Bolo de Cenoura com Chocolate

Today in Portuguese Language Training we celebrated Brazil's Independence Day.  The actual day is the 7th of September, but since the new students started on the 6th, it was decided to push the celebration back a few weeks so that they had a better chance of understanding the festivities.

The whole department got together for this celebration.  Each class made a presentation and everyone brought something.

My class did a presentation on Don Pedro I.  He was the son of the King of Portugal and he is the person who declared Brazil's independence from Portugal with the phrase "Independencia ou Morte" (Independence or Death).  We re-enacted the scene - complete with crowns, swords and a lovely gown for the queen (thank you J.!).

I decided to bring a very traditional Brazilian dessert - Bolo de Cenoura com Chocolate.  It's Brazilian Carrot Cake with Chocolate.  It's very different from the carrot cake that is usually served in the United States.  I've put the recipe below and here's a link to it in English and in Portuguese.

The recipe is unusual (for me) in that it's made primarily in the blender.  Of course most of my cooking things are in storage waiting our arrival in Recife.  So I had to make do - I'm so glad I had packed my smoothie maker!  But I don't have a tube pan so I adjusted the cooking times and put it into a 9 x 13.

The batter with the carrots is the most lovely color.

And since my smoothie maker only holds so much - I had to switch to my big bowl to add the eggs.

Here it is out of the oven

The original recipe's chocolate sauce didn't quite work for me (the sugar seized up and it didn't reach the proper consistency.  So I made some modifications in the recipe below.  The finished cake was quite tasty and reminded me of a pound cake.  The carrot just blends in to everything and if you didn't know it was there - you wouldn't guess it.

And the final product - ready for the party and very tasty.  Viva o Brasil!

Bolo de Cenoura com Chocolate

3 medium sized carrots, cut up
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F and butter and flour a cake pan.

In a blender (or smoothie maker), blend the carrots, oil and eggs until smooth.  Mix the dry ingredients together and then mix into the dry ingredients into the wet.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the oven for 30 to 40 or until golden brown and done.  (If you use a 9 x 13 it will take a bit longer to cook the inside.)  Let cool and then unmold and top with Chocolate Topping.

Chocolate Topping (adapted)

4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk or cream

Put everything in a saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar melts and it has a smooth consistency.  Pour over the cake.

Little Black Books

I picked them up today - our new little black books!

Two weeks ago we made the trek down to the Mothership to apply for our Diplomatic Passports.  During language training, every other Wednesday is a half class day so that folks can take care of administrative things.  Taking advantage of an Admin-Wednesday, we came home after class and got the kids (school hadn't started yet) and headed into DC.  Everyone was on their best behavior and in their "nice" clothes.

I'd filled out all of the forms and had all of the paperwork ready.  The folks in the Passport Office at Main State are really nice and very helpful.  They told us where to go to get our photos taken as well.  It's great to be able to get it all taken care of there - especially since we need so many copies of the photos - two for our passports, two for our visas, and then several other sets for country identification cards, etc.

And today - just two weeks later, I was able to pick them up at FSI. One step closer to being ready to head to Brazil!

With so many to juggle (4 people with 2 passports = 8 little books), I've been looking for a way to keep them nice and organized.  I found a great tutorial for a cute passport cover that will hold two passports - I think it will be my next project.

10 Years Ago Today

10 years ago today I was asleep in our house in Berkeley - the one on Sacramento Street that we had bought right after we got married.  It was a Tuesday morning and for some reason, I'd had the alarm set for 6 AM. (Unusual since our business required us to work late hours so we usually didn't get up that early).

Anyway, at 6 AM (which was 9 AM New York time), the radio came on with the news of the plane crash.  I immediately turned on the TV and we watched the second plane crash and everything that followed.  We were stunned.  Shock and despair - all we could do was hold each other.

And then the day kicked in.  Phones started ringing.  Phone trees kicked in as everyone checked to make sure their colleagues, friends and loved ones were safe.  I was again impressed with how well run the Junior League is - within hours, we'd learned that one of our colleagues had been on the 101st floor.  Networks were tapped to check all the hospitals in the area to see if she was there - but to no avail.

The only reaction to so much trauma and devastation is shock - and the need to do something - anything.  But being on so far away - the possibilities were limited.  So we did the only thing we could think of - and what many other people thought of as well.  We went down to our local American Red Cross and joined the long line to give blood.

We also had some business decisions to make.  Do we open for business as usual - like any other day? Do we shut down the theater for the night? Do we open for business, but just show the news?  We had become a community center - a place were people came together to share their lives.  What would be best for our community and our employees?

