hurt my left hand and was only using the right one, you can see the difference after one week.
Left hand’s nails are perfect, right hand’s are A-TRO-CI-OUS!!!
We thought it was really funny so we took a picture!
(Orble Votes: 42)

Bee Deliriums…

Posted on by taniacreations

“I feel sorry for the poor bee” said the little boy. My feelings exactly, the giant bee dying on the sidewalk with its brains and white blood all over the place.
Such a strange vision. Like being in a video-clip. That is how I felt that morning. But it was a five dimensions clip because it included colours, movements, smells, tastes and sounds to it.
The smell of blessed morning coffee, the ocean with its calm beauty, the perfect weather, the sun bearing its stimulating shine on us… lying on the grass and talking.
The funny bee on the sidewalk. Laugh and serenity, the smell of pleasure on my skin.
Magic in black and yellow…

(Orble Votes: 54)

My Daily Coffee Quotes

Posted on by taniacreations

Here are my Coffee Quotes from the previous month… this is one of my favourites:
“Coffee is what brings a beating heart to its normal pace.”
Everyday they just come to my mind as soon as I look at the screen and get ready to write them. That can only be inspired! I follow the weather and how I’m feeling for the day. It’s an enjoyable job.
This is a continuation of my post from 4th March 09:

https://writtenlife.me/2009/03/04/our-daily-coffee-nonsense-and-my-coffee-quotes/

I hope you enjoy.

Friday
Have a sunny, crispy, beautiful day!
Following a friend’s philosophy: it’s going to be Friday the whole day, so enjoy!
Have you tried to warm up the stove and throw a couple of beans or just coffee powder to a hot surface?
It’s the perfect trick to bring everyone to the kitchen, the smell will ring a powerful bell in the sleeping mind and the person will come as if hypnotised.

Monday
Have a great rainy day!
A good cup of coffee is able to convince you that any day is perfect!
At least perfect for something if not for swimming in the cold shark-infested water J

Wednesday
Have a shinny day!
A cup of Coffee can be like a “tele-transport” device and take you instantly to a place you have been before, sipping another cup of coffee that brought you joy…

Thursday
Coffee can always bring a smile my face…
Smiles can also bring a smile to my face J

Friday
Have a great FRIDAY!
Fridays’ coffees are awesome! Can’t wait for next Friday’s…

Digital StillCamera

Monday
Coffee is what brings a beating heart to its normal pace.

Tuesday
Have an inspired day!
One sniff of a nice coffee aroma gives inspiration for a full day.

Wednesday
Have a motivated day!
Coffee is the best motivation to get you out of bed! Coffee is like fresh start in a cup…

Thursday
Have a brilliant day!
My intelligence is directly proportional to the level of caffeine in my blood

Monday
Have a happy morning and a great day!
Coffee is the happy event that separates the morning from the rest of the day.

Wednesday
Coffee sips in the morning are my taste buds’ best friends…

Thursday
I love Thursday’s coffees, they taste like Fridays just about to happen!

Digital StillCamera

Friday
Have a great, awesome Friday!
Coffee is like a paint in the canvas of your mind that says: Go!

Monday
Coffee is a beautiful font of reminders from the weekend, it gives Monday images of the sun in the sea and the moon in the water…

Tuesday
Coffee is a primary necessity on a rainy day.

Wednesday
Coffee is like a minute of silence, a profound connection to the universe.

Thursday
Coffee is a new experience every morning, you can even feel the adrenaline just before the first sip.
And the smile spreading on your face when you realise it’s just perfect.

Friday
Coffee is an act of love for oneself… and for coffee!

Monday
Coffee gives you hope and makes your heart believe without doubt that all will be well…

Tuesday
Coffee gives good energy to the day…

Wednesday
Good Coffee feels like a long weekend in a cup.

