Eat Planet. Discover the World

United States - Texas Barbeque in China

2010-09-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

Who knew you could get Texas barbeque in China. Less than half a century ago it would have seemed like an oxymoron. It still does, in a way. Then again, Deng Xiaoping did go with Nixon to a Lone Star – not a Red Star – barbeque in the seventies where he saw a hot dog and wondered why Americans would want to eat the anatomical part of a dog. But Texas is so quintessentially American – the cowboy, Texas beef, big oil, big everything. In China, in the sixties and seventies, during the Cultural Revolution, one could get ten years of hard labor for whispering the desire for Texas barbeque. You most certainly would have been labeled a counter-revolutionary.

But that was then, this is now. To get rich is glorious. Consumerism is rampant. You rarely see Mao suits. Women are dressed in short skirts and heels. There are fewer bicycles and more Mercedes sedans. There’s a widening gap between rich and poor. You even see illicit movies for sale. China resembles the United States more everyday.

“Tim’s” was the name of the Texas barbeque restaurant. There were TV’s on the wall so sports fans could watch the game. Okay, so they didn’t have on American football, it was rugby or ice hockey, I think. I don’t pay attention to these things. But the point is, it was a sports bar!

We ate at a picnic style table and drank beer with our meal – Chinese beer – but still. Almost all the patrons were western. You could almost trick yourself in believing you were in the West somewhere, except for the waitresses that didn’t speak English.

After dinner, as if to do something counter-American, we went to a night market where we watched Chinese opera and ate scorpions on a stick. Someday I’ll be ready to go back to the U.S. – but not yet.

South Africa - Good-bye Canada!

2010-09-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

It was American night for our South African meal at Christa and Neil’s house in Oakville. The invited guests were us, my stepfather, Chris, who was visiting from Florida, and a co-worker of Neil’s who was visiting from Minnesota. It was also Canada’s Victoria Day, the un-definable holiday that evoked shrugs but was faithfully celebrated with parties, fireworks and a day off from work and school.

We sat outside on the deck, while our dinner cooked, munching on South African treats: Dried peaches, dried guava smear, nuts, beef biltong (dried shaved beef), and beef drowors (dried sausage). Kevin and I sat back contently - our kids happily playing with Christa and Neil’s children – and we discussed China and our recent trip there. Chris, who had worked and lived in China for years, charmed us with his infamous Chinese joke that he tells almost everyone he first meets.

When he got everyone’s attention – even waited for Christa to come out of the kitchen and sit down – he began. He started out by giving us a quick review of China/U.S. relations. He explained that in 1972 Nixon made a historical visit to China that led the way for China’s opening up to the West. Shortly after Nixon’s visit, Deng Xiaoping visited the United States where he was invited to a Texas barbeque.

“Deng was fascinated by the food,” Chris said. “He asked Nixon what everything was.” Chris pointed to imaginary food and stabbed the air with his finger. “Zhi shi ma? What’s that? Deng Xiaoping asked. 'That’s a hotdog,’ Nixon said." Chris paused for comic effect. “Deng said, ‘We eat dog in China too, but not that part!’”

Chris beamed as everyone laughed. I laughed too even though I’d heard this joke a thousand times. Our kids had heard it a thousand times too. Once, at our house, Julia told this joke to some unsuspecting dinner guests.

When dinner was ready we ate inside in the dinning room. Dishes were spread out on the table like county fair pies competing for the blue ribbon. We each picked up a plate and piled them high with turmeric rice with raisins and Bobotie served with chutney, sliced bananas and diced tomato and onion sambal. It was all so delicious and John took so many helpings of the Bobotie that I was thankful Christa had made plenty. For dessert we had Melktert, or milk tart.

It was a lovely night, Americans talking about China while eating South African food and celebrating a Canadian holiday. It was the sort of thing I had come to expect living in the Toronto area. Christa pointed out that none of us were native to Canada, but we all felt connected to each other and to our surroundings.

