This is just a little inspiration for the weekend. This is my Mom's chocolate cake recipe. And you can feed a crowd out of it. Enjoy it!
Three yolks, three cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil. Mix it all together.
Add 3 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of cocoa powder and 2 teaspoon of baking powder. (At this point the batter will look really sandy).
Add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water
Beat the 3 egg whites in soft peaks. Slowly add them to the batter.
Drop the batter on a baking sheet and bake it for 30/40 minutes on a medium heat over or until a tooth pick comes out of the cake clean.
For the icing: 4 tablespoons of milk; 1 cup of sugar; 1 cup of cocoa powder; 4 tablespoons of butter
Bring it up to a boil on heavy bottom pan and let it simmer until the sauce is thick. Drop on the hot cake and let it cool down. Enjoy it with a cup of dark coffee.
Well, for they are a sign that I really need to slow DOWN!!! Immediately!!! Those are the signs that my body sends to me when I am working too hard, stressing too much and not taking enough time to stop and smell the roses along the way. As I wrote here, I had a really bad migraine episode on April 17th and on April 22nd I had a huge Stiff Neck episode. It was so big that I worked from home because I couldn't turn my neck to the right and it was impossible to drive. When I wrote that post last week, about my wonderful day with my friends I was numb with pain killers, that is why I was so cheery ; ) Anyhow, one week later, I still have a little pain in my neck. But after three Pilates sections and some serious streching I hope I can be back on track with my pain free neck.
It is that time again. The World Soccer Cup will start in less than two months. So, I think it is time for me to start sharing a little fun and curious facts about the crazy times ahead of us this year. Let me just state here that I am not a soccer fan, I don't watch the matches, but I like the friendly atmosphere all around. This is the only time Brazilian's show their patriotism and they show in a crazy way: the country LITERALLY stops during the games. It is insane.
Well, enough with the rambling and back to the event.
This year the cup will be hosted by South Africa.
How the Bid was won?
South Africa came very close to earning the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. In the end, Germany pipped them to it by 12 votes to 11 and went on to host a wonderful tournament, leaving the South Africans deflated, but nonetheless accepting the agonising defeat with grace.
In fact, South Africa's 2006 FIFA World Cup bid had been rated by FIFA as superior to those of two of the sport's heavyweights, Brazil and England, and equal to that of Germany.
Quietly and with renewed vigour and determination, South Africa's bid committee dusted themselves off and in December 2002 notified FIFA of their intention to bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
On 30 May 2003, South Africa's intention was reaffirmed by way of their government and South African Football Association guarantees to FIFA.
Initial awareness for the bid was created by inviting FIFA Executive members to South Africa's local and international 2010 bid launch events. Several meetings were held with FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter during 2003.
A profile at various international football exhibitions also formed part of the international side of the bid, while South Africa also secured the support of Germany's 2006 LOC.
South Africa's message was simple but powerful. It had the best stadia facilities in Africa; many already in existence, some to be upgraded, and some new. It had strong commercial backing from leading international corporations, the continent's largest and most stable economy, a sophisticated media and broadcast industry and a huge South African support base from its millions of citizens.
Also, having hosted the 1995 IRB Rugby World Cup, 1996 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, 1998 IAAF Athletics World Cup, 1999 All Africa Games and the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, it had a proven record of staging major international sporting events.
South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize winners Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk were mobilised to secure support for South Africa's 2010 FIFA World Cup bid, which President Thabo Mbeki embraced as part of Africa's renaissance strategy.
African superstars Abedi Pele, George Weah, Roger Milla, Kalusha Bwalya and Philemon Masinga were used as 2010 Bid Ambassadors and Lucas Radebe, Jomo Sono, Ace Ntsoelengoe and Gary Mabbutt as Bid Supporters.
Major international matches were organized in South Africa to showcase the country's ability, including games featuring a David Beckham-led England in Durban in May 2003, before which Beckham pledged his support to South
Africa's bid.
