Brazil: More Shoes... & Lots of Food

Day 14: August 28

Today I woke up around 11:30AM or so on my own again :0 I stayed home for a while and then headed out with my mom to exchange a pair of boots she ended up getting my brother's girlfriend -.-;; The same pair as the ones I got, but for some reason one boot had spots all over it that wouldn't wipe off o_O 

While we were there, I remembered a pair from a store (Humantarian) we visited yesterday that we didn't go back to get, so we went there and ended up looking around and I ended up getting more shoes :X

The left one is for my brother's girlfriend lol. It was only R$40, so not too bad :o I bought a pair of pumps because I thought they were cute :c and they fit soo yeah. I already have something similar though..but it's kinda tight. When I was trying them on the 36 was too big, but the 35 was way too small -.- I ended up finding a 36 that fit correctly..so I dunno..inconsistent manufacturing I guess. But the left side is a tad big and would slip off if I'm not careful. It was R$90 and the pair on the right was the one I went back for. It was R$55 :c

That makes 6 pairs of shoes that I bought in the past few days. I think I spent the total of..a bit under R$500 on shoes, which isn't too bad if you average it out and plus it's hard to find shoes that fit me in the US, so gotta stock up while I can. I hope they last though.

For dinner we went to the same place we went on the first night. We ordered the same things and I got pictures this time :D I don't know if it was because I was hungry (since it was like 10:00PM) or what but I felt like I had more of an appetite/thought it tasted better.   

 I ate sooo much that I had a stomach cramp T_T;; It took like two hours for it to finally go away.

Since I promised to go get dessert with my cousin's girlfriend we ended up going to Joyce Crossanterie. It was hard finding a place to go since it was 11:00PM.

Don't really know what these are, but the small ones have a cold, caramel filling. The big one is sorta like bread but harder and it has a layer of crispiness and chocolate filling and covering. 

Went to the market to pick up celery and then came home. 

Tomorrow's my last day (or technically today), so it'll probably be filled with packing and whatnot. We couldn't book a flight to the GRU Airport so my cousin has to drive us there in the middle of the night because our flight's in the morning.. It's like a 5 hour drive :T 

Anyways, going to sleep now, so until next time!!

Brazil: Angry Day

Day 13: August 27

Woke up a little before noon on my own again yay! In the afternoon I went out with my aunt and mom to look around and buy some things. I ended up getting a pair of boots for R$100 and it fits my calves snugly :3

But this day is kind of pissing me off. For the past few days my mom keeps insisting on buying my brother's girlfriend a pair of shoes. She already says she doesn't want any, and I know that could be courteous and all but she's been insisting no. Not to mention, she might not even like it because clothing/shoes are tricky things, you either like it or you don't. And what if it doesn't fit?

Today my mom and I have been bickering because after I paid for the boots, she said to get another pair for the girlfriend. I told her, I don't know whether she even wears that stuff and she already insisted no, so stop being so pushy about it. In the end she called me selfish and that I'm jealous that she's buying shoes for her. And that just pissed me the fuck off like a fuse being blown. Like what part of she doesn't fucken want it do you not get. And I'm offended that she turned it on me, calling me selfish and jealous. Like fuck off. You're bothering me about, so I don't understand why I have to take that shit.

Note that I typed the above paragraphs very shortly after it occurred so yes, I was super angry but have definitely calmed down since. :c

After dinner I went out to Lyon for some coffee because we wanted to find something do to.

Strawberry-chocolate pie, some sort of strawberry thing, & cappuccino

They weight the pies and cakes to get the cost :o The cappuccino was a bit on the thicker side..or maybe just because I was kinda too full from the pie. 

Brazil: A Dozen Pair of Shoes...Literally

Day 12: August 26

The trip is almost coming to an end!! I woke up by myself today around 11:30AM. When it was time to eat lunch, everyone was surprised that I was awake and on time for once lool. 

In the afternoon I went shopping with my aunt and mom. We were mainly looking at shoes because my mom likes the pair that my aunt has :c So we went and we got a lot since my mom was helping friends/coworkers get them too, but my aunt didn't have her ID so she couldn't sign up for the store card for the discount. :c So we left it to get later.

