ST: Sao Paulo, Brazil

It's dificult explain the excitement I feel when I am about to land in a new country. What will it be like? What will it remind me of? How will it be different from anywhere ? Now that I have been to so many countries, I also sit with this small fear that it just won't feel special anymore. Thank goodness that has yet to be the case.

Brazil. Brazil is set to become one of the top five economies in the world in the next few years and it is simply hot, hot, hot. World Cup and Olympic selection committees think so too. When you step off the airplane and out into the city of Sao Paulo, you can feel it. There is money, lots of it, and there is development, just look at the sprouting buildings in the picture above! But don't get me wrong, while there is money, there are also shantytowns. And where there are buildings going up, there is also incredible amounts of security. While one colleague said, of course, walk the three blocks to the office from the Grand Hyatt, another was astounded at the thought and said I should only take a taxi. This is how you know it is a city, and perhaps country, undergoing a lot of change and growth - even its citizens can't decide whether it is safe to walk the streets or not.

I only wish I had had more than two nights in Sao Paulo. I can hardly say that I have touched Brazil at all but I had some initial thoughts. The wealthier parts of the city reminded me of Mexico City, where you glimpse beautiful homes behind thick walls; where shops have security guards waiting outside to watch your car while you shop inside, you being unlikely to simply wander down the street to the next store, always in the car instead. But the wealth seemed even more ostentatious here, and, yes, this is apparently supported by the high Gini coefficient of Brazil. The overhang of pollution in the air reminded me of Mumbai, where the scent isn't sweet but after a day you just get used to it the best you can. The traffic was like Egypt, where cars fill the roads and the trip to the airport takes hours. My final comparison is to Dubai. Rather odd, yes, but I found that my colleagues in Sao Paulo and others of the mid to high economic classes do much of their socializing and dining at malls. While in Dubai, I think that is to escape the heat, in Sao Paolo perhaps it is because of the security it affords to be off the streets? Most people I know dislike Sao Paulo and rush off to Rio but I didn't feel that same urgency to escape, and apparently 12 million plus people who live in the city don't either.

The food of Brazil. So little time to learn much of anything! I fell from the airplane into my office and an ordered-in lunch of sandwiches no different than anywhere else in the world. I even think the restaurant was called something English, like Hamburger Plus. After our meetings, we stopped around town doing the business I do, jumping in and out of malls and then down to the famous shopping street of Oscar Freire. I attempted to keep my mind on the business, while my eyes drifted to the spring collections in the global luxury shops that line the infamous road. Duly dropped at the hotel later in the evening, all I could really do was order some room service before passing out in a bed after a full day and a night before sleeping upright in an airplane seat.

Room service, though, proved to be exciting because I had a fresh hearts of palm salad with winter squash and some type of nut I had never tried before, all with a mustard dressing to dip into.The hearts of palm were huge slices the size of my palm, unlike anything I had tried before. They were fresh and more like jicama than the jarred hearts of palm of my past. The squash was puckery and different, not exactly pleasant but edible. Finally, the nuts were strangely delicious. As I said, no clue what they were, but it was good! At least I got to have a little flavor of Brazil before my head hit the pillow.

After another long day of work, the next night, my team in Brazil took me to dinner at Brasil A Gosto, a restaurant, which while tourist focused, is clearly focused on the foods and food traditions of Brazil. What a treat! My team insisted that I begin with a traditional Caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil. You can have these aplenty in Miami, but it definitely felt more real drinking it in Brazil. Tasty, yes, but I am definitely more of a rum girl than cachaca, which reminds me too much of tequila and its associated memories (or lack thereof).

We then started with a large platter of assorted appetizers, including cheese empanadas, rice croquettes, grilled cheese that reminded me of houlumi but was dipped in molasses (delicious!) and little balls of fish that I didn't try. There were sauces to try with them, including one that was incredibly spicy. For some reason, I had never associated spicy foods with Brazil! For my main course, there were two vegetarian options and I selected the most unique sounding, the Mixed Vegetables "Moqueca". It is described on the menu as prepared with palm oil, coconut milk and spices, with coconut rice, manioc flower and hibiscus pirao. I am thinking that manioc "flower" is actually supposed to be flour and I just learned through Google that it is actually the same thing as yuca and cassava. The dish was a bit like a curry but the manioc component added a definite baseness (versus acidity or sweetness) that clearly distinguished it from the sweet lime-y Thai curries I am used to. The other interesting components were the "sides" to the dish, one of which was this hibiscus pirao or basically stewed hibiscus flowers, a tart comparison to the sweet coconut rice. Here again in yet another country this year I have run into Hibiscus. You can go back and read me talking about this widespread flower in Mexico, Egypt and Indonesia posts. It is amazing we don't use it more in the United States!