A FIFA Inspection Group, headed by Belgian Football Association President Jan Peeters, gave South Africa the highest grading of the five African countries bidding to host the tournament after their inspection visits. The Inspection Group concluded that South Africa had the potential to stage an 'excellent' FIFA World Cup.
Pau**lo and I are not really good at Date Nights. We are morning people and we work too hard so unless we have a "date" with some friends, we always end up doing Day Dates. This Sunday we decided to go on a date. We woke up early and drove to downtown São Paulo to the mass at Mosteiro São Bento (Saint Benedict Monastery). They have this traditional mass at 10:00 am which is celebrate with plenty of Gregorian Chant. It is so beautiful and peaceful as well. The church was jam packed, we stayed almost outside of the church because it was so full inside. Inside the monastery, they have this little shop where you can buy a lot of things that the monks make to sell. Those little things are DELICIOUS!!! It is always a fun gift to give. Here are few pictures:
The inside of the church
The inside of the church again
After the service, we went to have lunch at Café Girondino. A few pics for you. The church and the restaurant are traditional places in São Pau**lo. It was nice to experience my huband's city, even if I've been living here for almost three years.
I know I will have a good week ahead of me. Do you want to know why? Pau**lo won't be traveling this week. So, we will be both be home with any kind of sickness involved for the first time since January 2009. Yes, you read it right. We haven't spend the whole week together at home since Jan 2009. Our careers are taking us away from each other during the week. People often tease us, that we live the perfect marriage, we only see each other on weekends (I don't agree, I wish we were home every night for dinner though).
Kelly at Kelly’s Korner is hosting Show Us your Life - How you met your husband.
All my faithful readers know this story, but if you are new on my blog: Welcome and enjoy my love story. So here it is: We met at Chicago O’Hare Airport in October 1999 and it was love at first sight. Our lives were so busy and he had this great chance to work outside Brazil that we just kept our lives in the destiny’s hands. Every time he came to Brazil, he went to my hometown and we had those wonderful moments which made wonderful memories to keep us going. He is from São Paulo and I am from Curitiba. It is about 450 kilometers (280 miles). We talked over the phone every day and we exchanged e-mails all day and on weekends. But the distance was our constant enemy.June 25, 2000 was a Sunday night, right after the Corpus Christy Holiday. I had worked all weekend including the holiday, because I worked in the IT area and we were about to implement a new ERP.He called with a very serious voice. He was sounding really nervous, when he told me that on the previous Friday his boss had changed his employee status from traveler to International Service Employee and that he wanted to marry me.It was quite a fairy tale, especially because we had seen each other 6 times in person. Our relationship was based on phone calls and e-mails. I didn’t have any doubts about what I felt for him that I just said yes. And on the following minute, we started to plan how we would tell to our parents and how my life would change a lot. It was a dream coming true. On February 28th, 2001 we said I do, only with a few friends and family. It is funny to tell this story to everyone, because just a few people know the way that really happened.
Yesterday was almost a perfect day. It was a holiday, which means a day off, with lots of sun and plenty of things to do. The only thing that was missing was my Hubby, who came back from this weekly business trip really late (by 11:00pm). After I wrote my post yesterday, I went for walk at the park. While I was walking I had an urge to start some kind of garden. I've been reading a lot of blogs and they had provide a lot of inspirations. So, I stopped by the flower shop and I bought basil, parsley,erva cidreira (this is an herb for tea that it has calming properties) and some petunias (little winter flowers). I spent a few hours working on it and it felt SO GOOD!!!! Now, I just have to keep taking care of them. As soon as they blossom I will post pictures. After that I went to have lunch with one of my closest friends, her husband and her daughter. We met when we were both living in Bahia. We got really close (which is pretty uncommon for me, to make friends at work). She was my hospital companion, when I was in the hospital back in January. We had a wonderful time and I had a really good and relaxing afternoon. After that I came back home and just relaxed until Pau**lo got home.
