feliz natal

feliz natal every one!

christmas in brasil was quite the experience. everything about it was different this year.

1. it was warm
2. i was in a different country
3. i was with a new family
4. christmas was celebrated on it's eve
5. we had dinner at 9:30pm and stayed awake until 2:30am
6. at the stroke of midnight (officially the 25th) fireworks went off and everyone kissed

there were more differences but, you get the picture.

i have to be honest and say that the past few days i have been pretty down and feeling homesick. i am sure it is because of the holidays and i have never been away from my "more familiar family" in 23 years. on the 24th i had called home and talked to mommom, tears were shed and stories were shared. i then spoke to my mom, more tears and more stories. this helped but also made it harder. once i hung up i had to finish getting ready for the party. i had cooked all day from 11am to 7pm. i was exhausted and nostalgic and wanted to be curled on the couch in saratoga with my mom and persephone watching a movie with the christmas lights reflecting on the tv.

when i woke up that morning the kitchen was frantic and it looked like the food had been thrown in every direction. i had to dive right in. my goal was to make everything vegan. in my mind i wanted to make mashed potatoes, autumn latkes with homemade apple sauce (simply because they do not sell applesauce in brasil) and brigadeiro. i succeeded in making 3 of the 4. the mashed potatoes were delicious, the latkes outstanding.... the applesauce was burnt in the boiling process and the brigadeiro, fantastic. angela had the idea of using cranberry sauce with the latkes, it was a wonderful fix. everything was a hit and was devoured in less than 30 minutes. it was nice to see everyone enjoy my vegan dishes. i tried not to say anything until after it was all gone, so as not to scare them away beforehand.

these are the wonderful autumn latkes:

and this is the brigadeiro:

it was really a wonderful christmas. i was surrounded by family and friends that care so much about me and i knew, then, how much it meant to have me here. most of them had never met me and only tia ligia and vovó had seen me when i was 4. they told me stories of how they were always waiting for me to come to brasil and of the little facts they heard of me through the grapevine. foi bom.


tomorrow morning at 6am i leave with helio for ubatuba, once again. we will be there for 10 days! after christmas everyone (well, most people) leave são paulo and go away for about 2 weeks. it will be wonderful to be at the beach and in the sun. a new place for the start of a new year. we return on the 5th and i leave for bahia on the 9th. everything is changing so rapidly. i can not believe it has already been almost 2 months. i am excited for what awaits me in this life.

feliz ano novo para você, saudade meus amigos.