Showing posts with label são paulo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label são paulo. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2009

CEAGESP and Mercado Municipal - São Paulo

Rico's dad took us on a tour of São Paulo's wholesale scene on our last day in Brasil. We woke up at the crack of dawn and visited the flower and plants section of CEAGESP, a big outdoor market, then went to the Mercado Municipal to check out all the speciality deli items. While at the Mercado Municipal, we ate steaming hot pasteis (fried pastries filled with cheese and other goodies) and marveled at the size of the mortadella sandwiches that are enjoying a surge of popularity with the paulistanos. Each sandwich contains 250g of mortadella, which when piled up on a roll is easily over 2 inches thick!

Rico and I were both very impressed with how clean the Mercado Municpal was - seriously, you could eat off the floor in that place if you were so inclined and likely not suffer any health consequences.

After the markets, we walked along Av. 25 de Março, famous for its cheap shops selling fabric, shoes, underwear, kitchen items, toys, costume jewelry, "designer" goods and everything else under the sun that can be mass-produced and hawked from a small stall. This is where many of the Angolans and Mozambicans come to stock up on Brasilian clothes to sell in botiques back home.

Here are some photos from our excursion:














Family Times, Brasilian Edition

So to take my mind off the fact that I was the victim of identity theft not once but *twice* in the past week, let's concentrate on the more enjoyable aspects of our recent trip to Brasil.

Dinner at one of São Paulo's best Japanese restaurants to celebrate Rico's dad's birthday.



We spent a weekend in Angra dos Reis sailing with Rico's aunt and uncle. We stopped for a swim at this little beach called Pingo d'Agua (Drop of Water)



The water in Angra is the most beautiful shade of tealish green, and is as warm as bathwater - just how I like my ocean experience!



The pier at R and M's condo, just a minute's walk from their house...definition of "vida dura".



On this fateful day I discovered that I am a much happier sailboat passenger if I take Dramim.



Rico in his preferred natural environment.



For the past 8 months, the top tier of our wedding cake has been in Rico's mom's freezer. Since we won't be in Rio in July for our 1-year anniversary, we decided to go ahead and eat the cake on this trip. I love the fact that we were able to eat our anniversary cake in the exact same spot where our wedding reception was, while looking across the street at the church where we got married.



We all agreed that freezing actually made the cake more delicious than on our wedding night! The vanilla pound cake was super moist, and the apricot and brigadeiro branco filling had intensified in flavor.



Dinner in Rio with Rico's brother, our sister-in-law and her family - including our newest nephew, little B.


Our trip to Brasil was unfortunately shorter than we would have liked, and I had to work on a proposal for work nearly the entire time we were there. Still, at least if I had to be glued to the computer, it was with a beach in front of me and a cocktail in my hand, surrounded by people we don't see often enough.