I would leave Canada for China with the feeling I had that night: a mixture of quiet acceptance and warmth, a kind of peace and contentment. Thanks to Christa and Neil, and a country we once called home.

Recipes: Bobotie Ingredients
• 1 fairly thick slice crustless bread (white or wheat)
• Bay leaves
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 teaspoons chutney
• 1 tablespoon smooth apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 5 teaspoons brown vinegar
• 2 1/4 pounds ground beef, mutton, or lamb (raw mince)
• 1/4 cup green seedless grapes (sultanas)
• 3 eggs
• Pinch each salt and turmeric
Preparation
• 1 Soak bread in milk.
• 2 Heat oil and butter in large pan and fry onions and garlic. When onions are soft, add curry powder, salt, chutney, jam, Worcester sauce, turmeric and vinegar and mix well.
• 3 Drain and mash bread and reserve milk.
• 4 Add bread to pan together with meat and grapes. Cook over low heat, stirring, and when meat loses its pinkness, remove from stove. Add 1 beaten egg, mix well, then spoon into a greased 11 x 7 inch baking dish and level the top.
• 5 Beat remaining eggs with reserved milk (you should have about 10 ounces) and the salt and turmeric. Pour over meat mixture and put a few bay leaves on top. Stand dish in a larger pan of water (this is important to prevent drying out) and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until set.
• 6 Serve with yellow rice, chutney, sliced bananas and a diced tomato and onion sambal.
Yellow Rice
Yellow rice is eaten with the Cape Malay dish called Bobotie.

Ingredients
2 cups of rice  ¾ cup raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes, then drained  1 teaspoon of turmeric  a dash of salt  2 sticks of cinnamon

Instructions on how to make it
Place all the ingredients, including the raisins in about 750ml of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. If there is still excess water in the pot when the rice is tender, pour it out carefully.  Dot the rice with a few blobs of butter and give it a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar (come on Penny, a little sugar and a little cinnamon powder, mixed together).   Cover and keep warm.  
South African Melktert (Milk Tart) Ingredients
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups milk
• 3 egg white
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Coat a 9 inch deep dish pie plate with vegetable oil cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy. Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and milk. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric mixer. Fold into the batter. Pour into the prepared pie plate, and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top.
3. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Continue to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the center is set when you gently jiggle the pie. Serve hot or cold.

China

2010-05-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

Lately it has been a challenge to keep up with my Eat Planet blog because we recently found out that we are moving to Beijing, China! My husband was offered a job, through his company, to be Operations Director at a joint venture plant over there. We are very excited and we have lots to do since we are moving in the last week of July.

My husband and I were in Beijing last week - it has changed quite a bit since I was there in 1994 - and we found a house to rent and toured the international schools. We were impressed with everything!

Since I am very preoccupied I have decided to stop posting articles on my blog for now, but I will resume once we are settled in China. Living in Beijing will put a very interesting twist on cooking meals from around the world.

So I hope that you will rejoin me in a few months as I continue eating my way around the world (and since we plan on traveling quite a bit through Asia perhaps we’ll eat some of our meals while visiting countries).

Thanks to all who have been following my blog.

Madagascar - Lasopy

2010-04-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Madagascar is a place that most children can point on the map thanks to the animated movie “Madagascar.” It’s an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The fourth largest island in the world is home to 5 % of the world’s plant and animal species and many are endemic to Madagascar (and look plain weird). Did you know that the country has seventy varieties of lemur?

For our Madagascar meal we had the soup called Lasopy. It’s a vegetable soup that is flavored with meat bones. John, who enjoys cooking, made this soup for me all by himself. He did a great job. We loved it.

Lasopy

You can use any fresh vegetables and meat bones.

3 lbs veal bones
2 qts water
2 TBSP salt
3 carrots, peeled and cut
1 small turnip, peeled and cut
1 cup fresh or frozen string beans
1 cup tomatoes, cut into quarters
1/2 tsp black pepper

Simmer for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove the veal bones and puree the soup in a blender.

