4 years in Brazil!!!! Feels like a lifetime ago x

Sound Gallery @Absolut Inn

Another SPNS networking night at Absolut Inn (Cartel011) in partnership with Yelp and Sound Gallery! An exhibition by Daniel Guarda, music by Sound Gallery

From 7pm to midnight, Rua Artur de Azevedo 517. Free Entry, first 80 "Yelpers" receive a free cocktail!

Indian Curry in São Paulo

Aside from Japanese food, good Asian cuisine is sorely lacking in this country. We have 2-3 good Chinese restaurants in Liberdade, one Korean restaurant in Vila Mariana and also our favourite favourite Samosa & Co. *They have a Dosa festival this Sunday night, 9 March

For most of my life I've lived in cities that have everything. Even though I'm Chinese I never had to learn to make fried rice or spring rolls.. until Sao Paulo, I had access to all my favourite foods literally within a one block radius. I have to say, London's selection of sushi though is appalling - maybe it's improved since the 4 years I've been away so São Paulo wins on the Japanese food.

Since living in São Paulo I have learnt to make all my favourite dishes, some of them even dishes I was forced to eat as a child and never even ate in New York or London, but suddenly have the desire because I can't get it here. Last night I made Indian food from scratch. Here's my adapted recipe from Mamta for Butter Dal if you need a break from brazilian beans. You can find Indian rice in most supermarkets, or I just use Raris 7 Grain.

Ingredients

• 500g lentils
• 1 Tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds (erva doce)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric (or I use cumin / cominho)

Ingredients for tarka / tempering

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (or powder)
• 3 fresh chillies
• 1/2 inch ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes, finally chopped 
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala (I bought mine in but you can buy from speciality supermarkets or from Bombay Spice in Sao paulo)
• 1 cup of thick yoghurt (for me only the greek yoghurt from Delicari does the job!)
• Chopped coriander leaves

Instructions
1. Wash and soak the lentils for 1-2 hours, or even in the morning before you cook that night.
2. Put the lentils and cover with double amoung of water, ground fennel and turmeric into a pressure cooker (every Brazilian household has one!) and cook under full pressure for 20-30 minutes (depends on how long you have coked your dal for. Let cool and add salt to taste.
3. While the lentils are cooking you can prepare the tarka. Heat oil in a wok, add cumin seeds and it will start to splutter.
4. Add the chilli, ginger and garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
5. Add onions and fry until light brown. Add chopped tomatoes, chilli powder and garam masala and stir fry until you see the oil on top.
6. Add it to the cooked lentils and simmer for another 5 minutes

For serving add the yoghurt, and garnish with coriander leaves

Where to run in São Paulo

I wanted to title this post "Where to run and cycle in São Paulo" but I've never cycled in my life* so I can't really be any expert in that field but on the odd occasion I do run. I even ran from home to Vila Nova the other morning for a coffee with friends; I did get a few strange looks as everyone else was on their way to work. I saw one other guy running with his backpack, must've been another Kiwi! If you've just arrived in the city it's a great way to find your way around. Carry enough money for an agua de coco in the park, and a taxi home if needed.

There are several parks you can run in this city. As usual the weekday early morning is best but if you don't have that option

• Parque Ibirapuera - great for practicing dodging skills (children, dogs, elderly) during the weekend. 
• Parque Vila Lobos in Alto de Pinheiros
• Parque de Povo - little shade in a smaller park but convenient if you live in the neighbourhood (Itaim, Vila Olimpia)

You can also run down the middle of a busy road where they have set up bike and running lanes. If you don't mind breathing in a few fumes from the 3 lane roads on either side, try Av Sumare and Av Pedroso de Morais (which leads up to Parque Vila Lobos).

USP (Univeristy Sao Paulo) is next to where I live so I get to run in there on the weekends. It is filled with cycling and running groups, as well as rowers (the water is separate to the Tiête..). If you are not a student or professor you can run and cycle in there until 2pm on Saturday and Sundays. It's my favourite place to run on the weekend. If you don't live closeby you can drive into USP, park and run / cycle.

On Sundays, the Ciclofaixa is on! One lane along the main roads in the city are closed down for cyclists and runners. It's very well used as there is little other option to ride in this city outside of Sunday unless you have a death wish. My husband was fond of cycling to work in London but São Paulo is deadly business. The routes for the Ciclofaixa are here. Google "bicicletas alugar sao paulo" for where to rent bicycles. Itau "BikeSampa" also has bicycle stands dotted around the city where you can rent and return.  For the cyclists in you, if you don't mind fumes and smelly water then check out the newly formed bike lane CicloVia along the Tiête too.