In the end, we decided to open for business and show our regular movies.  We hoped that we might be able to be a place of respite for people who were looking for an escape from the news of the day.  With so much horror - if we could offer anyone a moment's peace - we wanted to be able to do that.

And since we made pizza for a living - we brought stacks of large pizzas over to the blood bank.  They'd been working hard all day and the lines of people waiting to donate blood were still around the block.

We got home that night - exhausted and full of despair.  The world had changed.  It felt like all hope was gone.  All we could do was hold each other.

And then - nine months later - hope arrived.

10 years later our world has changed tremendously.  The impact of the events of 9/11 continue to ripple throughout the world.  Sometimes it seems as though the devastation and despair that began that day continues to grow.  Acts of hatred continue to sow acts of hatred and hope can seem very far away.

And that is why we must always remember the acts of courage and selflessness and love that came from that day - that we all came together and put our differences aside towards common goals.  Some of our finest moments came from that day.

As we move forward to tackle all of the challenges that face us - it would be great if we could remember (and invoke) that ability to put our differences aside and work together.  The more we work together to build and support our communities, the more we try to contribute in any way possible, the better chance we have of pushing despair away and keeping hope close.  And we've shown that when we work together - we can achieve amazing things!

East Coast Beaches and the Atlantic Ocean

I grew up on the ocean.  The smell of the salt water, the feel of the ocean breeze, the fog rolling in, the sound of the crashing waves and the barking of the seals - this is what I grew up with.  This is the view from my bedroom window at my parent's house.

Sunset over Catalina Island.

I love the ocean and really miss it when I don't get to see it regularly.  When we lived in Berkeley, we were close enough to smell the salt air and feel the fog and get to see the Bay.  And we could always hop in the car and easily drive out to Fort Funston or Baker Beach or Ocean Beach or Muir Beach if we needed a closer fix.

But living near DC, the ocean is pretty far away.  Of course, there's the Potomac River which leads to the Chesapeake Bay which eventually leads to the Atlantic Ocean - but it's still pretty far away (which is probably why we didn't feel much from Hurricane Irene).

When the kids were at Camp Grandma and Bompa, K. and I decided to check out the oceans on the east coast.  We got up early one Saturday and drove northeast past Annapolis to take the Bay Bridge (not the Oakland Bay Bridge). By the way - the road we were traveling on is Highway 50 - the same Highway 50 that we drive on in California from Sacramento east.

Once we had crossed the Chesapeake Bay, we headed to the coast, passing farmland and some farm stands (great peaches!) and eventually reaching Rehoboth Beach.  This part of the East Coast is called the DelMarVa Peninsula.  It's a peninsula that has parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia - hence the name.  We checked out many of the beaches and beach towns along the way - from Rehoboth to Ocean City.  We found them all fairly similar, differing mainly by whether they were more family oriented or more singles oriented. All the beaches were filled with lots of people and lots of umbrellas.  There were boardwalks with lots of fried foods and frozen treats.  It felt very crowded and with not many people swimming.

Rehoboth Beach

Ocean City was notable for the number of large hotels - it resembled the Las Vegas Strip (but without casinos).  There were also more miniature golf places than I've ever seen - and more than there were McDonalds!  And lots of places offering crab.

The best part of Ocean City (for me), was to get to see the counterpart of the sign I'd grown up with.

This is what I see when I drive to my sister's house.

And this is what I got to see in Ocean City.

From Ocean City we drove south into Virginia.  The towns on the Virginia peninsula are just wonderful - small, quiet, beautiful.  The beaches are quite lovely - quiet and secluded - much more our cup of tea.  We definitely want to go back for a relaxing weekend.  At one point we even got to see Chincoteague - a town I'd read about as a child in Marguerite Henry's book - Misty of Chincoteague.

Eventually we came to the tip of the peninsula and went on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  It's an amazing span and tunnel - although a little scary with the tunnels.

The bridge ends up in Norfolk, Virginia - very near Virginia Beach.  We had dinner there (soft shell crabs!) and headed home.  Virginia Beach seemed like a place we'd like to return to and bring the kids.  It didn't seem to have quite the hubbub of Ocean City, and also was closer to where we're living now so we could possibly make a day trip out of it.

Which is what we finally did this Labor Day weekend.  On Saturday we got up early and headed to Virginia Beach.  It was so nice to smell the salt air when we got there!  We rented a 4-seater bicycle carriage and checked out the boardwalk.