Serve thick and hot.

Macedonia - Tomatoes and Eggplants

2010-04-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Macedonia is mountainous and landlocked surrounded by the countries Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Kosovo. A former Yugoslav Republic that seems to be searching for its identity. A place where one can experience the best of old and new with Romans ruins, medieval monasteries, the 900-year-old tree at Ohrid along side modern shopping centers, bars and well-dressed men and women in Italian fashions.

The cuisine can best be described as a combination of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. They have a nice variety of fruits and vegetables in their dishes because the climate is warm and the land is fertile. Most meals are accompanied by a Shopska salad. It is made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, roasted red peppers and sirene cheese. I did not make a Shopska salad but we were impressed with the meal I prepared of Tomatoes filled with Meat and Stuffed Eggplant.

Tomatoes Filled With Meat

600g veal or ground beef
Tomatoes
1 onion
4 eggs
Salt and pepper
Rice
Parsley
Cooking oil

Tomato juice and rice

With a knife take off the top of each tomato. Take out the core.

Fry chopped onion and add meat, salt and pepper. When the meat is fried, add chopped parsley, beaten eggs and some cooked rice. Fill the tomato with this mixture and put in baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve on cooked rice on a plate with tomato juice or ketchup.

Stuffed Eggplant

4 small eggplants (or 2 big)
Lemon juice
4 TBSP olive oil
White wine
1 Lb ground meat
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Parsley
2 eggs
Cheese ( I used Pecorino Toscaro Fresco)

Cut each eggplant along its length. Scoop out the eggplants to make shells and reserve the filling. Salt the eggplants and set aside. After awhile dry them with paper towels and add some lemon juice.

Place the eggplants in heated oil; add some wine and fry for about 10 minutes. Remove eggplants and place them in a saucepan.

Heat oil and fry chopped onion, ground meat, garlic, eggplant filling and salt and pepper. Then add parsley and eggs. Fill the eggplants with the mixture and then top it with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.

Luxembourg - Mussels Luxembourg Style

2010-04-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Luxembourg’s name is too big for its size. It’s located in Western Europe and borders Belgium, France and Germany. It’s said to remind one of fairytales since the landscape is dotted with medieval castles and its history reads like a Grimm’s tale. The people seem to be set in their ways and mostly live in the countryside. The capital is old Luxembourg City; romantic and charming, the best of old-world Europe and new.

Luxembourg’s cuisine is influenced by the cuisines of France and Germany. Plus, one can throw in the influences of Italian, Portuguese and Belgian. I may have given the cuisine a better representation if I had cooked a meal of black pudding and boiled potatoes, and perhaps a pastry for dessert. But since my family has a love for mussels I couldn’t resist making Mussels Luxembourg Style. I served it with French fries and so it was very similar to our Belgium meal, only this time I made it myself.

Mussels Luxembourg Style

Mussels
2 leeks
1 carrot
1 onion
1 or 2 shallots
Celery stick and some celery leaf
A bunch of parsley
5 bubls garlic
1/2 bottle Riesling
Butter
Pepper and salt
A sprig of thyme
2 tarragon leaves

Chop the garlic and the vegetables. Then with butter, fry the shallots and onion, then add the vegetables, thyme and tarragon. Add about 1/4 of the wine and cook until vegetables are tender. Then mix butter and crushed garlic together with some black pepper and set aside. Add the mussels to the pot and the rest of the wine. Stir.

When the mussels open add the garlic butter and mix everything together. Sprinkle parsley on top of the mussels when it is ready to serve.

Lithuania - Cold Beet Soup and Meat Dumplings

2010-04-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Lithuania borders Belarus, Poland and Latvia and is the largest of the three Baltic republics. It gained independence with the Soviet Union just over a decade ago and once shared an empire with Poland. Now it’s said to be Europe’s best-kept secret and the capital, Vilnius, is referred to as the ‘New Prague.’ It sure seems to have come a long way.

