Açaí
It’s a berry fro Brazil and it is very famous there. People usually drink açaí smoothie mixed with another fruit (banana or strawberry) and put some guaraná to make it sweet. Some of them also eat wth granola. It is very healthy!
Açaí Fruit
* I miss it a lot!
Pão de Queijo (Cheese Bread)
Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (10 ounces) tapioca flour or sour cassava flour
2 eggs
1 – 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
Equipment
2-quart saucepan
Long-handled spoon
Standing mixer with paddle attachment (or mixing bowl and elbow grease)
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking pan with parchment and set aside.
1. Boil the Milk and Oil: Combine the milk, oil, and salt in the saucepan, and whisking occasionally, bring it to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as you see big bubbles coming through the milk.
2. Add the Tapioca Flour: Add all of the tapioca flour to the saucepan and stir until you see no more dry tapioca flour. The dough will be grainy and gelatinous at this point.
3. Cool the Dough: Transfer the dough to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. (Alternatively, you can do the next few steps by hand. Be prepared for a work-out.) Beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed until it smooths out and has cooled enough that you can hold your finger against the dough for several seconds.
4. Beat in the Eggs: Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl. With the mixer on medium, beat the eggs into the dough in two additions. Wait until the first addition has been fully incorporated into the dough before adding the second. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Beat in the Cheese: With the mixer on medium, beat in the cheese until fully incorporated. The resulting dough will be very sticky, stretchy, and soft with a consistency between cake batter and cooke dough.
6. Portion the Puffs: Using an ice cream scoop, a tablespoon measure, or a dinner spoon, scoop rounded portions of the dough into mounds on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Space the mounds an inch or two apart. Dip your scoop in water to prevent sticking.
7. Bake the Puffs: Transfer the sheet with the puffs to the oven and immediately turn down the heat to 350°F. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the puffs have puffed, the outsides are dry, and they are just starting to color. Cool briefly and eat. Leftover puffs can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week and re-crisped in a warm oven or toaster oven.
Finding Tapioca Flour: Sour cassava flour or sour tapioca flour can be tricky to find in the United States. Look for it at Latin American markets. Plain tapioca flour lacks the slight sour, fermented flavor, but makes a fine substitute. You can find plain tapioca flour from Bob’s Red Mill at most natural foods stores.
Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-po-de-queijo-brazilian-cheese-bread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-176118
You can find Cheese Bread in NYC at Coffee Shop at 29 Union Square W, New York
Caipirinha
Brazil’s national cocktail is so refreshing and delicious! Ask your liquor store to order Cachaça for you if they don’t stock it. You can also use Vodka to make it! But Cachaça is the typical liquor Brazilians use.
Recipe: (Very easy!)
In a large rocks glass squeeze and drop in 2 eighths of lime. Add sugar, crush and mix with a spoon. Pour in the cachaca and plenty of ice. Stir well.
I would suggest trying with tangerines, watermelon, pineapple, passion fruit, grapes or strawberries. It is really delicious!
Brigadeiro
Brigadeiro is a simple Brazilian chocolate bonbon, created in the 1940s and named after Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, whose shape is reminiscent of that of some varieties of chocolate truffles. (I’m not sure if it is true!)
EASY and DELICIOUS!
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cocoa, butter and condensed milk. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Form into small balls and eat at once or chill until serving.
It is not my biased opinion. It is Huffington Post’s. 🙂
As can be seen in the graphic below, in 1992 the difference between the average wage of College and High School graduates was around 0.77 log points and it increased to 0.99 in 2002. In growth terms, relative wages at College level increased by around 30 per cent in 10 years. On the contrary, the difference in average wages both between High School and Secondary and Secondary and Primary graduates started from much lower levels in 1992 and decreased.
This means that the difference between Primary and Secondary levels of education don’t make much differences in the relative wage. But, as you conclude your college level, this wage increases significantly as you can see on the yellow line.
Source: Binelli, C., Meghir, C., & Menezes-Filho, N. (2009). Education and wages in Brazil. Unpublished Mimeo.
It seems that it is the best argument to convince a kid to pursue college degree: they can make more money with that college degree than their secondary degree. Keep going kids!
Making progress in attainment rates at all levels of education
Educational attainment rates in Brazil have been rising over the past decade, but are still lagging far behind the average for OECD countries. The proportion of people with an upper secondary qualification has risen from 26% among 55-64 year-olds to 53% among 25-34 year-olds. In 2011, 43% of 25-64 year-olds had attained this level of education, whereas across OECD countries 75% had.
Tertiary attainment rates have also increased, but at a slower pace. They now stand at 9% among 55-64 year-olds and 13% among 25-34 year-olds. At 12%, Brazil’s tertiary educational attainment rate for 25-64 year-olds remains below the average of 32% for OECD countries and 26% for G20 ones.
Source: OECD
Thinking about the impact of Education in the economic development of Brazil, it is hard to isolate the variables to make conclusions. Not only Education can impact Economic Development, but also there are lot of Policies that Brazil have been working and developing that directly influeces some economic indexes. These infomration are important to make meaning about the importance of education in people’s lives and the country, but we have to be skeptical when driving to conclusions.
There is a great study that you can look at: The Effect of Education on Brazil’s Economic Development: Sandoval, L. (2012). The effect of education on Brazil’s economic development. Global Majority E-Journal, 3(1), 4-19.
Even though we cannot conclude anything, here are some numbers…
Thinking about waht kind of effects of the Education in Brazil, there are some data about the learning of Portuguese and Mathematics in Middle School and High School, presented below:
Going down about the level of Learning Portuguese in Bazil in 2011, we have the data below:
What is so upset about these results is that the kids “unlearn” from 5th grade to 9th grade. Moreover, in the 5th grade, 63% of the students who were submitted to the Prova Brasil, don’t have the minimun level of knowledge in Portuguese. It means 1.632.703 kids in the public school system who don’t learn in 5th grade. In the 9th grade (final year of high school), the numbers are more abusive: 78% of the students at that grade don’t have the proficient level of Portuguese.
Going further into data information about the Maths leanring, we have:
These data show that the problem is worst in Mathematics. In 5th grade, 77% of the students who were submitted to the Prova Brasil, don’t have the minimun level of knowledge in Maths. The percentage in 9th grade is more impressing: 88% of the students in the last year of high school don’t have the minimun level of knowledge in Maths.
I would say that these numbers are not only problematic per se, but also, I’m wondering about the level bar of knowledge in the tests. Furthermore, the number of students who did not take the Prova Brasil (test) could also reduce the numbers, aggravatting even more the education situation in the country.
What do you think about the differences between the Brazilian Culture and the U.S Culture?
Source: http://geert-hofstede.com/
You can also download an App on Apple Store to play with the Hofstede’s dimensions and compare between countries!
I’m a “little” biased, but it is not my opinion! Take a look at Huffingtonpost Post!
I haven’t been in all that 27 places, but we can talk about Fernando de Noronha, Armação de Búzios, Porto de galinhas, Pelourinho (Salvador), Olinda, Itacaré, Cascata do Caracol, Paraty and Ilha Grande!
Brazil.Edu.Action 