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| One of my favorite views of Brazil, ever!! Love it, miss it so bad! |
These are the things I miss the most about Brazil, on a daily basis.
I am not counting my family and friends because that is the ultimate and most important thing I miss from Brazil and the reason we are going back.
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| Love and miss our short weekend trips in Brazil, you always find a hidden gem!! |
I really miss the water in Brazil, it tastes so great! Lighter than any water I have ever tasted! Bottle or Tap, love water in Brazil. The hard water here drives me crazy!
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| Cataratas do Iguacu, one of the fountains of our awesome light delicious tasting water!! :) |
I also miss good quality Brazilian Chocolate and candy sweetened with real sugar …
Miss Brazilian cheese, richer in taste, smell and texture.
I miss all the activity, there is always something happening in Brazil, never a dull moment!
I miss having public transportation available all the time, everywhere…
I miss the frequent strong good rain storms…
I miss nice beaches
I miss nice weather, never too hot, never too cold, just perfect
I miss having awesome places for short weekend trips, either up the mountains or down to the coast
I miss good dentists and good doctors that are actually worried about your health and not trying to suck every dime out of you…
I miss Fresh fruits and vegetable that tastes great…
I miss awesome homemade meals
I miss TANGERINA, POKAN, still haven’t found a tangerine that tastes right over here. They all taste off and not fresh…
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| I often dream with a great Brazilian Tangerine, Pokan are my favorite! :) |
I miss the Sao Paulo country side and it’s gorgeous views
I miss interacting with Brazilians
I miss “Almanara”, the best Lebanese food in the planet, in my humble opinion.
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| Almanara Oscar Freire, one of my favorites. A tradition in Sao Paulo since 1950 |
I miss Lebanese food (from Sao Paulo)
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| Lebanese food is just too darn GREAT! Miss it terribly!! |
I miss awesome Sao Paulo’s Japanese Sushi, the best in my opinion
I miss the best Pizza in the whole wide world from you guessed it, Sao Paulo
You can read more about Sao Paulo's awesome Pizza HERE
I miss Sao Paulo’s awesome Chinese food
I miss Pastel, Pao de Queijo, Coxinha, Esfiha, Empadinha, Empadao, Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, good Sao Paulo style Lasangna
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| Kibe, Esfihas and other delicious Brazilian snacks with a Lebanese flavor! |
I miss Italian food from Sao Paulo, no pepperoni please, our Italians have never heard of Pepperoni either (Tum’s anyone)
I miss Guarana, Antartica is my favorite
I miss Maltzbier, also Antartica is my favorite
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| My favorite Brazilian beer, a reminder of our strong German roots!! ;) |
I miss Sadia’s California line of products
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| Sadia California line, Light products made with lean Turkey meat |
I miss a good quality “Prociutto”
I miss Mortadela
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| Mortadela on a French Roll! You can find it in any Bakery in Sao Paulo! |
I miss a good “Jamon Pata Negra” (from Sao Paulo’s Municipal Market)
I miss tasty olives
I miss reading VEJA
I miss reading “O Estado de Sao Paulo” newspaper and “Folha de Sao Paulo” too…
And most of all, I miss not needing heating or Air Conditioning, ever, ever!!
I know, I know what you are thinking, a HUGE portion of my list is food!!! You guessed it right! :)
Hope you enjoyed my list
Ray
21 comments:
Everything else I like - but Maltzbier? Blech!! Maybe if I find an Antartica I'll give it another try. ;o)
Jessica,
I have to agree with you that Malzbier is not for everyone...some find it too sweet, some find it too weak...
By the way, I like all beers, but just can't find Malzbier around here... :)
Thanks for dropping by!
Ray
I miss all these things too! Rsrs
Abraços
Alê
HA! Alex! I have no doubt you truly miss all the things I listed!!
You soon will be reunited back to your homeland!! :)
Abracos
Ray
PS: By the way, loved your "Ale" with acento circumflexo e tudo!! Que chique!!!! ;)
Ha ha! Nice one Ray - it hadn't even struck me as strange that most of your items were food based and then I realised that my UK 'Miss-List' is similarly food/drink based! Nothing wrong with that! :D
Hey, we are going to São Paulo this weekend! Are there any 'must-visit' restaurants/bars that you would recommend? I'm thinking 'old classic' rather than 'fancy new place', but I will trust your judgement! (I have already noted that Lebanese place!). I will try to enjoy SP on your behalf!
Hey Tom,
I am glad you asked.
Here we go:
1-Famiglia Mancini (Downtown-sort of expensive, but not fancy, very family oriented. They are know for their awesome Italian APETIZERS buffet, sold by the weight, while you wait for a table and drink free alcoholic drinks, different flavors...it's a Sao Paulo thing to do, the side walk is crowded with people waiting for a table. They have the absolute best Mushrooms Risoto I have ever tried anywhere.
They just opened a HUGE, beautiful Pizza place on the corner from where they are now, great Pizza and awesome live music. They actuall have the Pizza place all divided by HUGE glass partitions, with a different style of live music always playing. These restaurants see HUGE crowds late at night around midnight when the crowds walk out of the theather plays and musicals from the many downtown theathers.
Ray
Tom,
Again, I will make different comments to make it easy for you to consult here later.
Another great Pizza place is "Marguerita" at Jardins neighborhood, walking distance from the Renaissance Hotel at Hadock Lobo street. If you hit Marguerita, you need to ask for the "Sangria" to drink, served by the picther, and a Palmito com Requeijao Pizza, to die for...