 

Wanted fries but my aunt ordered me a McFlurry lol

LOLOLOL Told you it was a lot -_-;;;;

These are my picks :c The wedges in the middle were a tad expensive...but why not. 

After dinner, my cousin and I went back to get the shoes and and sign up for the card and the process took forever.. like over an hour -_-;;;;

We finally got it and when we got back it was time for pizza :X They ordered four boxes, I think.. so much D: Two of them had like cream cheese which I didn't really like. 

Brazil: Food & Pacific Rim

Day 11: August 26

Last night I slept in the living room because my cousin's nose was stuffed from being sick so she was snoring really loudly, and I couldn't fall asleep. Some time after she left for work, I went back into the room to sleep for a bit before getting up around 10:40AM to go bike riding. But it turns out that nobody woke up in time for it >;o so we didn't get to do it. So the cycle has been broken (for now) where I woke up early(ish) for once!! 

I ate half of some sort of sandwich for breakfast and hung around until it was time to go eat. We went to Ribeirao Shopping to go eat at Outback Steakhouse, and we waited for maybe an hour because there was a long wait. We waited and browsed around for a bit, but in the end we chose to just leave it and go somewhere else, since estimated wait time was two hours. 

We went to somewhere else in the mall called The Fifties, which was like a burger joint. They also had hot dogs, salads, wraps, etc. We all opted for a burger and I got myself a 150g Pic Americano. This one was the smaller one and I couldn’t finish it.. imagine if I had gotten the 250g one.. :T I did finish most of the burger itself, and half of it was like the bun. It was yummy though because the burger was kinda different than most places in America. Imagine..less ground meat sorta. I also liked how it was overflowing with cheddar cheese. 

We all parted after eating and I went home to take a nap. I woke up a few times because it was so hot!! I had to get up eventually because it was time for dinner. After dinner I played around with this baby, but he cried when I held him :’( Whenever I see him, he’s ALWAYS sleeping..and when he’s awake he never cries.. but when I held him. T_T;;;;

Not long afterwards, we went out to the movies. We watched Pacific Rim in 3D. It was in English lol with Portuguese subtitles. Originally we were supposed to watch it in New York at night, but nobody was really interested so we didn’t. Overall, I thought it was a good movie. In a way, I guess the ending was like Iron Man 3 o_O 

Got back around 12:45AM, and I went to bed not long after taking a shower. Slept early for once. 

Brazil: Ice Cream & Brazilian BBQ

Day 10: August 24

Same morning/noon of being woken up for lunch. I spent most of the afternoon indoors before going out for errands and then getting ice cream at Vanesa's Sorveteria Gourmet. I told my cousin the night before that I wanted ice cream so that was probably why. :)

Vanesa's is a self-serve ice cream parlor and you pay by weight. They have little spoons for you to grab samples too, but the downside of that is that some people reuse their sample spoons on another ice cream aka get their nasty germs on it. I saw a guy do that. T_T

I got three flavors: some sort of white chocolate (?), Strawberry, & Zambayone w/Almonds

My favorite was the white chocolate one. The strawberry was kinda weird and had an icy texture. I tried my cousin's girlfriend's strawberry yogurt one and that tasted better. :T As for the Zambayone...I think it's made with wine or something. My cousin's girlfriend said it's her favorite so I just got it but I didn't expect it to taste like that. But if it really does have alcohol...then what if kids eat it o_O it was three smallish scoops with hardened chocolate and whipped cream.. And that was almost R$9.00.

Went home for a bit before going out for dinner around 10:00PM or so. They kept urging me to change out of my shorts and tube top and I cheekily asked what kind of restaurant is it that I have to change, since they never answered after I asked why I had to several times. Even then I never got an answer. I admit I regret asking like a beat that last time, but too late now.

We went to a Brazilian BBQ place called Coxilha dos Pampas. I admit, after getting there I can see why I should've changed. It's a bit high-end so you ought to look presentable and not too casual (but not formal.) Though I'm not sure if they told me to because it'll be cold or because of this.The restaurant is quite big..it fits a lot of people, not to mention it was pretty packed.