N. loved checking out the boardwalk!

We got to go on a few rides and then we headed to the beach.  It was absolutely wonderful to go swimming in the ocean again.  It had been far too long!  And, much to my surprise, people are right - the Atlantic is warmer than the Pacific.  The kids were full of such joy as they played in the ocean.  It made me so happy to see them enjoy the ocean and its power so much. We played in the waves for a long time, and then rinsed off and headed home.   A great day at the beach!

Recife

I've realized that I haven't really mentioned where we're going next since I announced it on Flag Day.

And, while I've had a few posts about other blogs to check out, both Foreign Service blogs and other blogs I love - I've posted no links to blogs about Recife, or Brazil or just Brazil links in general.

Desculpe!

So - we are going to Recife, Brazil in January, following the completion of our Portuguese language training at FSI.

We are all thrilled.  After all, Recife was at the top of our bid list!  It has many of the things we were looking for - warm weather, near (actually on) the beach, a great culture, a fabulous language, great food, great people - I could go on.  It also allows me to fulfill many of my requirements for the Foreign Service - I'll be a consular officer and will also get to learn a new language. And since it's a fairly small post, I'll get to know my fellow officers and their families fairly well.

When we get there, I will, of course, be posting a lot about our life there.  But in the meantime, I want to share some of what I've learned so far.

First off - there are two great blogs written by women who are living in Recife and are part of the Foreign Service Community.  I've been enjoying reading about them for quite some time - even before I knew I was going to Recife.  Please check them out!  This one has recently been posting some great photos of Recife and also has some great posts about various places around Brazil.  And this one is about another first tour family and also has some great posts about traveling around Brazil.  Both are written by mothers with young children - it's great to get that perspective and information as well.

And here is another blog that's written about a lot of different aspects of Brazil.

And until you check out all these links - here are some photos to look at.

"The Brazilian Venice"

Recife means reef in Portuguese

You can see why we're all excited!  And we look forward to having visitors.

What we do

When our family decided to pursue a life with the Foreign Service, many people asked us why we we had decided to join the Foreign Service and what we would be doing.  Here's a great article that sums up some of the what:

10 Things You Should Know About the State Department and USAID 

 In these challenging times, it's good to know where a very small percentage of your tax dollars are going.

And here's my Statement of Intent from when I took my Oral Assessment to become a Foreign Service Officer.  It explains some of the why:

I have always served my community - I was a Girl Scout in elementary and middle school, a Ticktocker in middle and high school, and a Resident Advisor in college.  After college I joined the Junior League and served on many of their boards and advisory committees.  The business that I created, while a for-profit business, had at the core of its mission a commitment to nurturing and growing local communities.  

This commitment to serving my community has enriched my life in many ways, and the rewards I have reaped have far exceeded the efforts that I have made. Through my service I have had amazing experiences, met amazing people, and have learned so many things.  I’ve had the opportunity to travel to places I never would have gone (Washington DC, Boise, Fort Worth, and Fresno), meet people from all walks of life (politicians, laborers, CEO’s, chefs, scientists, artists, and schizophrenics, and have acquired skills (public speaking, community organizing, and conflict resolution)  that never would have occurred to me to pursue.  I love new experiences and take advantage of any opportunity to obtain new knowledge and gain new skills.

With all of the these experiences, I’ve realized that what I do best, and what I love to do most, is to create and facilitate community.  Building bridges of understanding between disparate groups really rocks my world.  I have learned that the more you can bring people together in safe and comfortable ways, the more they begin to see each other and dispel the myths about each other that create fear and misunderstanding.  Breaking down those barriers and watching that understanding and comradeship grow is one of the most rewarding and wonderful things to see.  This ability is my gift and one that I have utilized a great deal in the various communities / populations I’ve experienced.  It is something that I will continue to do all my life.

The Foreign Service is all about service to one’s community, and the Public Diplomacy Cone is about building those bridges of understanding between the United States and every other country and culture.  The United States is an amazing country with such wonderful principles and ideals.  As a country, we continually debate the best ways to adhere to those principles and while at times those endless debates can be tiresome, they are a wonderful example of the process of trying to be the best we can be.  I want to continue building community by facilitating the awareness and understanding of that process with other countries.

I have two children and, like all parents, want them to be safe as they navigate life.  I believe that my children will only be truly safe when all other children are safe too.  This belief has formed many of the choices I’ve made for our family, such as attending public school (where I use my skills to enrich the school), working within the neighborhood helping to build a sense of  “community,” and volunteering on local boards.

This belief plays out on a global scale.  My children, my family, my community and my country will only be safe when all children, families, communities and countries are safe.  I will continue to use the gifts I’ve been given to make that happen.  The Foreign Service is the best place for me to maximize my skills in service to my family, community and country.