Banana republic

Since both my family and my husband's live out of town, and we come from different states, when we visit family we like to surprise each other with little trips to the countryside to share a different part of our corner. This time my husband took me to see a banana plantation on the hills. All you see on first picture are banana trees, even going to the top of the hill and, if you enlarge, you will see the houses so small compared to the plantation. We look forward to these trips, the kids stay home with their grandparents and we are able to enjoy each other's company and stories.

How would you like your coffee?

Sugar, black, cream, cream and sugar, decaf, instant? I enjoyed so much reading your comments on my last post. Would you mind telling me your coffee preferences? Or if you dislike coffee, what is your favorite drink and why. Please take a seat and let's talk about the world's most popular beverage! In order to get your favorite brewed coffee so many things have to take place. First, coffee berries need to be picked, then they are defruited, dried, sorted, and also aged. My father worked all his life with coffee and so did my grandfather. During harvesting, I remember he would take me to see the manual picking. I loved the way people would pull the berries out of the trees. I asked my father a few questions, grabbed the camera with my husband and went out to get the pictures. Sorry there were too many and I couldn't figure out which ones to post here.

A few facts:
- Coffee beans are actually the seeds, and each coffee berry has two beans.
- A coffee plant can start producing as early as 2 years old and some of them last over 50 years
- You can hardly leave a house in Brazil without having a small cup of coffee (cafezinho) accompanied by cake, cookies or both.
- Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer.
- US is the largest coffee drinker, we're second.
- Over 50 countries grow coffee, and most of them are situated below the Equator
- The coffee you drink (latte, expresso, cafe au lait, or plain cup of coffee) might come from South America.
- Café au lait (coffee and milk) is part of the traditional Brazilian breakfast that also includes: baguettes, brioches, butter, tropical fruits and juices.

- Picture 1: taken at my parents' house it shows mom's favorite cup.
- Picture 2: roasted coffee beans
- Picture 3: a two-year old coffee tree already producing
- Picture 4: a 10 feet coffee tree
- Picture 5: coffee plantation
- Picture 6: ripe berries

Guesses, anyone?

I grew up on a farm, and everything related to farming attracts me so much. Not long ago my sisters and I decided to hit the dirt roads and take pictures. I found this widely known fruit that makes a very popular beverage world-wide... Any guesses?

Eugenia Uniflora - Brazilian Cherry - Pitanga

Known as Brazilian cherry or Surinam cherry, the pitanga tree has delicate white flowers. The fruit can be eaten fresh or used as ingredient in juices, jelly and sauces and it is very high in vitamin C content. The tree was blooming over Easter at my in-laws farm, and I found it so interesting that there were flowers, green and ripe fruit all at the same time. I am sure I took a picture of the whole tree but I cannot find it here now. The tree there is about 20 feet/6m and I enjoyed picking pitangas and photographing them. Sonia has more information about it as she has a tree in her backyard!

Jackfruit - Jaca

Where I grew up jackfruit trees were so common. It is said to be the largest tree-born fruit in the world. One single fruit can weigh up to 80 pounds. The interior consists of large edible bulbs of yellow, banana-flavored flesh that wraps the smooth, oval, and light-brown seed. Each fruit may carry from 100 to 500 seeds. The jackfruit when ripe does not have a very agreeable odor, resembling that of onions, while the pulp of the fruit smells like pineapple and banana. It is not a popular fruit, even though some people like it.

Passion Fruit: from Flower to Fruit - Maracujá: da Flor ao Fruto

The Miracle of life - O Milagre da Vida

There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.

Há duas formas para viver a sua vida. Uma é acreditar que não existe milagre. A outra é acreditar que todas as coisas são um milagre.

Albert Einstein