Obrigado Brazil!

Thank you Brazil for transporting me back to India!

Ok, the background - We decided to celebrate the 3-day Memorial Day weekend and Husband's English birthday South of the Equator in the exotic country of Brazil. Yes, you read right; it was a three day trip! We spent a day+ in Sao Paulo and a day+ in Rio de Janeiro and the rest in transit. I am not kidding when I say that I could liken these two cities very easily to Bombay (not as densely populated though) and Goa respectively.

As soon as we stepped out of the airport, I was overwhelmed by the Indian welcome we got; taxi drivers jostling each other for your fare, micro CC motor bikes haphazardly parked in the parking lot, black-smoke-belching flat bed trucks on the highway, distances marked in "KMs" and not Miles, small cars packed full with passengers, people driving with car windows rolled down and using hand signals rather than indicators and ofcourse, rash driving!!!!! As the weekend progressed, we saw many more similarities, some not so welcome but all interesting nevertheless. Perhaps, it is the same picture in all developing countries! :)

Sao Paulo is very much a teeming metropolis complete with crowds, extreme wealth disparity, really sketchy areas, fabulously wealthy neighborhoods and luxury high-rises secured by electric fences (seriously!!!). Our hotel, Pestana Sao Paulo, was a stone's throw away from Avenida Paulista, the 5th Avenue of Sao Paulo. The houses in the neighborhood were largely high rises interspersed with a few traditional Portuguese homes.

We started our discovery of Brazil by eating at the street market (Err.. fuel for the soul ofcourse!). We had wonderfully refreshing fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice (just like India!) and pastels filled with chicken and a cheese called catupiry (very mild cream cheese) and a very nice flan type milk sweet.

We then kicked off by taking the train to the city centre, Se. By the way, a point to note here - if you think Sao Paulo, the financial capital of Brazil will have a good English speaking population, you will be sorely disappointed, like us! Only the hotel concierge spoke English!! But, I have to say, they are extremely helpful and do try to understand us as best as they can. We got through the entire weekend with hand signals and a lot of patience on all sides!

Back to Se now. The subway (same trains as NYC but the system was sooooo CLEAN!!!)dropped us right at Praca de Se where the Cathedral Se is. Obviously, a relic of the Portuguese era, it was beautiful with fresh flowers all along the aisle (we quite could not figure out if that was usual or whether they were preparing for a wedding service. Obviously asking was ruled out!). Interesting thing about the church; there were no real candles!! There were only plastic, electric ones. You could purchase a token for R$0.50 and an electric candle would light up!

The Cathedral was really the only pretty thing in the area. We walked on through the many streets in the area past street demonstrations, stinking public areas where bums and the homeless camped, unauthorised vendors hawking their wares on cobbled streets to Pátio do Colégio, where the city was born when Padre José de Anchieta set up a strict missionary school.

The other must-see spot, according to New York Times, in the city was the Mercardo Municipal (municipal market). In my opinion, it is definitely worth a MISS! First of all, it wasn't easy to find. We got lost many times among streets overflowing with debris, garbage and rotting produce in sketchy areas, many misguided directions surely lost in translation! Then, when we finally reached it, it was anything but spectacular; it was just a produce market with stalls selling fresh fruit, meat and local food (more pastels and Brazilian favorite Spanish bologna!).

After that lacklustre tour of the city, we returned to the hotel to cool our feet and find a nice Brazilian place for dinner. You would think that in a major city like Sao Paulo, there would be a nice place featuring traditional Brazilian cuisine. As it turned out, we were very mistaken in our desire! The only Brazilian place was a Churrascaria and unending red-meat indulgence was not appealing at the time.

So we settled on Argentinian (S. American after all!), which, turned out great. Except for the mountains of food that we innocently ordered! Gawd! Each portion was of triple-size. But they had great sangria and we got to try Brazil's trademark liqour, Cachaça made from sugar cane. Basically, it tastes like very strong whisky.

Back at the hotel, we crashed for a couple of hours before heading off for our sun-rise flight to Rio. Flight on time and a short cab ride later we landed at our very over-priced, under-par hotel, Premier Copacabana, with an annoyingly sales-y concierge who kept trying to sell us a hotel tour at $90!!! As the name indicates it was very close to Rio's infamous Copacabana beach.

Rio was nice and way better than Sao Paulo. In hindsight, we should have spent the entire weekend in Rio! Am sure we would have had a much better time.


