makanandcomida

We had a lovely night out last night with friends in Ipanema.

We took the metro to Ipanema and I came across this wonderful initiative Rio metro is offering anybody in need of assistance when using the metro:

Posso ajudar – or can I help you staff are standing in strategic locations to help with information but as well with carrying prams, heavy bags or lending a hand to the elderly. What a service!

Arriving in Ipanema we headed for the beach to have a sundowner in one of the beach huts – great way to start the weekend:

Afterwards off to meet our friends at Le Vin restaurant (www.levin.com.br), located in a charming old house serving french bistro fare. As there was a Belgium among us he recommended the Moules et Frites, the belgium classic of mussels in a white wine broth served with french fries – absolutely delicious. Only a Belgium learns to stack the empty shells this way though:

As the night was still rather young and the motto somehow had turned out to have a belgium touch, we headed to Delirium Cafe offering hundreds of different beers from all around the world and yes as well lots of them from Belgium.

The trend of drinking speciality beers from anywhere and everywhere is a real big one in Rio and people are willing to pay more than 20 EUR for a speciality beer! German exporters rejoice!

I suppose even anyone outside Brazil must have heard of Michel Teló by now – or his most famous hit Ai se eu te pego or the english version Oh, catch me if you can.

He joined the brazilian band  Grupo Tradição in 1997 at the age of 16, making part of the band for eleven years as lead vocal. In 2008 he started his solo career with huge success in Brazil but his international fame came from the release of Ai se eu te pego, a No. 1 hit  in many countries.  The song gained international attention when Real Madrid’s players Ronaldo and Vieira danced to it after Ronaldo scored a goal. Since then, football goals and this song seem to have a match in heaven – a little bit like We are the champions and winning tournaments.

Now the match between his song and football players going crazy on the grass will be expanded by carnival entering the equation- with a samba version being released to allow the masses to dance in the streets.

His official version on youtube today has so far over 143 million hits – you can add a couple by clicking on http://youtu.be/hcm55lU9knw

Recipe for Gazpacho for 4

• 4-5 large tomatoes in pieces or 1 large can of canned tomatoes
• 1 large or two small cucumbers peeled and in pieces
• 2 large red bell pepper in pieces
• 2 large white onions cut
• 2 cloves of garlic cut
• 1-2 pieces of white bread preferably leftover from the previous day soaked in water
• olive oil
• white wine vinegar
• fresh basil,salt and pepper
• optionally finely diced cucumber, and bell pepper for decoration

Blend everything together in food processor including the liquid the bread was soaked in. Season with Vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper and serve as a summer lunch with fresh crusty bread or a light starter for a heavy main course. Summer in a bowl!

If you see the photos from yesterday morning starting the day at Barra beach with my son taking a surfing class and myself enjoying coffee with a friend especially you in cold Europe will think heaven:

Unfortunately the last edition of the Veja magazine came up with shocking facts in regards to the water quality around Rio. In all but one of the eight stretches of beaches measured for water quality the conditions have deteriorated since 2011, and of all stretches only two in Barra are fully safe for swimming and a little stretch of Copacabana temporarily.

The main reason for the poor water quality is the largely untreated waste water from the favelas covering the hills around the area. The existing water treatment plants are not sufficient for the number of inhabitants and the heavy rains in December added to the problem by over flooding into the sea. The government promises to invest around 500 Mio Euro to clean up all beaches until the WorldCup 2014 trying to catch up for mistakes made over the last decades. The topic will be also high on the agenda for the UN conference Rio+20 taking place in Rio in June this year.

For us for the time being this clearly means beach yes but swimming no!

Recipe for pasta with smoked salmon for 2

Yesterday evening my husband Thomas took himself into the kitchen and in front of the stove a rare but always very delicious experience!

• 200g of Spaghetti
• 4 spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1tbs of capers
• 200g of smoked salmon (not coming from this waters – I’m telling you!)
• butter
• olive oil
• 2tbs of grated parmesan
• 2 tbs of philadelphia cheese
• 1 sprig of dill
• salt and pepper

Boil the pasta. In the meantime heat a tbs of olive oil and slowly fry the spring onions and garlic. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with a knob of butter. Add the capers, grated parmesan and smoked salmon, season with salt and pepper and place on the plates, garnishing with a dollop of philadelphia cheese and some dill. Yummy!