December 11, 2010

We had been invited to a picnic together with Dauro and Laura and their boys, Laura´s mother and Laura´s friend Gabi (Gabriella) and Gabi´s nephew and niece.

We went to a place called Lagoa do Peri, a small freshwater lagoon, or lake if you want.

The temperature of the water was perfect, probably around 23 C (73 F). The kids enjoyed themselves in the water for a very long time.

This is Caro (Caroline), Gabi´s niece. She played very well with Iseline and the two girls stayed together most of the time.

Miguel took a break in the hamock:

His brother, Bruno, is a heartbreaker:

Dauro and I took turns. First he played ball with the kids:

then a new monster took over:

We lasted longer than I expected, but just like with Marc and me in New York, the kids eventually wore out both monsters.

There was exotic wildlife near the beach:

These are actually pedal boats for rent, formed as swans. 🙂

We had a great picnic:

Laura´s mother to the left, Laura in the middle:

And here is Gabi:

An ice cream vendor passed by:

To the left in the last picture is Vitor, Gabi´s nephew. He quickly joined forces with Adrian, Viktor and Miguel. Since the names were so close he became “Vitor 1”, and Viktor became “Viktor 2”.

On our way back to the cars we saw some wild monkeys in a tree. The Brazilians called them Miquinho (little monkey). As we stopped to look closer a guy came over. He told us to get out bananas, if we had any. We did, and the monkeys came to eat immediately. There were probably 7 or 8 of them:

We then drove down to a very nice fishing village called Pantano do Sul

to look around and have a meal at a seafood restaurant.

Dauro told us that the restaurant next door was listed in Lonely Planet. This had led to what he called the Lonely Planet effect. The place was now crowded and much more expensive than before. The restaurant we went to had the same quality of the food, but less people and lower prices.

Hungry boys:

Notice the open windows. A very exotic thing for a Norwegian. The only other place I have been where they had all the windows of the restaurant wide open was on the gold coast in Australia.

The kids played on the beach while we waited for the food to be ready:

They had oysters on the menu! I just had to have some. Oysters are a relatively new thing here, but after an initiative from the Brazilian government a small oyster industry is now operating. More than 90% of Brazil´s oyster production is being done here in the state of Santa Catarina.

As you can see there is no doubt that I need a haircut again. You know you have been traveling for a long time when your hair is so long your wife starts to be embarrassed of you for the second time during the trip.

After a very nice meal we went for a walk by the beach. Pantano do Sul is still a fishing village even though tourism in general is growing a lot on the island of Santa Catarina.

Here are the boys:

and here are the girls:

In the evening it was time for me to practice my religion again. I made chocolate mousse and once again got in contact with those deep human dessert desires. Dauro was paying close attention and Iseline was documenting the process. It is always satisfying to have devoted padawans:

The holy table at the end of the holy ritual:

Chocolate mousse has been a way of life for me for many years. I remember very well when I first saw the light. It all happened in a restaurant in Nice, France, in the year of our mousse, 1987. I was on an excursion to Sopha Antipolis together with my class at university and a few of my classmates and me had ventured out at night in Nice. After an excellent meal we were looking at the desert menu and by pure chance I chose chocolate mousse, thinking it was something similar to the excuse for mousse you can get in Norway, often filled with sacrilege ingredients like gelatine and cream.

What a revelation it was! A complete and deep climax of the taste buds like nothing I had ever sensed before. I had found my mission in life. Then and there I decided to find out how to make this dessert myself, so I would not have to be dependent on the French.

To make a long story short, after years of research and espionage I ended up marrying a French woman to get access to the secret recipe. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that she could not make chocolate mousse after all! It turned out my intel was weak. It was her sister who was the master. I had married the wrong woman!

At least I had the foot in the door and I managed to used my influence in the family to get hold of the recipe she used. Alas, the resulting mousse was not anywhere near what I had hoped for. For 7 long years I experimented and only managed to make thick chocolate sauce.

The breakthrough came when I had gained enough trust in the family to be allowed into the kitchen during food preparation. No small feat for a foreign man in France. At last the day arrived when mousse was on the menu. Trembling I observed every single movement of my sister-in-law. Jackpot! I found the secret. The secret that is mentioned in no recipe for chocolate mousse I have ever seen.  A secret guarded by the French for centuries!

I will reveal it to the world in this blog in my own little parallel to WikiLeaks.

All the French recipes make a big fuss out of the mixing of the egg whites at the end of the process, They all talk about how you must not stir, because then the mousse might become too liquid. That is just a covert operation. Although slightly important for the end result, it is nowhere near the importance of the secret factor in obtaining the perfect mousse.

If you follow this blog I will soon reveal the secret so that you too can make good mousse and can get in touch with the deeper meaning of the universe.

I have shared the secret with several culinary publications and they have promised to publish it if something were to happen to me.

Eirik (Fundamentalist French Chocolate Moussetafarian)

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