Do you like to read?

Yes, I do. And it’s my way to go out when it’s rainy … Sure, I’d rather go trekking outside and breath a bit of fresh air than stay at home but when I have no choice, I prepare a mint tea sweetened with some honey (often offered by my grandpa :), I kidnap a pullover from mi teddy bear, and so I can stay reading till the sun decides to appear again.

My favourite books are the ones which are able to make emotions come out while I’m reading. My very favourite books are the ones which are able to put a smile in my face even if I’m not reading, but just thinking about it! They are not essentially amusing but subtle, sweetly or even particularly realists.

So, from inside Aline's box I bring some suggestions for the courageous enough to ready the same things than Lili! ;)

# Métaphysique des Tubes - Amélie Nothomb (novel)
# Stupeur et Tremblement - Amélie Nothomb (novel)
# Life of Pi - Yann Matel (novel)
# Citoyen du Monde - Carlos Ghosn (biography)
# Desert Flower - Waris Dare (biography)
# The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey (business, leadership)
# The Gift of Fear - Gavin De Becker (self defence - astonished ? :)

Hey, sure! You must be thinking that I'm in France so I should be enjoying the great classic French authors... but I do! So I suggest you to try these:

# Les Misérables - Victor Hugo (novel - too classic? :) That's why I read it in Portuguese! And it was quite complex, as I was 12 years old)

# Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (novel)

# Troi Contes - Gustave Flaubert (tale)

# Le Horla - Maupassant (tale)

# Vol de Nuit - Saint Exupéry (novel)

An eclipse ??? Not yet ...

have a guess?

It's almost my favorite car... :)

Lili is desperately searching for an Eclipse in France, but she’s getting persuaded that they just DON'T exist here! The closest she could approach to a Mitsubishi machine was this Lancer, which I could say that it’s “ordinary” here, compared to Eclipses… I mean, she saw 3 or 4 of them since she’s living in France, against 0 Eclipses!!!

However, such oil crisis made me already give up about 4x4, and if I keep caring that much, I’ll end to give up about such machine parked in my garage as well... I’m really not that sort of radical ecologist and I confess I’m a cars’ fan, a big one. Even though, I have currently bad conscious when I think about turning on car’s air conditioning system and believe me, weather in Europe it can be much hotter than in Brazil. My trips by car can get worst than my 45 minutes by bus to return from university in BH…

As I need to drive 30km to go to work and 30 to come back home, my oil’s consummation raised enormously. At the beginning, my husband had bugged me about going to work by feet. But if I really get to turn into an experienced trekker, I’ll think seriously about it! It’s a pity but living in the country I got more serious problems with public transport than living in BH! Just to buy some bread we get 15 minutes by car… It’s a paradox but the decision to live in such piece of paradise requires me to generate a lot of pollution!

Anyway, I keep crossing fingers really firm that even Eclipses will have the right to have an alternative energy model!

Brasil, meu Brasil brasileiro...

vou cantar-te nos teus versos!

This last week I was in a nostalgic period. To celebrate our wedding’s birthday we went to Aix-les-Bains for De Palmas concert! We had to wait about an hour to get in, and it was in that moment that I started dreaming about being in Brazil…

Pop corn scent came out of my mind and I wished so much I could have such half sweet, half salted one. I used to buy it in Belo Horizonte streets. Oh yes, I couldn’t walk around the downtown without eating one. And to avoid nickel back, I used to get such caramelized coconut pieces…

I miss Brazilian food very much. Some times I get myself dreaming about a sunny Saturday afternoon beside the swimming pool, all friends together, a great barbecue grilling not so far, some vinaigrette (red, yellow and green sweet pepper, tomatoes and onions all thinly cut out, in a bath of vinegar) and white rice. Or just to buy a small “cat barbecue”! hihi that’s the way we call the barbecue sold on the streets!

As good as Saturday’s barbecue are Sunday’s lunches in family...

My mom could prepare a pork meat cooked in ananas sauce. To accompany, some “farofa”, sort of mix prepared with manioc flour, a little bit of olive oil, spices, bacon, smoked sausage, corn, green sweet pepper and all you creativity allows you to invent. Some curly kale well thinly cut out and quickly cooked in the butter could also please me… Some boiled corn, or some cooked and fried manioc! Oh Gee, I love it.

I miss biscoito de polvilho and the cheese bread, the famous “pão de queijo”. The first one is a sort of biscuit prepared with some manioc flour, eggs and a very hot water. It’s so light and not so flavorful that I am able to eat hundreds! The second one is also prepared with some manioc flour, and the best Brazilian cheese, which comes from my state, Minas Gerais. The name means “general mines” and it’s due to all the gold that found there about 18th century. Well, as we are talking about food, there is another dish originate during this period which merits to be mentioned: it’s called “feijão tropeiro”. It’s a mixture of cooked red beans with some smoked sausage and bacon cut out in little pieces, mixed eggs, curled kale, onions, manioc flour and a bit of olive oil. It was invented by the explorers who went into the country to discover new lands. They traveled long distances by horse and their food supply, all in the same recipient, was mixing together during the trip and at the end they were eating something their called “explorer’ beans”.

