Some "IN GENERAL" Blogging

IN GENERAL


(Mike)
We should talk about the Brazilian hot dog… not your standard ball park frank, like the ones I crave from Wrigley Field in Chicago, my favorite place on the planet. Although Moe doesn’t like hot dogs, these have been quite the experience for me whenever I’ve had them (Brasilia, Campinas, or Sao Paulo). It has potatoes, ketchup, mustard, corn, cheese, carrots, and other stuff all just packed in there. I feel like as much as the two of us hate talking about “EPIC MEAL TIME” on youtube, this is definitely similar to it. Among other things, we should also talk about the hospitality we are receiving from our hosts, here, in Campinas, Moiser and Shirley. Two lovely people that we would have never met had we not sent out the email for housing in late July, panicking, to say the least, about where we were going to live. At first, we thought it would be too far away from school, but we've actually managed with things (taking the bus and paying for it, for example)--- and talk about "managing" things along with food, SHIRLEY is quite the cook. I think our parents would be happy to know how well fed we are and how well taken care of we are, socially, culturally, and lingually... it's not a word, but they speak portugues with us a lot, so it's really good for us!!! As for the social and cultural part, they have taken Moe to Sao Paulo, taken us out to eat a few times, and make us try the dishes they prepare as a total delicacy, from what I can tell. Just the other night, Moiser made a home-made lasagna... it was ridiculous. In other news, getting to play with "heavy" musicians has been awesome. This weekend, (Oct 22) I get to start rehearsals on Mozart 41 Jupiter Symphony with a thrown together orchestra in Sao Paulo that I am hoping is fun. Other than that, we have been making great friends- Bruna, Guga, Thassie, Lina, Guillerme, Fernanda, Gabriel, Thomas, Gabriela, Dennis, Amanda, Lucas, Miguel, Jacob, Fozia, Frank, Pedro, and Bruno. We've had a hell of a time so far and yes, we realize we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the rest of the ride looks AWESOME. We are still excited to be here and living it up. Roadtrips are going "down" in a few weeks- Brasilia reunion, a few beaches, and who knows... maybe Rio? We'll find out.



(Moe)
Ok, there are only two foods in the entire world that I do not like, one of them is eggs, in all it’s forms (except when concealed in the clever guise of a baked good) and hot dogs. Hot dogs and I just don’t jive. Everytime I mention that I don’t like hot dogs I hear cries of “...but you’re American!” Haha. However, I did meet someone else that does not like the taste of eggs, a flute player named Gabriel. I have never met anybody that feels the same way that I do about eggs, it was an amazing moment. Anyway, as far as food, I’ve been following the advice of a good friend and talented trombone player and have been eating everything. My tongue and palette have bee privy to all the culinary secrets that Brazil has to offer. Oh, and by the way, they know how to do cheese down here. Both Wisconsin and France can go ahead and take a page out of Brazil’s book. My only complaint as far as cuisine goes is that Ranch Dressing does not exist down here. In fact, a friend of mine whom I met here, a chef nonetheless actually asked me, “What’s ranch?” “WHAT’S RANCH?” Of course, down here, I hear the typical jokes as far as American tastes go such as, “Where is McDonald’s?” But I don’t care what anybody says, even if America sends all of it’s prodigious talents in the culinary arts over to France or Italy, Ranch dressing is the single greatest culinary achievement ever. It makes everything better. Everything. Not only food, I’d wager that if I bathed in it, I would probably become a better trombone player.