Pamonha and Puppy Perfume

So, this week I have confirmed two more reasons why I love Brazil. Pamonha and Puppy Perfume.

Sunday my mother-in-law called the whole family together (and neighbors as well) to make Pamonha, a traditional Brazilian "country" food that resembles Mexican Tamales. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures this year of the Pamonha event (mainly because I was bedridden the majority of the day due to awwwful menstrual cramps) however, here are some pictures from my first visit to Rondônia in 2009 when I first met the whole family.

The family helping to shuck and grate the corn

Avô (grandpa) looking at the mess we had all made

Humberto's cousin Rita and Avô in the background

I love Pamonha because it is the epitome of Brazilian culture. More Brazilian than Churrasco, I would argue.

Pamonha only requires four simple ingredients. 

Your entire extended family and friends. Corn. Oil. Salt. 

Yep, thats all we use. For the sweet ones you substitute the salt for sugar. After you grate the corn you put it into a big bowl, mix in the oil and salt then make little cups with the corn husks, fill it with the corn mixture and whatever you want inside, tie another husk around it to seal it up and toss it into boiling water. We stuffed some cheese into some (and i snuck some cheese and guava paste (goiabada) into some of the sweet ones... mmMmMmM!)

The whole family assumes their traditional positions when the shucking of the corn begins. In our family, Avô is in charge of shucking. This year, since he is 87 I think..., H's cousin helped him out. They shucked 2 bags of corn, that is 240 ears of corn!! About 4 of us took the shucked corn and picked out all the hairs so they were clean and then 4 other people grated the corn into the paste. Men, women and children work together on this first phase. Once this is done all the men open up some beers (or in our case, start serving tereré) and get the churrasco going (of course, there can't be a Sunday without churrasco on the farm!) meanwhile the women share a few beers amongst themselves while they start preparing the corn paste with salt and oil (or sugar and oil) and then making the little pamonha packets with the husks as the casing. There's a secret to the whole process as the way the strings are tied around the pamonhas tells the person who is going to eat them what is inside and if it is sweet or salty! In our family they also like to put a ton of hot peppers in one or two of the pamonhas as a joke! This year my sister-in-law made the practical joke pamonhas so obvious that everyone pointed it out as soon as it was served so of course no one ate it, but we all got a big laugh out of the entire thing.

So, as you can imagine, my Saturday and Sunday were filled with corn this corn that... corn bread, corn cake, corn on the cob, pamonha, creamed corn, chicken-and-corn soup... I'm pretty much corn-ed out for the next few weeks (and my freezer is full of leftover pamonha!)

After the whole pamonha episode was finally coming to a close I took Ice on a nice long hike on the farm to a reservoir that I absolutely love. It was his first time heading back this direction on the farm and I am always worried about taking the pups there because the water is still and I'm always on the lookout for any blue anacondas (sucuri in Portuguese), as they have been known to eat other dogs on the farm. Humberto lost a Pitbull to one a few years back. There haven't been any sightings in the last few years and the pups on the farm have gone on two or three day adventures (meaning they just disappeared for awhile) and came back with no injuries, so I am assuming that they have mostly left the premises). Anyhow, Ice had a blast. The bottom of the reservoir is a thick clay that you sink into. Ice seemed to think that it was some type of animal that was grabbing his feet and he ran into the water barking barking barking and attacking attacking attacking, then ran up the bank back to me and then dashed back down to the water's edge only to repeat the whole process over again. He didn't get eaten by a sucuri, but was more than a bit dirty...which leads me to the next part of this post....

Puppy Perfume? Well, on my last trip to the petshop I decided to pick up some flea and tick shampoo for Ice and found bottles of puppy perfume (ranging in prices from R$20 (about US$11) to a whopping R$80 (about US$44)!!!!! I, of course, picked up one of the cheap bottles and went home excited to give the pup a bath after his Sunday jumping into the muddy water in the reservoir. Not only is he flea-free now... he smells DELICIOUS! I can't stop smelling my dog, and telling other people to smell him, too. You gotta love a country that sells puppy perfume, and it seems NORMAL for people to buy it. (Note: maybe this happens in the States but I have never, ever, ever heard of any of my friends buying their dogs puppy perfume!)

Anyhow, that about sums up what I've been up to this weekend. It looks like this coming weekend we might be taking a trip to some fancy fazenda that has pools and something like a zoo (it's a vacation resort type deal) and I'm pretty pumped about it! If it all comes together you can expect some photos next week!

I've been coming up with ideas for daily postings and I'm thinking of the following.
Motivational Mondays
Tuesday's Tune
Thoughtful Thursdays (i'll chat about some type of topic that isn't directly related to my going-ons)
Fitness Friday (where I will recap my workout progress that I've made throughout the week...)

We'll see how this goes anyhow...

Tchau!! xxxx

Workin' Out is Workin' Out!

So, as many of you know form one of my last posts I have recently joined a gym. With the help of some of my friends I have also joined MyFitnessPal.com, which is INCREDIBLE for those of you who have a hard time sticking to diet and exercise plans. It's set up much like Facebook and you log your food and exercises for your friends to see (or you can keep them private) and it helps to calculate how many calories you can eat per day, how many calories you have to burn per day, pretty much everything. It's almost foolproof! It's fun because it lets you know when you friends don't sign in, if they are over their calorie goals, under their workout goals, etc... so you can BUG THEM to get on their game! My friend Natalie, who I have known since before I could talk and who is also a nutritionist, was one of the first to recommend it to me and also a dear friend Kenny, who I have known since high school, told me I had to join. I loooooove seeing where my calories are going.

