Vacation is Good for the Soul

Yesterday after a 12 hour drive we made it safely home. Christian's one advice to anyone taking a road trip in Brazil is this - if the map says that the road is paved, it may or may not be paved. In other words take your time, expect surprises and detours, expect beautiful brand new roads one minute and dirt roads the next. It was good practice for our 2014 trip, the one where we want to take 6 months to drive from California to Brazil so we can watch the World Cup in Rio and Sao Paulo.

Remember how we thought we were going to drive back to California, and then I got pregnant? Speaking of pregnancy I've been feeling like myself again, only with popcorn popping inside of me. I love this phase, where the nausea and fatigue is gone and where I can start to feel the little flutters of my little baby.

Life is good again.

Last year when we did our long road trip through the West Coast of the United States Christian and I discovered audio books. It makes the drive go by so much faster. Last year we were enthralled with the Hunger Games saga, this year we listened to The Happiness Project. I'm semi-skeptical of such books and Christian is ultra-skeptical, but we both really enjoyed it. It was pretty fitting to be on vacation, driving through beautiful places contemplating happiness. It's a good read (or listen) and I strongly recommend it.

One of the things that makes me happy is being a mom. It's also what makes me most tired, most impatient, and most enraged. But right now I'm really enjoying parenting Enzo and Maria even if I still do get impatient with them. It was so hard feeling so sick during my first trimester and not being able to do basic things. Getting up to get a cup of water for Maria seemed like an unsurmountable task, I really couldn't get myself to do it.

It felt so good being able to chase them around, go swimming with them in caves and waterfalls, and just feel like their mom again.

Chapada Diamantina | Palmer Family Vacation

Every year Christian and I (mostly Christian) plan a family vacation. The first time we did it Enzo was just shy of turning 1. We went to Maui and camped at a volcano. I'm sure we saw other things in Maui but I mostly just remember the volcano, and Enzo being little. I also remember thinking, "this is beautiful" at least a hundred times during our vacation. Christian is really good about taking us to beautiful places. There are lots of things I like about Christian, but his love for the outdoors and his patience to take us with him is one of my favorite things about him for sure.

Growing up I had heard of Chapada Diamantina and remember seeing the steep cliffs, the majestic waterfalls, and the caves on T.V. Consequently it feels a little unreal to be here. It is more beautiful than I could ever imagine. I have taken lots of pictures. None of them do this place justice. Never the less here are a few.

Iemanja's Birthday

I took these pictures in the beginning of February. It was Iemanja's, the goddess of the sea, birthday and people were celebrating. I went with Christian and the kids to dance a little and shoot some pictures. It was a nice afternoon.

I need to remember that nice afternoons happened.

I've been in the worst funk. Lately I haven't been liking Itacare very much. I just want to leave. It's partly because of the absurd heat but really it's about me feeling so sick. I don't leave the house for days. In fact most days I just lay on my bed or on the hammock.

When you're in a rut it's easy to feel like you've always been in a rut. Right now I'm mad at Itacare because it's so hot, so smelly, and the heat and the smell is driving me insane.

Pregnancy is tricky. You're so excited and so happy about the new addition and at the same time you're so tired and so nauseas and if you're me you're so weak and so dizzy it makes you loose your mind. I know there are women out there who have it worse to the point where they're hospitalized because they throw up so much. If that happened to me I would never have any kids. Good thing God knows how heavy a load we can carry.

We bought our tickets back to California. We leave in August. It's still a ways away and even though I'm thrilled to be leaving I know that once I start feeling better and enjoying myself again I'm going to really miss this place.

A Brazilian Birthday Party

Brazilian birthday parties are a big deal. The decoration revolves around the cake table, with mini rolled up fudge balls (brigadeiros) covered in sprinkles and other little treats. 

Rosita had her first Brazilian birthday party last month.

