I slept late this morning. What am I saying... I always sleep late... one of the side effects of staying up half the night. Jorge has a difficult job going, so by lunch time, we figured that he wouldn't be going out today. I figured that an interesting Festa lunch might just be a good idea.

It was a glorious day. Hot, breezy, lazy, bright, clear... crystal clear... the kind of clarity that comes with a winter sun. The sky was the perfect cornflower blue, littered with puffy white clouds. It was the kind of day that a glance at the sky, no matter what your surroundings, will put a smile on your face and a bounce in your step.

The church was, if it were possible, emptier than last night. We drifted over to the stalls one by one to get an idea of what they were serving. We started at the far stall where a lonely soul was picking at her plate of cabbage and sausage with a slice of black bread. This was the Lithuanian stall. I didn't know what most of the food was. They had pickled sardines, pickled cucumber, potato cakes (what we call potato fritters), some Lithuanian liqueur made with honey and other unidentifiable goodies. We decided to return there later to take a plate of that cabbage and sausage home for Jorge.

Our next stop was at the churasco stall. Read "glorified bbq". They had thin steaks on bread, espetinhos (kebabs), and more sausage... oh... and beer. The 'thin' is noteable for us, as South Africans like their steaks thicker than their shoe soles.

Lastly, we stopped at the main stall. This is the one with the sweet stuff. Ah... the choices there! Cakes, sweets, puddings, candy floss, crepes (different from what I know as crepe), and the hot drinks, quentão and vinho quente.

We went off to buy our purchasing tickets. The espetinhos were delicious. Smokey, salty, juicy steak bits on skewers. Fun to eat too. Tat didn't appreciate me using the skewer afterwards to keep time to the Festa Juninha music they had playing. The music played by the absent dj, was chosen for the old folk who were there. It had a really old-timer sound to it.

The stall with the overload of sugar, was, naturally, our best stop, though on hindsight, I think the bbq stall was better. We ordered cocada (coconut fudge), pé de moleque (Did you do your homework and read the previous blog?? Well, its not really a peanut brittle, more a peanut fudge... picture peanut brittle in fudgy form), and canjica (white corn made much like rice pudding). 'Pé de moleque' translates to 'feet of the boy'. You still want to eat it?? We wrapped that to take home for Jorge, as I don't like it much. He announced later that it was far too rich and put it in the fridge. The cocada was thankfully a tiny piece, as that is rather rich and overly sweet too. The canjica was delicious. We resisted the quentão and vinho quente, as they are served hot and we were quite hot enough already, thank you.

Before leaving, we went back to the Lithuanian stall to order some of the cabbage and sausage for Jorge. I thought it would be pickled cabbage, but apparently it wasn't. He enjoyed his Festa Juninha feast at home anyway. The lonely old lady was still standing there, picking at her plate of food. I think she enjoyed the action around her. Another lady at the same stall managed to break the plastic fork on what she was eating, sending the food flying up into her chin and running down her front. Tat hid behind me laughing.

We couldn't leave without ordering candy floss. The lady handling the machine did some fancy maneuvers with the stick, held it up proudly and asked if we mind, but this is what it will look like. I took one look at her concoction and said, "That will be fine. We'll take that one and a rice pudding, thank you." Tat got the candy floss she had been hankering for and I got a delicious rice pudding. The candy floss fed some ants on the way home. I'm sure they loved it.

This evening, we went to the Festa Juninha 'celebrations' at the little Church on the square. Festa Juninha is Brazil's June Fest. The photo was taken at a Festa Juninha we attended two years ago.

Usually, the June festival here involves brightly coloured flags strung across the courtyard or square or road in which the celebration is to be held. Also strung up are paper balloons. Participants dress in check shirts, check dresses, straw hats and the girls wear braids or plaits, as we call them. Popular food is pamonha and corn on the cob, carne loca (translates to crazy meat), candy floss (cotton candy), pé de moleque (a type of peanut brittle), canjica (a corn version of rice pudding) and various other super-sweet Brazilian fudges and candies. To drink, there is loads of the common sodas, beer, quentão (recipe below), and vinho quente (sweet, hot red wine - a bit like mulled wine).

Quentão
3 cups of cane spirit
1 cup contreau (brandy)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups water
rind of two oranges
rind of one lemon
50g of grated ginger
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon

Place the sugar and contreau in a pot and heat until sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon and orange rinds, ginger, honey, cloves and cinnamon. Boil for 4 minutes and add water. Boil for a further 5 minutes and add the cane spirits. Boil for a further 10 minutes, strain and serve hot.

Our first Festa Juninha was at the home of a man who gave work to our tenant when we first arrived here. We were introduced to the 'balão'... a very dangerous, but stunning if it works miniature 'hot air balloon'. A sheet of newspaper is taken and its four corners folded in. These get twisted where they meet to form both a wick and a weight, as that part is the 'basket' of the balloon. The 'wick' gets lit an the heat created makes the balloon take off. The idea is that the balloon burns itself out up in the air. Unfortunately, it often burns itself out on houses, cars, people, etc. They're illegal now, though you still see people burning them.

Later, we attended the Festa Juninha at Tatiana's Scout hall. There, I learnt that Bingo is not a skill I can be proud of... is it a skill at all?? They had a thing where they were jumping over the fire (safe, huh). We aren't sure what the custom relating to that was, but it was something the youngsters and brave (or foolish) at heart felt they needed to do. They had girls with baskets going around selling messages. You'd pay them to take a message to your love. Traditionally, a mock wedding is held at the festivities, with a mock bride and groom and priest... most of the 'actors' being children. A good festival will include square dancing and a full 'country wedding ceremony'. This is what I was hoping to catch tonight.

What we did find... There were 4 stalls selling some sort of food, though I never did see any food. There were a few strands of flags over the courtyard. And there was music. In total, there must have been about 20 people milling around. Ah well... We may take a walk over there tomorrow and see if they've added anything exciting, though the main festivities are usually on the Saturday night. And so... the bit of fun we managed to squeeze out of the night