Was this dish or this meal in particilar the best of my life? No, but the flavors were interesting and I feel like I learned a lot about the roots of Brazilian cuisine. Besides my own dish, the menu itself was pages and pages of cultural and historical notes on Brazil cuisine. What a great early education into a country I anticipate visiting quite a lot.

The next day, a quick lunch at a fruit restaurant brought me face to face with many unfamiliar fruits. The menu of juices listed so many unfamilar items. My host was quite surprised by my curiousity and stumped at many of the translations into English from Portuguese. I asked her to pick out something classically Brazilian for me to try... I found myself with a pineapple and mint juice. It was delicious although not as crazy as a fruit choice as I might have wanted to try on my own.

But as I said before, I foretell lots of Brazil in my future...

Tapas y Tintos

Everyone in Miami who has lived here more than three months (and is thus a "local") usually likes to appear repulsed when they hear that I live on South Beach. Then, when I tell them I like food, they immediately tell me there is no good food on the Beach. Way to be negative and uninformed. Thanks! Especially because I have been slowly but surely discovering some quite good food on the Beach, most of which I have yet to even mention on this blog due to new job overload. So, yes, they add gratuity regardless of the level of service and, yes, sometimes the prices are inflated and, yes, you might get groped by Eastern European women trying to push you in the doors on Ocean Ave. But, that doesn't mean there aren't some thing to like about South Beach dining...

Over on Espanola Way, suspicious since my overhyped visit to Hosteria Romana a couple of months ago and due to all of the above mentioned nonsense about South Beach, I ventured into Tapas y Tintos with low expectations. BB and I sat at a table outside on the patio and despite the humidity and sunshine, we were saved by blowing fans and large umbrellas. BB conversed in Spanish with our waitress while I simply gave up, sat back, and stared at the rose wine on the table next to us. A few more Spanish lessons and I can class up my life but until then I will get by with my grungy English: "Hook me up with some of that rose, wouldya?"

Alcohol in hand, next up, tapas. The list is long, the vegetarian options plenty. Apparently Spaniards outside of Spain don't feel the need to cover every vegetable (except pimientos) with ham like they do in Spain. I bet it is just too expensive here... Assuming small tapas and with only a small amount of hunger, I ordered just two: fried chickpeas with spinach and eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese (ie Spanish eggplant parm?). When they arrived, they were both HUGE portions. Welcome to America!!

Despite the rugby team quantities, they were both quite good, especially the chickpeas, which were rich in flavor and perfectly cooked. The eggplant was crisp with cheese, although a bit oily by the end of the meal. This was a happy affordable find on South Beach, especially with these portion sizes giving me two meals for the price of one. My companion had the cheese plate (also huge) and the tortilla espanol, which was normal sized. I forgive it for not being gargantuan, though, as it was quite delicious.

Service was decidedly only okay but expectations were low in the first place, so it was fitting the situation of a slow Sunday afternoon, the noise of football only a rumble in the distance from the Irish bar across the street. Is Tapas y Tintos my new favorite restaurant in Miami? Not even close. But would it be a great place to sit and watch the tourists and action on Espanola Way while drinking decent wine and eating tasty food? You bet.

Thumbs Up: Good people watching, large tapas selection, excellent chickpeas
Thumbs Down: Huge portions (although this could be a thumbs up depending on whether you have a refrigerator to take it home to or not while on South Beach)

Tapas y Tintos 448 Espanola Way Miami Beach www.tapasytintos.com

Mercadito

Sometimes meals are simply a nightmare. My dinner at Mercadito fits the bill.

We arrived for a 9pm reservation and were immediately sent to the bar. Three minutes later, they came to find us for our table. I hate that restaurants do this, almost forcing you to have a drink then, as soon as you order the drink, you have to rush and attempt to close your tab and move. In this instance, thank goodness we got those drinks, though, because our server never actually managed to ask us if we wanted any during dinner. If that isn't the sign of a disastrous meal, then what is?

