Santa Clara

Monday night we enjoyed a dinner at Santa Clara, just a block away from the hotel, with all of John's Decatur coworkers that are in Brazil for the build. Dining out in Brazil is a whole evening affair. It is so leisurely and relaxing. Its all about enjoying the company and the food and drink. There is no haste in ordering, rush in eating, or push to get you supped and back out the door. Eating out here is at least a three hour affair.

Santa Clara is known for its French-Italian cuisine and delicious wine. We dined in a stone room with tall cathedral like ceilings, the walls were shelved from top to bottom with bottle upon bottle of vinho (wine). Oh yeah, and did I mention they are known for their steak?? I was in heaven!

I ordered #52-steak covered in mustard sauce. I'm usually a minimalist when it comes to steak because I really like to enjoy the flavors of the meat, but this sauce was just the right amount of tangy and complimented the steak well.

Not only was the food delicious, but the company was excellent. Like I said before, all of these people work at Cat in Decatur, but not all were from Decatur. There was Mazin, originally from Sudan, Suman, originally from India, Lynda, originally from Mexico, Ademir, originally from Brazil, and a couple of us who really were from the good ol' US of A. We joked that we were a United Nations of sorts.

I was fascinated to hear different bits of each person's story. Small windows into parts of their cultures. We talked about weddings, family expectations, rites of passage, taxes, government, food, anything that came to mind.

It was a very engaging conversation. It made me feel both very proud of my country and origins and very curious and inquisitive about others in ways I have never experienced before.

I was disappointed when I realized our once full glasses had been emptied, not to be refilled this evening, but perhaps on another night.