happy birthday to me?

can't help passing on the hk love...

i used to really love my birthday. i mean really really really love my birthday. i would celebrate it for days, usually throwing myself a pretty big open bar bash which i would regret for many many days after. but now it's just another day.  not because i feel too old to celebrate anymore, but i just have other priorities.  i don't know if i would call it growing more mature or more boring, but it's just not a big deal anymore.  obviously having kids changes things and you would think that i would have projected my own birthday party throwing obsession to laila's birthday but besides the hellokitty cupcakes i think i was pretty self controlled for her first party.  i'm not sure what has come over me.  i actually feel pretty young for 35, much younger than i thought i would feel at 35 when i was 25.  celebrating one year more makes me glad that i can say that i can still pass for much younger than 35.  unfortunately it isn't as a much hotter, younger than 35.  more of a disheveled and plumper younger than 35.  or it's just the asian thing to always look younger than our age.  it used to piss me off but now it's a good thing.

i spent my birthday with laila.  we shared a schnecker at my favorite cafe/sweetery kurt and fought over ugly xmas wrapping that she kept picking up at jou jou papelaria. it was 1000 degrees out and she is in her terrible 1.8's so i can't really blame her less than charming behavior, but it was an absolute pleasure to be able to have this day with her.  the fact that i can spend a lazy morning with my little bagunceira and not give a damn about anything else that i should probably be doing is an absolute luxury.  later i met some other pregnant friends and their toddlers for a late afternoon swim.  laila loved it and was able to get exhausted enough in just the right way to go to bed without complaints.  i call that a pretty perfect birthday.

i guess i kinda miss naming cocktails after myself and breaking out the bday tiara, but somehow that bday girl seems like a lifetime away.  it may have something to do with the fact that the last 30 months of my life i have been pregnant or breastfeeding.  being a breeder and a feeder definitely changes one's perspective (and happy hour options).  i actually got a little annoyed that my in-laws kept insisting on doing something for my bday today.  they cannot accept that a birthday cannot be celebrated without cakes and candles.  but they don't seem to understand that i am doing exactly what i want to be doing with who i want to be doing it with.  the only person missing of course is samy who happens to be traveling which is a bummer but again not that big of a deal. i already bought his bday gift to me anyway : )

screw work

rio is a love/hate relationship. there are days that i love being here and there are others that i am planning how to sneak out of the country with my daughter (you need to have both parents present on the trip or a notarized permission letter from the absent parent) on the next plane.

but today was a good day. a day that reminded me how lucky i am to live here and have the flexibility that i do to spend time with my little one who is quickly becoming not so little. today i hosted playgroup for this gringa playgroup i am a part of. i can't participate every week b/c of work and our random schedule and of course my laziness to go anywhere that isn't walking distance but i try at least once per month. today i hosted at clube paissandu, which is a great private club with facilities that i have only started to appreciate since laila was born. on most mornings it's usually laila + me + old ladies doing water aerobics but today i invited the gringa baby group and we had a great turnout. laila wasn't that social since we had been in the pool since 9:30 and she started getting sleep when the other kids arrived closer to 10:30 but she loves observing other kids in action, especially older ones.

it just reminded me of how lucky i was to have the flexibility to set my own schedule and spend time with my family. i kept my cel on the table just in case there were any urgent calls but you know, i just ignored the ones i got that seemed work related. i figured it could wait and i found out later i was right. i finally joined the 21st century and got a blackberry but i still have yet to turn it on since i returned to rio (i'm using one with a t-mobile account b/c the plan is MUCH cheaper than the brazilian one). i'm proud of myself for my blackberry control b/c i was getting a bit obsessed when i first got the thing. i got it so that i could respond to work emails when i was out with laila, but then i got here and i thought that if i was constantly on the bb when i was with laila, what was the point of being with laila?

so today i made the executive decision to slack off. and since i am the boss of me i guess that's OK. unfortunately that means i'll be up a little later tonight to finish the P&Ls for this month but definitely worth it given that i could spend a few hours with my daughter fully engaged w/o a work related thought. that is the beauty of leaving the corporate life and living in rio. i know i would never be able to really turn off my work brain and be with my baby if i were still in ny. it's funny how my priorities are so clear here. so i blew off a few phonecalls and emails until the end of the day when laila was napping and i could deal. and i don't feel bad about it. ha ha.

finally laila is a carioquinha. this is official b/c she finally will step foot on the sand without crying. she has these "frescuras" [pickiness/fussiness is the best translation i can come up with] about cleanliness that is beyond her 1.5 yrs. she doesn't like to get dirty and is constantly pointing out stains, spots and blemishes, usually on mommy which is not so cool given that this 2nd pregnancy has not been kind to my skin. so she never liked the sand. not stepping in it, touching it, hardly even being near it without wailing like it was torture. so it's kinda strange considering we live a few blocks from the beach and we are in rio hello.

but yesterday we made a breakthrough. a late afternoon stroll with grandma (who is a child psychoanalyst of course) resulted inn laila's first contact with the wonderful world of sand! we didn't actually step out onto the sand, we've done that before and it's usually a few trepidatious steps and someone carrying laila back to the boardwalk. but after being soothed with a fresh "coco gelado" (fresh coconut water), laila sat at the bottom step of the stairs leading up to the boardwalk and after grandma placed a few handfuls of sand on the stairs, laila actually dug right in. at first she would only pinch the sand and made whiny noises that i would interpret as "ew - what's this crap?", but soon her inner carioca had her digging her hands right into the sand.

