The Story Tales: November 2015

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

where has the time gone?

In the nearly 3 weeks since I last posted, I have written at least twelve posts in my head. I tried to send them to you via ESP, but I don't think it worked.

Life has been really, really busy. Like, seriously busy. I thought I was busy before, but that was preschool busy. This has been PhD busy.

Instead of writing all those 12 posts out, I'm going to hit the highlights of the last 3 weeks in random musings style.

1. Work is going okay. Those 5 hours a day are really cutting into the fun that can be had in Rio, but the work is interesting and it's nice to get a paycheck.

2. I LOVE the chef. I'm not going to lie to you: having a real chef in the home, whose name is not Mom, is the best thing ever. It's like Christmas and your birthday all rolled into one, everyday. I LOVE not having to think about preparing or shopping for food. Since she started 3 weeks ago, she's had to cook for two high-level dinner parties, one dinner with friends, and one small reception. She knocked it all out the park. Plus she cooks for us every day and makes sure we have fruits and vegetables and I get lunch served to me when I'm home. It is the bomb diggity.

3. We went to Sao Paulo a few weeks to visit our friends and to see the UFC fight. Remember the American, Pat Cummins, who we saw fight in Rio and then we ran into him the next day at a restaurant? Well, he came to Sao Paulo to fight so we decided to go support him. We had seats on the floor of the fight this time, so it was us and a bunch of famous people. Which one of these is not like the other? Unfortunately, we don't know a lot of Brazilian actors and movie stars, so most of it was lost on us, but I did spot the famous celebrity chef Alex Atala in the row ahead of us, which was super cool.

4. Pat Cummins' agent gave Mac an unforgettable gift of a Team Cummins jacket that's worn by everyone on Pat's team. It was a super-cool gesture and Mac was in heaven. He wore the jacket home on the plane.

5. I continue to take a private Pilates class one or two times a week, depending on my schedule. It is the second best thing I've ever done for myself (after Lasik surgery which was life-changing). I really cannot recommend Pilates enough. I feel like my body is stronger, my posture is better, my back hurts less, and my muscles are more defined. It's an expensive gift to myself, but I've decided it's worth it because I'm worth it.

6. Remember a couple months ago when I won the free night at the Fasano Hotel at a charity event? Well Jimmy and I took advantage of Mac being away on a school trip over the Veterans Day holiday, and we spent the Tuesday night before the holiday at the Fasano. Oh boy, oh boy. I don't know how I can go back to a Residence Inn ever again. We had a beautiful suite, the service was impeccable, the rooftop pool and bar were divine, the massage at the spa was the best massage I've ever had in my life, and the hotel restaurant (Al Mare) deserves its reputation as one of the best in Rio. The whole experience was amazing from the moment I stepped foot in the hotel until we checked out the next day. I am a Fasano fan for life.

7. Mac went to Tiradentes for 5 days for a school trip. Despite the messages I sent to him on Whatsapp just to say "hi", he was uninterested in communicating with me during the week. Which is a good sign, but still.... He had a great time and that's all that matters.

8. Our car has been delivered to our driveway, but we're still waiting for license plates. So the sweet girl just sits there, looking pretty. Best case scenario for plates is mid-December. Worst case is early January or later.

9. Mac turned 13 last Friday and we had a big blow-out birthday party. The theme was a tiki party so we had all sorts of fun decorations with Hawaiian-esque food. I even bought a snowcone machine because what tiki party is complete without Hawaiian shave ice? The kids are so funny to watch at this age. The girls danced in big groups, and the boys ran around and got sweaty and threw Coca-Cola at each other. Mac declared it "the best birthday party of his whole life."

10. We saw the new James Bond movie. Admittedly I was tired and slept through an hour of it, but we all agreed it was not our favorite.

11. Last Saturday night was the Marine Ball. We had a great time, but the experience was definitely different with Jimmy's position now than previous balls where we could just hang out with our friends all night.