Thursday
Have a great Day and Happy Easter!
Coffee makes you feel reborn every morning…

(Orble Votes: 53)

Our Daily Coffee Nonsense and My Coffee Quotes

Posted on by taniacreations

I’m working at a multi-national company and from my duties the most important one is to notify people that the coffee van has arrived. We are located in an isolated place but civilization finds us here in the form of a small van with a beautiful espresso coffee machine. It arrives every morning bringing hope to the hopeless, energy to the sleep deprived, brightness to the dumb and a happy smile even to the grumpiest of them all.
It took me a while to realise how big this was, a few mistakes when I called some people to let them know and they didn’t answer and I let it be; another time I assumed that if the person was not on site it wasn’t that important, but apparently this person was on her way and would have intercepted the van before arriving. By the looks they gave me and the seriousness the issue took I realised that if nothing else happens, everyone has to know about the coffee. The rest of the work is superfluous.
Happily caffeinated people will not care about any other stuff.
So I started sending these e-mails called “The coffee van has just arrived (or… Our Daily Coffee Nonsense)”. Their structure was like this:

Good Morning!!!

The coffee van has just arrived.

Have a smooth day!

*******************

Our Daily Coffee Nonsense …

(Something about coffee)

(A coffee picture from the internet)

I always change what I say about the day and the coffee.
At first I started picking things from Wikipedia about coffee… That was how I learnt that some people drink coffee from grains that a kind of racoon has thrown up.
Also that others drink coffee from grains that are found in the faeces (as in poo) of a kind of deer. (Are you serious???)

Anyway, then I started getting coffee quotes from a nice website: Really Long Link

And finally, as I writer, it stroke me that I had to write my own quotes. So I started doing it every day. And a brilliant light in my head (straight after a cup of Mocca) that I should post my creations!

Here are the ones I wrote, I will start posting them regularly from now on:
Monday:
Some days, coffee is like air: without it, survival is unachievable…
~ Anonymous sleep-deprived person (me)

Tuesday:
Craving coffee you hear the magic sound, that one that is like an old train releasing pressure, and your heart leaps happily in your chest and whispers “Coffee at last”!
~ me

Wednesday:
You look at the clouds and feel them in your mind until you have your Coffee,
then it’s like the cobwebs are lifted and the sun is shining. Your brain smiles…
~ me

Thursday:
Rainy days like today make a hot cup of coffee taste even better…
From the inventions of the Universe coffee was for sure a masterpiece!
~ me

Friday:
Have a great day! And today is really Friday! Yuhu!
Our Daily Coffee Nonsense …
Friday Coffee tastes like chocolate and the smell of rain in the dry earth… pure paradise!
~ me

Monday again:
I can think clearly without coffee even on a Monday morning, my mind is even able to prioritise! It says: “I want coooooffeeeee”
~ me

Tuesday:
Fun is everywhere in life, a cup of coffee is often a good reminder of that principle.
~ me

Wednesday:
The smell of coffee scents the air and brings you up to your senses.
Your taste buds dance happily in your mouth screaming: yuuuhuuu! Coffeeee!
~ me

Thursday:
Some people live to see the sun-rise, some live for the stars, a few for the moon and a lot are for the sunset.
Others live for the coffee van arrival, each to their own passions.
~ me

(Orble Votes: 44)

Dark Skies Sci-Fi With Wrong Advertisement

Posted on by taniacreations

Dark Skies is this old TV series from 1996/97. It was one of the best Sci-Fi creations I’ve seen. I’m not sure how I would see it today with all the advances in technology especially in special effects but in the nineties it was great. They would use original shootings of the time the story is set (the 60’s) and mix with their own imagination; the plot was amazing and the actors were great.
It was re-writing story as if Earth was being invaded by aliens at that time. So they would twist real life happenings as if the aliens were responsible for them. It puts a lot of real life stories into a new perspective like the assassination of J.F. Kennedy, one of the biggest Beatles concert, the Great Northeast Blackout…
The soundtrack was so good that DVD releases are an issue: prohibitive music licensing costs.
I have no idea how it was released in the world but it must have been similar to what I have seen in Brazil. I only had access to it because I had cable. It was transmitted by a specific international channel and they made a mess of it. First because the channel is always a mess, they do not play the series in order, announce things wrong, it is totally crazy; but also because the advertisement made sure the series was a failure.

dark skies

Let me explain: the ads would show all the gruesome parts of the series, disgusting aliens, people being taken by parasites, split heads, screams and all that is not nice to see. But that was just a little part of the show and not at all what it was about. So what actually happened was that the brainy watchers that would like the series for its plot, for the beautiful soundtrack and scenes mixing the old and the new in an exquisite way wouldn’t even watch the series because they didn’t like the gruesome commercials that gave the impression of something styled like Friday 13th movies.
On the other hand people that liked the gruesome styles would only watch one episode to get to the conclusion they didn’t get what it was about and that there were no fun parts to it.
Nothing can convince me that if they had used adequate advertisement, just transmitting what the series really was, they would never have had only one season. I will see if they have released the DVDs, Wikipedia says that not yet. I wish I could see it again and that someone wrote the end of the story.
I just found out there is a book based on the series, I wonder if it writes an end to it… I hate to love a story with no end to it.

(Orble Votes: 39)

Funny Bits: Do not obstruct the poo

Posted on by taniacreations

I found this sign near my sister’s old place. I probably walked past it a hundred times before I noticed it. Then, one day, out of the blue, I read it: “please do not obstruct the poo.” What intrigues me the most is how did they do it? I keep trying to find out what was written before… which letters were changed, would it make any sense if it was: do not obstruct the pooling? Naaaah.
I had to stop walking, laugh for a few minutes, shake my head, find my camera inside my bag, take a picture, then I managed to go on my way, suddenly bursting out laughing, in the middle of the street, with people looking at me now and then… I didn’t obstruct the poo but I may have ended up obstructing the traffic while laughing during a street crossing!

(Orble Votes: 57)

The Problems of Valentine’s Day

Posted on by taniacreations

Ok, Valentines Day is supposed to be fun for everyone, it’s mostly fine for two groups of people: singles and people with assumed relationships. I just realised there are a lot of options in between.

I’ve been talking to my friends and it is so funny how the day is posing a problem for quite a few of them…
The married ones with kids are complaining about baby-sitters as all of them seem to be going out with their girl or boyfriends. Some of the married ones with no kids just wish they could stay at home doing nothing but the restaurant was booked three months ago… The single friends have a few other problems:
One of them has a few girls under his belt, more than one relationship at the moment and choosing which one to see on Saturday is a problem as it may loose him the other ones…
– So don’t go out with any of them – I told him.
– But then I will see all these people kissing and making out and wish I was too.
– You can get someone on the night.
– Yeah, but it is not guaranteed, with five girls already on my list I should be able to choose one.
– You are not going to die without kissing one night!
– I know, but that is what weekends are for: kissing, making out, going home for some luuuuuv… you know. All would be fine if it wasn’t valentine!
– So go out with one of them!
– The others will know I was not with them and get upset, they will know I was with another girl. Even if I go out by myself I’m screwed because none of them will believe I was alone.
– Oh go to hell you’ve made it all too complicated! And I ended the conversation. I hate problems with no solution.
Another friend said she is seeing this guy, quite a more than just casual, but a bit less than a boyfriend, so now she said she wanted to see him this weekend and cannot because of the implications, if she goes out with him on Saturday something will have to be said about it, the day itself, even the weekend, is a statement. She would have to say either: it doesn’t mean anything or it means something…
– What if he asks you to be his girlfriend? I shot at her.
– Then I would probably say ok, but it’s so good now without us saying anything! Valentines would just rush things up with no need.
– So he probably won’t say anything…
– And I will be disappointed…
– But you just said!!!?
– I know! That is exactly my point! I hate Valentines Day!!!
The third conversation of the week made me think I was loosing my mind:
– So let me get this straight: you don’t want romance, you think valentines is just a convention to sell stuff, you hate red roses, you don’t want to date anyone, but you think it would be “Oh! So! Good!” to get some flowers or a box of chocolate???
– Yes… it could be from a secret admirer!
I think on Valentine’s Day there are subliminal messages going around the media to addle minds, especially women’s. Even me! For goodness’ sake, I saw some flowers this morning and sighted! I see the same flowers every morning! Ridiculous!!!