One of the must-see (and this time, it really is :) ) sights in Rio is Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) is a peak on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. To reach the top, we took two cable cars (One can also climb up but well that was way too technical for us). The view of Rio from up-top was simply fantastic; The whole expanse of the sea and the graceful neckline of Rio's beaches. The mountain faces the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer, located at the peak of Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park. We spent quite a while here just taking in the lovely views and basking in its contrast to the sights of the previous day!

The highlight of the whole weekend was what we did next - Hang Gliding!!! One of our friends (we were 4) suggested it and boy, were we glad for it?! It was the first time for the husband and me up in the air. After the initial "Oh God, save me" reaction when the feet feels nothing beneath, it was the most exhilarating experience I have ever had! It really felt like a bird, gliding easily over the hills, trees, houses, dinner party-ers, beach and the sea......

For dinner, we settled on a little restaurant in Santa Teresa, Espirit Santa, that specialised in Amazonian sea food. Our hotel concierge (not the same one as before) was very helpful with directions but warned us to take a taxi to and fro and not stray in the area as he quite frankly didn't like the place. As it turned out, it was quite a quaint place atop a hill reached by a winding cobbled roadway. The restaurant itself was lovely. We were seated in the courtyard under the stars and the lovely night sky. The food was really good - light and flavorful. We even tasted Piranha!

Back at the hotel, we literally crashed, overwhelmed by two consecutive nights of little sleep and many hours on our feet. We had just about two hours on our last day in Rio before heading back to Sao Paulo. We spent that walking on the beach and discovering a little military encampment in the hope of walking though the rain forest (which didn't happen but the military guys were really sweet!).

We were then back in Sao Paulo for a couple of hours of sightseeing before heading to the airport for our flight back to NY, which in itself was an adventure! These last two hours were the best Sao Paulo showed us; a lovely park in the city Parque Trianon, a walk along Avenida Paulista and coffee at a nice Tahitian coffee place! I had a Hula Hula Strawberry Espresso that was potent yet sweet; very nice!

Then began our adventure to get to the airport. Our flight out of Sao Paulo was at 9:05 pm. In the many times we had commuted from and to the airport, it had taken us 40-45 minutes to travel. With that number in mind, we hailed a taxi at 6:20 pm from the heart of the city. At 6:35 pm, we have moved a kilo meter. 6:50 another and so it went. We had not accounted for rush hour traffic! It was the worst I have ever seen in my entire life. It was worse than trying to get in to NYC on a Saturday night! And, as luck would have it, our cab driver was the very conservative type who stuck to rules and made no attempt to make his own road!!

We were quite sure we were not going to make it. By some divine intervention, we managed to peel away from the traffic and made it to the airport at 8:00 pm, 5 minutes before check-in closed! There was a long line waiting at the counters and we weren't very optimistic again. But again, Lady luck decided to favor us. We found out that my husband was an elite member and that opened many doors in the nick of time!

We reached NYC safely and on time. Looking back on the weekend, I wouldn't say it was anything extra-ordinary. It was get-away but almost everything can be found much closer to home. I say almost because perhaps one of the most enjoyable moments in Brazil was guzzling down some refreshing fresh fruit juices! Fresh fruit juice stands were a dime a dozen in both Sao Paulo and Rio with an array of tropical fruits to choose from that we were familiar with in India and not available in the US like custard apple (Seethaphal)!!

All in all, it was fun weekend with friends. But, for the price, there are definitely better locations in the world. And, if you are going to Brazil, I would recommend spending a lot more time in Rio and skipping Sao Paulo altogether!

Happy Birthday!!!

This month marks the first year anniversary of my blog. It is also my husband's birthday month. So, in celebration of FSK turning 1 and him turning 31, I baked my first ever special-event cake filled with chocolate-y richness with a hint of coffee in the icing (to keep us all awake well past midnight! :) )

I had been planning this cake for a few weeks. You see, this was the first cake that I was attempting with all the trimmings and decorations (rudimentary as they may be..). I needed just the right recipe; decadent for the occasion yet easy enough (esp. frosting) so, I could not mess up on the first try. The last thing I would want is, after all those hours, come 12' o, I have nothing to bring out with the candles.

The recipe I settled on was Ina Garten's Beatty's chocolate cake. I made it as a one cake pan multi-layer cake. It was a lovely, moist cake with a supremely rich, buttery chocolate-coffee buttercream frosting. The buttercream frosting is easy to make and work with. It really was fun working with the piping bag and I used a large star tip for the decorating. Not a bad job for the first time eh?! Except for the spacing issue, I am rather proud of my artistic skills and steady hands! ;-)

The only drawback of the cake was that the frosting was a wee bit too rich for us; all that butter after all. So, next time I am going to try a whipped cream based icing or perhaps something with meringue... Hmmmm.....

