Mini-Fruit

At the grocery store I was excited when I saw some mini-fruit!

The pears were sooo cute and smelled lovely too!

Mini Pears

Mini Tomatos

Brazil

Back: E, Du, Henrique, Gus, Fre
Middle: Cy, Tati, Vi
Front: Alex, Stella, Vale, Vivi

This trip came about suddenly as E had a project that needed him in Brazil.  Sao Paulo to be exact.  So when I heard, my cogs started churning.  E needed to be in Brazil for meetings which would book-end 3 weeks.  Meaning two Thursday to Sunday trips 3 weeks apart.  So I hopped aboard!  My visit bridged his 2 trips (came with him, stayed for 10 days without him and then left with him).  It was great to take advantage of this situation (3 seats for the price of 1)! And the opportunity to introduce Alexander to extended family. Fantastic!! Truly!

Arriving in Brazil this time was like taking a dunk into the everyday lives of my Family on any given hectic day.  This wasn't holiday time and everyone was busy beyond all recognition.   My family was as always, extremely accommodating and they were able to make lots of time for Alex, E and I.  We had a lot of fun!

My Aunt and Uncle were having an insane time preparing for my Uncles 2.5 month contract in Korea (with no more than a week to prepare), my cousins were busy with work, teaching, studies, significant others, babies, kids, health concerns, pets etc.  At least 3 items per cousin.  I just came in an stirred things up a bit more for them.

I was visited regularly by Gus during lunch times as he works near his parents' place.  It was a nice treat during the long days (alone with Alex).  The evenings were filled with visits from Fred & Vivi and Du and Sco.  There was also quite a bit of iPad training going on and my Aunt, Fre, Du and Gus each have one now.  It's great!

It was quite wonderful to see Alex interact with everyone so warmly and comfortably.  I am so happy for this!  Everyone had a lot of fun with him too and this warmed my heart.  Such a special time! (Love love love!!)  He was also a hit with the family dog Ragu.  I don't know who chased whom faster - Ragu behind Alex or vice-versa.  I have a suspicion that "Ragu" means "Dog" to Alex.  He calls out "GU" every time he sees a dog and almost cried in frustration in the park the other day when the dog didn't come running...  Either way, seeing Alex and Ragu was tons of slobbery fun!

There were quite a few events as well.  Pizza at Gus & Vi's after babies were bathed and asleep, play dates with Vale, Euro tour planning with Fre & Vivi, a baby shower, the second Singstar gala where Vivi & I kicked butt, some shopping at my Aunts' Atelie (I'll put a link here as soon as her site is up and running!!), visiting my Vovó, hanging out with my other Aunt & Uncle and of course, the reunion of cousins.

The reunion of cousins was quite a feat.  5/8 of us were there with significant others and kiddies.  What a blast!!  It was also a union of the 2011 harvest.  That being similar to the 1978 harvest.  In 1978 1 child was born to each of the 3 Anders siblings (my Mom, my Uncle Lindolfo and my Uncle Rodolfo).  Christina, Henrique and Gustavo respectively.  In 2011, Alexander, Valentina and Stella also (almost) respectively were born.  That's about as close a repeat as possible!  It was great.  We ate well, as is famed by the Anders clan, and we spoke tons.  It was a wonderful time!

On our last day we did all you can eat Brazilian BBQ.  MummMMMMmmmMMMmm!!! It was delicious!!!  We had a gigantic table, made a fantastic mess and were quite noisy.  What a wonderful time!

Again, I thank my gracious family for hosting us so warmly.

Barcelona in 5 days ~ May 2010

I must say that although I’ve been dreaming about going to Barcelona since about 1994, it has become a bit of a running personal joke at how impossible it has been to organize. There have been so many times that I’ve almost gone, most recently as a destination for Spring Fling 2010 with “The Gurlz” ~ abolished by the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull. So when E announced his accumulated air-miles surprise was Barcelona, I was floored. Pretty much in disbelief. In fact, it only felt real once I entered Gaudí’s Casa Batlló and started drooling all over everything.

We had a wonderful time. We ate, slept, toured, ate, walked, explored, ate, met with some friends, ate…. It was really nice, easy and relaxing. We did a lot of stuff at a reasonable pace, and filled our time so richly and easily!

I did some exploring on my own while E worked, but had no problem navigating the metro system. Once I figured out that the entrance I go into matters, it was sorted out. The buses were pretty good too. I liked the system more than the Paris Metro, easily. But mostly, E and I toured together.