Rosita was born in Italy. A little over a year ago she moved to Itacare with her father who married a native of Itacare, a wonderful hear dresser, and my sweet friend. Rosita's step-mother wanted to throw Rosita a birthday party fit for a princess. Here are the pictures from Rosita's special day.

Have you ever been to a Brazilian style birthday party, if so what did you think?

p.s. Speaking of party did you know the whole country is in one big party right now? It's Carnaval! 

[Foodbuzz 24x24] Celebrating the New Year in Brazil

There is no other place I would rather be than in Brazil on December 31st. If I could, every year I would fly down to Brazil and ring in the New Year Brazilian style.

Wearing white.

Surrounded by family.

Dancing.

On the Beach.

Eating good Food.

// Menu //

Vacation

I'm on total vacation mode, can you tell? I'm trying to enjoy my mom's company to the max, and am also loving the fact that Enzo is on break. I'm considering homeschooling. Today, for example we went to the river, planning to only stay for an hour or two and ended up staying all day and afternoon. If he was in school we would of had to rush home and get him ready for school. Here in Brazil he goes to school from 1:00-5:00pm, which isn't bad but it leaves us less time to have fun. Maybe I'll just wait until September to send him to first grade and treat the last 8 months we have here as perpetual vacation. When else are we going to have this opportunity again right?

Yesterday we went on an all day boat trip. It was my mom's Christmas present / a present for all of us. It was beautiful and then some. The boat stopped at 4 different islands, all white sand, clear water, and blue lagoon like feeling. Ready for pictures, lots and lots of pictures?

Du Cerrado Popsicles

We have well over 20 eateries on our tiny street. There are fancy restaurants, and bakeries, there are pizzerias, and people with carts selling goodies on the street. Can you believe that one of the most popular hand cart is a porridge cart? I'm not joking, people love porridge they'll bring their metal cups and have the porridge boy fill it up for them. I haven't tried it yet but I always smile when I see it.

Last week we tried the popsicle shop, Du Cerrado, and it did not disappoint.
Just don't ask the bebe for a lick.

For our first visit I had a pumpkin with coconut popsicle . All the popsicles are made with fruit from the Cerrado region of Brazil, which is the savanna area of our country. To be honest with you most of the flavors are from fruits I have never heard of. Next time I need to be more adventurous and try a flavor I'm not familiar with.

The popsicles are not too sweet. Baby Maria's watermelon popsicle, for example, was made entirely by watermelon and tamarind with no sugar added.

I know you can't come over and try one with me but I wanted to share some of their flavors with you, none the less, so that if you're a popsicle lover like me you can try and make some of the flavors at home.

Which flavor would you try?

p.s. I wish you were here so we could eat popsicles together.

Beach Food

Hi friends how was your weekend? We took a little excursion to Jeribucacu, a beautiful little beach you hike in to. Christian wanted to go for the surf and I wanted to go for the food. Jeribucacu is known for both. Rumor has it that the best tapioca in town is right there on that little beach. Unfortunately the tapioca lady was gone for the day so I had to wait to come back home to eat from the tapioca stand near our house. Don't get me wrong, tapioca is good anywhere but I bet tapioca on the beach is even better. Nothing like eating food with the taste of sea salt in the air.




I didn't eat Tapioca on the beach but I did eat a grilled cheese stick, which has to be my favorite beach food of all times.

Now I'm dreaming about globetrotting my way through beaches and writing a book about beach food because I know Brazil isn't the only place with fun and interesting food. What do you think? Could beach food be the new street food?

Want to see Enzo hiking and my cute little sister? Here are more pictures of our day trip.

Happy Friday

A little update on our Brazil situation and then a list of some of my favorite posts from the week. First and foremost we have moved into our rental. It's my dream [beat-up] house. I love all the wood and glass. I love the tall ceilings and the loft. I love that we're a short walk from the beach and I love, love, love our balcony and the fact that there is no carpet for me to vacum every time the kids eat. Sweeping is much nicer. I don't love that we didn't have water for 2 days (it's now back thankfully), I don't love that the walls could use a fresh coat of paint, and I don't love that the fridge is being funny, I would much rather my fridge not have a sense of humor. But aside from that I think we found ourselves a good place to live and the best part is that we have monkeys as neighbors.

