The Devil and Miss Prym

This session was especially meaningful.  Not only was  reading and discussion Paul Coelho's book an incredibly insightful and enriching experience, we learned more about Brazilian culture from friends Paulo Castro and Bruno Guimaraes.  Paulo and Bruno are from Brazil and were so kind to share what they love about their home country.  Bonus? They facilitated our demonstration by teaching us about the traditional drink from Brazil, the caipirinha.

Disclaimer: If you think there is one way to make a caipirinha, you likely also think there is only one way to make cornbread. I've learned that the beloved caipirinha is made differently throughout Brazil but there are a couple of things I know for certain: the traditional version contains loads of lime and you have to have cachaça!

This version serves two friends.  The author of this exact recipe is Aline Shaw and is on her website Brazilian Kitchen Abroad.  That being said, Paulo and Bruno knocked us out with some of their personal variations that contained other fruits such as pineapple and mixed berries. I can tell you that in Brazil, I tried a passion fruit caipirinha that I loved!

• 5 whole limes
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup cachaça
• ice to taste

• juice 3 of the limes and set aside - you'll want about a 1/3 of a cup of juice, give or take
• cut the other 2 limes in 8 pieces each
• Add the sugar and the lime pieces to a cup and muddle until you've juiced all the little pieces and they're nicely combined with the sugar
• add the lime juice and the cachaça to the muddled limes and stir gently to dissolve the sugar - approx. 2 minutes
• fill 2 cups with ice, and top them with caipirinha

• Bruno's wife, Kristen, gave me a great idea about serving Brazilian hotdogs. Yep, that's a thing and boy are they tasty. She shared with me how to make them so I decided to whip them up and add them to our Brazilian inspired table o' goodies. Here are the ingredients and how I made them:
• 1 package hotdogs
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• Tomato sauce (canned, jarred, whatever you've got)
• Hotdog buns

1. Saute peppers and onions until soft, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the hotdogs to the skillet. I cut the franks in half to make them appetizer size.
3. Allow the franks to sear a bit, then add about a cup and a half of the tomato sauce - stir to coat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Remove the lid and allow the yummy stuff to continue simmering so that most of the water evaporates. 

I cut my buns in half, too, and they were cute as well as delicious! Bruno said I nailed it - for the win!