Gaudí*. There are not enough words to describe this man’s work. I was listening to a headset tour guide in Casa Milà (La Pedrera) that said Gaudí’s university professor “was not sure if he was giving an Architectural degree to a Genius** or to a Madman”. And as E described it, “Dalí was the mad man, Gaudí was the genius”. I totally agree. I took in as many of the subtle and not so subtle details of Gaudí’s work at Casa Milà, La Pedrera, Sagrada Família and Güell Park. No matter where I was, I felt so totally comfortable as an integral part of my surroundings and that I could always trust where I was, in such a way I have never felt before. It was natural. Oops, with one exception: atop the tower at Sagrada Familia (my virtigo = wobbly legs (a tragedy on stairs) and a desire for repeated mini-barfs as my guts dropped as if on a rollercoaster…). Ultimately, Gaudí’s work comforts and inspires me immensely; I couldn’t have imagined how happy I’d be while in his spaces. I am a fan through and through and I totally respect him and his work.

We toured so much! Around various city neighbourhoods (Barris Gràcia, Gòtic, La Ribera (walked along La Rambla), Montjuïc, Barceloneta, Port Olímpic and Port Vell). We gawked up the Monument to Christobal Colon, gazed at Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings, visited the Barcelona Cathedral, saw a couple get married at Església de Santa Maria del Mar, toured around the Roman ruins, Hospital de la Santa Creu I de Sant Pau, inside the chambers of old City Hall, listened to the organ at Palau de la Música Catalana while taking in the beautiful ornate decor, explored Park de Montjuïc, peeked into various courtyards, the Olympic stadium, saw the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and of course, the modern Architecture and sculptures including Gehry’s*** fish sculpture at the beach.

We peeked into funky shops and restaurants, designer and rustic alike, and ate all over the place. We ate breakfast at Mercat de La Boqueria, had drinks near a decommissioned old market, had awesome Tapas in a couple of local Tapas bars; one of which was set in an old garage – minus the cars, motor oil and tools. We ate piles of desserts (fig and chocolate pie etc.) at a posh little boutique place (where I chatted with a woman in Portuguese) and gorged ourselves with the most delicious seafood paella ever in Barceloneta.

In summary, we had a wonderful time in a wonderful city. This trip was long overdue and I loved it immensely. I plan to continue this great adventure and explore beyond Barcelona next time!

*Gaudí: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD

**A definition of “Genius” that I agree with: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

***Gehry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry

My poor “LANGUAGE” !!!

So, over the past couple of years I think my Russian language skills have improved slightly.  I recognize a small number of words and can create a monologue in my mind.  Weather I actually know what is being said is rather irrelevant at this point.  Suffice to say, I am creating a soap opera in my mind and find it mildly entertaining when I have no idea what is being said around me.

Here in Moscow, I am totally derailing my brain.  If you want to pronounce an English “V” in Russian, the English letter “B” replaces it.   Similarly “C” is not a “C” but it’s an “S” with some exceptions (I think).  “N” is written “H”, “H” is “X”, to pronounce the English “R” it is written, as “P” and Ivanov is Иванов.  You get the picture.

The afore-mentioned description confused the hell out of Evgueni, so I think he might sympathize with me a bit more?!? Can you guess what this says: “PECTOPAH”? Once I think I’ve got some of these letter switches memorized, suddenly, the letters are flipped upside and backwards.  Sometimes the letters even look stylized (with a little tail or something) but it actually changes the letter entirely! 

Ouch my aching brain!

Chiang Mai, Thailand ~ Cooking class

So this is one of the many highlights for both Evgueni and I. Originally, I was considering a 3-day class until I realized half a day would do.

On the menu: 5 dishes. 5 dishes!!

- Hot and sour soup

- Phad Thai

- Green mango salad with sticky rice

- Green curry

- Steamed banana-coconut cupcake served in a banana leaf cup

We started in the market, as this is where every good meal begins. We reviewed tropical fruits, local snacks, a large variety of rice (including sticky rice), seafood, vegetables etc. I was in horror to learn the numerous forms eggplant camouflages its little evil zip... Good to know!

We ogled in awe at the assortment of things that are sold in little plastic bags (including beverages)!

Most importantly, however, we learned about heat. The heat from the chili is a sacred thing. It is not to be underestimated. The colour to watch for is green if you want heat. But if you're safety-savvy, you already knew that.

