A look around Manaus

We're in the States now and soaking it all in! However, we didn't want to skip over posting about our incredible trip to Manaus. The 10 days we spent there were some of the most adventurous and challenging (yet very exciting and inspiring) that we've had since we arrived in Brazil. In this post I'm going to show some pictures from around the city, and then I'm going to do another post on the ministry at our mission's base there.

A view of the Amazon river from a port
A meat market

A view from the market. Although there are cars and roads in the city, many river people get to the market places by boat on the river. Manaus is a huge, busy (and not so clean) city with TONS going on! There's a ton of variety (for Brazil) and every nook and cranny is packed with shops, restaurants, houses....it's really an overwhelming place!

A man sleeping under the bridge

Crowded, busy streets

Local vegetables brought downtown in wheelbarrows and sold all around

You have to watch your wallet carefully as it's such a busy city....and apparently your toilet paper too! This was a funny thing we saw in a store bathroom :)

Men gather around to watch a game of checkers in the park. If you look closely, you'll see that the checkers pieces are actually soda bottle tops.

At your local supermarket, you can pick up fresh piranhas for dinner

What a different world! More pictures and posts to come soon!

Hello from Manaus!

We got here yesterday safe and sound. We're doing well and happy to be here, but we're still trying to adjust to the overpowering heat and humidity.....it feels just like the bathroom after a hot shower!!! You can see where we are on the map below - towards the top left of the map. Our city, Anapolis, is near Brasilia, so you can see how far we are!



Manaus is a huge city in the middle of the Amazon (1.7 million) and you can see from the satellite shot that we're literally in the middle of nowhere! There are 2 rivers that form the Amazon river - the dark colored one you see is the "Black River" and the yellow colored one is the "Solimoes River". They meet together right where Manaus is located - you can see that Manaus is that big white blob where the rivers meet. From there, the mixed rivers are called the Amazon.



Today we explored around a little and here are two quick shots. Jeyson at the market checking out what's available from the local farmers.

Stopping for a quick local specialty - an"acai" smoothie. Acai is a food you may have now heard about in the States as it is gaining popularity because of it's health benefits. It is a nut that comes from Brazil and has a very unique taste. We think it tastes a tiny bit like really delicious dirt....I know....we're weird, but we love it!!

We have lots more pictures that we can't wait to show you, but that's all for today.

Baking Blurb

I LOVE fresh Italian bread with my pasta....really with any meal, or even by itself. What Italian doesn't?
Sadly, here in Brazil, Italian bread as I know and love it doesn't exist. The bread here is crusty on the outside and empty on the inside. It's yummy, but not the same to me! So, about a year ago I put bread on my list of things that I wanted to learn to make myself....right next to a NY style pizza, tortillas, bagels, and English muffins. Are you noticing a carb trend? There are other items too though, including homemade cookie dough ice cream, which I haven't gotten to yet! So about a year ago set out to learn to make the best Italian loaf out there, and it's been a lot of fun and really a lot easier than I thought! I never thought I'd get into this, but desperate cravings call for desperate cooking! Many-a-loaf later I got it down! This first one is the classic Italian loaf, with a hint of a taste of olive oil.

And I've played around with my faithful recipe and made great variations! Rye, whole wheat, 3 seeds, cinnamon raisin,

I was even asked to make a bunch of loaves and spreads for our friends' wedding! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!

If you've never given baking a loaf of bread a try, you really should! It's easy, fun, yummy, and impressive....it also makes a great item to bring when you're invited for a meal. Here's my favorite recipe and a few tips:

Rustic Italian Bread (I found this on Food.com and it has never failed me!)

1 Put in your bread machine: 3 cps flour, 2 tb oil, 3/4 tea salt, 2 tea sugar, 2 tea yeast and 1 cp warm water (for mine, I put the wet ingredients in first)
2 Set on dough setting.
3 Always follow your machines instructions, when mixing open it and keep check on the dough. Dough should be in a nice round soft sticky to the touch ball. If it is not add more water, or add flour which ever is needed.
4 Remove when signal beeps and cycle is done.
5 Preheat oven to 375
6 Grease and sprinkle cornflour or cornmeal onto a baking sheet.
7 Punch dough down and form into a long or oval loaf.
8 Cover and let rise for 25 more minutes.
9 It should be doubled again by this time.
10 Uncover and slash the top with a sharp knife or razor.
11 Brush all over with the beaten egg white.
12 Bake 25 minutes to 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped on bottom.
13 Cool.

Tips:

Use a pizza pan with holes in it

Put lots of egg white - don't skimp!!

Put on LOTS of seeds - way more than I put on that first sesame loaf. LOAD it up to make it look more professional like the picture where I'm holding the loaf on a pan. Rosemary, thyme, basil, and parm. cheese all together make a great topping too!

Make sure the oven's the right temp before putting in the bread

Don't under bake the bread, wait for it to be golden and very hollow sounding.

If the bread is cooking too fast underneath, put an empty cookie sheet on the rack below the bread so the heat hits the bottom a little more indirectly - or maybe that's just for my strange Brazilian oven.

To change the recipe up, switch the olive oil for vegetable oil and put on different kinds of seeds.

Have fun!