Turns out it was another gathering because I recognized people from the birthday celebration. So we ate dinner. Servers came around with food, where they cut you a slice if its meat or uhm shove it down the blade thing if it's uh stabbed in that way (for a lack of a better way to describe it.)

This place is supposed to be better than the one from the birthday celebration (also a BBQ place) because there's more selection of meat, but I didn't know how to ask for the food, especially if it involved choosing how cooked I wanted it, since I don't eat rare meat.

Salad/sushi bar. AREN'T THE ROSE DECORATIONS AMAZING? Arg so pretty! They had it on most dishes. My mom took better photos, but it's too much work to get them from her ^^;;

Before (stuff from the salad bar)

After (with some of the meats brought over)

Either way I didn't have much of an appetite, so I definitely didn't eat close to my money's worth. At one point I asked for fish and holy crap the server gave me such a huge piece T_T this was when I was already quite full. I didn't know how to ask for just a little, and even then I didn't expect to get such a large piece. The salmon was super yummy though, it was nice and tender mmm...

Funny experience here is that there's a large TV screen in the corner and it kept replaying these black and white scenes. It reminded me of home videos back in the day and I couldn't figure out why they were showing that. It wasn't until much later that I found out it was the surveillance video of the playroom for parents to watch over their kids as they enjoy their meal. 

Another thing was almost everyone was on their phones...and by the end of the night most people aren't anymore because it died so they just sat there LOLL and in my corner we all still had battery >:)  Survival of the fittest.

Anyways, that was about it. I think we left around midnight or so...and just retired for the night. 

Brazil: Nothing Exciting

Day 9: August 23

Today wasn't that eventful. I was home most of the time except out for a bit to run some small errands. I slept pretty late last night (5:00AM) so it was hard for me to get out of bed. Funny thing was, I think I had a dream where my mom made me angry so when she came to wake me up around noon, I ignored her because I guess I was still mad from the dream so I didn't want to respond to her.. rofl.

I went to Meseu da Gula, which is a small market with foods from all over the place and half of it was alcohol. A bag of Milano cookies were R$18 or so O_O;

Afterwards, we went to another supermarket just to browse around while we waited to go pick up some relatives.

I tried something called empada..it's a baked good with chicken inside. It reminded me of chicken pot pie minus being wet. The crust was also kinda drying so I didn't like it so much.

Came home, ate dinner, and that was about it for the night.

Brazil: Dessert Overload

Day 8: August 22

The past few posts have all started the same..and this one isn't any different either. I woke up yet again at noon to eat. My plan for the day was to hang out with my cousin's girlfriend, so I killed some time before it was our set time..and I ended up falling asleep. I think she got here at 4:20PM or so..because that's when she texted me, but I didn't wake up until 4:45PM because that's when the calls from my aunt woke me up T_T;; She was with her grandmother too, who had to wait as well T____T;;;;

Our first stop was dropping off her grandmother home..then going out for candy.

We went to a place called Desejo & Sabor, which is a popular place for wedding favors. On one side of the boutique are the displays of chocolate for customers and the other side of the wall is like a display of some of their stuff, which was super duper cute.

Chocolate!!! 

Bombom de Morango: It's a chocolate covered strawberry. Yummy, but wasn't particularly memorable.

Brigadeiro de Nutella: I was expecting it to be yummy because of the Nutella, but it tasted nothing like Nutella..and it was kinda bad tbh. The flavor just wasn't my thing.

Casadinho: Probably my favorite of all of these. It's half milk chocolate and half white chocolate..and has a very soft texture, not like a truffle. Soft where's it's mushy but not so much where it'll get messy when you hold it. 

Bombom de Uva: Chocolate covered grape. I didn't get to eat it but my mom did and she said it was good.

Also got macarons as well because...I like getting macarons. Pretty fluffy..only got to eat the orange one.

The two of us couldn't finish everything T_T I took the grape one home and we each only got to eat one macaron before we decided it was too much.

