Campos do Jordão
Tuesday, 16. December 2008, 03:10:32
Shame on me... Only one post a week! That's awful!!!
And I confess, it's not about a recipe of mine... It's about a little adventure outside my city.
Last weekend, I went to Campos do Jordão, to visit my parents, who were there in a quick trip. Campos do Jordão is a mountain city which, because of it's altitude, it's a traditional winter destination. And I was lucky, 'cause although it's summer here in Brazil, I caught a mass of cold air, so the temperature would be around 13 degrees Celcius.
That being so, the city was perfect to be enjoyed. Soups, chocolate, hot cocoa, ice cream (yes, ice cream in the cold weather is simply wonderful), and, what's better, Christmas mood!
Guys, only us Brazilians (well, and maybe Australians and New Zealanders too) can understand how weird is a Christmas in hot weather. All the pictures, ads, movies, Santa Claus images, Reindeers... just everything is related to snow, cold, fireplaces, and so on! So, at least there I was able to see some cold xmas...
Besides all the decoration, beautiful European style shops, and chocolatiers, one thing was quite interesting: There was happening a Nativity Scenes (Presépio) Contest!
This was the one that most caught my attention. It's chocolate-made, by a guy called Maurício Romão. Of course I was quite interested in that one, but the contest was to help a locals association. So I just didn't felt like choosing the best Scene. I just chose which one would need more of the small help. So I went for a local hospital.
And I confess, it's not about a recipe of mine... It's about a little adventure outside my city.
Last weekend, I went to Campos do Jordão, to visit my parents, who were there in a quick trip. Campos do Jordão is a mountain city which, because of it's altitude, it's a traditional winter destination. And I was lucky, 'cause although it's summer here in Brazil, I caught a mass of cold air, so the temperature would be around 13 degrees Celcius.
That being so, the city was perfect to be enjoyed. Soups, chocolate, hot cocoa, ice cream (yes, ice cream in the cold weather is simply wonderful), and, what's better, Christmas mood!
Guys, only us Brazilians (well, and maybe Australians and New Zealanders too) can understand how weird is a Christmas in hot weather. All the pictures, ads, movies, Santa Claus images, Reindeers... just everything is related to snow, cold, fireplaces, and so on! So, at least there I was able to see some cold xmas...
Besides all the decoration, beautiful European style shops, and chocolatiers, one thing was quite interesting: There was happening a Nativity Scenes (Presépio) Contest!
This was the one that most caught my attention. It's chocolate-made, by a guy called Maurício Romão. Of course I was quite interested in that one, but the contest was to help a locals association. So I just didn't felt like choosing the best Scene. I just chose which one would need more of the small help. So I went for a local hospital.
Besides these stuff, Campos de Jordão is one of the only places in Brazil where blueberries, raspberries and blackberries have a comfortable climate to be cultivated. So, I couldn't lose the opportunity to visit one of these Farms. So, I went for one called Baronesa Von Leithner Farm. It's a berries farm in the mountains, where the owner and chef decided to make a restaurant and a café, on top of it, to serve coffee and pastries made of the fruits.
So, we stopped by to try some. The view is definitely great, and it's said the Sunset from there is wonderful. Unfortunately, that day was cloudy, so I could see nothing... u.u
This was my parent's friends'order: a Mocha-coffee, a mini cheese-cake topped with berries sauce and, on the very top of the picture, in a class, a cup of Boysenberry (a variation to the Blackberry). That was quite interesting, but not so wonderful...
My mother decided to order a Blueberry juice, which felt quite similar to her friends' boysenberry's juice, but slightly sweeter. Both of them left a very unique sensation in the throat, while gulping it. Don't really know how to explain it, but it was similar to the fresh natural grape juice. Daddy went for another kind of Mocha (I don't really know the difference between the two coffees they ordered, but when we were looking at the menu, thare should be some difference between the two... o.O
I went for this dessert: Vol-au-Vent of pastry cream topped with berries sauce. Doesn't this have a similar presentation than the Cheesecake's? XD
But as an overall of the trip, it was nice. I bought some good stuff (one of them will be posted here very soon, for my next Sugar High Friday entry), had some good fun there, enjoyed some good artisanal Ice Cream (One, by the way, that I have found in Marcelo Duarte's blog, plus another nice one in the Campos do Jordão State Park), bought three raspberries bushes, and tasted some blueberry stuff (which unfortunately, was only on the average level), but the view and place really made for it.
If someone get to go to Campos, let me know! We might exchange some experiences, or even get to meet there!
- Higa
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 16. December 2008, 16:36
I'm happy that you had fun there. The middle photo is very pretty. Whose hand is tat, holding the spoon?
It's always a surprise. You never get to tell me anything about the weird blogs you visit... your internet routine is definitely an enigma for me.