We arrived at our cooking class, a tidy and sterile space with a classroom and a large open area with a dining table and about 15 little side-by-side kitchenettes. Each kitchenette had it’s own gas burner, sharp knife with cutting board, clean cloth, cookbook and apron. This open area had only a corrugated fiberglass cover to protect us from the elements (remember, it was already excessively hot in Chiang Mai, so add a bit of chili and we’re on fire!). Fortunately, by now, we were 'used to' the heat but were scorching to say the least once we started with the chili’s!!

Before we started each course we had a little class where we closely observed our Grand Master Chef Extraordinaire “Oh” prepare the dish in approximately 4 minutes. Even when she was momentarily interrupted by 'boyfriend number 5', she was a wizard making learning easy and fun. A large ceiling-mounted mirror allowed us to see what was going on inside the wok while she tossed in sauces and ingredients, stirred then tasted. We were all amazed and enjoyed tasting Oh’s masterpieces.

After making each course, we ate. 'Ahhhuumm... tastes good' as our Grand Master Chef Extraordinaire would regularly say (usually after adding 3 additional tablespoons of her favourite albeit smelly, fish sauce).

We then left the classroom to find our little workstations fully-equipped with all the pre-chopped ingredients ready for our experimentation. We could measure out sauces in portions we desired (sour, sweet and hot - whatever our preference). It was blissful! So we tossed our sauces and ingredients in, stirred and presto! Something real! Then we each slurpppped greedily at our hot and sour soup. The best hot and sour soup I've ever tasted (if I may say so myself!). In the meantime, our workstations were miraculously cleaned and fitted with the next set of tools and ingredients (if only this happened at home!!!). What a treat!

Next came the (my) sacred phad Thai. Ahhhh, tastes good!! We learned the precious art of garnish for each of our dishes. We decorated our dishes in ways we never dreamed. So pretty and so simple! Although, I never quite mastered how to curl my green onion… it was like over-curling a ribbon – it abstains from curling.

After the phad Thai, we learned about chili. The less you chop or mash, the less heat they give off. The later you add them to your dish, the less heat they give off. If you chop them perpendicular to their length, again, the less heat they give off (notice a theme here...) so if you want heat, chop your green chili’s on an angle (almost parallel to the pepper shape), add them to your dish early-on and cut or mash them a lot. To give you an idea: Evgueni and I made our green mango salad together and naturally it has to have heat. I always thought I could handle a reasonable amount of heat. I was soooo wrong! I asked our Grand Master Chef Extraordinaire how many chili’s we should add. She said '5'. I asked her how many she liked and she said '10'. So we used 3, barely chopped, barely mashed and left-out-of-the-sauce-until-the-last-possible-minute... and the heat was... well... HOT. Next time, 1 maybe 2 chili’s are in order, of course they will also will be barely mashed, chopped and added as late as possible.

The sticky rice was made on the side and was quite fascinating. With my fingers, I enjoyed making sticky-rice balls. It was also delicious and dampened the heat of our mango salad. Wowza!

At this point in time we made the green curry and the delicious steamed banana-coconut dessert. These dishes take a bit more time to fully mature in flavour. Note: I used squash chunks instead of eggplant in my green curry due to my allergy. A delicious substitute!

All the dishes were scrumptious and we enjoyed them very much. We had a wonderful time learning and cooking and remain grateful to our Grand Master Chef Extraordinaire Oh and are glad she is kept happy by all of her boyfriends! :)

PS I would never have survived 3 days! :D

Hong Kong ~ Briefly

Evgueni's summary (to his sister, which includes both of our opinions):

"No way we can live there.. It was not exactly what we expected... but Cy and I have the opposite opinions. I expected much better, and she expected much worse. :) The whole place is a bit unreal... it has one of the highest per capita income in the world, but also the highest density of people... the business is booming, but completely chaotic.... sort of every man for himself. The whole place is like a mixture of 5th element and Blade Runner. Crazy!"

Cybele's summary:

We had fun in Hong Kong. We met up with a friend that I worked at Straticom with. He summed it up in one sentenance for me. "People here don't walk in straight lines ~ they zig-zag, stop and go". He was exactly right and that is Hong Kong in a nutshell for me.

We toured around with Evgueni's pregnant friend from highschool and her husband. Very nice people. They treated us so well!! She was running faster than us on many occasions when we were far from our nearly departing ferries.