Next stop..Ribeirão Shopping!

It's a super big mall, much larger than Shopping Santa Úrsula and it's very clean inside with a zillion different stores. There's even an arcade, but we didn't play there. We just browsed around and didn't buy anything. Parking costs R$3.50..so it's one of those malls that charge for that >:|

Not long after getting home, it was time for dinner and I was able to eat a lot already T_T;; And not long after that we went out for açaí. I think originally we were going to get it yesterday, but somehow ended up getting ice cream.

We went to Porto Açaí. 

I've never eaten açaí before, but I'm sure I've tasted the flavor before. I was a bit hesitant when it came out..because it was like an almost black blob. After trying it, I still couldn't decide what I thought of it. It's like.. an icier texture of smoothie and the taste was very distinct. I have no idea if I like it or not either.. because I don't think I like it, but I don't mind it. 

Mole Crepe..yummy! The crepe was a bit on the harder side but not too dry. I think the inside was mostly caramel of some sort? It was warm and didn't harden like caramel though. I couldn't tell what was inside exactly, but I knew caramel was in it, and it was a familiar taste, but I wouldn't say of just caramel... 

Also got a sandwich, and it was mainly chicken and cheese inside, but so good! I also tried a cashew juice...as weird as it sounds, it was good and it reminds me of a milder version of passion fruit. Not sure if it really does, but that's what I was reminded of lol. The sad thing of all is, I think I could still eat after everything T_T

Got back home around midnight. Played a few games, showered, and blogged. 

I'm up to date with my trip now, so until next time!

Brazil: I Scream for Ice Cream

Day 7: August 21

It seems like I only get woken up nowadays to eat lunch. Originally the plan was to go out to eat, but lunch was already made, so we didn't go out. Played a few games of LoL before going out for a drive to look at some places. Along the way I finally passed level 147 in Candy Crush!!! I've been stuck on this level since before finals.

After we came back, we were trying to look for socks because my dad's an idiot and only packed like 3 pairs, bar soap, and a trash bin because I think I broke it :'( I ended up getting some snacks, mostly instant noodles lol.

Justin at the supermarket

Came back and it was time to eat..and I got tired so I took a ~20 minute nap. I woke up to go eat ice cream at a place called Ice by Nice at Fiusa. It's right next to a MousseCake. Since it was nighttime (~10:00PM) I couldn't get a clearer shot of the place.

 Mousse de Morango

 Morango, Chocolate, & Cia

It was R$16.50-$17.00 each..so not too expensive not too cheap. I ordered the Mousse de Morango. Lots of whipped cream though and the strawberries weren't that sweat. There was also something else in it, but no idea what... it reminded me of Greek yogurt but not mixed that well.

On my way back to the car, I saw these cotton looking things all over the ground. Any idea what it is? O_O It's not actual cotton though, I think it fell from the trees or something maybe?

Doesn't it look a bit like snow from afar?

Came back home and that was it for the night.

Anyways, until next time! :)

Brazil: Sleep, Eat, Sleep, Eat

Day 6: August 20

I literally did nothing all day today but sleep and eat T_T;;; I was woken up around noon to go eat lunch so I did and afterwards I was on my laptop for a bit before I got tired so I went to sleep lol.. for a few more hours. When I woke up the house was already dark because the sun was setting :o

 Not long after dinner, my cousin brought home pizza. It's kinda different from pizza in the US because it's a lot cheesier and the toppings are under the cheese :o! It's kinda messy to eat though..because the toppings end up falling all over the place. The crust was thin, which I liked but tasted a bit different. I realized that black olives have seeds inside. Mind blowing :X

Eggs, ham, onions, and tomato topping.

I ate two and a half pieces :( Going to get super fat before I come home.

Anyways, until next time!

Brazil: Nail Polish Haul

Day 5: August 19

Slept in today until around 1:00PM and got woken up to eat lunch. On my way to to lunch, I fell up the stairs and bruised/scraped my knees :( When I was done eating, I went out to browse around a bit and tried to look for the Hits Speciallita no Olimpo collection, but nothing :( I saw some holos the other day and hoped they were these, but they were from another collection. Soo I went overboard and bought a bunch of nail polish again. :X I picked up a few at first then got tempted so.. bleh. My Discover card works, which is what I used for this purchase. Kind of regretted it since I did have just enough cash, but I was tempted to use my card so I did. Rofl.

