Brazilian Shoe Shopping, a Public Market, and Grandma Makes us Food


Apparently, Brazil is known for having great shoes.  I personally did not know this, but I will admit I am not much of an avid shoe buyer.  My wife, on the other hand,  has many a fine pairs of shoes.  She gets this affinity for shoes from her mother.  Today, I went shopping with both of them plus the grandmother.  I saw a lot of shoes.



This store is called Closet 35 because it only stocks shoes in size 35.  This is approximately a six in US women's sizes, more or less.  Thais was unable to buy any shoes here, but her mother is a size six.  Up above, you can see the pairs of shoes she was deciding between.


I don't know about women's shoes, but I have to admit some of these did look pretty neat to me.  This is the first time I have ever felt this way about women's shoes.


Here, my mother in law waits to pay for the many pairs of shoes she decided to purchase.  I actually helped a little bit!  She also got a tremendous bargain.


After round one of shoes, we went to a local grocery store..  These are the biggest pumpkins I have seen in Brazil.


En route to a local market, we pulled up alongside the local Military Police, named Rotam.


This is the local market we went to.  My mother would love this place.


Many fruits and vegetables.


Multiple containers of various substances, both sweet and savory.


Nuts and peppers.


These jars contain Pequi, a fruit that I've become quite taken with while in Brazil.  It's sweet, but finds itself in many savory situations, like raisins or sweet potatoes.  It tastes nothing like either of those, however.  In addition to its sweetness, it's also slightly peppery.


Hot sauces!



Many more hot sauces.



Pumpkin (or, perhaps, gourd) paste.  The 'hum...' is evidently Portuguese for 'mmmmm'.


Another vendor.


Cheeses!  These are all locally produced in Goiania.



More Pequi.  Apparently this fruit contains sharp spikes within the fruit.  You have maybe half an inch of fruit before you get spiked.  My mother in law says she once got jabbed in the gums while eating one.  This absolutely terrifies me.


Empadas!  Apparently this place is famous for their empadas.


I got a chicken and pequi empada.  So good I had two.  Plus, I ordered the second one all by myself in Portuguese!  My wife was right there to help me in the event that the server asked literally any question of me, none of which I would be able to answer.  But she didn't!  Success.


Passarin Que Fuma Pedra Sabe Acuquitem is what this graffiti says.  So, I've been taking pictures of graffiti on this trip and later translating it to determine its meaning.  This says that, "The bird who eats a stone knows what he has".  I had no idea what this was supposed to mean, and had to google it.  Apparently it means anyone who begins a difficult task knows what the rewards might be.


We went to another shoe store for my wife and were there for quite a while.  Afterwards, we fed!  This is a Pastel, which is sort of like an empanada, except the crust is very thin and crunchy.  Once again, I got chicken and pequi.  


This sauce was present at all the tables and absolutely amazing.  Very spicy.  Lots of the Brazilian hot peppers.  I would have liked to have stolen this bowl for myself, but I did not.


The counter from which we ordered the pasteis.


Colorful Goiania graffiti.


My wife and I taking a selfie, post-Pasteis.


More graffiti!


We went back to my grandmother's place, and she made us one of my wife's favorite dishes.  Veal Parmesan along with rice containing Pimenta Cheirosa.


Veal awaiting its egg bath and flouring.


My grandma giving my wife a taste of the sauce.


Breaded veal getting covered with cheese in preparation for its voyage into the oven.


The rice with delicious peppers!


The final product!  I had two pieces.  Oh so very, very good.

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to Goiania and fly to Rio de Janeiro.  We will be landing in Rio during sunset, an experience so beautiful as to have had a song written about it by Antonio Carlos Jobim.  Time to pack!

Comments

You're never going to want to go home if they keep feeding you so well!
Valerie said…
Between the shoes and the food, I don't think I could ever leave this place! Thank you for sharing your experiences!
Linda said…
Do they have shoe stores for different sizes, like a size 8 store? I bought pequin that were hot, I thought. And, maybe I spelled it wrong. What do people do who cannot eat the hot, spicy food?
Leanna said…
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! THOSE SHOES!!!!! I need to go there just for the shopping alone. I would send a box of packed with shoes and a box of hot sauces and other goodies home via Fed-Ex.
jaz@octoberfarm said…
Linda: Apparently there are not other shoe stores dedicated to specific shoe sizes. I still don't understand how a store entirely dedicated to only one shoe size makes good business sense, but they look like they're doing fine, so what do I know!

Most Brazilian food actually isn't spicy. I just veer towards the spicy, I suppose!
Joyful said…
Wow! So much variety in both shoes and foods. I can't imagine a store full of shoes in only one size! I'd love a store like that in my size, lol. There's nothing like grandma's home cooking. I'm sure you and your wife will remember for long. Enjoy the rest of your journey.
TARYTERRE said…
usually it's hard to find a size 6 shoe here. what a delightful treat to have a whole store of them there.
chickpea678 said…
Blogtech, you are a talented and witty writer! Which song is about llanding in rio in the sunset? You also know many interesting facts :). So glad you had a wonderful time!