"Meu cheiro é de cravo,
Minha cor de canela,
A minha bandeira
É verde e amarela
Pimenta de cheiro,
Cebola em rodela,
Um beijo na boca
Feijao na panela."
extract of Gabriela, from Antonio Carlos Jobim
I am from Niterói, a city in Rio de Janeiro state, therefore, I am a Fluminense - not a Carioca. From Spanish and Italian heritage I learned to eat earthy meals at home, freshly cooked everyday, seasoned with lots of garlic, onions and herbs. Food that tastes like food. Barbecue made of meat and sea salt alone. Seasoned rice - never boiled rice. Don't expect to find around here a single hot spicy dish - I don't like them - and, although my husband is American and we live in the US now, you also won't find recipes of meat with sweet sauces or caramel toppings. My food is easy to classify: if it is sweet, it is dessert; if it is savory, it is the main dish. There is no in between here.
No, I am not a chef, nor a great cook. I am simply a housewife who needs to feed her family and am always on the lookout for new, easy and practical things to prepare. I learned how to cook out of necessity when I first moved to the UK, but specially now in the US where I rarely find ready made meals I like. In Brazil, we often have maids, and my mum never enjoyed cooking, so this is not a "natural" part of me, to the contrary, it is a daily struggle and a chore. My new best friend is called Crockpot.
Of course I grew up with lots of homemade pasta, but I could only understand the fully extent of my Italian heritage - in the kitchen or otherwise - when I lived in Italy in 2004. For my tastebuds, Italy is the place where I could live in forever and happy, but as I can only buy food if I have a job, I had to move back to London. In 2000 I left Brazil for good and, in each place I lived since, I created some culinary memories that now I try to replicate in my kitchen. Also changing and adapting things to my taste. And hubby is my guinea pig.
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