A few years ago, I went to a birthday party, and so did this extraverted, happy Brazilian boy. After a few sentences exchanged with the birthday girl – and the requisite photos as documentation – he came over to chat with me. Within 10 minutes, we had discovered we shared an interest in international affairs, Catholicism, traveling, and good food, preferably from exotic locales. He pulled out his phone to show me a buzzfeed article about Brazilian food and quizzed me on how many dishes I knew.
So it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this article started it all.
And it shouldn’t be a surprise that Santa brought me this under the Christmas tree:
And now my culinary adventure is on: first stop was rice and feijão (beans), couve à mineira (collard greens), along with pork chops à mineira (as cooked in Minas Gerais). As I said to my friend, “Every recipe starts with frying onion and garlic in olive oil. How could you go wrong?”
Where Is My Suitcase 