Cardapio

Earlier this week, while Peter was here, we went with him and our friend Joel to a local churrascuria. It was muito delicioso (very good) and we definitely will be going back! :) That experience at the churrascuria is helping with my Portuguese homework this weekend! In our livro de licao (lesson book), we are learning about Brazilian restaurants and what typical menus are like. Through the exercises in this section of the book, we learn muitas palavras (words), cooking terms, and some Brazilian customs. One of the activities for my homework this weekend is to create a typical Brazilian cardapio (menu). I thought I'd give y'all a taste of Brazil as well as a taste of some Portuguese, and do a bit of my homework in this blog post! :) I've based this menu on what we enjoyed at the restaurante - as much of it as I can remember. I hope the smells and tastes somehow waft to wherever you are - and that soon you can come enjoy them all for yourself! :)


Aperitivo (Appetizer): azeitonas verde e queijo coalho (green olives and "squeaky" cheese)

Entrada (Before the main course): queijo coalho com mel ("squeaky" cheese with honey - it's really really good - you gotta believe me!) e frutas (and fruits) e legumes cru (and raw vegetables) e salada (salad)

Prato Principal (Main Course): carne (beef) e frango (chicken) e javali selvagem (wild boar - it was really yummy! A wild, tender meat with great seasoning!) e bao de dois (rice and beans) [...and various other side dishes...including sushi, much to Peter's delight:))]

Bebida (Drinks): Guarana (the best pop in the world - especially with ice and a slice of laranja [orange]!)

Sobremesa (Dessert): we didn't actually have any there because it was extra $, but if we did have some it would have been pudim (flan) e bolo (and cake) etc...

E, finalmente (And lastly): cafezinho! (espresso with lots of sugar! This is very traditional, much to Jon and Peter's delight:))


*** For those of you who aren't familiar with a traditional churrascuria, the garcons (waiters) bring to your table great big skewers with different cuts of meat on them. You tell them if you want that particular cut or not, and they slice off a piece for you with a huge machete type knife! :) (well, the knife looked pretty big to me:)) They keep bringing all this meat around all the time (meat includes chicken livers and stuff, too :)), and you can have as much as you can! Jon and I were thinking about how much our dads would just love all that fresh beef!! Just imagine, Dads! :)

Muito bom! (Very good!)
Tchau! (Bye!)

ps. for those of you Portuguese speakers, please let me know if I didn't spell, sound, use, etc. the words rightly! :) And please pardon the lack of accent marks!