bom preço

having a kitchen of my own again and being surrounded by great cooks in my building makes revisiting my culinary talents irresistible. and so, i went to the market, bom preço, today. most grocery stores here are the size of a pharmacy in the states. but i managed to find a hypermarket.

talk about difficult. damn. i know this sounds stupid, but everything was so foreign to me. yes, i AM in another country. even my little pocket dictionary was useless. i thought i would see stuff i recognised, but even stuff like spinach or onions looks a little different. oranges are not necessarily orange. tomatos not necessarily red. notwithstanding my confusion, i found the produce section to be beautiful. i felt i was in the garden of eden. vibrant colors, quizzical shapes and textures. and the smells... . i picked up a little it of everything. then i remembered that i have no car and a much smaller fridge than before. so, i stuck to the staples. and i reminded myself that i avhe plenty of time to try the different stuff. maybe by the time i leave here i will have enough info to do a brasilian portuguese-english dictionary with photos.

living here makes me amazed with grocery stores in the US where everything is aesthetically beautiful because it is injected and engineered. ironically natural stuff costs more in the states. that is just wrong!!!

i did recognise some things:
* frosted flakes (but i resisted the familiar)
*garlic (a staple)
*chandon (a napa valley winery)
*miller genuine draft (my daddy´s beer of choice)
*pitú, which is cachaca, a liquour that my friend Tanya F. shared with me many times in law school (T, i had a caipi just for you tonight)

I had the most difficulty with the dish washing detergent. so many of the cleaning soaps are come in very similar bottles. it literally took me eight minures to find the right stuff.

my granny frances should have been there to help me. they still make food the old fashion way (read: fresh), just like she likes it. she could help me pick out beans and tell me how to clean and soak them. or assist me and finding the right rice or piece of meat. oh well.

i managed to find a place for everything. then i spent a couple of hours hand washing my clothes. ugh. so difficult. i have a whole new appreciation for the term "handwash." fortunately i had the goodness that is gilberto gil playing in my cd player. :)