We ate excellent (fresh) seafood and other traditional foods including specialty won-ton soup, peeking duck, etc. It was a lot of fun and very tasty!

I bought a knock-off "LePro Sac" vs a "LeSport Sac" purse in the ladies market (imagine china town but much much bigger, much much more crowded and much much much much more busy). I don't think I was overwhelmed at all ironically. Just maybe so numb that I enjoyed it all. The bag is covered in plantinhas (little pants), actually flowers... I love it. The real original price is 69 euros and I paid 9. But I also negotiated a small purse to match. So I probably paid 6 plus 3 euros ... heh heh heh!!!

We saw an extraordinary site: Filipino live-in nannies on their day off. They were lounging everywhere en masse, giving manicures, pedicures haircuts, squeezing i don't know whats undertheirhaireuoogrosssssss and what not. You know, the necessities of life. They are basically homeless for 1 day a week (Sundays), so they meet up with boyfriends in tents and with their nanny friends (all women) on sprawled newspapers across public spaces as far as the eye can see.... a phenomenon...

Another observation: It's amazing. The scaffolding on all buildings is made of bamboo and tied with plastic ties or plastic rope. Very very interesting! I've been assured that it's stable! Ha!

I won't go into detail about typhoon warnings either... ("like a Canadian Snow day..." we were told) suffice to say, you can have a day off work or leave early ~ depending on the severity. And by all means wear a hard hat since the store signs (hanging, no, dangling EVERYWHERE) "supported" by make-shift steel structures fall down regularly during Typhoon season. OH MY!!

The rituals are different than I'm used to in this part of the world, but everything seems to operate pretty normally.

As you can see I've been having a good time!

Our touristy weekend in Singapore

Saturday:
- slept in, lunch, depart
- walked along Orchard Road. It was full of gigantic, expensive shops. Mostly North American and European designer labels. It’s incredible how rich this part of Singapore made me feel while making me feel rather poor... I had to avert my eyes for fear of wanting. Everyone was there shopping.
- Had pear/banana juice blend. It was supposed to be 2 separate fruit juices, but they misunderstood me and blended both our drinks in this not-so-successful concoction.
- Headed into Tiffany’s together. Cool! It was my first time in a major jewellery store. Again, averted for fear of wanting.
- Went into an alley bar for a lime-aid refresher. Very cool place.
- Visited Emerald Hill, a really nice residential neighbourhood. It’s older, but well taken care of with landscaping etc.
- Visited the fullest book store ever: Kinokuniya. It was insanely busy.
- Visited China town (colourful, fragrant, busy and familiar, worldwide), found tasty dried fruit and Nori (YUM!)
- Ate at YumCha had Peaking Duck cut before our very eyes (DELICIOUS!!!) accompanied by yummy mango and prawn dim sum.
- Was so distracted by the scorching weather, I forgot to haggle prices for some bracelets in China town. DUH!
- Visited the oldest temple in Singapore: Sri Mariamman, it’s tower and sacred cows (1862)
- Visited the Civilian War Memorial
- Gave way to our weary feet
- Taxied to Raffles Hotel, the posh-ist hotel around. It was very pretty indeed. The trellis work against the creamy white façade was my favourite feature. We hope to return to taste an official “Singapore Sling” from the original source!
- We crossed the street to the Swiss Hotel to check-out the New Asia Bar on the 70th floor. We had a great view of Dover Road and the Singapore night life (Saturday and Sunday are very lively). Everything is beautifully lit making it a fun pass time to “city-watch”. We had Lychee Martini’s and Mojitos and spent the time taking goofy photos of each other.

Sunday:
We started late, gratefully missing the delirious heat of the day.

We decided to start with the “Rolling on the River” walking tour. The walk started at Clarke Quay. We’d been here for dinner once before. This popular, outdoor (and air conditioned) restaurant hang-out area is very different during the day than at night when we visited. It was very quiet and unassuming in the daylight compared to the party and club atmosphere at night. Unfortunately, the huge phallic air conditioner tubes were not pumping out the cool air, and we found that the leafy printed glass canopy did little to shade us. We decided a local ice-cream was necessary. We determined the Singaporeans should leave ice-cream to the Italians.

The walk was nice, but felt more like something we had to finish versus enjoy. The nearby buildings were often ugly in their modern concrete solidness, with some exceptions of better, more creative design. The bridges were nice, each being different than the other.

