My Brazilian Feast

photo by Katie Kay

My family moved to Brazil when I was 11.  I'll never forget the year, because it's about the only thing I still remember how to say in Portuguese.  1992: mil novecentos noventa e dois.  I may be spelling it wrong, but I know I'm close.  That's about the extent of what I remember of Portuguese, especially because Spanish is so much more common here, and now I get the 2 confused.  
Being 11-12 years old in a foreign country is tough on a shy girl with no social skills, so I have this weird mental block about so much of the year we spent there.  It's amazing the things my toddler sister retained, and I think my parents still speak the language fairly well!  Impressive.  I think the only thing that wasn't repressed in my mind was the food.  Oh my...the food.  My entire family looks back with fondness so recently I invited my parents over for a Brazilian feast.  I did my best to replicate some of my most memorable Brazilian dishes.  I think most were wildly successful with the exception of 1.  
Sadly. this entire day was filled with so much work that picture-taking was almost out of the question.  Besides, when you've slaved in the kitchen for 10 hours and you're serving a 5-course meal, you worry more about the timing of the food being ready than stopping everything to snap a photo while trying to find good lighting.  So I only have photos of 2 recipes, although I'll share them all with you today.

Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze

photo by Katie Kay

Goodbye, summer!  September is almost over and we're officially into fall, which means skinny jeans, knee-boots, and cute sweaters with trendy scarves, right?  Not so much.  We've had a couple of random 75 degree days, but for the most part it's still warm and sticky.  The mosquitoes are in paradise.

So these summery Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes still seem perfectly weather-appropriate, and they are perfect for a pool party, BBQ, or any outdoor, backyard soiree.  This idea of putting a glaze on the cupcake before frosting them came from a website I love (credit below) and I've started using this with fabulous success.