The GAIA Health Blog

Some Healthy Food Fun:    The Wanderlust Food Diaries (of a chronic daydreamer)

Rendezvous in Rio

On the Menu:  Moqueca de Peixe (Traditional Brazilian Seafood Stew)
Video:   How to make Moqueca de Peixe, Snoop Dogg and Pharell in Rio singng "Beautiful"
Music:   The "Rendezvous in Rio" Album by Michael Franks

"Rendezvous in Rio, fly for breakfast to Bahia, on the beach we'll chill, so atmospherically contented in Brazil"   
 --Michael Franks (from the song "Rendezvous in Rio")

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Don't get me wrong, I so love the good old USA over any other, because here, we are free to dream and wonder and go wherever we want, the USA is the ultimate "homebase". But anyone who knows me knows my biggest complaint about my beloved country is the lack of passion. Oh, and people, just for the record, anger and hostility does not equate to passion to me.

From all the people I have talked to that have went down to Rio De Janero, they all tell me the people there, in general terms, are very open, very expressive, and they love life. I'm not so naive to think Rio is Camelot, it seems they have more severe problems than ours, and those same people who visited Rio often told me that half of them are dying to get up here to the USA. Everyone wants to be somewhere else I guess.

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Nothing is what is seems, and as they say in Zen philosophy, all perception is merely a "construct of the mind" from a limited point of view, and it may not be reality. So, I don't even take my own perceptions too seriously.

Nonetheless, my perception of Brazil is that it's a collage cultures, a "mixed Masala" of races, an overlapping of diverse ethnicities, where the lines are blurred due the centuries old mixing of all the pigmentations.

It seems also that their food represents an eclectic mix of diverse, exotic spices and foods, all brought together into a historically rich, multi colored mosaic, the result of which is something lively and vibrant,  I'm speaking of both the food and the culture.

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To play along with that theme, I found  a recipe recently for Moqueca de Peixe, which is a traditional Brazilian fish stew.

With all the ingredients readily available at Whole Foods, and until I can scratch Rio off my bucket list, the Moqueca de Peixe, I figure, will keep my "Wanderlust" mentality at bay for a while, me being perhaps the worlds's champion daydreamer, until I can get down there and see what the hype about Rio is all about.

In the mean time and in between time, let me run over to Whole Foods, pick up these ingredients, see what the hype about this Moqueca de Peixe is all about.

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Moqueca de Peixe (Traditional Brazilian Fish and Shrimp Stew)

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1 1/2 lb. snapper, mahi mahi, salmon, monkfish or fish of choice
(All Vegetables are Organic)
Optional Jumbo deveined shrimp
Juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon Himalayan Salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red pepper, sliced thinly
1 green pepper, sliced thinly
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 tomatoes, sliced thinly
4-5 green onions, finely chopped

1 bunch of cilantro, rough chop
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 - 1 teaspoon chile pepper (or to taste)
2 1/2 cups coconut milk
see instructions in video at right --->

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Carnival!!!!! I couldn't let this blogging moment go by without posting the carnival pictures I found when "photo hunting" for this piece on Rio. The colors are so vibrant, the girls are so hot, I had to throw a few into the post below. And I got another stack which I can't post, I'll keep those for my "private collection".

Photo hunting for this blog post was so much fun!!!!!. Some might say that the photos below are too risque, and I would say, think about it like a Brazilian for a second, I don't believe they are thinking about it as hard as an American might, they are just appreciating beauty, fun, and sexuality for what they are, natural "life forces". It's all perception. Tasting this recipe for Moqueca de Peixe, is like looking at one of those Carnival hotties below, sometimes that recipe is put together just right; hot, spicy, vibrant, and full of flavor. Yum Yum, delicious, I have to go back for seconds, maybe even thirds!!~dw~

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"Sail Forth. Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring. I with thee and thou with me. For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared go. And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all." --Walt Whitman

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