Looking for something to do this Saturday in São Paulo?

Cupcakes in São Paulo

A little propaganda for cupcakes: essential purchase if you are here in São Paulo for Christmas week (or really anytime of the year)... and check out the new website too!

contato@saopaulocupcakes.com

SP NIght Market - Anniversary Edition: Free Entry!

If you haven't had a chance to check out one of the SP Night Markets, this is your chance! They are celebrating their first birthday and giving free entry to everyone! It's on Saturday 21st September from 12 - 9pm at Escola São Paulo, Rua Augusta 2239. You will be able to try some of my cupcakes of course!

There are also going to be lectures, live music, thai food... the theme of this edition is LOVE SP!

Mini cupcakes at SP Night Market this Saturday

We will be bring back the mini cupcakes this Saturday 13th April afternoon at SP Night Market. We also have guest check Roxana Picado Reider who is bringing her delicious chocolate chip cookies and brownies! Come stop by and have a taster, check out the beers from Cevejaria Nacional, eat some ceviche, listen to some groovy musicians, buy some hats and of course eat cupcakes - and they are so small you can literally eat dozens!

SP Night Market is on this Saturday 13th April from 2-7pm at Escola Sao Paulo, Rua Augusta 2239.

SP Night Market - 5th Edition

SP Night Market is back this Wednesday 6th March! We have a fabulous new Brazilian vegetarian chef PLUS a new private chef is in town. Of course Sophie & Theo's cupcakes will also be on sale! Come and check out the market and meet some new friends.

Entry is R20 per person, includes a welcome drink from Del Cocktail and live music from Prato Principal!

See you all there xx

In my head

Some stuff I've been thinking about this week:

Taxis
I was talking to my taxi driver who is from my local "ponto" and he lives all the way over in Sao Bernando do Campo. I guess as the crow flies, it's not really that far but the traffic! I asked him why he would choose to work so far away but he told me it's the Prefeitura (of the city) that allocates pontos to drivers so no one gets a choice. I guess the pro of this is that it is all fair and equal,  irregardless of where you live. But on the other hand, would the traffic-monitor-people not take into consideration 45,000 taxis driving back and forth to their pontos as unnecessary for an already very busy city? On second thought, maybe these traffic-monitor-people don't actually exist...

Empregada + Feiras
I took my empregada to the local feira for some fruit and vegetables. She was horrified by the prices compared to her local feira. We don't even live in a "bairro nobre" so god forbid if I take her to one in Jardins or Moema...  but I like to buy and eat good quality fruit and vegetables. If I want to pay R10 for a punnet of imported japanese strawberries, I don't want to feel guilty about it. Advice to self: don't take her shopping.


Garotas da Programa
Don't people here care that there are "girls" working right outside the school that their kids go to? I'm trying to imagine that outside my old primary school in Wellington.


Plastic Bags
Some of you may have noticed after all the hoopla of banning plastic bags from supermarkets earlier this year, they have quietly changed their minds and the plastic bags are back in. This wasn't because of some en-masse complaint from the public. I'm being sceptical here... but someone has made a LOT of money selling re-usable bags!

Number 9
As per the plastic bags... someone is making lots of money from apps that insert a "9" infront of all your 011 phone numbers. There is an uneasy history of easy money making -  I say uneasy because it's so obvious but easy because no one seems to care. I've heard of new (now old) laws where every car had to have a first aid kit and luckily there were a few companies that had already prepared the millions of first aid boxes needed, or how about the law that that require employees to sign in and out each day of the office? Again luckily, there were companies already producing fancy new fingerprint machines for people to clock in and out of. I need to figure out a way to pass a law that makes it illegal not to eat 1 cupcake a day.

My new salted caramel cupcake
I've had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner..
www.saopaulocupcakes.com

Just (don't) say "sim"

600 Chevrolet Cupcakes

884 cupcakes baked this week... 200 for the INC fair, 600 for Chevrolet for the AMSOC Gala dinner, and a few orders in between. All out of my little oven and with the help of some fab mummy friends to put the boxes together, I managed to survive having replaced my travelling husband with my super (overtime-overworked) empregada.

So my Brazilian lesson this week was never to do business in Portuguese on the telephone. It was a good reminder that 50% of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about, or what they are talking about! Hah.  I can laugh about it now. We had pencilled in the Chevrolet order a couple of weeks ago and had been chasing the agency for the logo to go on the cupcake. I really wanted a week to prepare the boxes, cut out logos so I could concentrate on the final 24 hours baking cupcakes.

Day 3 before the event I get a phone call to ask if the boxes will be all complete when they arrive, with stickers. I say "SIM", my favourite word which always gets me in trouble here.. They confirm the order. 10 days after my deadline. I don't why I bothered!

Day 2 before the event.. apparently I have said "SIM" to printing and putting Chevy stickers on all the boxes (we had our logo on all the lembracinha* boxes since we were doing this at a special price for our AMSOC friends), and printing and tying tags. I know now what a tag is... but because I had never heard of the word, my brain obviously just ignored it when he mentioned it on the phone the day before. So now I had 48 hours to print, cut, stick and tie their logo and message to my cupcake boxes as well as bake 600 cupcakes!

24 hours before delivering. 600 logos to cut out, 600 tags to cut, 600 ribbons to cut and tie and 600 cupcakes to bake, frost and put the logo on. Tick, tick, tick! Thanks to some friends and some hired help we got it all done with an hour to spare. The evening was a great success; well done to the AMSOC Board! They raised over R46.000 just through the silent auction, the food was delicious and we had great company on the table. I wasn't sure about their DJ selection though...  it was when I was dancing to Boney M at 1am that I thought it would be a good time to leave! I gave my cupcake to my taxi driver - I hope he appreciated all the hard work that went into that little cake!!

*lembrancinhas are little gifts given to everyone as they leave a party. Brazilians give these away at every function, event, party, wedding, birthday, anniversary, new baby event!

It's all about CUPCAKES!

Sophie & Theo's Cupcakes will be hosting a table at the INC Fair tomorrow from 10am - 2pm! Come try our new 'strawberry swirl' cupcakes made with real strawberries and covered in smooth cream cheese frosting. We also have our new easter cupcake designs on display!

There are lots of other stores - obviously the food ones are my favourite including the German bread man and the tortilla lady (who's not really from Mexico but I don't care!)

Time: 10h00 - 16h00 
Date: Wednesday, 7th of March 2012 
Location: Espaço Escandinavo 
Rua Job Lane, 1030 - Alto da Boa Vista, São Paulo, 04639-000, Brazil 
+55 11 5521-3356

Real Cupcakes in Sao Paulo

My new little baby is Sophie & Theo's Cupcakes. After months of R&E we have managed to replicate a real american cupcake here in Sao Paulo - either importing essential ingredients or finding the perfect substitute. If you're looking for cupcakes for children's parties, weddings or just to treat yourself drop us a line at contato@saopaulocupcakes.com.