Thursday, January 28, 2010

January 27, 2009 - Rain and Food


Jan. 27, 2009
It has been raining for almost 24 hours ininterruptedly. At the first sign of rain, I was glad I didn’t have to water my seedlings. The lightening that sets that nitrogen in the soil was welcome. A few blinks of light signaling a blackout. It usually happens as it starts raining, with wind, thunder, and lightening. As it pours steadily, the power won’t go out.
My house was projected by my father and built by a carpenter. I am not sure if an engineer has supervised the work. In any case, it was built without a proper foundation and soon the walls started to crack. It doesn’t have a clay brick roof as it is common around here. We got roof made with the same material as the walls. There is no significant inclination to drain excess rain water. Combining flat roof with foundation problem, we get leaks in the entire house. I got a dozen pans, basin, pots, buckets to collect the water. The scariest thing for me, besides seen the water trickle down the wire to the lit lamp, it is the thought of the roof coming down at once. I even woke up at 3 a.m. to change bedrooms.
Cool, dark, wet days like this, we love to make bolinho de chuva (“rain fritters”). It is a deep fried pancakelike batter we drop into hot oil by the spoonfulls. They become round, browned, and smells hommy. Then we cover with sugar and cinnamon. Steammy freshly brewed coffee and our afternoon becomes as trivial as our neighbors’.
I baked a yogurt cake from scratch instead. My family enjoyed the last time I made it. For this one, I added lemon zest and sugar on top. My father savoured it saying that it was perfect. Well baked, dark on the outside and soft and moist inside. He told me that many times he wanted to buy a cake at a bakery and didn’t do so. I hope this cake comes to fill his long lasting desire to eat sweets instead of anything else.

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