Easter in Rio

 

Our first Easter in Rio was a happy one. We had a long weekend, with both Friday and Monday off, so we made the most of it. We hit the beach, the race horse tracks, caught some live capoeira and had a delightful Easter brunch.

After church on Sunday, Hub and I decided to work up our Easter appetite with a jog and we ran into this Capoeira group in Leme beach.

  

Our friends Ky and Shanna (of 360Fit fame) invited us to Easter lunch at Prado Grill and some horse race gambling at the Jockey Club.

 

Shanna and I shared the salmon, which was tasty but did not visually compare to the picanha steak.

 

The restaurant had large bay windows and we could watch the beautiful horses in their stables and also catch them parading around before going to race. It was really cool to watch, except for the fact the restaurant advertised a recipe with horse meat on our place mats. WTF.

After lunch, we headed over to the races for some amateur gambling. I'm not into betting, but I did pick the winning horse for Hub.

 

Lucky number 6.

We had a bit of funky weather on Easter Monday, but that didn't stop us from hitting the beach. We had some serious fog coming in from the beach, kind of eerie. You could barely make out the SUPers in Copacabana, but Ipanema was a bit clearer. 

 

The clouds eventually receded and it turned out be a gorgeous afternoon. The water was warm and it was the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Easter Egg Alternatives

Yesterday, Hub and I celebrated Easter with his parents and there were two large Easter Eggs on the table plus a little tin of baby ones. We generously tucked in, but my poor pa-in-law could not participate because he's diabetic.

Got me thinking about suitable alternatives for Hub's pa, my mom who has a heart condition and can't have chocolate (gives her palpitations), or my sister who's also diabetic. Here's what I found.

Rococo Chocolates do a Sugar-Free Easter Egg that comes beautifully wrapped in gold foil and their signature printed box. Thornton's also have a nice traditional version.

I recently tried Dr. Joshi's 21-day detox, which eliminates every allergenic food from your diet. Holland & Barrett offer the Celtic Easter Egg that is free-from everything and is dark chocolate, my favorite.

I could not find a chocolate-free egg anywhere! How can this be...making a mental note to produce a line of fantastic free-from Chocolate Easter Egg range with really cool packaging designed by my best friend Jess. I DID find that Lush Cosmetics make beautiful egg bath bombs that would be perfect for my mom who loves all things beauty.

Happy Easter Everybody! Also check out this great Choc-o-pedia article by the Independent and recipe for vegan chocolate covered cheesecake Easter eggs!


[The Rocky Road to Caramellow Extra Thick Easter Eggs image is by Hotel Chocolat]