We’ve been living in Buenos Aires for the best part of a year now, but I seem to spend more time up in the air than on terra firma. Fortunately, every so often I manage to take Sabrina and our daughter with me on my travels and here we are in Brazil’s troubled paradise for a few days.
It’s the end of our first day here, and as the sun sets in the hills behind our hotel, silhouetting the massive statue of ‘Cristo Redentor’ (Christ the Redeemer) in the far distance, we are already bewitched by the beauty of this place, and the joie de vivre of its people. Our hotel is right on the beach, and even in our 12th floor room, the sound of the waves completely drown out the din of the air conditioning. Not that we really need it as the temperature is a balmy 26 degrees Celsius.
The 5am scramble for our dawn flight already seems like a distant bad dream as we have banished its effects with poolside sangria and a massive Churrasco (Brazilian barbecue) lunch followed by a sleepy afternoon on the beach and a seafood dinner in nearby Leblon.
Of course we’d read all the warnings about street crime and were a little apprehensive about the hillside Favela right behind our hotel, but so far the sharp elbows of the Argentine convention-goers barging noisily in and out of the hotel elevators are the only peril we have faced. Sabrina and I are even beginning to wonder if the travel advisory to leave our valuables at home is brilliant stealth marketing by H Stern, the country’s renowned jewellery chain. There’s a swanky store right by Ipanema beach a few minutes from here and I can’t help feeling we’ll be paying them a visit in the coming days.
Returning to the room from our sun up swim the next morning, we find Sabrina hooked to CNN, watching the grisly loop of footage of the mangled wreckage of Princess Diana’s car, over and over again in disbelief.
Tearing ourselves away we visit the hotel’s dining room for breakfast, but it offers no respite from this screen onslaught, so we head down to the beach at Ipanema. If the boisterous Sunday crowds are aware of what’s happened they certainly don’t let it show, so buoyed by their happy mood we join the throng at the “Hippie Fair” Craft Market where we buy a set of colourful gouaches and some wind chimes. Suddenly ravenous, we fuel up at a beachside café on strong coffee, a Coco verde each, and a huge plate of Salt Cod Puffs.
Salt Cod Puffs:Serves Six (makes around 35)
8 oz salt cod, soaked overnight with 3 to 4 changes of water depending on the thickness of the fish
2 large potatoes, cooked in their skins then mashed with no other ingredients
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
2 eggs, separated
2 1/2 tbsp chopped parsley
Pepper
Oil for frying
Place cod in a pan with plenty of water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes on until tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water, remove the skin and bones; place in a food processor with the garlic, onion and parsley, pulse until finely chopped. Add the mixture to the mashed potato with 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and egg yolks. Mix thoroughly; whisk the egg whites until soft peaks and then fold into the fish mixture.
In a large deep sided pan heat 2″ of oil to 350ºf and drop large teaspoonfuls of the mixture into the oil, being careful not over-crowd Fry until golden then drain on paper towels, finish the rest the same way. They can be made larger if you are serving as a meal.
Down on the sand, the girls (and boys) from Ipanema continue their carefree pursuit of pleasure, as if everything is indeed right with the world.
Remember where you were on that fateful day, twenty five years ago?
Let us know by leaving a comment.
I do remember exactly where I was. We were in London and I had just had the artist Rita Keegan to dinner. I had a deadline and as soon as she had left continued with it until around 3pm when I thought I would go to bed to finish the next day. . My phone went and it was the thriller writer and former journalist Alan Williams ( now sadly dead) who said 'She's gone' I had no idea what he was talking about and he then told me about the car crash and that he had 'heard down the wire't hat it was fatal. At this point it had not been officially confirmed. As more news came in he updated me constantly and I woke up Andrew and told him the news which woke him up. . My father always an early riser phoned me to tell me he had heard it on the radio and was surprised I already knew. It was a really odd and terribly sad day, every TV Channel ( we had less then of course) and the radio relayed the news on a loop as well as updates. Our road was quiet and speculation was rife. There was a great deal of sadness and disbelief. I have no idea what I ate that day or if I made my deadline.
Thanks for the recollection. 9/11 is an indelible memory for me too, Sinù. We were living in LA at the time and I was driving to work listening to Kroc, a local FM station. The usual DJ banter was interrupted with the news that the first of the planes had hit one of the twin towers. I can even remember exactly where I was (waiting at a set of traffic lights in Westwood). Feeling completely numb, I drove to the office. No work was done that day as we watched the TV coverage in silence. There was no escaping it, unlike our experience in Rio.