^ this photo by Ludovic Poitou reminds me of Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergére.
Another group activity in Porto Alegre was an evening of cachaça tasting at Ãgua Doce. Brazil’s national drink is made from distilled sugar cane juice, but beyond that there’s plenty of scope for variety in distilling and aging methods and flavor additions.
Some of us tried a few during dinner; I especially liked a coconut-flavored one that Eduardo got. Then we had an official tasting of five different types (aged in oak, aged in cherry, “plain” as used for mixing caipirinhas…). Most of us bought a bottle or two to take home, my choice was a sweetish liqueur version.
Of course while we were in Porto Alegre we had to go to a churrascaria. This method of cooking originated with the gauchos of southern Brazil and is mostly about all kinds of very good meat, though there’s also a buffet of salads and vegetables, and you can get grilled cheese (in large, melty chunks, not sandwiches).
Truly some of the best meat I’ve had in my life (there are times I am thankful not to be vegetarian), and the tableside capirinha service helped to wash it all down.
I was delighted to learn that the Fogo de Chao chain is of authentic Brazilian origin and considered good, so there are a few places in the US where I’ll still be able to enjoy churrasca.
Our last day in Porto Alegre, a bunch of us went to the open-air market at Brique da Redencao, which runs every Sunday from 9 or 10 am. The official booths even take Visa, though you have to go to one of a handful of special stands to use it, and ONLY Visa is accepted (this is true of many places in Brazil, as we had found).
It’s a combination of artisans’ fair and flea market, with some very interesting things. I bought a mate cup (cuia), a little wooden carving of a jaguar, a stunning jasper necklace, and something very special for my daughter – all of which got me grief upon arrival in Australia (they’re very strict about quarantining wood and animal products, to protect their fragile ecosystem). But nothing has been confiscated. Yet.
