There is a rock solid love between Dani and her sister, Flavia. If I didn’t know better I would have said they were twins. Dani does video calls with her sister, always lasting hours! Once I saw Dani in the backyard cutting the grass with her phone mounted on the lawnmower talking to her while cutting the grass. When they sit near each other, they are almost on top of each other. At one point when Dani and Flavia were leaving to go shopping together, Dani said she didn’t want to have to carry much so she would have one hand free to hold her sister’s hand. When they drink beer, they share the same can so it can be finished before it gets warm. Sounds logical to me. The next time I go somewhere with a brother, I will ask him if I can hold his hand, and when drinking coffee I will ask him if he wants to share the same cup so we can finish it before it gets cold. My brothers are logical people and should understand.

But all joking aside, I see the relationship with Flavia priceless. It is just down right beautiful! Visiting with her sister and family everyday makes it easier to be in a foreign country; even if it is Texas, the Greatest Country on Earth.

She will always have me, but she needs a constant connection to the beautiful family at home. Good for you, Dani. Good for you, Flavia.

 

We went to the store to get meat for Antonio’s BBQ and I am always impressed to see the available meats in the market. Brazilians love meat.

A few packages of beans, another staple of Brazil..

A couple dozen eggs, but check out the size of avocados, another of Brazil’s staple.

At the apartment we stayed at, there is a bar across the street with 4 karaoke rooms. The place is active until about 3 in the morning. At the bottom is a picture of people waiting to get in at 1am.

When we were at Dani’s mother’s apartment, I fixed hot wings for her, which she loves. So, I was trying to figure out how to start her oven when she came up and pushed a button and turned a knob, then lit a match and tossed it into the oven. FVOOOMP!! . . . and it lit.

I thought, Ah . . . No. We need to fix that. So Dani, Flavia and Antonio and I went out and looked for a new stove. Flavia found one on line and we purchased it. Above is the one that goes VFOOOMP! and below the new one. As of this posting, I understand Dani’s uncles have the stove hooked up to electrical and now, no more VFOOOMP.

Here is something I noticed that is common over much of the world.

Until next time . . . always look for tomorrow, for it is another chance to kick butt.

Also, just to let you know, the jeep sez, It’s oil changing time.

I see and hear people doing the karaoke thing and it isn’t something I want to do, but just sit and watch. Mostly videos here.

 

The one thing I will always love about the Brazilians is the happiness within them. It is the type of happiness that is the best kind. The last video I swung around to get Dani sitting with her grandmother. When my mother was alive, often I would sit with her and gently hold her hand while watching a favorite movie of hers. When I was a innocent little boy she held my hand, it was then my turn to hold hers. So, when I sat near Dani’s grandmother, I reached down and gently took her hand. I know it surprised her, but life is too damn short not to express love, especially to us old people.

One more post to go next week.

We hitched a ride to the nearby city of Bragança Paulista where Dani’s mother, grandmother and uncles live. It was about a 90 minute drive. It was there that Dani’s brother-in-law did his amazing Brazilian BBQ, and the family gathered and cranked the karaoke machine up. First let’s look at Antonio’s BBQ. The karaoke will be in the next post.

Good food, good people.

The apartment we stayed at was a 10 min walk to the Cathedral of Sao Paulo. In our quest to get Dani’s drivers license update with the new Nolte name, we happened across it. This magnificent edifice reminds me of the many churches I visited overseas.

Above is the creepy confessionals. Been there, done that. Next will be Dani’s amazing family.

As mentioned earlier in a post, Dani now has her much deserved Green Card; so the first thing we did after we clinked our glasses of champagne was plan a trip to Brazil. It has been three years since she hugged her family and now she is doing it. I just sit back and watch, enjoy food and drink, and a big plus is watching the beautiful Brazilian people.

Many people do not realize that Brazil has more Japanese people than Japan. Many of the people I see are of Japanese descent, so it stands to reason that there are many great Japanese food places, especially in an area called Bairro da liberdade which has the most Japanese people. So we went to one of our favorites and pigged out. These are from the view from the upstairs restaurant.

I wished I would have gotten views of the inside. Crowded just like Japan itself. We chose to sit out on the balcony even though it was threatening rain. Below is the before and after of my plate.

Another place we happened across is this place that had different items.

Non-japanese food. I fear you will get bored seeing all these pics of food I am posting, but just remember . . . food is what makes life delicious. The first few is from the first meal we had with Dani’s sister and family. It is the typical Brazilin Feijoada.

Below is small meals with friends of ours.

This is a favorite pastry in Brazil called the Coxinha

This is what the hotel gave us every morning for breakfast. Simple and satisfying.

I am a bit disappointed that all these images came out a bit blurry. I promise, no whiskey was involved. The Cathedral of Sao Paulo is next. Stay tuned.