i know it doesn't seem like such a milestone in consideration of all important ones - first time potty, walking, drinking from a cup - but not liking the beach for a carioca? blasphemy! so we are now normal!!! we can actually go to the beach now w/o fear of meltdowns and the unintended workout from carrying our adorable 11 kilo weight bag across the sand. great for calves, not great for hernias. if only we could get her to wear a hat w/o bribery...

a hankering for acarajé

every now and again i have bahian food cravings. not only is the only brazilian food that has enough spice to leave a korean girl weepy (sometimes literally) but it's also comfort food. hearty and full of flavor, makes you feel full for days with probably the same calorie count. here's a new restaurant that just opened in lagoa - it's gotten great reviews and lots of celebrity press, which means that some novela actor i've never heard of was seen there.

i'm getting lazy, instead of going there myself and checking it out, i'll just repost the veja article (in portuguese of course). basically it says it's good and i should go soon. mmmmmm, can't wait to find an early evening free to go since we can't seem to handle late nights out anymore.


http://vejabrasil.abril.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/roteiro/restaurantes-5915/
A volta da Keka do acarajé

À beira da Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, o Oke Ka Baiana Tem serve delícias típicas
Leo Martins
Moqueca de camarão com arroz e farofa de dendê (R$ 55,00): prato para duas pessoas

COMIDA | AMBIENTE | SERVIçO

Nascida em Ilhéus, no interior da Bahia, Angélica Almeida ganhou fama como a Keka do acarajé. No Rio, nos anos 90, começou cuidando de um tabuleiro na Cobal do Humaitá e chegou a abrir o restaurante Axé Santé, em Botafogo, de curta existência. Fazendo bom uso de temperos e simpatia, a baiana também conquistou os amigos ilustres — Gilberto Gil, Carolina Dieckmann e Mart’nália, entre muitos outros — que se reuniram na inauguração de sua nova empreitada carioca. De volta à cidade, desde agosto ela comanda o Oke Ka Baiana Tem, à beira da Lagoa. O lugar é enfeitado com parede de pau a pique, estátua de Iemanjá e fitinhas do Senhor do Bonfim. Baianas a caráter e simpáticos garçons em trajes coloridos cuidam do serviço. Temático como o ambiente, o cardápio é um desfile de delícias, a começar pelo acarajé (R$ 8,00 a unidade ou R$ 22,00 a porção com seis em tamanho míni). Camarões tentação, empanados em coco e tapioca, são servidos ao lado do ótimo molho de manga, mel e gengibre (R$ 35,00, seis unidades). De tão farto, o saboroso escondidinho de carne de fumeiro, carne de sol e charque ao purê de aipim e catupiry (R$ 35,00) poderia estar no capítulo 0de pratos principais. Servida na panela de barro, a moqueca, de peixe (R$ 48,00) ou de camarão (R$ 55,00), é guarnecida de um consistente pirão ou farofa de dendê, além de arroz branco. Dá para duas pessoas, com sobra. Quem não quiser frutos do mar pode escolher sem medo a picanha de carne de sol acompanhada de pirão de banana-da-terra (R$ 52,00). Recomenda-se apenas moderação no uso do molho caseiro de pimenta, gengibre e azeite de dendê. Na hora da sobremesa, decida-se entre o bolinho de estudante com tapioca, coco e canela (R$ 15,00, seis unidades), mais uma especialidade da Keka, e a cocada branca ou preta (R$ 12,00).

Oke Ka Baiana Tem. Avenida Epitácio Pessoa, s/n°, quiosque 14 (Parque da Catacumba), Lagoa, 8297-9766 e 7889-3163 (120 lugares). 17h/0h (sáb. e dom. a partir das 12h; fecha seg. e ter.). Cc: M e V. Cd: todos. taxa de rolha (R$ 20,00). Aberto em 2010. $$$

baby bike

http://www.spielburg.blogspot.com/

i haven't blogged in awhile but i think it's time to start again. b/c if i don't get my rage out somehow i think i'll go a little nuts.

hotel marina all suites - bar d'hotel

so the brunch scene has really gotten out of hand in leblon. you can't go anywhere in leblon after 11:30 and expect a table. having a stroller makes things even worse. so for the first time we tried out bar d'hotel in the marina all suites hotel. i've only been there for drinks in the wee hours but given my new mom status, i guess that isn't happening anymore. (sorry fred!)

so after being disappointed by the line at garcia, and appalled at the lack of highchairs at nam thai e bruschetteria e devassa (can't really blame them since it is a bar). we went to marina and were pleasantly surprised. first, the views are terrific, there are only 2 tables right by the window overlooking the beach so plenty of distraction for 10 mo old to people & puppy watch. and it was completely empty! so laila could shriek away to her heart's content. service was excellent, highchair was sturdy and the meal was pretty good too. usually our expectations are pretty shabby when we try to eat out with the baby so when you get kid friendly + good food = happy annie (and husband).

will definitely be spending more weekends here.

leblon baby rating: out of 5 chupetas
restaurant: 5 (high chair w/o seatbelt but now i have improvised the pano de fralda technique so now that is not an issue. excellent food!)
bathroom: n/a (didn't need to go - i have no idea even where it is)
staff: 5 (very smiley & friendly - helped create a custom fruit salad for laila with chopped up pieces small enough for her not to choke)
public: 5 (there was no one there and i am guessing that weekend lunches never get crowded)
infrastructure: 4 (good space for stroller, but this again assumes that no one is there. there is also a huge mirror on the wall which makes for good baby distraction)

Hotel Marina All Suites
Av. Delfim Moreira, 696
Praia do Leblon
Tel./Fax: 55 (21) 2172-1100 / 2172-1110
http://www.marinaallsuites.com.br