If you are looking for races in São Paulo, here are some of the more popular ones

Bertioga-Maresias: 75km along the Litoral Norte can be run individually or up to team of 8 members. We did it last year and it was great fun! There are 2 stages: 31 May and 18 October 2014
Pão de Açucar Marthon 2014: The São Paulo edition is on the 21st September 2014. Applications are still not open.
Pão de Açucar for kids 2014 on 17th May. We took Sophie when she was 2 years old and she loved the whole experience. The actual race was a intimidating as she was one of the youngest in the race but one parent gets to run alongside them. Applications are not open yet.

Here are more races in Sao Paulo this year too if you are really keen.


*I'm guessing 3 times doesn't count: on a tricycle when I was 4, a Sonoma wine cycle tour when I was 33, and on a spinning bike in December at the new and amazing Velocity spinning studio in Itaim.

Clocks change this Saturday night

Just a reminder that the clocks are going back one hour this Saturday!!

ref: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=233

Yellow Fever Vaccine when traveling from Brazil

Don't get caught out! I had a friend who missed her holiday last year because she didn't have the vaccine. There are over 120 countries that require an international certificate of vaccination for Yellow Fever if you are travelling FROM Brazil. You may be used to travelling to the same country from, say the US or UK but it's not the same if you are travelling from here.

You must have the vaccine 10 days from your date of travel. Here are list of Postos de Saude where you can get your free vaccination. Bring along your RNE, RG or passport and if your children are getting them, their vaccination cards.

If you have a yellow vaccination card that is Brazilian and not an International Card (make sure you ask for one when you get your vaccine) you will have to take it to the ANVISA office in the airport to get them to stamp the card before they issue your boarding pass.

Here is my original post on the yellow fever vaccine

Países que exigem o certificado internacional de vacinação contra febre amarela:
• Afeganistão
• África do Sul
• Albânia
• Angola
• Antígua e Barbuda
• Antilhas Holandesas
• Arábia Saudita
• Argélia
• Austrália
• Bahamas
• Bangladesh
• Barbados
• Guadalupe
• Guatemala
• Guiana
• Guiana Francesa
• Guiné
• Guiné-Bissau
• Guiné Equatorial
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Iêmen
• Ilha de Pitcairn
• Ilhas Salomão
• Omã
• Panamá
• Papua-Nova Guiné
• Paquistão
• Paraguai
• Peru
• Polinésia Francesa
• Palau
• Portugal
• Quênia
• República Centro-Africana
• Reunião • Belize
• Benin
• Bolívia
• Brasil
• Brunei
• Burkina Fasso
• Burundi
• Butão
• Cabo Verde
• Camarões
• Camboja
• Cazaquistão
• Chade
• China
• Cingapura
• Colômbia
• Congo
• Djibuti
• Dominica
• Egito
• El Salvador
• Equador
• Eritréia
• Etiópia
• Fiji
• Filipinas
• Gabão
• Gâmbia
• Gana
• Granada
• Grécia
• Índia
• Indonésia
• Iraque
• Jamaica
• Jordânia
• Kiribati
• Kuait
• Laos
• Lesoto
• Líbano
• Libéria
• Líbia
• Madagascar
• Malásia
• Malaui
• Maldivas
• Mali
• Malta
• Maurício
• Mauritânia
• México
• Moçambique
• Myanma
• Namíbia
• Nauru
• Nepal
• Nicarágua
• Níger
• Nigéria
• Niue
• Nova Caledônia
• Ruanda
• Samoa Americana
• Samoa Ocidental
• Santa Helena
• Santa Lúcia
• São Cristóvão e Névis
• São Tomé e Príncipe
• São Vicente e Granadinas
• Senegal
• Serra Leoa
• Seychelles
• Síria
• Somália
• Sri Lanka
• Suazilândia
• Sudão
• Suriname
• Tailândia
• Tanzânia
• Togo
• Tonga
• Trinidad e Tobago
• Uganda
• Venezuela
• Vietnã
• Zaire
• Zimbábue

Women's Closet Sale

*The Closet Sale Continues!! If you missed out on the Sale yesterday there will be an extra day of selling tomorrow, Tuesday 11th Feb from 10am - 2pm. Please send an email to rsvp@spnightmarket.com to confirm your presence, and receive the address. 


As a gringa, I do very little shopping here in Sao Paulo. There are some great things but the prices can be absurd, especially imported things that you know cost only a fraction of the price back home. My favourite shop is Oslken, being a local brand and innovative in their design but their shop is actually cheaper in New York than here in São Paulo!

This Sunday is the first ever SPNM Closet Sale, where handpicked sellers have cleared out their wardrobes to sell anonymously. The sale is semi-private, the address will be sent once you have rsvp'd (rsvp@spnightmarket.com). There are lots of fabulous items, alot that are brand new or only worn once, for sale ranging from R10 (our charity box) to R400!

Our nominated charity is Madre Teodoro Casa dos Idosos, in partnership with the Canadian International Society.