36 hours in SanFran

A town car came to pick me up at 4am. Dizzy and sleepy, I went to San Francisco for Gi and Jere's American wedding. Wouldn't miss it for anything!

Toast with cupcakes, the new champagne

Everything went just perfect, blue sky, no delays, got in the Bart, took a shower, put on my dress and I was able to arrive at the reception just before the just married smiling couple arrived. They were both so happy that it touched all of us. She was beautiful, gorgeous on her white dress surrounded by her favorite flowers and he was the happiest man on Earth. I was so happy to be there, and even happier to be one of their photographers. Can't wait to make this album!

Fê will be Photoshop-ped to this picture

I still had some hours left on the west coast when the wedding was finished. I was able to grab a California Pizza Kitchen with Anne - a great friend from Brazil that took some days off at work to come to the US - and spend some hours talking to her.

Saturday morning my EST human clock woke me up early, so I found a Peet's Coffee and spent a lot of money on some products that can only be found in California. I got a mug, a pack of coffee, some cocoa powder for Fê and sat outside drinking a latte and eating a chocolate croissant close surrounded by Yerba Buena Garden.

But weekend wasn't over and I was gladly surprised by an invitation to eat some churrasco with Gi's family! OMG, so embarrassing to say, but I ate so much that I could hardly walk later. Feijoada, guaraná, pão de queijo, polenta, farofa, picanha, mousse de maracujá! Thanks to Whole Foods, I had just a salad for dinner on the plane!

Around Yerba Buena Garden with Mrs. Peck

It is hard to put on words how much I enjoyed this weekend. Being able to go back to California was great, even without meeting everyone I wanted to, but it is always good to have some reasons to come back. But much more special than going back, celebrating Gi and Jere's love was for sure the Love at First Bite's cupcake's frosting of my weekend. I know they will be happily ever after!

Byron and Feijoada

Esse é o Byron, o tradutor do blog e também responsável pelo aumento no número de leitores, afinal de contas ele me ajuda com as traduções para os amigos que não falam português. Sim, ele é da California, mas veio passar uns dias por New Jersey onde o irmão mora e pegou um trem (1h30!) para midtown para nos encontrar.


Fomos ao [Rice 'n' Beans], o restaurante brasileiro que conhecemos aqui perto de casa. Na dúvida por onde começarmos, pedimos 3 pastéis de carne e guaraná Antártica. Depois, ó dúvida cruel! E para ter um pouquinho de cada canto e experiências diferentes, foi a vez da feijoada, do bobó de camarão e do picadinho de carne. E pra fechar com chave de ouro, dividimos um pudim de leite com 3 colheres! Tudo complementando a nossa conversa sobre as diferenças entre a California e NY, sobre as origens de nomes e sobrenomes e, claro, sobre futebol e hockey.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Today I introduce you to Byron.

He became famous around my blog for his translations and making it possible for non-Portuguese speakers to follow up with news from NY. He was around the East Coast and came all the way from NJ for a Brazilian dinner with us at Rice 'n' Beans.

It all started with some Brazilian style beef empanadas, called pastel. We also drank Guaraná Antartica, a soft drink that tastes like guarana, but as far as I know there is no real guarana on it, only flavor (well, I do not get a boost of natural caffeine after drinking it, so I suppose there is not a considerable amount of it).

As we could not figure out what we were having, we order 3 very typical Brazilian dishes so Byron could taste different things from different regions of Brasil:


Byron's Feijoada: a cassarole of black beans, with pork loin, sausage, bacon, spare ribs, and cubed beef, served with lightly sautéed collard greens, rice, farofa (roasted yucca flour), orange slices and hot sauce;

Fê's Picadinho: tender sirloin cubes, sautéed with garlic, onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and served with fried plantains;

My Bobó de camarão: Shrimp in a puree of yucca made with coconut milk, fresh cilantro and palm oil.

All descriptions can be found on the restaurant's website, I would not be capable of describing them so well!

To perfectly end the dinner, we shared a pudim de leite (a flan made with condensed milk and caramel sauce) and some really nice experiences and things about languages, life in CA/NY, soccer and hockey.

Californians vs New Yorkers

So today my phone started to ring, one of those 1-800 numbers that I knew were going to try to sell me newspapers, books or cable. I answered my phone - I really don't know why - and this guy started to say that he was from San Francisco Chronicle.

Py: Hi, hm... I moved to New York.
SFC Guy: Oh, really!?
Py: yes...
SFC Guy: How is the weather like in NYC?
Py: oh, it is raining.
SFC Guy: is it too cold?
Py: not really, around 60's and we had nice days before today.
SFC Guy: oh, that ain't bad, we also have rain and 60's.
Py: so it seems we both have the same bad weather, right?
SFC Guy: yes, mad'am, it was nice talking to you, I will put a note on your record here and people won't call you anymore, ok? Have a nice evening there!
Py: you too, thanks.

OH MY GOD.

What are the chances that NY Daily News guy would be so nice? Actually, after getting daily calls from that for almost a month I started to yell on the phone:

"Oh please, please, could I have my phone removed from your list, it's such a hassle answering those calls, I don't read printed newspapers, I read it online, I like reading the Wall Street Journal and I LOVE The New York Times."

tu... tu... tu...