When I came back, I went out again but with my mom. We went to buy more nail polish LMAOO. I told her to get it as souvenirs for her co-workers and while I was there I was browsing again, so I did more damage, sigh. 

Damage so far.. I guess it doesn't look like much ;c

Our next stop was looking for a photo frame for my mom. She wanted to get one because she brought over a picture and wanted to get a frame for it...so we did. We looked around and I was able to grab some souvenirs for friends too.

Not long after getting back, it was time for dinner. Ahh it was like a feast! Not to mention I had to drink soup first and it was super hot, so it was awful trying to finish it so I could dig in :(

When I got back to the house, I basically just spent some time to talk to my cousin and briefly with my mother and now I'm here ! ;o

Brazil: Around the City & Birthday Celebration

Day 3: August 17

Woke up at like 7:00AM today for some odd reason.. even more strange considering I was super tired last night and still went to bed at around 3:30AM.

I don't remember if I ever mentioned this but it gets pretty cold here in the morning/nighttime, like right now it's 55°F and I was told it was getting hot here..so I only brought clothes appropriate for the summer. I have a pair of jeans and a few thin long-sleeves but that's about it. It got hot during the day yesterday though, so I went to change, but when nightfall came, it got cold again so I had to change back.

Also forgot to mention this, but I'm staying with relatives here and their place is pretty nice. It's very clean, I guess and the furniture throughout the house matches O_O It's like a glossy, dark wood. The only downside is that only one side of the house can get wifi and I'm limited to only two locations of charging my laptop because of the socket. So I can either charge by the TV, where I can't get wifi, or in the computer room but my cousin needs to sleep, so.

 Condos built in the last 10 years..with more being built.

So I went around town with my cousin, and we were basically around a neighborhood called Fuisa. I was getting really tired and fell asleep in the car at some point :( My cousin dropped by a friend's house and they were chatting for at least an hour, so it was getting boring zzz. I got three bug bites while waiting for him, too. ;~;

After getting back, I took a nap only to be woken up to go out to a steakhouse for dinner. I don't remember what it was called, but it was yummy. Maybe like a 7/10. When I got back, I was locked out so I chatted with a cousin until people got home.

Day 4: August 18
Got woken up around 12:30PM to go to Pinquim Restaurante for a Chinese lunch buffet. I think it costs R$16,50/person. There wasn't much of a selection and the food was okay. Nothing bad, but don't expect anything good.

Dropped by Shopping Santa Úrsula afterwards to help my cousin's girlfriend look for a birthday gift. 

I saw a stand called Missmalta which had a bunch of nail polish, so naturally I went to take a look. The prices were about the same as everywhere else, some more expensive. I saw these Hello Kitty ones and had to have one -_- It was like R$9,90 each, I think, so I only chose one.

I felt bad that my cousin's girlfriend paid for it though. I wanted to pay for it myself, but couldn't really speak up, as simple as that sounds. Mainly because she took it from me and was paying for another one as well and I couldn't offer to pay because I didn't want to seem selfish for paying for just mine because I didn't have enough money for both and the other one was a spontaneous gift for another cousin, so I didn't feel like it was appropriate for me to pay for it. But I guess since she's my cousin, it should be appropriate lol. I dunno, I feel like I'm just making up excuses for not speaking up. -_-

I went out for dinner at Estância Churrascaria for a birthday celebration. Lots and lots of people gathered for the event. A room was reserved on one side of the restaurant.

It was buffet style. I'm assuming it normally is too..or else they wouldn't have that counter there o_O

Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the food. This was about all I ate, plus a few pieces of other things that the servers came to serve us. Now that I think about it, there were coasters that says "Sim, por favor" and "Não, obrigado" so I guess that's what you were supposed to say to them depending if you wanted it or not -_-

For the sashimi lovers...be jealous !! I started eating raw sushi this year, and more recently, but I still don't think I can handle it yet. In small chunks, I can, but it was really nasty eating a piece. I grabbed two, so I didn't want to waste it either. 

