Cheese Bread

All of you are familiar with the popular myth that the best way to stop a teenager from smoking is to make him sit down and smoke two packs--after that he will never want to smoke again. (My dad tried the same thing with me once, not with cigarettes, but with Ben and Jerry´s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. It failed miserably and its still my favorite ice cream.) I thought this cigarette myth was just that, but I can testify that the tactic might actually work. Let me explain:

Brazil has a food called pao de quiejo (literally `cheese bread´.) Its basically a chesse puff, but instead of being hollow, it has a chessy/doughy center. They are so #@$#@$!^~ addictive. I had been eating maybe 5-10 a day since I got to Brazil a week ago. They are about the size of a cupcake. Well on Tuesday, after hiking all day on Ilha Grande and not eating any lunch or breakfast, I got back to town famished and ordered 40 cheese breads. I admit it was a ridiculous number of cheese breads. But I sat down and ate the first 10 and was still hungry. I ate the second 10 and should have stopped there. I ate the third 10 and thought I was going to throw up. But there were still 10 cheese breads staring up at me. Having already overeaten, I should have been somewhat rational and given the rest away or saved them for the next day. But I am so stuuuuupid and ate the last 10 (something my brother would have done). What a mistake. I thought I was going to puke the rest of the day. I didn´t eat a SINGLE thing all day Wednesday and most of the day Thursday. I still feel nauseous. I think its going to be a long time before I get anywhere close to cheese bread again. My addiction has been cured. So go ahead, give your kids those two packs of smokes....

I leave Ilha Grande tomorrow for Rio de Janeiro. This past week has been absolutely perfect. I have spent my days snorkeling in turquoise water, napping on some of the country´s best beaches, and hiking through the island´s rain forests (and of course gorging myself on cheese breads). If you don´t see me post an entry within the next couple of days, its either because I got kidnapped in Rio or I was in the hospital getting my stomach pumped.