Meanwhile, three cheers to FSK and hubby, the stars of the show (although, I would argue it was my cake!). Wish you both a fantastic year ahead filled with new adventures, journeys and many more delicious cakes! Hic.. Hic.. Hurray!! :)

Note: As I was baking I noticed a couple of things which for some reason, my brain did not register until after it was too late! For one, Ina's mentions 2 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of baking powder in the recipe. The baking soda was a bit too much and it made the cake wet and sink in the middle (result of rising too much too fast). Next time I make this cake, I will adjust to 1 teaspoon of each.

Also, I have only one 8 inch cake pan. So I just poured all of the batter in one pan. Once the cake completely cools down, you can carefully cut the cake horizontally into two using a large cake knife or as I did, with a long piece of floss (whoever knew the versatality of common dental floss, eh!!)

Two Layer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake:
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken (not stirred, mind you!)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 heaped tsp instant coffee powder
1 cup hot water

Chocolate Frosting:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 8 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Using a hand mixer (or if you one of those lucky one with a Kitchenaid stand-mixer, mix with paddle attachment on slow) slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Dissolve the instant coffee in the cup of hot water. You can also substitute with a cup of fresh brewed coffee.

With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom to evenly mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place the cooled cake on an even surface and make a 1 inch cut all around the cake marking the thickness of the layers. With a long piece of floss string gently slice the cake into two horizontally.

Place the top of the cake, cut side up (upside down), on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or icing spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, cut face down and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Spoon the remaining frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Make whatever decorations catches your fancy and cooperates with your skill.

To make the frosting:

Chop the chocolate into small piece and place it in a double boiler. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature. In another bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 more minutes.

Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of hot water. On low speed, add chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Fresh Fruit Parfait

This is an addendum to my previous post on making homemade granola. After all, the parfait was the excuse that inspired the granola in the first place. So, I thought I should tell you how it turned out!

This is a slightly rich parfait made with whole milk (yes, I know. But I like the full fat!) Greek yogurt. If you are not so adventurous with the fat content of your breakfast, then you can easily substitute with 2% or 0%. I prefer Greek yogurt because of its smooth texture, but by all means use normal yogurt if that is all you have. To make plain yogurt thicker just strain through paper towel for an hour or so.

Fresh Fruit Parfait
( for one)

1 banana or 6-7 strawberries sliced thin
1/3 cup homemade granola
8 oz greek yogurt

All proportions are to my taste. You don't have to follow them in exact measure. Use the amount that you like.

To assemble, arrange the ingredients in alternating layers and top of with fruit or more granola.

Nuts about homemade granola

You know, the thing about believing that you can make everything at home is that .. you just do! I wanted to have fruit parfait for breakfast. And, I simply love the crunchy topping of granola on them. I am sure parfaits would not be half as delicious without that oats-y goodness.

Now, I could have gone and bought a pack of Bare Naked Granola, which, I hear is the best in the market but then (a) I find them pretty expensive and (b) Why would I not make it myself ?! After all, it is super simple to make at home.

To be truthful, the idea has been in my head ever since I saw Giada make it on one of her episodes. Besides, I think they make a great, healthy snack. So this was my chance! I actually went with one of Ina Garten's recipes rather than the one I saw. Well, basically because Giada used a lot more stuff than were in my pantry and also it had more sweeteners. I wanted to make it as healthy as possible.

So I adapted the recipe from here. I substituted the cherries with raisins (I don't usually keep dry cherries at home). You can use or add any other dried fruit you want, like apricots, cranberries etc. And the same with nuts; use whatever you like and is on hand.

Coconut, Nuts and Raisin Granola

1 cup old fashion oats (not the instant ones)
1/2 cup sweetened grated coconut ( if all you have is plan coconut, use an extra tablespoon of honey)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1 T maple syrup
1.5 T honey
1 T vegetable oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together the oats, coconut, almonds and raisins. Pour the oil, honey and maple syrup over the mixture. Sprinkle half the cinnamon and toss everything together so the oats and nuts are all coated with the liquids.

Spread onto a baking sheet and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to brown evenly, until the mixture is golden brown.

Remove and cool for a few minutes. Store the completely cooled granola in an airtight container.

