Boa noite! That’s good evening in Portuguese. And what a good evening it was. I had the pleasure of eating dinner with Jorge, a colleague and his girlfriend Natalie (sp). We ate a one of the restaurants along the beach. I was a sojourner along for the experience.

First things first, a cerveja, or beer to get things started. I asked (in English) to our waiter about whether they had any dark beers. I prefer them to pale ales. He responded that they did have a dark beer, Brahma Malzbier, but it was a sweet beer not “dry” as he described the pale beers I have tasted so far on this trip. I’m game I told him thinking that “how sweet can it be?” Well, let me tell you, it was dark, yes, AND IT WAS SWEET. You know how a bite into a lemon or lime will quickly take you off guard… that is how I felt. It was not intolerable so I drank it but I order a Brahma regular after that.

Now on to the meal. We had a shared meal with all the fixings. Here’s the list of food. Steak (cut similar to rib eye) with sausage & cheese. Yes, I said cheese. It looked like a pat of butter when placed on the steak but didn’t melt. Rice, French fries (rice AND French fries are served together a lot), added to spice up the French fries were some fried bananas (yuck) and some fried Yucca, a dish that looked similar to pico de gallo. No one ate any of this but hey, it looked good. But wait there’s more. Finally a dish that looked like small red/black beans, chopped cilantro (I think), small chunks of ham (I think), and some seasoning all tossed together.

The collective food was enough to feed 4 people and all of it was very good. I am still trying to figure out the method of eating farofa. It is a dry corn meal looking dish, which is actually a roasted flour. It is typically served along these types of meals. I tried it straight up. DRY. Don’t do it.  I put it with my rice, still dry. Mixed it with steak juice. Wet but didn’t get any specific taste from it. I am not giving up on this. Going to keep trying it until I figure it out. Will keep you informed.

After dinner, we did what most people here do… we walk along the beach. They have a boardwalk, sidewalk, & a bike path to accommodate all types of methods of transportation. We walked one way (southwest) until we ran out of boardwalk then turn around. By the time we  reached the street where the car was parked, we all were all moist with perspiration. The weather is still very warm & humid during the day and not much cooler in the evening. The ocean breeze helps a little but I was hot from the walk. So we decided to call it an evening.

I want to thank my host, Jorge & Natalie, for reaching out to a visitor and making him feel welcome to their city. Enjoy the pictures.