Tapioca

So far it seems these trees bloom all year round,
(at least for 8 months and counting)

Learned a few new things about the food here. I was looking up tapioca, which is found all over, often made into a sort of pancake folded over filling (a very white pancake! the ones we watched being made on the street the other day used large metal rings on a big griddle). So I noted earlier that we tried macaxeira which is cassava or manioc or yuca or aipim...., and now I learn that it is also where tapioca comes from, as well as farofa, which is another basic food here. Farofa is coarse ground cassava flour, toasted. Its often served alongside feijoada where it soaks up juices and flavor, by itself it is pretty much sawdust.
Tapioca is made by grinding/chopping/pulping and washing the root then letting the liquid dry out into powder. So it is the starch without the fiber. Also Cassava tends to have cyanide, yep. Some kinds more than others - apparently some farmers like the "bitter" kind because animals and robbers don't. Seems like a good setting for a murder mystery....Once it is cooked you are safe. Cassava flour is considered a pretty good gluten-free high-nutrient ingredient.

I've been trying to get a photo of these riverbank homes but its tough because they are only really seen from the highway as you hurry over bridges. So in the background is the huge fancy new tourist-attraction mall, RioMar, and  along the riverbank are places that are on stilts when the water goes down (tidal rivers here) and of course all the rivers are also the sewage canals. There are a lot of areas throughout the greater Recife area with stark contrast between tall high-end condo buildings and favelas (no roads, probably no plumbing...) within walking distance.

Many interesting buildings as we drive through the city, some are quite well-kept. 

Our complex, on the other hand, is not the most clean and shiny on the outside! But we had a chance to visit with the owner and her sister who live on the top floor of our building and their place was really nice. They actually reimbursed us for part of the big plumbing bill - likely our whole side of the building found their drains working better, including the owner.

Only a month late, a little birthday present for Cicera next door.
(Mold grew on my blue gouache in the palette)

Another family home evening at Sister Chambers', that's Bethania, a recent convert, on the right.
I think the elders had as much fun with the games as the kids that came.

There were seven Missourians at Zone Conference on Tuesday!

Sister Chambers' last zone conference, we helped out on Wednesday at the Prazeres building and Sister Chambers brought her Pernambuco flag for everyone to sign. (Durk and I are on the left)

Sociedade de Socorro activity Saturday included a good-bye for Sister Chambers with gift of flag and singing of state song. Started a mere 40 minutes after scheduled time and the attendance had a sudden ballooning when the food came out.

Well, for those that ask about our spiritual experiences, they aren't the kind to share in general conference. Mostly we do regular office work like paying bills and making copies. Though we are definitely helped by the Spirit, it is usually a nudge to triple check something or finding the answer to a mystery such as why things weren't paid the same way three months in a row. We see the effects of missionaries who don't obey the rules and have trouble, and see them arrive in the mission ready or not, but then off they go and we don't really deal with them directly enough to hear their more awesome experiences.

They don't use a lot of seasonings here, but when they use garlic they use a lot.
These are gallons of smashed garlic at Sams Club

More Sams Club, the produce aisle.....you have to get in line for a lady to weigh and label your produce. The pumpkin-ish things on the far left are one of several types available all year as a staple. (The purple sweet potatoes are white inside, only a little sweet, and drier than the orange kind. So they are good but not usable in many sweet potato recipes) Sorry I don't have the names of the other big root things, similar to but not macaxeira.
Yes, that's Durk in the red and blue shirt. The only thing that made us glad we made the long trip out to Sams was some real Prego spaghetti sauce that tastes like something other than plain tomato sauce.

It is fun to run into missionaries! We were returning from the dentist and they were enjoying Pday on Conde Boa Vista. We walked through Boa Vista Shopping ("shopping" basically means Mall) and we don't really understand the way things work, they have many many stores but they tend to sell the same thing. At least half a dozen stores of watches that all look alike, for instance. I suppose its kind of like the street that is all full of small eyeglass shops in a row.

On our way to work every day we pass the "druggie park" on the left, straight ahead would take you to Conde Boa Vista which tends to have the middle two lanes completely full of busses.

We are really looking forward to watching General Conference this weekend, probably at home, definitely in English! There's nothing like hearing the prophet and apostles give us messages for our day and time.