Hey, I was about to forget the delicious desserts: milk candy, coconut candy, peanut candy, rice candy, corn candy and all the fruit jams: guava, fig, orange, quince… Even potato candy and this is very delicious with some cinnamon over it!

Well, Brazil is so huge that I couldn’t talk about all the variety of dishes we can I prepare. I can talk about the specialties of my region, which by the way are the best ones ;) but I am sure each Brazilian from each different region could present you something completely different, completely new, even for a Brazilian like me. Maybe we all agree about “feijoada”, the national dish! Prepared with some red beans, pork meat (this time, all parts of the pork that you could imagine: ears, feet, even the curly tail!) and a lot of spice, feijoada can be accompanied by white rice, curly kale and orange slices! It was invented by the slaves, who recuperated the rest of their patrons to eat. They prepared it in a so good way that it became the most famous of the Brazilian specialties.

Well, I hope you’re not dribbling a lot! ;) And Now I need to go to prepare my dinner! It could be a good idea if my Brazilian friends could come and tell us which their favorite dishes are as well, even if it's rice and beans! ;)

See you all!

Feliz dia dos pais!

Papai,

Como a distância nos impede de estar com você hoje para comemorar esse dia, nos decidimos fazer um pequeno presente virtual :)

Espero que você goste da sua camisa da seleção da França (mesma se ela vai demorar um poquinho pra chegar de verdade ...)!

Um grande beijo e Feliz dia dos pais pra você, pro vovô e para todos os tios!

Aline e Régis

Régis, modelo oficial da équipe da França, exibe com orgulho essa graciosa camisa. Infelizmente, ela so tem um unica estrela...

E tinha que ser contra o Brasil.

Zidane de volta na seleção, mas o Brasil não desiste não.

2006, hexacampeão? :)

Passeio em Mégève

Saturday afternoon: a perfect time to visit the neighbor villages… Yesterday we were in Megève: a popular ski station during winter time and a sweet familiar town in summer time. We still participated of a village fair and I had the occasion to taste some local specialties.

Sure, we were in the Megève airport, just to have an ice cream and to appreciate the view ;)

Take a look in such charming boyS :)

Lili and Régis at work!

Et oui, I invite you as well to discover Régis' and Lili's job. Try to have a guess ;)

- Chambéry town, good day?

Chez M. et Mme. Andro

Lili at home:

Hello mi dear friends. I invite you to come back soon to visit Lili and Regi's nest. :o)

La belle étoile

Sunday afternoon, climbing to reach the beautiful star, Lili and Regi discovered the Tamié Fortification. Oh yes, Régis is my sweet love ;) I call him Regi.

A village fair was taking place by chance, and we could learn something about the medieval battles. A little trekking circuit can be done inside fortification's walls.

We admired people, animation, nature and finally, we found our beautiful star.

Living in the mountains ...

Lili is able to share with you her window's landscape:

Monthion, that's how it's called, the little village in one of the French Alps' mountains. My currently home, sweet home.

I love trekking, camping, skiing, ... I'm just feeling in paradise! I discovered so many things since I arrived here that it's just unbelievable. So, the next place I'll invite you to visit is this hill behind the church...

About me, about Lili

You’re coming into Aline’s box. If you already here, know you can call me Lili.

At 3 years old I wanted to become policewoman. I drew my first perfect bear at 6; I read my first word at 4; at 5 I wanted to move to Japan. As a child I had few theories about ice cream, money and the plant’s growth. Maybe one day I’ll explain you them in details. At 8 I decided to become engineer. At 16 I felt in love with chemistry. At 19 I got to university where I started studying Chemical Engineering.

I’m Brazilian, I love my quite huge country but my thoughts always lived abroad. As I kept thinking so firm, now here I am: living in France beside my sweet spouse. I adopted France; the Ecole des Mines de Saint Etienne adopted me. I was accepted to integrate this engineering school and from September 2005 to September 2006 I’ll be preparing my last year and my master in Industrial Process.

Currently I am working with vanadium derivates and living in the mountains…

Let's take a look inside ...

After living an exciting blog experience I felt how important and funny a blog can be and I realize that We All Can blog. :o)

The “We All Can program” was a project created by Alcan (Aluminum Company of Canada) to give European students the opportunity to spend a day in the shoes of an Alcan’s professional and report it to the world through a blog. The purpose of the “Alcan day” was to follow a coach in his activities and discover his profession.

I specially dived into the program, I turned into a journalist, a “blog manager” and I gave all my energy and … I got it! I met a lot of new people, professionals and students, I learned a lot about management, research and development, geology, human relationships and I got the first prize: a trip for two to Canada! And how? I did it blogging!

(click here to visit Aline's blog)

I took little vacations and now, two months after the end of this adventure, I miss it and that’s why I decided to feed a new baby blog: Aline’s box.