The menu at Mercadito is upscale Mexican with a variety of creative tacos, guacamoles, ceviches and salads. The server informed us that all was meant for sharing so right off the bat we ordered a set of three guacamoles. You can order in ones, twos or threes. I kind of laughed when they arrived because it was not exactly a quantity meant for six people, a dollop of each guac and then a tiny basket of chips. Twice we had to literally wave people down to attempt to get more chips. The guacs weren't anything to write home about. I had been excited for the apple variation with almonds but I could barely distinguish it from the traditional recipe.

After the guac, we went around the table and each ordered dishes for the next course, like we would in a normal restaurant. However, when the food started arriving, way more food than we ordered was coming to the table. For example, an order of tacos says it came with four tacos, yet six came out of each type. Uh oh. We waved and waved and finally someone went up to the manager to tell them we didn't want one of everything for everyone at the table! It was way too much food and we didn't want to pay for it. Our server basically was off hiding at this point and then avoided our table. I mean, this is no huge sin, but it would have been better to have been asked if we wanted to share like this - I, for example, am a vegetarian and wasn't planning to eat 80% of the food ordered!

Speaking of the food, when it did come out, it came out at different times and was then just placed on the table. It is all kind of sloppy and a dream for a restaurant management and a nightmare for guests like me. The server doesn't have to worry about remembering who ordered what and then doesn't have to fret to make sure that the kitchen delivers it all on time. But it is annoying as all heck. Mercadito is so loud that we couldn't even hear what the server was saying as they placed the food down at the table and then ran away. And then, for me, I ordered some Rajas tacos and they were the very last thing delivered to the table, a good 30 minutes after food started arriving. This meant that I, as the vegetarian, was kind of just sitting there waiting for my food, picking at other people's items as I could and attempting to be patient. And no one asked me if I wanted anymore wine. Big, big mistake.

The food itself was underwhelming. I liked the mushroom tacos better than the black bean rajas. The corn with cheese and spices was quite yummy. But the atmosphere was so crazy, crowded and unpleasant in the back room we were in that I couldn't truly even enjoy anything. As we left the restaurant, it was full of large tables basically there to snack and party, not to have a culinary experience. Ah, makes sense now. Party place.

Thumbs Up: Very pretty space, multiple vegetarian tacos options
Thumbs Down: Service, noise, just too hectic! My personal nightmare...

Mercadito 3252 NE 1st Ave Miami www.mercaditorestaurants.com

Michy's

There are a lot of star chef restaurants in Miami but many of them are simply outposts of chefs who barely step their foot into town. Thank goodness this isn't always the case! Here in Miami, I have been most keenly excited to find and try the chefs that have built their acclaimed restaurants starting from Miami, and one of these chefs is Michelle Bernstein. I had already graced Sra. Martinez with my presence multiple times and I had been holding my breath waiting for the perfect opportunity to head up the road to her original restaurant, Michy's.

Michy's is like a bright girly boudoir. You wouldn't see too many groups of guys just coming to chill out. In fact, the bar is tight. This place is really all about the food instead. We were quickly seated at the front window, in full view of the Miami summer evening rain to ponder. The only complaint I had with this location was that the servers used the windowsill right next to us as a counter, so they kept stopping by and leaning around us to grab silverware and coffee sugars. Still, this was minor. The room itself had an excellent vibe, was playing hipstery music and it wasn't so loud that we couldn't hear each other mmmm over the food. I was feeling pretty good.

And I felt even better once my appetizer was served. It was amazing! My choice was the full size portion of the White Gazpacho with marcona almonds, grapes and cucumber. It was absolutely the perfect foil to the Miami humidity in that it was smooth, cool and refreshing. The seemingly odd combination of flavors also worked perfectly together. I sighed in happiness. VG's watermelon Greek salad was similarly refreshing and we reveled in the fact that you could order so much on the menu in half or full sizes.

While the appetizer was perfection, I will say that my entree was the mediocre part of the meal. I chose the Crispy Chickpea Panisse with mushrooms, kale, piquillo peppers and heirloom tomato stew. I had no idea what to expect from a "panisse" but it ended up being basically croquetas of hot hummus over the aforementioned stew. Unfortunately, the stew was a bit of a mess. The flavors were indistinct and overall the combination wasn't noteworthy. I had high expectations and was disappointed. I wanted more oomph, especially after the lovely cool soup. VG had a softshell crab special, which she claimed was good but nowhere near the best softshell she has had. Interesting that the middle of the meal was the low point for both of us.

