Eating well and becoming reacquainted

Today at lunch, I ate something new to me and unique to this plateau area of Brazil. It´s called `pee-kee`, and although it is not in season right now, Mamae had some frozen and she cooked some with rice. I do not know what `pee-kee` looks like in nature. And I do not know if what I saw had it´s outside peel (if there is one, that is) on or off. What I saw, first of all, is that they´re winter squash-orange in color and are sized like a golf ball and smaller. They are not round, but shaped slightly oval, with a shallow flat indentation on one side. They are smooth in texture. They have an unusual flavor, unlike anything else I remember ever eating. You pick this fruit up with your fingers and put it to your teeth to scrape off its rather thin layer of edible flesh. I´m told that if you bite too deep, you will get pricked with the thorns that are inside (under the flesh). I ate 3 of them with my meal and did not get pricked. I liked them and their unique flavor. It´s my understanding that some people enjoy `pee-kee` while others do not. I suppose it´s like anything else, huh?
Last night, we went over to cousin Marta Christina´s house where she lives in Anapolis with her spouse, Gil, and their toddler, Henrique (pronounced Enhickey). Marta and Gil used to live in the United States in Philadelphia - that´s where they met each other, in fact. They speak some English, Marta more than Gil. Marta made fresh pizzas for all of us (18-20). Everyone in the family says that she makes the best pizza of them all. She made her own tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic and olive oil and a lot of love, she said. Pizzas were put into a small, efficiently-sized countertop oven to bake, two pans at a time. One pizza had slices of palm hearts, one with thinly sliced eggplant. The second round of baking brought one with olives and capers and one with bacalaho (dried cod fish). The third round of baking produced seconds of earlier ones. They were all very good (muito gustozo)! In addition, we had a few different bottles of Portuguese red wine (vinho tinto) that were very different from one another and each very good in their own right. And finally, Marta presented a beautiful dessert she´d made - fresh whole pineapple that had been sliced open in half and the fruit inside had been sliced and there was a custard on top of the sliced fruit and then a baked merangue on top of that. It was wonderful and different for me. It was so pretty that I took a picture of it.
During the evening, I became reacquainted with members of Marilda´s family whom I met 3 years ago, and I also met a few new people. One of them is one of the adult sons of Manuel and his wife, Ana Maria; his name is Leonardo. Leonardo is married to a woman from Switzerland and they have a daughter together. Right now, the mother and child are in Switzerland for a visit with her family. The other new face belongs to the boyfriend of Mariana (the beautiful daughter of Manuel and Ana Maria); he is from Frankfurt, Germany, and his name is `Lass`. Mariana and Lass have been together for 4 years. They live together in Goiania for half the year and the other half they live in Frankfurt. Lass plays guitar, electric mostly, but acoustic and classic, as well. It was a pleasure for me to see them as they seem very happy together.
Next Friday, Mariana announced that she will throw a party for everyone at her father´s house and there will be a guitar player performing later in the evening. We all promised to be there so I will be fortunate to see her and many others once again.
That´s all for now, folks!
Jennifer