Simply good homemade pizza!

This is Act II of the great artichoke experiment. Read about Act I here.

I love pizza.. I mean who doesn't ?! If I could, I would eat it almost every other day. But, alas, things so good are hardly ever good for you. Now, exactly what about the pizza is bad? Oh, the gallons of grease, and piles of cheese, you say; all good tasting but sadly artery clogging stuff. But, what if you could actually control all that to the normal and acceptable (even by nutritionists!) levels ? If you could with some extra effort ensure that a pizza slice is as good-for-you a meal as any other that you make at home, would you do it? Ofcourse, without compromising on the flavor etc. etc....

If you are willing to go that extra bit, then you are in for a happy, happy surprise! I made pizza at home. Yes, from scratch. What else did you expect from me?! The base, toppings, the whole nine yards. Ok! I cheated on the sauce (got it out of a jar) but still.. there were all in controlled proportions.

The idea for a pizza was born out of a need to best incorporate the sauteed baby artichokes that I had made at home in Act I of the artichoke experiment (read here). I really would not have even considered making the pizza base at home if not for browsing some of my favorite food blogs, in particular Smitten Kitchen. She makes bread-making sound so easy that I decided to give it second chance. You see, the first one didn't go so well...

Many months ago, I had made rosemary focaccia at home. It came out really nice and all that and I made wonderful mediterranean sandwiches with it. But, for some reason, I felt that it was way too much effort. Ever since, I have not attempted to make any yeast-bread at home at all. Until now... This is also the first recipe of SK's I was trying out. So, well, much hung in the balance (for whom?! well, I suppose for me!.. and the artichokes!)..

Once I set about it, I was really surprised to see how easy it was. Yes, it does take time and it isn't a 30-minute meal but let me assure you, it is worth every minute. It made me wonder why I thought all this was a painful process in the first place (note the vague 'for some reason' in the last para). But, well, happily I have been corrected of my faulty notion. And, from this day forward, I swear to give any other yeast bread more than a passing shot in my kitchen!

So, once the dough was all set, I rolled it out into a 10 inch round and topped it up with some really healthy stuff and no grease! As I mentioned, the primary aim of the pizza was to make use of the sauteed artichokes from earlier. So that was the star. To complement the artichokes, I used marinara sauce base, red onion slices and soft goat cheese. I love the combination of artichokes and goat cheese. So, instead of the usual mozzarella, I went mediterranean all the way. Simple, clean flavors.. that's the way I like it...

It was delicious! And, the best part, it was even healthy. So, I can really have it every other day as I would like to.. except for the dough-making ofcourse. But, nevertheless, more often than before and with my own choice of toppings! Yippee! :)


Homemade Pizza
Pizza base recipe from Smitten Kitchen
( 1 small, thin crust pizza, serves two)

For the base:
1 -1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water + a bit more, if needed
1 T olive oil

Toppings:
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/3 cup sauteed artichokes
3 oz goat cheese crumbled
1/2 small onion julienned

To make the pizza base, stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump all clumps and floury bits onto a lightly floured surface and knead everything into a homogeneous ball.

(If you find the dough difficult to work with, leave it in a lightly-floured spot, put the empty bowl upside-down on top of it and come back in 2 to 5 minutes. The dough should be a lot more pliable now.)

Knead the dough for a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl, put the dough back in, turn it over to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place till it doubles in size (one to two hours).

When the dough has risen, put it back on the floured counter and gently press the air out of it with the palm of your hands. Fold the dough into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes. The dough will be pretty elastic so you can stretch it bit and fit into a ball shape. It will retain shape once formed.

After 20 minutes, dump the dough back onto the floured surface and roll it out into a 10 inch round. It will be a thin (NY style!) base and I love it best that way!

Spread the marinara evenly over the base leaving a half inch border. Sprinkle the toppings (red onion slices and artichokes) generously around the pizza. Top with crumbles of goat cheese. Brush the exposed edge of the base lightly with olive oil and sprinkle some over the pizza to keep it moist.

If you have a pizza stone, then preheat in the over at 500 degrees and ease the pizza onto it. If not, then place a baking sheet upside down in the oven rack and preheat. Ease the prepared pizza onto a piece of parchment paper and place on the back of the baking sheet. Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes until edges are golden brown and crisp. Remove to platter.

Let the pizza rest for a minute or two (this step is excruciatingly painful but perseverance pays! :) ). Cut slices and dig in!

The great artichoke experiment..