After being cooped up in Sao Paulo with a TV for entertainment I thought my kids would have some serious TV withdrawals but as you can see Baby Maria is happily entertained watching the monkeys all day.

And Enzo is happily entertained feeding the monkeys bananas, probably a habit we'll have to break soon but for now we're allowing ourselves to relax a little bit and just enjoy where we're at.

And here are some things I've enjoyed via web.

// The prettiest cake spread ever.
// A DIY Solar Mason Jars tutorial I would love to make.
// A picture of The Meatball Shop Cookbook cover.
// This simple recipe for sparkling limeaid is exactly what I want to cool off.
// A dreamy kitchen, I love looking at dreamy kitchens.
// Getting updated on one of my favorite blog girls ever, little Elsa, and smiling because her parents make the best food possible. Doesn't this miso noodle soup look amazing?

How was your week?
Any fun reads lately?

Gathered

For the past two months we have been living out of our suitcases traveling Western USA and Eastern Brazil. Today, looking back at our two month vacation I can't help but feel like the luckiest gal alive. We have seen so much. And more importantly we have seen so many. My kids saw all 14 of their cousins, both of their grandmas, and all three of their great-grandmas. The picture above is at great-grandma Mimi's house in Sacramento, a little piece of Heaven on earth. In my mom's apartment in Sao Paulo we also made pizza. There was no backyard for us to sprawl at but the company was also good. I'm completely over joyed because my younger sis, Iris, has decided to come live with us in Bahia. Yesterday I was looking a a video of when we were younger, I was 12 and she was 2, and I remembered (not that I ever really forgot) how she was my first baby and how I loved her to pieces. Now she treats my kids like her own babies and she loves them to pieces. Families can be so great.

Early tomorrow morning we depart to Bahia, a Northeastern Brazilian state where the weather is always warm and the food is oh-so-good. We're staying at a vacation rental for a week but it's not really going to be a vacation since we're going to be out looking for a permanent address to finally unpack all our stuff.

Good thing that I'll always have my Christian to keep me company and his pizza making skills to keep a crowd fed. We hope you can come visit us.

{Foodbuzz 24x24} A Guide to Street Food in São Paulo Brazil

São Paulo is my home town. In fact it is the home town of millions of people with the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, a rising Korean population, an established Arabic, Italian, and Bolivian, community to name a few. Think NYC, only much larger. São Paulo is great not only because of all the international influence but also because people from all different regions in Brazil migrate to São Paulo, bringing with them tastes from back home.

This month I was selected to participate in the Foodbuzz 24x24 event, where 24 bloggers create 24 meals in the space of 24 hours. Normally I would cook something but since I'm on vacation I decided to take you a long with me, on a little trip around the city of São Paulo. I've highlighted 10 of my favorite street foods around the city, all of which I was able to eat as I walked and took the metro around the city on Saturday. I'll show you pictures and give you a brief description of the food and the places where you can find it. I have made a more extensive album of pictures on my Facebook page and a subway guide here which you can print so when you get a chance to come to Brazil you won't get lost in São Paulo, and I promise you won't get hungry either.

My favorite place to hit up on a Saturday morning in the city is Praça Benedito Calixto. It's located in one of my all time favorite neighborhoods, where street art is celebrated, and cool little shops are the norm. Every Saturday from 9:00am-7:00pm the square is full of vendors selling antiques and hand made crafts. Praça Benedito Calixto not only has vinyl records galore it also has a big selection of street food. 

First up is the booth called Natural Dazu, where Diego, his mom, and Diego's friend all work together to make whole grained baked goods. Natural Dazu was the first street booth to sell salgadinhos made from whole wheat. Salgadinhos are baked or fried doughy snacks with some type of savory filling. The one I ate is called chinelinho, sandals, and it's filled with fetta and spinach. It's perfect for an early morning snack.