Even so, I read they are still superstitious; even numbered flowers in a bouquet are for the dead, and it is bad luck to shake hands with someone across a doorway.

Cold Beet Soup ( Cold Borscht)

1 lb red beets
4 cups water
2 cucumbers, chopped into small cubes
2 scallions or chives, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs,, peel, separate white from the yolks and chop white finely
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups buttermilk
Fresh dill
Salt

Clean and peel the beets, cover with water and boil until tender.

Mash the scallions with the egg yolks and 1/4 tsp slat to release the onion flavor.

When the beets have finished boiling, remove them from the water and reserve the liquid

Clean, trim and peel beets, cover with water and boil until tender. Cool the beets under cold running water. When beets have cooked, grate them coarsely.

In a large mixing bowl, add buttermilk to the beet water and blend in sour cream; then add beets, cucumbers, egg whites, egg yolks and onions. Stir until well blended.

Place in refrigerator to chill. Serve with chopped dill as garnish.

Meat Dumplings

Dumplings:

3 eggs
2 TBSP water
3 cups flour

Filling:

1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion

Beat eggs, then add salt and pepper, chopped onion and ground beef.

Then prepare the dough. Beat eggs. Add salt, water and flour to make a soft dough. Roll the dough out and cut ut circles with a large glass, each circle about 3 inces in diameter. Fill each dough circle with a Tablespoon of filling. Seal the edges and twist over the ends.

Bring three quarts of salted water to a boil. Drop in the dumplings and return water to a boil. Dumplings are done when they float to the top.

Serve with hot gravy.

Liechtenstein - An Evening with Friends

2010-04-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

My friend, Sherry Isaac, was kind enough to volunteer to cook a meal for my Eat Planet blog. She chose to cook the cuisine from the country Liechtenstein since it had to be a country past the L’s. Plus, she was familiar with European food. She has Russia on one side of her family tree and Austria on the other and so she was raised on German fare such as perogies, cabbage rolls, streudels and lots of carbs.

I was delighted to have someone else do the cooking. We set a date and I invited Kimberley Scutt and Sharon Bernas. Kimberly has two blogs, Travel Addict on a Budget and Travelling Rubber Chicken. Sharon has a blog called Romance and Beyond. She wrote about our Liechtenstein dinner experience in an article called Eat, Drink, Write.

Sherry arrived at my house with cabbage rolls, Broscht, Ikra (eggplant salsa), Mashed potatoes, rye and pumpernickel bread, and a delicious Honey Ginger cake. Sherry put me to shame with her representation of Liechtenstein. I’m quite positive that I wouldn’t have been able to do a better job.

Liechtenstein is a very small country next to Austria and Switzerland and oddly, the world’s largest producer of dentures.. “It’s beautiful,” my friend, Christa, told me. She and her husband had traveled through Europe on their honeymoon and were impressed with the Switzerland-like country and its spectacular views. The little country also has the wealthiest royal family in Europe.

Our Liechtenstein evening ended with us quietly chatting in the dinning room while sipping wine. My kids sat at the kitchen table in the next room. They each had a plate piled high with Sherry’s Liechtenstein food. Later, Julia came up to me and said, “Tell Sherry that I loved the Borscht.” Julia loves beets so she was able to polish off a couple bowls of soup.

It was a night of delicious food, wine and great conversation. Whenever I think of Liechtenstein, I will think of our Liechtenstein night.

Sherry Isaac has been published in Quick Brown Fox and New Mystery Reader. Her short story, "The Forgetting," placed first in the Alice Munro Contest in 2009. She is co-host of Prana Presents, a venue featuring the work of Toronto’s hottest new authors and poets. Check out, Wildflower, her monthly newsletter geared to emerging writers, visit www.sherryisaac.com.