Ray
Tom,
Here we go, more Sao Paulo traditional places, not fancy and not expensive:
"Sujinho", yes, it translastes to "Little Dirty One", their logo is a Pig. But don't worry, it's just their nickname, the place is imaculate clean for a very demanding Paulistana audience. They are always busy, typical Brazilian food at it's best.
"Don Pepe Di Napoli", this was a very sucessful partnership between an Italian guy and a Spanish guy, both food lovers.
Ask for the "Spaghetti a Francesco Paolo", little cubes of filet mignon, little cubes of roasted egg plant, chopped black olives and homemade chunky tomato sauce.
They also serve one of the most traditional and best Paellas in Sao Paulo. They also have a Pizza place next door with the same name, great Pizza, but go to the restaurant if you have to choose. Also, be patient, these places are always crowded, no tourists, this is where the locals go to eat.
"File do Moraes" The best Filet Mignon steaks in Sao Paulo, my favorite is the Broccoli Alho e Oleo, garlic and Oil broccoli with a HUGE THICH SLAB of awesome filet mignon like you have never seen before. They are a very simple, old, traditional place, nothing fancy with great service. Their waters work there more the 30 years and are super proud of their fine job.
"Brama Restaurante"- Another downtown tradition, the best stroagnoff in the city, great fries and great steaks and the coldest and best BRAHMA draft beer south of the Ecuator!! ;)
All these restaurants are not expensive, frequented by the locals, and are awesome authetic Sao Paulo Brazilian/Italian food like you won't find anywhere else.
You should be able to find them all online, and if not, any person at any Hotel in the city will know information about these places for you.
There is more, let me know if these are not enough. I don't know how long you will be in the city.
Enjoy and let me know where you actually end up going!!
Forte abraco
Ray
Ray, you are an absolute legend! Thanks so much - we will be in town for 3 days so I think (even for someone as greedy as me) these suggestions will be plenty! :) I will be visiting friends who have just moved to SP and I know they'll really appreciate these recommendations from someone who knows. I'll let you know which ones we try (I'm hungry just thinking about it!).
I moved to Sao Paulo in March, and I totally agree with everything except 2 things -
I have not been so impressed with the Brazilian cheese...where can I find a good mozzarella?! And the public transportation?? What?! But maybe I am spoiled...I'm from New York. haha!
But I still have a LOT of things to do/places to explore!
Beijos!
Oh my blog - www.BrasiLady.blogspot.com
Dear Amber,
Welcome to our Blog, and most of all, WELCOME TO SAO PAULO!!
March, OMG, you have a world of things to see!
Don't be shy, anything you want, can't find, we will be glad to help you find it and point it out to you.
We have helped JIM, from Qualidade de Vida Blog find renet among other things and are right now on a mission to figure out how to make good tortila chips at home from scratch! ;)
Cheese in Brazil is completely different from US cheese.
You guys (and now Gil and I too) are used to very mild flavored cheeses, when we first arrived here we HATED every cheese we tried, nothing tasted like anything we new. We couldn't taste the differences between Provolone and Muzzarela...Now we go to Brazil and think the cheese is too strong. Good news is that your palate, taste buds will adapt to the local flavors as well.
Brazilian cheese is more like European cheese, strong, full body flavors and smells. Our Muzzarela is stronger too.
You can find some awesome variety of cheese among other things at our version of Little Italy, called BEXIGA, it's a neighborhood near downtown. Lot's of good Italian restaurants, and great little gourmet old school type Italian Emporiums that sell everything, including the BEST muzzarela in the city. Also visit the "Mercadao Municipal" for a good variety of cheeses, it's located downtown, near "25 de Marco street", everybody knows it.
Come on now Amber, you are just jelous because our subway is sooo much newer, modern and cleaner than New York's!! :)
Oh, and don't even get me started on the dirty Taxis I get in all the time in the US.
Clean Taxis in Sao Paulo is the norm. :)
Hope you enjoy Sao Paulo, please visit us again and ask all the questions you fell like asking.
Abracos
Ray
PS: I hear you, our public transportation has a long way to go. ;)
Amber,
Thanks, I will check out your blog and definitely add it to our blog roll!
Ray
I saw your comment and thought "This is a perfect Ray and Gil post!" So glad you shared. Love it and I agree completely :D
Madrinha Rachel!!!
Que bom ver voce por aqui de novo, estava com saudades dos seus comentarios.
Beijao
:)
Ray
Hey Ray!!!!
It's Libby from the plane :) I really like your blog. You are so interesting and passionate~ Nice to have met you...
Dear Libby,
It's great to see you here!!
Welcome to our blog!
We are seriouly looking for a place in your neck of the woods now. We might be your neighbor soon... :)
You will be able to find out more updates soon thru our blog.
It was great talking to you and your Mom today.
Hope you have a great wedding in Michigan.
Keep in touch :)
Ray
Thanks Ray for all the tips! I did find some amazing Parmesan at Mercado Municipal, but I have yet to visit Bexiga. I will definitely try there next! And I should stop being lazy and shopping at Extra!
As far as the subway- guess I'm bitter because I live in Itaim and don't have a subway station here! :( But I hear the subways are great in Rio!
Oh and yes-love the clean taxis!!
Thanks again!
Beijos
Amber,
Itaim is an awesome neighborhood!!! One of my favorites, not to mention, you are in the middle of everything.
I am sure the subway might have plans to expand into your area. They have been expanding an a very fast pace, and there new subway stations all around you.
You must try the Sao Paulo subway, it is really cool. I promisse!!
:)
Abraco
Ray
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