Michy's redemption was to be had, though, because we were literally blown away by dessert. Our plum upside-down cake with honey ice cream and creme fraiche was the first time I have ever seen my dining companion so into a dessert. Typically, she isn't so much of a sweet dessert girl (think cheese plate instead). And it was sweet, it was rich and it was memorable. The honey ice cream melted slowly into one side of the cake and on the other a rich creme fraiche stood firm with a slightly tangy flavor. The combination allowed for the dessert to be sampled in multiple ways. Wow, I want this cake again. Now.

Service was excellent, we had some wow moments and I definitely enjoyed the girly dining room. All in all, this was one happy Miami meal.

Thumbs Up: Great starters, fun atmosphere, amazing dessert

Thumbs Down: Middling mains, why is there valet parking in a parking lot?

Michy's 6927 Biscayne Blvd Miami www.michysmiami.com

Sidetrip: The Catskills, NY

The trend of not being in Miami continues with a weekend soiree in the Catskills. I cannot think of anything more fun than celebrating an upcoming wedding with a group of wonderful girlfriends. Surprisingly, the Catskills ended up being a perfect location. The amazing weather (and lack of humidity!) certainly didn't hurt either.

I arrived into JFK airport and made my way to Brooklyn, where we packed up and headed out upstate to the entire inn that we rented in the small town of Palenville. With a speakeasy bar and a huge ballroom (plus cute puppy) it was the perfect place for a group of women to relax with a few cocktails in hand. That evening those of us that had arrived early headed down to dinner at Bear Cafe in Woodstock. This was officially my first visit to the town of hippie fame and I have to say that it did not disappoint. Apparently, I myself have some hippie tastes because one of the highlights of the weekend for me was that everywhere we ate had numerous vegetarian options, often even marked vegan. I ain't no vegan (I would melt without cheese) but I appreciate the options regardless. At Bear Cafe I had a so-so blue cheese pizza and a quite delicious roasted vegetable vindaloo curry. Despite the excellent curry, the highlight of the evening was instead the crazy karaoke at the theater next door afterwards. Wow. We were really in Woodstock.

Friday dawned another beautiful day. We headed up towards Hunter Mountain and stopped on the way in Tannersville at Maggie's Krooked Cafe. Um, this might be my new favorite place ever. I literally bemoaned the fact that I haven't yet found a cafe like this in Miami, one full of fresh juices, high on in-season vegetables and extremely creative. I had the Mt. Bagel, a great big bagel topped with garlic cream cheese, tomatoes and a pile of sprouts. Alongside was the most creative set of homefries I have ever seen. The whole table found some on their plates and we sat analyzing how wonderful and odd that it was filled with soy beans, cabbage and all sorts of other goodies. It was just a wonderful moment, then, when Maggie herself popped out of the kitchen to tell us all about those homefries and wish us well on our adventure through the Catskills. My new favorite place. Sigh.

After an afternoon of ziplining and a homemade pasta dinner, we Bachelorette-Partied the night away like the good girls we are. Our bride will never forget it...

Saturday, yet another perfect day. The owner of the Woodbine Inn, where we were staying, made us a delicious wedding shower brunch for the early afternoon and then we played in the garden for hours enjoying the sunshine and champagne. After a brief shopping expedition to Woodstock, we headed over for dinner at Mexican Radio in Hudson. The menu of Mexican options was massive, which is perfect for a large party. Mmmm.... guacamole. And plantains.

Sunday dawned and the cars to NYC started on their way. A few of us waited until the last possible minute to leave the peace of nature and even became one with nature (a little) by finishing the weekend with a vegan meal at the Garden Cafe on the Green in Woodstock. While the hummus was lacking in flavor, my curried mango tofu sandwich was unique and tasty. And with that it was back in the traffic to the airport and back to the heat of Miami... Wow, after this party, I am seriously looking forward to the wedding.

The Bear Cafe

http://www.bearcafe.com/

Maggie's Krooked Cafe

http://www.krookedcafe.com/

Mexican Radio

http://www.mexrad.com/

Garden Cafe on the Green

http://www.gardencafewoodstock.com/