We ended where we started (at Clarke Quay) and had cold bevies at TCC (The Coffee Consession). They had an impressive and delectable menu of assorted coffees and juices. I had a mango/soy smoothie and E had some coffee/orange/chocolate magic joy in a glass. It tasted like liquid cake. Suffice to say, he was very full afterwards.

Late in the afternoon, we went to little India. WOW! Was it ever packed! It was 97% male. Many Indian men come to Singapore for labour. They make some quick money and return home. Sundays are known to be busy for the late celebrations by these labourers. Of course I stuck-out for many reasons, and it was a little overwhelming. Nonetheless it was pretty amazing to see Singaporeans as tourists in their own country. The local Singaporeans were taking photos, riding rickshaws etc. The culture and mind set is so very different that what I’d come to know of Singapore already, that I really felt as though we were in another place.

We then headed to little Arab town. It was basically empty in comparison. We saw the Malabar Muslim Mosque with it’s blue and yellow hexagonal mosaic façade and it’s adjacent cemetery. Next we visited the large, white and gold, well maintained Sultan Mosque. As we approached it, the modern architecture against the moon sky-scape created a unique site. As we walked away along Arab Street, with it’s narrow streets filled with restaurants and stores, we heard the musical call to prayer. It was nice.

A fortunate note about the shops: we did not find any ivory here, unlike the China Town shops we saw yesterday. We were also fortunate to find some beautiful, traditional wedding jewelery.

By this time we had developed quite an appetite. We went to Bumboo, a delicious Indonesian restaurant. We had fun and ate well.

After dinner we admired the library on Victoria Street. It is a very large, white building with a lot of glass. It has a “pod” at the top of one tower, supported by steel cables that support platforms between towers. On the roof, it has a graduated green house open to the elements and gigantic mature trees peeking over the parapets. The grounds were surrounded by lush, green landscaping. It was much cooler in these spots than anywhere else. Funny what a little nature can do!

We stopped at Bugis Junction to watch a really cool fountain work it’s rhythmic water choreography. We got some great footage of kids getting soaked. Hilarious!

We continued to Raffles Hotel to catch the #14 bus. We rode it (upstaris) for the 45-minute trip home. We acted goofy and admired the nice nightlife in Singapore.

St. Petersburg ~ Day 2

The four of us took trams to the suburbs to Peterhof Estate, 1723. The yellow and white painted Palace comes complete with a couple of small matching churches; the Grand Cascade covered with gold depictions and statues with touches of black for contrast against which the gold and water shine; several other cascades, an expansive property with acres of manicured gardens etc. which were all beautifully laid out in both symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns for Peter the Great. What a day, what a place! We explored the numerous gardens right down to the oriental garden at the edge of the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, the fountains weren't turned on yet, but I made a point of exploring some books depicting the full effect. It's amazing! The good thing about the fountains being off is that I wasn't soaked by any of the joke fountains that are hidden mysteriously throughout the estate.

After walking, snapping photos and exploring the complex for a number of hours, we had each developed a case of acute starvation. We had a lovely dinner in the estate (however tardy and expensive it was). Two of the items I found particular interesting in the translated menu included: "boiled language" (aka, boiled tongue) and "tortured rabbit" (rabbit stew). I stayed away from both. I'm obviously not into languages (no, speaka da Russian) and I'm ever-so-slightly adverse to torture. (Although, I’m sure the stew would have been delicious!)

On our way home I saw again something that kept making me happy throughout my entire visit. The local churches. Each is quite small and very pretty. They are typically white all over with magical roofs. The design of each is such that every church is different and has a unique roof profile: curved, rippled, pointy, onion-shaped... blue, yellow, red, green, you name it! They are truly unique and pretty. At one time I could see 3 from where I was, each one smaller than the previous. I could barely see the smallest. So very pretty! Getting home was always very interesting. There are so many HUGE apartment/ condominium buildings that it's really easy to feel small and lost. To get home we had to walk through what seemed like cities full of residential buildings. And they all look pretty similar to the untrained eye. The pretty churches were a godsend giving us our bearings to find home. (See ‘heels’ Day 1).

When we got home with weary feet and our bellies stuffed from dinner, we further topped-up our stomachs with mounds of delicious desserts and strong caffeinated tea. One of the desserts was like a marshmallow-meringue blend and another like soft ginger-fluff cookies, without the ginger. It was all very tasty! We slept for hours!

Peterhof Grand Cascade: http://www.saint-petersburg.com/peterhof/index.asp