Hot Dogs with Peas and Snoring Straws

Our team is working right downtown (in fact just 2 blocks away from the team that is working on the City Government project). This is an exciting area of town as it is filled with people commuting to and from home in the morning and evening and during the day it is fun to people watch when we go out for a quick lunch (We consider a quick lunch against Brazilian standards - we go out for an hour, while the locals may spend 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours at lunch)

Darren's expression is a direct result of
 a bad choice to put ketchup on a hot dog.

Yesterday, we decided to try the local hot dogs which, of course, are going to measured against the gold standard in this culinary category  - the Chicago style hot dog. The place we went to offered regular style dogs as well as Linguiça, a tasty pork sausage seasoned with garlic and paprika. We all opted for that. The buns were generously sized and I saw why on the menu - if you are ordering a regular dog, you can have 1, 2 or 3 of them in one bun.

Next come the toppings - we got (mostly) everything, of course. Steamed mashed peas and corn, some kind of red sauce, cilantro, cheese, oil, mayo and mustard. They tried to put ketchup on my dog, an abomination of course, so I put a stop to that immediately. Final evaluation - messy and tasty!

Other lunch (and dinner options) include buffets. *everywhere*. It is hard to use some self control when food is delicious and abundant and meat-intensive. One interesting custom about most of the restaurants and bars we have visited - you get a receipt that will be marked with whatever you order, both food and drink. You obviously use it to pay for your meal, but it is also your proof of purchase to get out of the restaurant. DO NOT LOSE THIS! If you do, there are some establishments that will charge you an exorbitant amount to cover the loss - like $200US!  Another thing to watch out for is if you leave your ticket on the table unattended, people will grab it, charge a bunch of drinks on it and then slip it back where it was. Guess who gets to pay that? (This happened to one of the guys in our program last year - needless to say, we are holding onto our tickets…)

Daniel and Dannielle
share chimarrão with us

We had another food/beverage custom that we had the pleasure of experiencing today. Daniel and Dannielle (I know, right?) brought out a treat while we were doing a software feature prioritization exercise this afternoon. There is a strong sugarless tea drink that is popular in southern Brazil called chimarrão. Like many cultures, Brazilians have a ritual around drinking their tea. From filling the cup (made from a gourd), to the presentation and enjoyment of the drink, it is a nice friendly communal experience. Everyone drinks from the same cup using a metal straw or bomba that also acts as a filter. You drink the whole cup, slowly, then it is refilled for the next person. Daniel says you "drink until the straw snores", meaning you are slurping the last bit of liquid from the cup through the straw- I love that.