Churrasco!

Olá pessoal,
finalmente vou escrever um pouqinho em português! Tive um churrasco aqui em casa este domingo... foi um sucesso! Deu muito trabalho pra planejar tudo direitinho e limpar a casa, mas valeu a pena. Meu amigo Rique fez a carne, e outros trouxeram arroz, feijão, vinagrete, e salada de batata. Eu fiz pudim (que quebrou tudinho! :( mas ainda comemos) e mingau de milho branco e biscoitos de Natal, e também fiz a farofa. Foi tão gostosa... adoro essa carne cheia de alho, sal, e limão! :) É uma bênção poder compartilhar comida boa com amigos, a minha "família" brasileira aqui no Canadá! Vários vieram da cidade de Calgary, e outros são daqui da minha cidadezinha. Minha colega de quarto, a Jess, adorou mesmo que não entendeu muita coisa, e tb adorou a comida, é claro! (Como não?) Depois de almoçar, conversamos e tb tivemos um culto com hinos e um devocional. Foi uma bênção. A casa ficou meio bagunçada com 3 crianças, que tb comeram muito (especialmente os doces), mas foi divertido! Depois de todo mundo ir embora, eu e a Jess estávamos super cansadas.

Vejam a seguir as fotos da comida, dos amigos, da casa cheia, e do culto. :)

Feliz Natal, amigos!


This Sunday, the 17th, a long-awaited event came to pass! We Brazilians had a churrasco (a Brazilian barbecue which includes steaks, rice, beans, farofa, vinaigrette, strong Brazilian coffee, and pop). We also had a yummy potato salad, pudim (similar to a flan, made with the oh-so-Brazilian ingredient, sweetened condensed milk), and canjica or mingau de milho branco (a white corn pudding or porridge with coconut milk and... you guessed it... condensed milk). Oh, and LOTS of my Christmas cookies (see previous post) got eaten - mostly by the kids, who probably ate more food than anyone else! Mmmmmmm, it was so good! I really need to learn how to make meat like that.

The whole thing was Rick's idea. Originally he wanted to have one and get all the Calgary friends out here for it (since he's the one always going in there), but then I offered to have it at my house since it's bigger and we have more room, couches, a table, dishes, etc. :) So pretty much I ended up planning it, while Rick answered questions & gave ideas and bought & prepared the steaks & chicken. In all we were 17 people! A majority were Rick's relatives, plus Jess & me, plus 3 retired missionaries from here who used to be in Brazil. So it was quite the full house. With 3 kids the house looked like a hurricane had gone through it - there were toys everywhere, plus purses, bags, etc. My bed was heaped with coats, and all couches and chairs were filled with people. While I and others finished up food prep in the kitchen, I had to keep excusing myself to move from the stove to the sink to the fridge, etc. We were full. We had about as many people over for that birthday party, but that was different in that it was just snacks, not a full meal, so it was a bit easier on the kitchen space. :)



Here's a look at the food, and everyone dishing up!


The 3 kids with their mom & Jess.


Jess & Rick, Dan & Jason eat up. This was Jess' first experience with a Brazilian churrasco, and she loved it, of course!

While listening to a piano medley of
Christmas music, Jason cuddles with an Elmo toy while Rick takes a little snooze.

After eating, we chatted and then had a culto, like a little church service or small group time. We sang some Portuguese hymns - Christmas and otherwise - and then Jim led us in a Christmas devotional based on John 1, God coming to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. It was an important reminder of the true focus of Christmas time. After that, several people left to go home or to other events, and the rest of us had more coffee and mingau. It was yummy and I was thankful that it had turned out well, since it was my first attempt. (The pudim unfortunately did not - I may have taken it out too early because it completely broke apart when I tipped it out of the pan. It was a mess, but people found out about it and still wanted to eat it, because what Brazilian can resist pudim?! I just served it all out onto plates so everyone wouldn't see the lumpy blob of food. :))

Everyone was gone by 5:45, and Jess & I finished dishes & clean-up. By about 7pm we were exhausted! It was a fun experience, hosting all these people for the first time, but definitely lots of work in planning and cleaning! I was very thankful to have Jess' willing help before & during it, and very glad that she loved it, even though she couldn't understand half of what was going on! ;0) Anyway, I think I'll wait a while till the next one, or else have fewer people. It's less stressful that way. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!