Cabbage Rolls
*1 lb lean ground beef, browned and well-drained
_ cup uncooked rice
1 egg
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
_ tsp each salt & pepper
10-14 cabbage leaves
1-24 oz can tomato juice
_ cup lemon juice
_ brown sugar
Combine ground beef, rice, egg, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Steam cabbage leaves to loosen. Place 2-3 tbsp meat mixture into each leaf, tuck in edges of leaf and roll. Secure with toothpick. Place rolls in Dutch oven. Combine tomato juice, lemon juice and brown sugar, pour over cabbage rolls. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes then reduce heat and simmer for another 20 minutes.
*Ground turkey or chicken may be substituted.

Borscht – Vegetable Soup with Beets
454 g ground pork (optional)
3 medium beets, peeled and shredded
3 carrots, peeled and shredded
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1-6 ounce can tomato paste
_ cup water
_ head of cabbage, shredded
1-8 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Raw sugar to taste, approximately 1 tsp
Sour cream and fresh parsley for garnish
Brown ground pork over medium heat until no longer pink, drain and set aside. In a large soup pot, bring 2 litres of water to a boil. Add sausage and beets – cook until the beets have lost their colour. Add carrots and potatoes, cook until tender. Add cabbage and canned tomatoes.
In a skillet, heat oil and cook onion until tender. Stir in tomato paste and _ cup water until smooth. Add to soup. Add garlic, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes then season with salt, pepper and sugar. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and parsley if desired.

Ikra
Eggplant salsa
1 large eggplant
1 medium onion, chopped
1 finely chopped green pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
6 tbsp olive oil
2 large tomatoes, peeled, chopped and seeded
_ tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
Lemon juice to taste
In a 425 degree oven, bake eggplant for one hour, turning once. Skin should be blistered. Meanwhile, Saute onions in 4 tbsp olive oil until soft then add garlic and green pepper, cook another 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove to mixing bowl. Remove skin of eggplant and finely chop the pulp. Add to mixing bowl along with tomatoes, sugar and pepper. Pour remaining olive oil into skillet, add mixture and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Lower heat, cover and let simmer for one hour. Remove lid and cook another half hour, stirring occasionally until all liquid has evaporated and mixture is firm enough to hold its shape. Stir in 2 tbsp lemon juice then taste, adding salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Transfer to bowl with well-fitting lid and chill until ready to serve. _ _
Honey Gingerbread or Honey Cake
3 large eggs
_ cup sugar
_ cup honey
1/3 c vegetable oil
3 tbsp orange juice
1 _ tbsp sour cream
1 _ tsp orange rind, grated
2 2/3 c flour
_ tsp each baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon
Heat oven to 325. In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar, oil, honey, orange juice, orange rind and sour cream. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to honey mixture, mix until just blended. Spoon batter into two 8 _ x 4 _ greased and floured loaf pans and bake for 45 minutes. Reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake an additional 15-25 minutes longer until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pans 10 minutes, remove from pans. _
Mashed potatoes, rye and pumpernickel bread.

Libya - Cuscus bil-Bosla

2010-04-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Libya is in Northern Africa along the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Algeria and Tunisia. Even though most of its borders are potentially dangerous, and one must be a part of an organized tour when traveling there, it may be tempting for the adventurous traveler. The country has been sheltered under the Mu’ammar Gaddafi for the last thirty years leaving much of it unspoiled. But now it’s opening up, beckoning and alluring like a beautiful oasis in the dessert.

For our Libyan meal I made the country’s national dish, Cuscus bil-Bosla. It is couscous with lamb, chickpeas, tomatoes and potatoes. Julia loved it. She was very excited when I told her we were having couscous. Though we all enjoyed it we each had our own plate. However, it is their tradition in Libya to serve the meal on a common platter and everyone eats by helping themselves to this platter.

Cuscus bil-Bosla

675g couscous
1 TBSP oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP tomato puree
120ml water
1/2 tsp Kammon hoot
3 onions, thinly sliced
2 TBSP butter
5 lamb chops
150g dried chickpeas (I used one can)
2 potatoes, diced
2 green chillies, sliced
1/2 tsp hot chilli, minced
1 TBSP oil
500ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add oil to a large frying pan and cook the meat and onion. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning the meat half way through.

