Category: Brazil

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Drinking Houston

Drinking Houston means great beer, spirits and wine procured at Premium Draught   and Spec’s.  And the great Islay pour I first experienced at Warren’s Inn in Old Market Square downtown, remains the great dram I pour in my library.  Ah, Laphroaig!  Especially the Cask Strength. Drinking Houston with books has been a mainstay for me … Continue reading Drinking Houston

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Sausages And Cooking Murder.

Louis Vincent Palliere renders in bright colors the infamous Slaughter of the Suitors” by Odysseus and Telemachus, note those gorgeous capes tripping hues between orange and red. I love cooking sausages.  All sorts of sausage.  Beef, chicken, lamb and pig; andouille, bloedwurst, boudin, bratwurst, chorizo, hot dogs, kielbasa, knackwurst, linguiça, longaniza, merguez, morcilla, saucisson, soppressata,  … Continue reading Sausages And Cooking Murder.

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Prolegomena To Any Future Gumbo.

West Africa parades Benin, Burkina Faso, the island nation of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe and Togo.  West Africa remembers the empires of Ghana, Mali, Oyo, and Benin.  West Africa cooks Yassa, Maafe, and Fufu. In The … Continue reading Prolegomena To Any Future Gumbo.

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A Few Thoughts On Soup

Such a sacred tableau in Pablo Picasso’s 1902 painting La Soupe.  There’s a graceful, reverential bow on the part of the mother as she offers a bowl of soup to her daughter, who springs forward, ready to receive sustenance, ready to receive a gift. I love cooking soup.  A small, crafted merging of nature and … Continue reading A Few Thoughts On Soup

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Reading And Eating Clarice Lispector’s Story “As Águas Do Mundo.”

There it is, the sea, the most unintelligible of non-human existences.  And here is the woman, standing on the beach, the most unintelligible of living beings.  As a human being she once posed a question about herself, becoming the most unintelligible of living beings. She and the sea.  (401) The moment of consciousness, of self-awareness … Continue reading Reading And Eating Clarice Lispector’s Story “As Águas Do Mundo.”

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Market Day In Rio

Tuesday morning which means we’re off to the farmers’ market in Praça General Osorio, Ipanema.  I love going to markets whenever I travel, markets in Dublin, Madrid, Stockholm, Thessaloniki and of course, Rio de Janeiro.  I’m planning on cooking with local fish and have my sights set on Namorado.  Namorado in its dictionary form means boyfriend … Continue reading Market Day In Rio

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Creamy Coconut-Cashew Soup With Okra, Corn, And Tomatoes.

Bryant Terry is Chef in Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora and his cook book Afro-Vegan connects food to health, identity and civic responsibility. More than anyone else, people of African descent should honor, cultivate, and consume food from the African diaspora.  Afro-diasporic foodways (that is, the shape and development of food traditions) carry … Continue reading Creamy Coconut-Cashew Soup With Okra, Corn, And Tomatoes.

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Bento Velho Cachaça

Ah Brazil, home of my gorgeous, talented wife Gabriela Maya, feijoada, and “the beautiful game.” Also, home of Cachaça, a brilliant distilled spirit made from sugarcane.  I’ve been drinking this wonder of the New World since I first alighted in Rio de Janiero in 2003. To begin, sugarcane is washed and pressed to release the … Continue reading Bento Velho Cachaça