If you ever hear me saying that I prefer a machine-processed, canned item more than slaving for hours and recreating it from scratch, just call the looney bin and tell them to pick me up, on the double!! Except this time.....

OK, I'll confess. I can never, never walk by a new item in the grocery aisle and NOT pick it up. I mean, how can anyone?? Afterall, they beckon you so with all their novelty. So, when I saw this never-before-seen package of baby artichokes in my neighbourhood grocery store, I unconciously (I swear!) picked it up. As I meandered around the store, picking up the other items that were on the list, I pondered over what I could make from them.

I had heard that artichokes were a bit tedious to work with. Also, they have sharp thorns which doesn't really make loving them any easier. So, I was not very ambitious. There are a number of fancy recipes out there on the net like artichokes stuffed with shrimp etc or baked artichokes. But, I just decided to go the easy saute recipe that was on the inside of the box (Now, if they make it so easy, how could I not be lured into buying them?!).

So, I set upon the 12 baby artichokes in the box. Here is the thing with these vegetables - they are like spinach; start with a mountain, you end up a small collection of pebbles. After peeling away the tough outer leaves (and being poked innumerable times!) till the yellow, soft ones were visible, the palm sized artichokes shrunk to 3/4 inch edible pieces.

The recipe was really simple. An onion, salt, pepper, herb de provence and the halved artichoke hearts all sauteed together for a few minutes and it was done. I was looking forward to tasting them. They looked good, just like the drained ones from the can actually. So I was all anticipation.

But here was the let down. I have to regretfully acknowledge that these home sauteed artichoke hearts tasted not much better than the bottled or canned ones. And, well, frankly, they are a whole lot more effort. Sighhh....

Anyway, I used these sauteed artichokes as topping for my home made pizza, which, by the way was very, very good, thank God! But, that's a story for another day...

So, that is my artichoke story. Next time, I will firmly say NO, no matter how appealing they make it for me to buy fresh artichokes.

A castle, a meadow, a brook, a river ....

All in a day's hike :)..

If there is one thing positive about the incomprehensible early onset of Summer here, it is that I get to kick start the hiking season early! Last weekend, we packed our sandwiches and apples and set off on a short hike to flex the lazy leg muscles and test the winter-pampered body.

About 50 miles North of New York city around the town of Phillipstown, there are many trails of varying difficulty that can keep a hiker quite busy for the entire season. For our inauguratory hike, we chose a moderate one (we wanted to ease into the season ..slow and steady!) with a good view from the peak and varying landscape - Sugarloaf Hill trail, in the Hudson Highlands State Park.

The trail takes you through the unique Castle Rock area which gets its name from the imposing castle owned by Henry W. Osborn's family high atop the hill that we summit. The castle was built in 1881 and looks rather fairy tale-ish. Pretty impressive and imposing it is. It even has a tall tower reminiscent of Rapunzel :). Unfortunately, our curiosity had to made do with gaping from afar as the castle itself is private property and trespassers were promised prosecution (so we kept well away..).

We started off by fortifying ourselves with roasted vegetable sandwiches we had carried from home (+ apple). The trail starts across a rather nice meadow which was perfect for playing frisbee (we did!) and eating our homemade sandwiches. Although it was wee bit too hot to gander there for long...

The hike (marked by red trail markers) officially began when we entered the woods. We were reasonably shaded (the leaves were not fully out yet) from the sun and there was a light breeze cooling us off as we sweated our way up. The trail was marked moderate and over the course of the 3.2 miles (one way) we trekked up a couple of steep ascents, a few gradual climbs and a couple of flat crossings. We passed a running stream of fresh water that was refreshingly cool and tasted heavenly (things in the wild always taste good, don't they?!). There were restored gazebos sprinkled along the way, to let the weary hiker rest a few moments and take in the surroundings.

The highest point on the trail offered views of the Hudson River, Bear Mountain Bridge and Anthony’s Nose. The expansive mountain vista on our left was dotted with a couple of large mansions, one of which was built by the Colt (firearms) family.

We descended by the same route (not a loop trail). This trail did not take us close to the Hudson. So on our way back we made a small detour to walk Marcia's mile across from the castle area. At the end of the mile is a beautiful gazebo with gorgeous views of the Hudson.

Our entire expedition took us about two and half hours and left us pretty well exercised. We made a short stop at Coldspring for some refreshing ice cream and made our way back to city to revel in our outing and rest our tired feet.

Not a bad start to the season, I must say! :)