Road Trip 2011 and a True Kodak Moment

28 days later (not the movie) we're back from our long road trip. Seeing beautiful places, hanging out with family, revisiting old friends, and eating delicious food along the way was just as you expect it to be -- perfect. And driving in a car for a total of 50 hours was exactly what you expect it to be -- not so fun. Baby Maria  did say her first sentence during one of our long driving stretches and it was, "That is MY iPod." Had it not been for our electronic devices (thank you iPad for having a 10 hour battery life!) the 50 hours in the car would have been downright miserable. I know because when the battery on our electronic gadgets died, during one of our long driving stretches, I wanted to die with it. Thankfully we all survived and even enjoyed being in the car (at times) thanks to the beautiful scenery, audio books (Hunger Games Trilogy, Bossy Pants, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, in case you were wondering), movies and games on the iPad for the kids (email me if you really want a list), and our handy dandy 18 year old cousin who was permanently stationed in the back seat so as to get the kids water, food, and break up fights. For the record we did not have Gabriel with us on the last 17 hours of our trip and he was greatly missed by all.

We're now back in Sacramento. Christian just spent hours cleaning the car, high-five Christian! If the car could it would of given him a hug and thanked him, there is only so much filth even a car can take. The kids are in heaven because great-grandma Mimi and Aunt Karen make their home heavenly with their generous spirits and endless supply of fun toys, books, and popsicles. I'm also in heaven because after almost a month of traveling I finally get to sit down relax and edit pictures and even write a decent post, oh my.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program with Kodak Gallery I was asked if I wanted to create a photo book of my road trip so I could try out Kodak Gallery, a free online service that lets you share, create, and save all in one place.

What next?

I had to say a lot of good-byes this past week. Christian drove up the moving truck yesterday with Gabriel to Sacramento where we'll store our stuff until Fall of 2012. Enzo left on Sunday to play with his cousins and to not have to be here when we give so many of his toys away. I'm alone with Maria. The house is completely empty except for my computer, a futon mattress, my suitcase, and a bottle of milk in the fridge. Today we'll meet up with the rest of our clan, as long as the smaller computer we ordered in the mail, the one we can actually take to Brazil, arrives.

As I was cleaning the base boards in the kids' room I couldn't help but feel a wave of emotions. I've moved a lot in my life, as a kid we moved almost every year. It was hard but for some reason this is harder. We've been in this house for 4 years. This is the only house Enzo remembers living in. This is the house where we brought Maria from the hospital to. This is the place where I've felt more at home than any other place I've lived in. 

If you want to live somewhere great come live in Santa Cruz California.

I keep telling myself to get over myself. It's silly I'm so sad considering that we have plans to be back in a year. Besides it's not like we're moving to some awful place. We are, after all, moving to a very beautiful warm coastal town in Bahia Brazil.

Now here comes the questions. Readers have been asking me why we're moving and friends have been asking me when we'll come back and everyone keeps asking me if I'll continue my blog.

So, why are you moving?

We're moving because Christian is a PhD student in Anthropology and he's doing really exciting research about tourism and the environment, public spaces and architecture, and a whole lot of things in between. His research site is Itacare, Bahia Brazil so we're moving to Itacare for a year so he can do his research, so the kids can be fully immersed in Portuguese, and so I can finally learn how to make some good Bahiana food.

Will you really come back to Santa Cruz?

Yes! I think so. The plan is to come back. Christian doesn't necessarily have to write his dissertation from Santa  Cruz but it would be easier if he did and there is no other place I'd rather be (as far as I know).

Will you continue to blog?

