29.05.18 - Geladeira nas costas

Bom dia,

Hope all is well on your travels, and thanks for the photos! 

This week we've been housebound by a nationwide lorry strike which has led to petrol shortages, blockades on the motorway, cancelled flights, price-gouging, siphoning and general unpleasantness which I've kept well away from in my cushy home-office job. It hasn't been the Mad Max-esque breakdown of society many have been anticipating - we were able to source ingredients for a butternut squash and cured meat risotto at short notice on Saturday, for example - but Gaby had to sit for hours in a queue to get petrol on Friday, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight at the moment.

We did make it out on Thursday for Taynah's birthday party, at a fancy bar where the drinks are served in miniature bathtubs (with rubber crocodiles, if you please!), and I've tagged along to Gaby's home visits in Morumbi a few times, laying low in the Eldorado mall, apparently home to South America's largest gym.  

I've gone done a mixtape, and my phrase of the day ("a fridge on one's back") refers to a psychological burden one has to live with - I learnt it in relation to the Liverpool goalie's match-scuppering blunders in the Champions League final, which also conjured up the ever-delightful imagery of "mãos de alface" / "lettuce hands" from the Brazilian commentators. Turns out it's a real thing too.

That'll be all,

Needle and Fred 

22.05.18 - Enfiar pela goela abaixo

Halloooo,

All well here in Braseeel.  On Saturday Gaby gave a lecture about her masters topic for a conference in Campinas, so I went along as driver/photographer, almost got blown off the road by a hurricane sweeping the region, had a burger on the way back and stopped off at a cat rescue shelter to donate supplies. Gaby enjoyed that, as you might imagine.

Otherwise it's gone very chilly all of a sudden, we've been putting the finishing touches on our August sojourn, and I've been reading plenty of Tom Wolfe. I also found out that the year of my birth was the first time the terms "steampunk", "techno" and "beer goggles" were used in print. I've made two new compilations, and today's phrase means to "shove [something] down [someone's] throat], figuratively speaking in most cases. 

Speak soon!

Fred Bath & Beyond

15.05.18 - バーコード人

Halloooo,

Lovely to chat the other day, in any number of languages.  The Mother's Day BBQ was a success, and prior to that I tagged along with Gaby as she toured the homes of São Paulo's rich and famous on Friday, before checking out a nearby pizzeria with a bunch of friends.

I've been getting up at unusual hours for work but everything's looking good on that front otherwise, and I had a Bill Murray-esque photoshoot with Ridaut the other day to update my work photo. And on Saturday I watched the original "Solaris" - three hours of solid family entertainment! It was either that or Eurovision.

In the meantime I've made two more compilations, and my phrase of the day comes from Japan - it means "bar code men", and refers to folks with poorly-concealed combovers.  On that note, I urge you to watch all 23 minutes of "No Reaction - Pie Hell!", which I will just leave here with no further explanation.

Speak soon!

Fred Like a Hole

08.05.17 - Topper

Hallooo,

Hope all well with you, misfiring vocal chords notwithstanding.  We are at somewhat of a loss now that we've sanded and painted every wall in our jurisdiction, although we had some friends round on Friday to look at said walls which was rather fun, went to another birthday do on Saturday and the picture house on Sunday to see "A Quiet Place".  Mostly sleeping and booking Air'b'n'b's' in between.

I've made another wild and crazy mixtape, and would also recommend the new John Mulaney stand-up set, "Kid Gorgeous", if you have access to Netflix... No phrase of the week as such, I just thought you ought to know that apparently the youth of Brazil are now referring to cool and awesome things as "topper", like a rambunctious WWI fighter pilot.

'Til next we speak again,

Fred Over Heels

01.05.18 - Não adianta tirar roupa de um santo pra vestir de outro

Hallooo,

  

Thanks very much for your musical intervention the other day, I was extremely grateful, then pleased, then nonplussed, then a little scared, then pleased again. 

As I mentioned, I was in the middle of a three-day binge of excellent food and company, which started on Saturday night with a trip to Dalva e Dito in Jardins Paulista.  I mainly wanted to check "going to a Michelin-starred restaurant" off my bucket list, but it turned out to be pretty great in and of itself. I had poached sole with passionfruit farofa and black rice, followed by an incredible chocolate mousse with cumaru from the Amazon; Gaby unfortunately got the rough end of the stick for the second weekend running and ended up with a rather unremarkable plate of chicken and rice, and a pudim which looked great but apparently didn't taste of much.  Still, it was everything I was hoping for, and we finally opened the bottle of Provence rosé which I got in Antibes last November afterwards...

The next day we went to the infamous Dr. Costela, an all-you-can-eat haven of good cheer and allotment-grown lettuce by the side of the motorway, to see how the other half lives, and ate more meat than was medically advisable, washed down with quarts of the owner's homemade beer. I got a petit gateau, ice cream and a birthday song, and crawled home to recover.  And last night we had the extended family round for dinner, including people dropping in from Minas during the national long weekend, on our newly-renovated balcony which is looking rather swish.

I've made another compilation; I also recommend this one by yer man out of Arctic Monkeys, and of course the new Janelle Monáe album and "emotion picture".  My phrase of the day means "it's no use taking one saint's clothes to clothe another"; i.e. there's no point borrowing from one loan shark to pay off another, for example, since you'll end up straight back in debt.  I don't know, it's been a long weekend...

Speak soon, electric prune

Fred, ombros, joelhos e pé, joelhos e pé