Overall, the night was kind of awful, mainly because of the language barrier. Naturally, everyone spoke Portuguese, so I couldn't really socialize. I just minded my own business and it was a damn long night too. We were there for like 2-3 hours. And in one of the group photos, I was posed so awkwardly, with my hands on my thighs, gah. It felt normal, but when I saw the photo, it was like..fml. 

Finally it was time to go, so yay! And now I'm here.. Eleven more days ;0 I hope it'll be fun. 

Anyways, until next time!

Annual New York Trip #3

Last month I went to New York with a bunch of friends to continue on the tradition of going to New York every year. Post about it last year [here].

Day 1: July 28

We headed out early in the morning, I think around 7:00AM after grabbing some congee for breakfast. I didn't sleep that night, so I knocked out the entire car ride. After arriving and dropping off our stuff, we went out to eat at Cha Chan Tang (茶餐廳).

Cola wings..kinda tastes like soy sauce wings to me, but I think it's made with actual coca cola.

Curry chicken..once again I couldn't finish it :(

We roamed around Chinatown and went to Chinatown Fair Family Fun Center, an arcade, briefly afterwards. Then we went to Times Square like tourists would. I got some earrings and rings from Forever21 :0 No pics, but they're cute :) 

This girl showed me a nail art kit (forgot what it was called) at Toys "R" Us and I thought the design on my ring ringer is so nice ;0 I took this pic a few days later, which is why my index finger has tip wears. The kit was like.. $25 though so nty. It's like one side is a normal applicator, like a brush, and the other is a fine pointed pen. The pen works while applied polish is still wet.

Made our way to the Rockefeller Center for some reason and some of us parted. We were getting hungry so we tried to find a place to eat. There were several complications, such as Google Maps being shitty and bringing us to the wrong place. I entered a place by name and it took me to another place T_T;; I should've known when the name showed up differently, but I was being dumb and gave it the benefit of doubt of having its name changed. -_-

Settled for the 53rd & 6th Halal Cart. I read the reviews to go to the longer line one, but I expected them to be right next to each other, but I only saw one so we went to that one and the line was suspiciously short, but I thought we were just lucky or something. 

When we crossed the street to look for the fountain to sit at, we saw the other cart with its super long line. -_- Ffs. It was $6 and yummyy. I wonder what the longer line cart would've tasted like :(

Rooftop view from the place I was staying at.

Day 2: July 29

Stayed up most of the night streaming Friends online. So..as a result I slept in quite a bit, until almost noon. I probably shouldn't have so we'd have more time to do other things, but I was tired :'(

Went out to Chinatown again for jerky, but they ran out of spicy ones :'( So we got some sweet jerky and the guy said there'd be more in two hours. 

In the meantime, we grabbed brunch at Public. The portions were fairly small, but filling enough. Decided to try something new so I got their "Fry-up" which has poached eggs. It was so-so. I think the food wasn't really my style so I'd have to give it a 6/10. Nothing wrong with it, just not worth the $13.

We went back to the jerky place after an hour and forty-five minutes. The guy said thirty more minutes, I think, and turns out the spicy one was all reserved for later too, so we just left. A couple of friends, who decided to tour around separately, came after a while and they told them longer too. -_- What the hell.

Our destination for the day: Brooklyn Height Promenade to look at the Manhattan Skyline View

We got off at Borough Hall and walked there..but Google Maps lead me to the wrong place again dammit. So after entering the right place, it took another 15 minutes or so to walk there..but it felt like half an hour T_T;; I think in the end we walked a huge circle to get here. 

 I think the actual Promenade closed down or something, so we were at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. The weather was like perfect. Kind of cloudy because it was supposed to rain, but the breeze was super nice. We relaxed for about half an hour or so before heading back so we wouldn't be late to leave.

We left around 5:00 and headed home. So that concludes the trip. Until next time!