Samia's Visit

So some of you may know Samia, the blogger who Lindsey, Marc, and I met at Cambridge Day. We got along so well in São Paulo that she came to visit me here at the beach! Lucky me. :D

We spent most of her visit in my kitchen, so I'm not sure how much fun she had, but I sure had a good time!

She got in late Saturday evening. On Friday I had bought a fresh whole chicken from the farmer's market. (I've since learned that you can ask the butcher to take out the head and organs and feet for you. He's happy because he gets to re-sell them. You're happy because you don't have to pull a chicken's head out of its abdomen or throw away edible parts. Everybody wins!)

So Saturday night, Samia and I roasted that baby up! I didn't take any pictures, but this is the recipe I used. I also made my own stuffing by cooking butter, chicken broth, onions, oregano, and toasted bits of French bread together. Yumyumyum.

Then we made a fabulous dessert reflecting the benefits of globalization:

That's right. It's banana blondies with brigadeiro and vanilla ice cream. Only 5 million calories!

Saturday morning we went over to the teleférico (tram / ski lift thing) that I went on with Karine when she came to visit. It's a big hit with the tourists.

From the top of the little mountain, you can see great views of Santos, and because it was a beautiful Sunday morning, we got to see lots of paragliders:

After enjoying the view from the top, we went down to the beach for some fresh pineapple juice -- just for you, Ray! It was from a kiosk, not a cart, but it was tasty nonetheless.

The beach by the teleférico is really nice. There were a lot of families and people playing sports. 

We went home and made garlic and potato soup, and then added the leftover chicken and potatoes from the night before. It was so great to have Samia there. An extra mouth to feed meant that Alexandre and I didn't have to eat chicken leftovers for too long! :)

But I had a really nice weekend with Samia, talking about books, about teaching, about moving to another country, about cross-cultural partners, and about all kinds of other good stuff. I hope she comes back to visit soon! I promise I'll have the food ready next time. ;)