I will definitely continue to blog. I am excited to share my adventures with you about Brazil. However, we don't actually leave to go to Brazil until second week in August. Between now and then we're going to do a whole lot of traveling. We have a family reunion to go to in Utah next week. We have friends and family to visit in Washington. I'm finally going to get a taste of Portland, Oregon and visit some friends in the process. Then we're driving down the coast of California, camping along the way, until we hit San Diego where I'll be going to the BlogHer conference, will you be there too? Then we leave for Brazil where we'll visit my family and friends in Sao Paulo and also do some weekend traveling to the beach and also Minas Gerais, one state north of Sao Paulo. In September we move to Itacare. Hopefully we'll be all nice and settled by the middle of September. Realistically though lets call it October. That means that in the next 3 months I'll be in all sorts of places, blogging about my travels. I'm not sure how often I'll post. I'm not that worried though. For one thing I can never stay away too long and for another I figured it's Summer [!] most people are outside more than they are inside which means you'll probably be doing less internet stuffs than usual anyway.

And for all of you who are diving into the moving season and also packing your life away, my condolences. On a scale from 1-10 packing is a definite zero. Good luck on your new adventures, I hope it's a good one.

Casa Velas in Puerto Vallarta Mexico

I am showing you pictures of food because after all this is a food blog.  Now I'm going to show you a picture of the actual resort where we ate our food, Casa Velas, so that you can get a better feel for the place.

Isn't it totally charming? The outside, right before you come in, has these huge sphere metal lights with stars cut out of them. At night, when the lights are on, it feels like you're enveloped by hundreds of tiny little stars, you really can't help but love it and if you're there with someone you love it's even better. During the day as you walk around you'll notice little things, like a fresh flower here or there placed on the stairs. It's discrete and intimate, and yes it's very romantic.

Casa Velas is a luxurious, all-inclusive, adult only resort with 80 rooms total. For those of you who like golf (never tried it myself) Casa Velas is right on a golf course. For those of you who like beach clubs (that would be me) Casa Velas has a beach club, just 2 minutes away that has another beautiful pool right in front of the beach with an amazing Asian cuisine.

Back from Mexico

It's amazing how much you can do when you're on vacation. We were only gone for 6 days but we saw and experienced so many wonders, it felt like a much longer getaway. I want to live in Mexico for the rest of my life. Swimming in 82 degree ocean water spoiled me. Eating good food, laying by the pool, going to a Spa, finding waterfalls surrounded by granite, that all spoiled me for sure. Maybe I just want to be on vacation forever.

The whole trip made me ever more excited about Brazil. I think that living in Bahia with equally warm ocean water, good food, and waterfalls will be a lot like being on vacation only this time the kids will come along. Last night we came in super late, the kids had already been asleep for a couple hours. I scooped Baby Maria from her crib and snuggled her in my bed all night. I would have done the same to Enzo if he didn't weigh 50 lbs.

I am now editing my pictures. Tomorrow I'll show you some of them and tell you more about Puerto Vallarta and about the magnificent (seriously, magnificent) resort we stayed at, Casa Velas. Casa Velas put us up for three nights, had it not been for their generosity we probably would not have even thought about going to Mexico.

I am so glad we went.
I feel rejuvenated from my head to my tippy-toes.
I hope you too get to squeeze a vacation in there somewhere, we all need a getaway sometimes.

Tillamook Loaf Love Tour in the Bay Area

Sharp cheddar Tillamook cheese is a staple in our home, so when Tillamook invited me to a media event in San Francisco I was down, down, down.

Who was going to drive all the way to San Francisco with me (an hour and a half each way with no traffic. There was traffic) just to eat grilled cheese sammies and call it fun? Oh I know, Victoria. Remember Victoria? She's such a good friend and we had such a good time. We ate so many different types of grilled cheese sandwiches it was worth the long drive. I even brought a sandwich back for Christian, the mac'n'cheese grilled cheese. That's right, mac'n'cheese inside a grilled cheese sammie is the bomb folks.

If you live in the Bay Area keep an eye out for the Loaf Love Tour. Next week is Tillamook Sandwich week where 5 Bay Area restaurants will feature their take on specialty melts using Tillamook cheese. Go grab yourself a sandwich.