Today is finally Thursday and the weekend is just around the corner.
And Pau**lo will be home next week, which makes me really happy.
Today is a national holiday. It is Tiradente's day. So, we have the day off.
A little Brazilian History, for you!!!
Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes (August 16, 1746–-April 21, 1792), was a leading member of the Brazilian revolutionary movement known as the Inconfidência Mineira whose aim was full independence from the Portuguese colonial power and to create a Brazilian republic. When the plan was discovered, Tiradentes was arrested, tried and publicly hanged. Since the 19th century he has been considered a national hero of Brazil.
He began to be considered a national hero by the republicans in the late 19th century, and after the republic was proclaimed in Brazil in 1889 the anniversary of his death (April 21) became a national holiday.
As of now there is a city in the state of Minas Gerais bearing his name and major avenues and streets in countries like the Dominican Republic.
Now I am off for some hiking and a late lunch with a friend!!! Happy Wednesday!!
As I wrote yesterday, on Saturday, we went to this barbecue for Pau**lo's company. The reason was to celebrate the car launch. It was supposed to be a family celebration. So Pau**lo drove back to São Paulo on Friday to pick me up and on Saturday morning we went back for the party.
Here, a few pictures of the party.
This is Pau**lo's boss. He was making a speech and he thanked the families who supported the long work hours. I thought it was really sweet of him.
The car
Paulo and his team
People were really happy and the atmosphere was perfect!!!
We had a really nice Saturday, until.... I had a migraine. It has been a long time since I had one. This one was really bad, I almost asked Pau**lo to take me to the hospital. We drove to Rese**nde to celebrate the launch of Pau**lo's project (well, not his project, but his company project). It is about 3 hours from São Paulo. We had a wonderful time (I will post pictures tomorrow), the sun was bright and the sky was blue. But for the whole day, I felt something was not exactly right. We left the party by 5:00 pm and as we drove home, the pain started in my chick bones and it kept growing all over my head. We got home by 8:00 and I could barely wait to take a shower and a dark room. I went to bed at 8:30 pm and I slept until 9:00 am on Sunday. On Sunday morning, I felt like nothing happened. So I could enjoy my Sunday.
I hope you have a wonderful week. I am really looking forward for Tiradente's Day on Wednesday, which translates as day off ; )
You all know I am a big fan of cooking. At my parents' house, Sunday lunches were (are) always a big affair. Every now and then, I try to create the same atmosphere. Today, I decided to do some Bracciola. And I thought I would share the recipe with you.
Ingredients: **This recipe serves 3 hungry people **
5 think steaks; 5 carrot sticks; 5 sausage sticks; 1/2 sausage cubed; 10 toothpicks; 1/2 cup of tomato puree;1 chopped onion1 cloves of garlic; 6 medium tomatoes chopped and with no seeds;
Add on carrot stick and one sausage stick and roll the steak. Hold it with two toothpicks. Add some Extra Virgin Olive oil to a hot pan and brown the bracciola, when it is a little brown take it out and reserve it.
Add the onion, garlic and sausage to the hot pan and let it sautee for a few minutes;
Add the chopped tomato to the mixture and let it cook until it cooks down a little bit;
Add the tomato puree, and the bracciola back in the pan. Bring it up to a boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer for 30/40 minutes
Serve it with your favorite recipe of mashed potatoes
Hello, I’m Fabiola. I'm a wife to a great guy and mom to Heloisa. I am also a working mom. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy our lives in the crazy city called São Paulo.
Three yolks, three cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil. 
Add 3 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of cocoa powder and 2 teaspoon of baking powder.
Add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water 
Beat the 3 egg whites in soft peaks. Slowly add them to the batter. 
Drop the batter on a baking sheet and bake it for 30/40 minutes on a medium heat over or until a tooth pick comes out of the cake clean.
For the icing:
