A Vida Bonita

‘Bonita’, or beautiful, is a word used much more generally in Portuguese (and Spanish) than in English, often employed where we would say ‘nice’, ‘good’, or simply ‘normal’. So I try not to feel weird when multiple people, such as colleagues or my landlord, tell me “I saw you riding your bicycle and you looked ‘bonita’.” Considering the climate and amount of energy and focus I invest in not tipping over into the sand, I highly doubt that ‘beautiful’ is how I look.

I can now add yet another country to the ever growing list of where-i-have-made-banana-related-desserts. Today my neighbor invited me over to make a cake, so I shared my mom’s banana bread recipe with her. And it came out wonderful, so moist and fluffy – probably because she beat the tar out of the batter with her huge wooden spoon. All in all, a great success and entertaining to boot.

Aaaaand my new guard doesn’t seem to understand much of my Portuguese. Excellent.