(Orble Votes: 52)

There is Life Outside Dancing

Posted on by taniacreations

– Don’t move that arm.
When the x-ray guy said that my mind went: “Houston, we have a problem!”
I fell off a horse at the beginning of the year and injured my arm. It was getting better everyday but then, it stopped improving so I went to see a doctor.
X-ray done: it is fractured; had been for 15 days. Waiting for the specialist in the waiting room I had tears rolling down my cheeks while I was thinking “my salsa congress! My performance!”
I’m a dancer. Any doctor will tell you the worst patients in the whole wide world are in this order:
1) Doctors, they do not admit they are sick;
2) Dancers, they know they are sick but will not miss the rehearsals, “give me something fast I have to heal in the next hour” attitude, and they always have bulimia or anorexia in different degrees;
3) Sportists, same as dancers but not necessarily bulimic or anorexic.
The doctors at the emergency room were looking at me as if I was a freak. (No, I am not). The first doctor asked quietly:
– Have you been dancing?
I smiled a cheeky smile and said:
– Yes, but only with one arm. To prove it I showed my good arm, though I didn’t seem to have impressed him much…
He seemed robbed for words. Didn’t say a thing. I think he was considering calling psychiatry on me. Fortunately “they” didn’t show up. I could have been committed if they did.
The nurse kept looking at me and tsk-tsking, then she asked once:
– Didn’t it hurt?
What they don’t get is that dancing does never know total absence of pain. You always have at least a blister, or a painful muscle, a few bruises from the tricks and dips, etc. Not counting the accidents, the falls, the hurting feet after dancing eight hours straight. So a fractured bone is painful but bearable, as all those other pains are.
Anyway now I have this broken wing and after my fair share of crying decided to get the best out of it.
I will have to understand that there is life outside dancing.
The other day I went out with some new friends. We were at one of their houses. I hope I wasn’t looking too stupid because it’s how I felt. They were playing this music trivia game. All I could think was: “I’m an alien!” I had no idea. There is a whole universe I don’t know about! It was if they were talking another language. Complete gibberish. I seldom recognised one name of one group or artist and I had no idea which Motown act scored the most different #1 singles in the same year. I only know what Motown is because of a choreography I saw…
Oh, I love music, I dance them, I listen to them, but in my ipod they are always listed as track 1; track 2; track 3. I don’t get it, what’s the point in buying the original CDs if the songs still appear as track 1; track 2; track 3? I’m probably doing something wrong here, but never have time to sort it out before the next rehearsal.
What stroke me that night was the thought: “These are normal people, not dancers. The kind that go out for other than dancing and have other interests and have lives full of other… things!”
I cannot imagine my life without dancing. I had to stop for a few years and I remember that page of my life as my “dark age”… none the less I can only believe now that this fractured bone has come to show me that there is something else out there!

(Orble Votes: 42)

Here I am again

Posted on by taniacreations

I don’t know if I should dread or embrace these feelings ruled by hormones.
If I should treasure them while they are here or simply hate these days that rule me to something in-human, or maybe just extra human…
The colours are brighter; the air has a sharper smell. And I can’t avoid checking on the male presence around me.
Have you noticed how your own mood and thoughts change the way people react to you? Don’t you get reactions every day that you look in the mirror and think “Oh, but I’m beautiful today!”. Or didn’t you notice how some people are beautiful just because they think they are? And take the attitude out, well there wouldn’t be much left. That kind of thing always made me wonder… Danny de Vito is a great example of that for me… he is short, ugly, fat end now a bit older… and HE DID A STRIP TEASE IN FRIENDS!!! He is a Hollywood actor and has acted alongside some of the most beautiful women in the world. That is attitude.
Another example is the president of Brazil, now on his second mandate. As a Brazilian I am ashamed to say that my president has low formal education, barely speaks Portuguese well, has had drinking problems, he tried the presidency quite a few times before he got it and he is ugly and fat just to get it all. How oh how did he get there?
That is why I think on the days I give out this vibe… It’s like it is another part of me…

(Orble Votes: 45)