Brazilian Desserts: the Sacolé

Pernambucanos calls it "sacolé" or "dudu." Cariocas call it "sacolete" and Mineiros refer to it as a "chup-chup." Whatever you call it, these popsicles-in-a-sack are refreshing and so dang good. The recipe is simple: pureed fruit, milk, and condensed milk. Mix it all together, stick it in a long plastic sack and freeze. Or, do no work and buy them cheap off the street for 1 Real each (about 25-30 cents depending on the exchange rate). I am a little embarrassed it took me this long to discover them, but I have since made up for it by having tried every flavor made by the local vendor: coconut, chocolate-banana, strawberry, peanut, raspberry, and my current favorite: passion fruit (maracujá).

dim-dim, big-bem, juju, flautinha, chopp, brasinha...
I feel a little dirty listing off these nicknames.

Jose and his dessert cart.

Staying in Maracaipe

Overall, our resort stay at the Xale de Maracaipe was pretty good: clean, quiet, and with plenty of grass to run around on. There was a "farm" which consisted of guinea pigs, rabbits and a token rooster- all of which were visited multiple times a day. Sheep are used to cut the grass as evidenced by poops on the lawn but during our stay they were sequestered elsewhere. We enjoyed the pool and certainly enjoyed the hammocks provided. The restaurant put on a fantastic breakfast buffet, but meals after that suffered  tremendously: freezer burnt chicken, weird gooey fish, and stiff unsavory macaxeira fries. Next time we will bring a grill and more food from home. Plus better beer. 

I liked the layout of the house we stayed in and the rooms had plenty of pillows and towels, but no blankets. I took a poll with some friends of mine, and consensus was 50/50 on this being a bad thing. Personally, I like sleeping with blankets so when we had to return to Recife for a work event in the middle of our stay, I felt no qualms about stuffing our car with more comfort measures. By the end of the week, we were all oversaturated with sand, sun and chlorine and excited to get back to the city. 

Below are a few random shots Mark and I took at the Xale de Maracaipe throughout the week...

An impressive amount of stars. 

I imagine these girls growing old together
and doing the same thing when they are 80.   

Cactus shadow puppets.

Grandma and grandpa being romantic.

Rope.

Sunset. 

Collecting shells.

Pool time.

Grandma and Deets fighting waves.

Seahorses in Maracaipe

Not more than 20 feet from the Xale de Maracaipe entrance is a dirt road leading to the Maracaipe River where the shore and mangroves are thick with noisy tropical birds, crabs of all shapes and sizes, and schools of fish. Hidden among the obvious wildlife are teeny seahorses too- and I was nearly beside myself when I found out we could take a tour to see them. It meant walking through a river bed of squelchy mud that sucked off our shoes, and tiptoeing among literally thousands of tiny crabs sunning themselves during low tide to get to the wooden boats.  All in the unforgiving and rising heat of the morning. 

Regardless my family followed me, with smiles on their faces more or less. The tour was simple enough, a quiet ride along the river with a few stops along seemingly dry roots which would later be fully submerged at high tide. In order to preserve the tranquility of the water, only one snorkeler was out looking for seahorses. He quickly produced a few, placing them in a jar for better viewing. We admired their delicate features and continued on our way. 

Deets was more impressed with Grandpa telling him he found a sea snake (leftover skin of a recently poached fish) and watching two crabs fight over the meat. Margo was more impressed with her feet not getting eaten by fish or crabs. She opted to ignore everything and pout. Regardless, I enjoyed our cute adventure and walked away from the swampy heat of the morning with the same smile I walked in with. 

Boats on the Maracaipe River

Me overly excited.

Snorkeling for sea horses hooked around the mangrove roots.

Yay!

So tiny!

Battling it out.

Surfing in Maracaipe

 A few weeks ago Mark humored me and tried standup paddle boarding with the kids. He liked it well enough but I could tell his mind was really on surfing. Upon the Schlink grandparent arrival, we whisked off to Maracaipe for a family beach vacay which would include daily surf lessons with Sergio Rocha, a local surf legend. (Check him out on Instagram too.) Beyond the basics of standing and balancing we learned surfing mostly involves extreme patience: when to paddle, when to stand up, or when to wait. Having a teacher made it easy because he gave us a push and yelled when to stand up. I loved this because it gave me a huge window for success without having to think about anything. I'd feel so badass and on top of the world! When I surfed by myself, I felt infinitely frustrated as I'd miss opportunity after opportunity to catch a proper wave. I got to the point of being sea sick from all that floating and bobbing. But Mark-- he practiced for hours despite exhaustion, sore muscles, and bloodshot eyes. He loved every minute of it.

Geared up and ready.

Getting ready to stand up.

Even Grandpa took a few lessons.

Deets catching a wave.

Sergio: he literally never stops smiling.
Schedule your lesson:
https://www.facebook.com/aulasdesurfsergiosurf/?fref=ps_result

Maria Amor Kids Wear Photoshoot

Margo and I participated in a clothing photo shoot for a friend of mine who started up a new business, Maria Amor Kids Wear in Recife. Her vision: clean lines, simple patterns, and "season-less design" for year round wearing. More importantly, her clothes are timeless. Seeing them brought back memories of my own mom dressing me in smock dresses with pleated school girl collars. 

The adorability factor shot through the roof as the girls donned the oh-so-precious frocks as they played tag, jumped off benches and pretended they were monsters. Even Deets let me take his photo wearing a cutie-pie henley and shorts. It only took an ice cream bribery. 

I never realized how stinking hard it is to capture the moments with effervescent children- getting them to look in the same direction and smile at the same time was damn near impossible.  Maria took one side and I took the other. Together we took maybe 400 photos.  The photo below was the only one with all three that turned out that Maria captured. I like to call it: The Blond, The Brunette, The Redhead. The following photos are my attempts to capture the sweetness and stillness of childhood. Man. I've gotta practice more. A lot more.  

Cheeeeeeez!
by Maria Joao Vaz

Those cheeks. Those eyes...

Getting ready to take off. Again.

Taking a breather. 

Male model.

Deets' fake business smile.

Margo's portrait was also featured here:
https://www.socialland.com.br/v1/zona-sul-recife-ganha-grife-de-moda-infantil/

The girlies.

Tag!

And... they're off. Again.