Whisk the tomato puree into the water then add to the apn, along with the chickpeas and kammon hoot. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours, or until the beans are tender. (I used canned beans so I did not have to simmer for long). Add water as necessary and stir occasionally. Add the diced potatoes and continue cooking until the potatoes are tender.

Add butter to a pan and fry the sliced onions until they turn golden brown. Stir in the chillies and season with salt and pepper. Then add oil and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 3 minuites then remove the pan from the heat and stir-in couscous. Cover the pan and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

Arrange the couscous on a serving tray or plate, arrange the lamb chops on top then spoon the chickpea sauce over everything.

Kammon hoot

1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp mint
3 tsp cumin seeds
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp coriander seeds
15 dried red-hot chilies

Cover chilies with hot water and let stand for 15 minutes until soft. Place chilies and remaining ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth using water that the chilies soaked in to thin it. The sauce should have the consistency of thick paste. If you place the paste in a jar and cover with a little bit of oil it will keep for a couple of months in the refrigerator.

I did not put all the spices into the dish because I knew my children would have a hard time eating it otherwise. I also cut the recipe in half and found that there was still too much.

Liberia - Sweet Potato Cookies

2010-04-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Liberia has a fascinating history and a unique link with the United States. It was founded and colonized by freed American slaves in 1822. They had the help of an organization called The American Colonization Society. They transported over 13,000 free blacks from the United States to Liberia, which isn’t many considering there were 4 million free blacks in the U.S. after the Civil War. The colonization had the support of president James Monroe; the new colonists named Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, after him. But there was fierce opposition to the society and the shipping off of free blacks calling it a slaveholder’s scheme. Today, only about 5% of the population is comprised of the descendents of slaves.

Liberia is on the west coast of Africa and bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d’voire and the Atlantic Ocean. In 1980, a military-led coup overthrew the government and it began years of civil war. But in 2005 the country elected their first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and things are improving.

For our Liberian meal I made Dry Rice with Smoked Fish and Sweet Potato Cookies. We didn’t like the fish and rice dish but, surprisingly, we loved the cookies - even some of John’s friends loved them.

Dry Rice with Smoked Fish

1 1/2 cups of rice
225g smoked fish (or salted pork)
1 onion, chopped
2 litters boiling water
3 hot chilies (eg Scotch Bonnet), pounded to a paste
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 bouillon cubes
2 tsp oil

Add rice and salt to the water and bring to boil. Then add flaked smoked fish (or chopped salted pork). Add bouillon cubes, pepper and chilli paste. Bring to a boil again, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 25 minutes or until the rice is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Add more water if required. Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Cookies

1 sweet potato, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
2 tsp salt
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
4 tsp freshly grated ginger

Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy then add the egg and beat until thoroughly combined. Now add all the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Form dough on a floured surface, and then knead and roll out until it’s about 1cm thick. . Cut with a pastry cutter then place on a well-greased baking sheet. Place in a 350 degree pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven, dust with icing sugar and set aside to cool.

Lesotho - Chakalaka

2010-04-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Lesotho is nicknamed “the kingdom in the sky.” The country is mountainous and has out-of-reach villages with thatched huts and canyons and lies entirely above 4,593 feet in elevation. It’s landlocked and in the middle of South Africa, a little dot one could miss if they weren’t looking for it. Lesotho is relatively peaceful and politically stable, although resources are scare and the poverty rate is high. It’s remained mostly untouched by modern developers, probably because of the country’s harsh terrain.

Lesotho has a “rainbow cuisine” of many different worldly influences. Examples of Lesothoan dishes are spicy curries, chutneys, pickled fish, fish stews, venison, ostrich, and fresh fruits and vegetables.

For our Lesothoan meal I made Chakalaka, a vegetable curry stew, and Putupap, cornmeal porridge. Everyone loved the Chakalaka; it was flavorful and good for us. We weren’t as crazy about the Putupap. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste.