I've been keeping up with my gym habit, going every day (except when I am on the farm, and when I am there I try to go on hikes with the pup at least once or twice a day). Today is the first day I have woken up with pain... and it was my last day of my "full body conditioning" workout. Today starts my targeted conditioning... whatever that means. Having a trainer has been the best decision ever. He's not my PERSONAL trainer, but he keeps me on my game at the gym, and doesn't let me leave until I'm done with all my sets and reps, something that I never was good at doing on my own. Especially when it comes to crunches... I hate crunches.

So here goes. Week three into the workout revolution and it's going well. I'm still sleeping TOO much for my liking (almost 10-12 hours a night) but my emotional health is much better than it was a few weeks ago, and this is one of the principal reasons why I wanted to start going to the gym. Living abroad is hard, but it's most difficult when your a woman I think. My hormones take me by surprise and things that would have in the states left me rolling on the floor laughing leave me running back to my house in tears (or at least wanting to.) Obviously this isn't every day but it's a rough process and I have a feeling that it never is EASY being more than 12 hours by plane from your relatives, but I have noticed that since I have started taking care of ME it has been much easier.

I'm considering trying to find some dance classes, too. I wonder if Ji-Paraná offers anything...HmMmm...

Anyhow, to talk about the dog, which is a requirement, of course, Ice is loving this whole new routine as I have started to take him on nice long walks both in the city and on the farm. I'm still hesitant since he still doesn't have his last vaccine, but I can't handle him being cooped up in the house all day. He's almost 7 months old and is so full of energy when we get home, jumping on the sofas, launching himself all over the place to play, I'm afraid that if he stays cooped up he's going to start destroying things, and that I will not be able to tolerate. His baby teeth have almost all fallen out and his big dog teeth are all coming in! It's exciting seeing him get bigger!

Well that's all for now.

Resolutions and Photos from Novo Riacheulo

Inspired by my fellow American lost in Rondônia, Titia Amor, I decided to do something I haven't done since the 2008/2009 New Year... I decided to make a New Year's Resolution. Back then, I promised myself that I would start a new chapter in my life, principally, re-discovering my spirituality and working on my health. Interestingly enough, within a few weeks, I met a man who shared many of my own opinions about what being "spiritual" means and enjoyed listening to meditation music, too! Within a year we were engaged, and today, we're married with a puppy! The whole "working on my health" part kind of fell to the wayside when I realized drinking long islands and dancing my butt off 5-6 times a week was just as effective as running and dieting... and although I have lost incredible amounts of weight since 2008 (about 25 pounds without really trying), I am still far from the body I would like to have, as I would like to increase my muscle tone. This is really hard for someone who sucks at sticking to any type of workout regimen... and endlessly frustrating when you live in a country that is insanely obsessed with how toned everyones butt and thighs are.

Anyhow, I just put down R$100 at the neighborhood gym today for their "three month for R$100" special. Their monthly rate is normally R$50, so this worked out to be a great deal, even if H and I find a new apartment (which I hope we do....) sometime soon. Of COURSE when I go in to register, the owner of the gym is one of H's old time buddies and there are also women in Lycra. There's also douchebaggy looking men staring at themselves lifting weights but hey, it's cheap, right? They're also open at 530am-Midnight. Super plus!

On another note, we've been enjoying the fact I am on vacation from the school to hang out on the farm as much as possible since we both love it (and Ice loves it even more, of course!) Ice manages to make friends wherever he goes, independent of their creed, color, or how many feet they have, or how long their tail is. When we are at my inlaw's, his friend of choice is one of the big pigs. He yanks his tail, nips his ears, basically does everything to get his attention to play. The pig loves it and eggs him on most of the time. Unfortunately, pictures have not yet been taken!

There are, however, pictures from the trip to the farm on Wednesday! Here we go!

Ice on the way to the farm

How can you say this is not the most beautiful place in the interior??
We're headed to Novo Riacheulo, about 1.5 hrs from Ji-Paraná.
There's no cell service, except on top of the mountains, and this is why I love going here. Urania (she's in one of the upcoming photos) was born in this town and her family basically runs the entire village, from the ice cream shop to the church, it's all run by her family. 

Ice and his two best friends in Novo Riachuelo. He gets sooo excited when we pull up!
They're both girls, too. He's a pimp.
Look at that tail!

"We're goin' on a hike! Wanna come??"

Checkin' out the Corn with H

This is why I live where I live.

This is what the Passion Fruit Flower looks like!

Ice with H, Urania (blonde, wife of H's cousin and my new best friend in Ji-Paraná)
and her cousin, I think... she's related to everyone in this town. 

This picture is for my Vovó! It's a "Quero-Quero"
Check out the wikipedia page in Portuguese!!! Get to translating!! 

Tuckered out after a long day of running around and patrolling. Within about an hour the other pup joined.
That's imported silk from Thailand that they are sleeping on by the way... thanks mom for the dog bed!!!

I'll take some more pictures tomorrow... as we are killing another pig for the new year. MmMmmMmMm I love me some pork. Diet? New Year's Resolution? Awww man... looks like I'm going to have to double up on my workouts and walks with Mr. Ice!