Coconut Water

If you force me to choose one food that is accessible in Brazil and that I miss the most when I am in Minnesota, I will have to say that food is coconut. No matter what they try to sell you in MN, there is nothing (I mean nothing. Really.) better then stopping at a coconut water stand...

You can find coconut stands everywhere! This one is right in front of my parents apartment

...and buying a whole coconut that has been chilled and it is open (just enough to stick a straw in it) right in front of you:

That cold, slightly sweet, slightly sour, refreshing, and hydrating liquid always makes me think about how perfect nature is.

To make the experience even better, after drinking all the water, you can have the coconut cut in half so you can eat what we call the coconut meat, which can be very slimy and tender or hard and crunchy depending on the age of each coconut. A "spoon" is made out of the outer layer of the coconut so you can eat the "meat":

My kids share the same passion for coconut, so we drink/eat it everyday:

Last weekend Gio was lucky to get really close to a whole bunch of coconuts that had been just picked from coconut palm trees. He studied them closely:

Thank you, coconut palm trees!