12. I am off the hook for cooking Thanksgiving dinner as we must go to the American Society's Thanksgiving dinner, which means the wonderful chefs at the JW Marriott are cooking turkey instead of me. We, instead, decided to host a Thanksgiving brunch on Thursday morning, which I'm pretty excited about. The guest list is a bit eclectic and I cannot wait. It's going to be great. I'm cooking some and Jacqueline, the wonder chef, is cooking some. I, however, am not cleaning up at all, which is the best part of the whole thing.

13. A couple weeks ago I got to go on the live set and the indoor and outdoor sets of The Ten Commandments, the hottest soap opera in Brazil right now. It was a super cool and fun experience.

I think that's about all the news that's fit to print. I will try to do some photo posts in the next few days as a few pictures really are worth thousands of words.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The chef

Chef Jacqueline started yesterday (after a Monday holiday here).

She arrived punctually and after a quick tour of the kitchen, asked what I normally eat for lunch (she was unimpressed by my answer of "nothing or sometimes graham crackers" so then I pretended like I was just joking but she was equally unimpressed with my revised answer of "an apple and peanut butter". She then checked out the fridge to see what we had in stock (nothing), checked the pantry (said she'd re-organize it), and checked the freezer (asked why nothing was labeled).

She really had her work cut out for her since we truly just about only had cookies, Ramen noodles and outdated yogurt in stock. Well, that and a lot of Halloween candy but I don't think she eats candy either.

Lucky for her that I know what everything is in the freezer, even without labels, because I found some leftover frozen vegetable lasagna that I told her I could eat. There was also bolognese sauce in the freezer that she was going to pull out for dinner.

I was summoned to lunch at 12:30 just as if I were one of the Granthams on Downton Abbey to a plate that looked like this:

She had doctored my sauce with who knows what and it was delicious!

This morning I met her at the grocery store so she could buy groceries for the house. Obviously she prefers less of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to meal preparation than I have had here in Rio, which means we will eat out a lot less and will eat substantially more fruits and vegetables. She also likes a stockpiled freezer full of meat and fish. She bought who's know what in the meat department and is right now packaging everything into serving sizes for the freezer. (Note to self: we'll have less waste, too.)

Lunch today was a fabulous green salad with Thai chicken. Fab.u.lous. I could've licked the plate.

While I was eating lunch, she was preparing focaccia bread because Mac told her yesterday that he loved it. If it's good, he's going to be in heaven. (The kitchen already smells like heaven with that yeasty smell floating around.)

Today is Jimmy's birthday, but as he's in Brasilia until late tonight, we're not celebrating until tomorrow. She's cooking filet mignon with other surprises. More to come on the birthday meal.

Having a chef is a real game changer. I don't have to devote one bit of energy to thinking about what to cook for dinner (or whether we have graham crackers in stock for lunch).

And I'm not going to lie to you: it's pretty amazing and I think I can adapt well to this lifestyle.

You may refer to me as Lady Grantham from now on...

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Halloween Party v.2015

Holy cow, what a party! I wish you could have been here because it was a lot of fun. A.LOT.

I think the only person who didn't enjoy it was our neighbor, who started complaining at 10:15 and who called the police at 11:30. Such a spoilsport. I am nearly 45 years old and am the most goody-two-shoes person in the world so having the police arrive was fairly traumatic for me, but everybody else laughed it off so I got back to the business of having fun. We'll have to deal with that neighborly situation later, but Friday night was about Halloween fun!

The party, in photos...

BEFORE THE PARTY!

Part of the dance floor

cute little lanterns in the terrace trees, on the way to the food

the single BEST purchase I've ever made at Wal-Mart - super cool, huge, inflatable cat with scary eyes and a moving head (guests had to pass him to go downstairs to the party terrace)

THE COSTUME CONTEST WINNERS!

(each winner took home a pair of Havaiana Halloween-themed flip flops)