Christmas tree of discord ... A árvore de Natal da discórdia

This Christmas tree, which is about to be removed, was envolved in a polemical debate this month. This happened because of the costs of the ornament: something about U$2.000.000,00. People have said it has the same cost of an Emergency Unit. But it´s worse than that. The cost was overpriced. The hired company (chosen without a public tender) outsourced the service to another 2 entertainment companies, for half of the capital invested... I guess this aim of mega parties in the island is not working out, as the Andrea Bocelli concert that would take place yesterday has been called off too. I got very very sad :(
Esta árvore que você vê nas fotos, que está prestes a ser removida, foi alvo de muita polêmica este mês em Florianópolis. A polêmica se deu por conta do valor do enfeite: algo em torno de R$3 milhões. Valor que também corresponde à construção de uma unidade de Pronto Socorro. Mas o pior não foi isso, foi a confirmação do superfaturamento. A empresa contratada, sem licitação, terceirizou o serviço para outras duas empresas de eventos, pela metade do valor. Pelo jeito os planos de megafestas de fim de ano na ilha não estão dando muito certo, vide também o cancelamento do show que o tenor italiano Andrea Bocelli faria ontem. Fiquei muito triste :(

Mango crab ... Siri na manga

This wonderful dish I first tried at the restaurant of the Hotel Costa Norte in Florianopolis. I could not resist and tried to do it myself, after researching some recipes on the Internet. And well, it turned out quite good! If you want to try this exotic and very tasty dish, there goes the recipe! It's a great idea as an entry for a dinner with seafood.
Ingredients (for 4 servings)
* 400g of crab meat;
* 2 mangoes on point (can not be too hard);
* 2 Italian-style tomatoes (medium);
* 1/2 small onion;
* 3 / 4 of a bottle of curd cheese;
* 1 serving (cup of rum) of cognac (brandy);
* 1 stalk of celery;
* Grated Parmesan cheese;
* Salt, black pepper and nutmeg to taste;
How to prepare
Cut the onion and chopped tomatoes and set aside. Grate the celery stalk in a grater and set aside. Cut the mangoes in half, lengthwise, into 2 halves. Do this carefully so as not to destroy the shell. From the piece that you got the lump, you remove it gently with a knife. Remove much of the pulp of the two halves and separate it. The idea is that the two halves of the sleeve remain as they were two shells. Turn the oven at high temperature. Fry the chopped onion in olive oil. When gilding and sticking in the pan, put a bit of cognac to come unglued. Add the tomatoes and saute a little more. Then add the grated celery and shredded crabmeat. Let the fire high, and when the crab is sticking in the pan, add the rest of the cognac. Then add the curd cheese and dissolve it, forming a cream. Flavour with pepper, salt and nutmeg, go slowly giving the flavor and adding more if necessary. Finally, add to this mixture the mango pulp cut into cubes. Try again and see if it needs more salt. When the flavor is cool, put this filling inside the mango shells you manufactured. On top, put grated cheese and bake until it´s golden brown colored.
Bon appetit!
Para ver esta receita em português, acesse o meu outro blog http://moradadevenus.blogspot.com/2009/12/siri-na-manga.html

More Santinho´s beach

More pictures of Santinho´s beach.

Costão do Santinho view

This is the Santinho´s beach, the one in which that resort (Costão do Santinho) I spoked of in the last post is located. Tomorrow I´ll post more of those.

Esta é a praia do Santinho, aquela na qual está localizado o hotel Costão do Santinho, do qual falei no último post. Amanhã postarei mais fotos.

Nativity scene... presépio de Natal

The city is already full of interesting Christmas decoration. This one is a Nativity scene that I captured in Costão do Costinho Resort, a luxury hotel in the north of the island. I was there because of a Family Medicine Congress which was taking place.

A cidade já está repleta de interessantes enfeites de Natal. Este é um presépio que fotografei no Costão do Santinho, um hotel de luxo no norte da ilha. Eu estava lá por ocasião do X Congresso de Medicina de Família e Comunidade.

Magical night and wine ... noite mágica e vinho

Last friday we had a very pleasant and warm night, perfect to go out and have dinner by the beach. We went to this restaurant in Santo Antonio de Lisboa neighborhood, called Bate Ponto, which has a terrace over the ocean. It´s a perfect place to have some seafood and a rosé wine in a warm summer night (or a hot spring night, as it was...).

Na última sexta-feira tivemos uma noite muito agradável, perfeita para sair e jantar na praia. Fomos a este restaurante, em Santo Antonio de Lisboa, chamado Bate Ponto, o qual tem um terraço sobre o mar. É um lugar perfeito para experimentar frutos do mar e um vinho rosê numa noite de verão (ou numa noite quente de primavera, como era...)

Cute family ... família fofa

Last post I showed a picture of a dove that adopted my house to make its nest.

This picture now shows the dove and her 2 babies! Yesterday, one of the babies was learning to fly. They´re are not there anymore right now, I´m sad... I hope they´re ok wherever they are.No último post mostrei uma foto de uma pomba-rola que adotou a minha casa para fazer o seu ninho. Esta figura agora mostra a pomba e seus 2 filhotes! Ontem, um dos filhotes estava aprendendo a voar. Agora eles não estão mais lá, estou triste... Espero que estejam bem aonde estiverem.