The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen

1 South Park Ave., Suite 103A, San Francisco, 94107ô (415) 243-0107

www.TheAmericanSF.com

Tillamook Signature Chef, Heidi Gibson has created a Mac n’ Cheese Grilled Cheese with Tillamook Monterey Jack Cheese, Pork Belly, Smoked Tomato, Caramelized Onions, Avocado 

Ironside

680 A 2^nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94107ô (415) 896-1127

www.IronsideSF.com

American Grilled Cheese Kitchen neighbor, Ironside, will offer Tillamook Monterey Jack on their Northern Bison Burger and Pacific Pastures Grass Fed Beef Burger  

Nickies

466 Haight Street San Francisco, CA 94117ô (415) 255-0300

www.Nickies.com

Lower Haight local eatery and neighborhood bar, Nickies, will be featuring a Crispy Chicken Sandwich with a trio of melted Tillamook Cheeses - Monterey Jack, Medium Cheddar and Sharp Cheddar - served with a side of fresh cut fries or bleu slaw 

Globe

290 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94111ô (415) 391-4132

www.GlobeRestaurant.com

Chef Joseph has created his all-time favorite Bacon and Tomato Sandwich featuring melted Tillamook Medium Cheddar on grilled sourdough 

Brown Sugar Kitchen

2534 Mandela Parkway, Oakland, CA 94607ô (510) 839-7685

www.BrownSugarKitchen.com

Owner and Chef, Tanya Holland of soul food favorite, Brown Sugar Kitchen, has created a Smoked Vegetable Muffaletta topped with Tillamook Monterey Jack 

San Francisco with the family

This past weekend we went to San Francisco for a quick family vacation. We all came back with sun kissed cheeks, and tummies full of special treats. Everything felt so alive on Saturday, with people buzzing and frolicking in the rare San Francisco sunshine.

We were glad to join the fun.

When planning family vacations, big or small, Christian and I always come up with a schedule. Schedules are good but do you know what's even better? Flexibility. If you're traveling with kids you have got to be flexible otherwise you're begging to be frustrated.

However there is one thing I am not willing to be flexible about and that is accommodations. The last time we were on a family vacation and we didn't have accommodations planned I ended up in a motel room in Puerto Rico with Christian and our friend Hal. This was the typical Latin American Motel room where you pay by the hour and the bed is shaped like a heart and yes, there are mirrors on the ceiling. It makes for a good story but at the time I was furious and so embarrassed as we drove out of our Motel room, the three of us in the car getting stares from the motel staff. Did I mention I was visibly pregnant?

Now that I have kids I'm more than willing to change plans during the day but at night I want to know exactly where I'm going to lay down my head.

In light of everything last week seems like forever ago

After returning from Yosemite I received a lot of questions about our trip. CNN called me up on Monday to ask about gas prices. You can read the article here.  My readers asked me about food. Since I already talked about gas I'll talk about how our family does food when we camp, and a couple other things that's on my mind.

Normally we would have done this. We would have taken our tent, a camping stove, and a bunch of food in the cooler. But it's the middle of winter so the camp grounds are closed. We stayed in a heated tent cabin in Curry Village . No camping stoves allowed there and even though bears hibernate during the winter (right?!) we still had to lock up all our food in bear boxes outside of the cabin. It did make for an adventure when Baby Maria woke up requesting her middle-of-the-night-bottle. She doesn't like her milk cold. 

During the day we ate some sanck-y foods and sandwiches we brought from home and at night we ate out. Not much is open during the winter in Yosemite, but of course there was pizza. 

We had pizza at the Curry Village Pizza Parlor.

It was way overpriced but it totally hit the spot. If I don't have one warm meal a day I'm cranky forever after. I also like to feed my kids something besides pretzels and cheese sticks so pizza was the food of choice for the fam.

Wordless Wednesday: Popcorn Popping on the Tree -- on the way back from Yosemite.