Honeymoon Hop - São Paulo Day 2

Good morning Guaraná!

Alysson, Dylan and I were set for another adventurous day in São Paulo. We started our day out early and headed straight to the subway station.

When we got back from our honeymoon the first thing people asked was, "Hey, are the people in Brazil beautiful like everyone says?" The answer is yes. They are beautiful in so many ways. I think the way they live is very beautiful. Music, food, drinks, work and dance ALL in moderation. They live a balanced life and it shows.

Pão de queijo (cheese bread)! I had to have a daily dosage of chewy and cheesy pão de queijo. 25 cents at the subway station.

Hello craziness at São Bento Station.

Everyone and anyone was in and around São Bento station to shop for last minute Christmas gifts. This place was so shady. Tons of illegal vendors. Police walking in groups kicking down vendor stations. Once the police turned the corner, the vendors were back in business. Nice.

Once we got closer to our destination, Mercado Municipal, things started to cool down. Thank God. It was so tiring walking uphill dodging shoppers, vendors, and the police.

Mercado Municipal is a great foodie destination. The 135,000-square-foot space is loaded tropical fruit, bacalhau (salted cod), cheese and a great Mortadella sandwiches.

The workers are eager to get you to try any of their fresh fruits. When I woke up Alysson made us a cashew smoothie. This is the cashew fruit. It was sweet and juicy, but it's after effect is not to be loved. Think very green banana effect. Totally sucks all the saliva out of your mouth making your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth like hot wax to a hairy body. No fun.

Brasil's beloved bacalhau. Dylan and I like how the word 'bacalhau' rolled off our tongue. Poor Al had to listen to stupid Americans repeat bacalhau over and over and over. It was like Dumb and Dumber Goes to Brasil.

You'll find some food stalls on the first floor. But don't stop here. Head upstairs.

Forget Westfields. THIS is a food court. There were about 4-5 sandwich spots on the 2nd floor at Mercado Municpal. We stuck with this one, the Hocca Bar, most known for their pastéis de bacalhau (think Brasilian Hot Pockets...without the back pains) and Mortadella sandwiches.

I grew up eating mortadella. I love the fat blobs, the sliced pistachio, and the amazing firm bite. My mom would toast two slices of bread with butter in a fry pan and add about four slices of mortadella after it was perfectly toasted. The combination of warm toast and cold mortadella made this my most favorite sandwich growing up.

This sandwich, on the other hand, was not great as I hoped. The mortadella was a bit mushy...and there was A LOT OF MEAT. Al watched us eat the mortadella sandwich in disgust. It's equivalent in Los Angeles is probably like watching someone scarf down a Manuel's special at El Tepeyac. With the heat and humidity, Dylan and I weren't feeling the mammoth of a sandwich, so we took over half the meat out and suprisingly, it was a lot tastier. With less meat, we were able to appreciate the great mortadella bite.

Pastéis time. I didn't know until afterwards that the Hocca Bar was known for their pastéis de bacalhau Don't you hate when that happens? Anyways, we ordered the minced beef and shrimp pastéis.

Add some delicious Portuguese olive oil and these pastéis are nothing but beautifully fried bites of juicy YUMMMMM. Olà colesterol!!!

Even after our mortadella and pastèis, Dylan could not resist the corn man waiting for us outside.

After we got back to Pinheiros, we all needed to cool down and relax at the famous Brigadeiro Doceria across the street.

Brigadeiro yells out that C word. CUUUUTE!

The cafe has pets all over the place. Lovebirds, bunnies, turtles - all named after their desserts. Cute...in a twisted way.

Bolo de cenoura, Brasilian carrot cake quickly became one of my favorite cakes while we were in Brasil. It's the perfect cake to drink with your coffee in the morning.

Fuba Molhadinho, simple white cake made with corn meal and milk tea!

Dylan and I admired all the groping sugar packets. Go gropers.

Dylan and I headed over to Piraja while our friend Al had to finish up stuff at work. Piraja is a corner neighborhood restaurant where the fashionable Paulistas go for happy hour.

When entering some bars and drinking establishments, you'll be handed a ticket which is used to track your consumption throughout the night. When you're ready to bounce, you pay for your goods and then you get another ticket, the ticket to exit.

Feijão (Bean soup)

Bolinho de bacalhau, my new favorite drinking snack.

For dinner, we headed to Pira Grill, a unmemorable steak house for some bife de picanha, top sirloin with the necessary fat cap.

Dylan and I were devouring our bife de picanha and enjoying every last portion of that fat cap. Lose weight for wedding, gain it back on the honeymoon.

After dinner, we had one last stop.... O do Borogodo! It's a gritty, underground samba joint where brick walls meet samba booties.

This was our last night in São Paulo. We stayed up late partying with the Paulistas, but it was definitely time to go to bed. The next morning our friend Alysson was heading back to his hometown of Brasilia for Christmas. Dylan and I had an early morning flight heading to Rio de Janeiro.

to be continued...

Mercado Municipal
Rua da Cantareira, 306
Sao Paulo, SP
www.mercadomunicipal.com.br

Brigadeiro Doceria and Cafe
Rua Padre Carvalho, 91
Pinheiros, SP
(11) 3813-6656
www.brigadeirodoceria.com.br

Piraja
Av. Nova Faria Lima, 64
Pinheiros, SP
(11)3815-6881
www.piraja.com.br

Pira Grill
Rua Wisard ,161
Vila Madalena, SP
(11) 3097-8262

O do Borogodo
R. Horacio Lane, 21
Vila Madalena, SP
(11) 3814-4087