Chakalaka

3 medium onions, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2 medium green bell pepper, diced
Curry powder, to your taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Green chilies (optional)
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 tsp chili powder
1-2 TBSP oil, for frying
1/4 cup water

Fry the onion and pepper together with oil in a large skillet until onion is translucent. Add the carrots, tomatoes, water and all the seasonings to your liking and cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Putupap

3 cups water, boiling
2 tsp salt
1 lb fine white corn meal
Cold water

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Pour corn meal into center of water to form a pile. Add salt, but do not stir.

Remove pot from stove. Put lid on and let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir, return to heat and simmer over very low heat until putupap is fine grained and crumbly.

Stir with a fork or wooden spoon, add cold water, and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Serve with tomato sauce or gravy.

Lebanon - Lamb Kebob Pitas

2010-03-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Last year I saw the movie “Caramel.” It’s a Lebanese film made in 2007. It’s about four women working in a beauty salon in Beirut. The women struggle with universal issues such as aging and the search for love. The movie put a human face to a city that has been in political turmoil.

I don’t know much about Beirut, other than what I’ve read in the book, “From Beirut to Jerusalem” by Thomas Friedman. It chronicles the tension between Arabs and the Israelis and the obstacles to achieving peace in the Middle East. Also, my friend, Rex, described Beirut to me. He worked there for a short time when it was known as “the Paris of the Middle East.” He portrayed it as a delightful place with little shoreline cafes, good restaurants and hotels. It was known for being a place where one could go for a swim in the Mediterranean in the morning and go skiing in the mountains in the afternoon. “What’s happened to it since is a complete travesty!” he said.

For our Lebanese meal I made lamb kebab pita sandwiches with yogurt sauce, green onions, mint and hearts of romaine. It was delicious and it reminded me of the scrumptious street food of the Middle East. The kids loved it too.

Lamb Kebob Pita Sandwiches with Yogurt sauce and Salad

For the lamb:

1 large yellow onion
Juice of 1 large lemon
2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
Freshly ground pepper
2 lbs boneless lean lamb from loin or leg, cut into 1 inch cubes

For yogurt sauce:

1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt or other plain yogurt
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and coarsely shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the salad:

6 green onions, white part only, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint leave, coarsely shredded
4 large pita breads

Latvia - Baked Pork Ribs

2010-03-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

Latvia borders Estonia, Lithuania and Russia and the cold Baltic Sea. I read that the capital, Riga, is the biggest and most vibrant city in the Baltics. I wouldn’t have thought to put Latvia on my must-see places, but now, I just might want to see this up-and-coming hotspot. Well, not hot, but you know what I mean.

Latvian food is influenced by German, Swedish and Russian cuisine. They eat meat at almost every meal and traditionally eat locally grown vegetables such as dried peas, potatoes and cabbage.

One interesting Latvian meal is pig’s snout that is a traditional Christmas dish. It’s served with beans and sausages.

Our Latvian meal consisted of baked pork ribs with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. The kids loved it. John’s favorite meal is ribs.

Baked Pork Ribs

3 lbs pork ribs
1 onion
Carrot
Parsley
Salt and ground pepper

Rub salt and vegetable mixture on the ribs and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. When done, pour pan juices over them and serve with boiled potatoes and sauerkraut.

Laos - Bullfrogs

2010-03-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

In the book “Committed” by Elizabeth Gilbert she and her soon-to-be-husband are in Laos and they get invited to dinner. They are at the house of Elizabeth’s Laotian guide, a young man with a pregnant wife living in a tin shack. Here is an excerpt from the book about that night:

“We all sat down on a bamboo mat and shared the meal, rolling balls of rice in our hands. In keeping with Laotian custom, we all drank from the same glass, passing it around the room from the oldest to the youngest. And here is what we ate: Spicy catfish soup, green papaya salad in a smoky fish sauce, sticky rice – and frogs. These were giant frogs – huge, hefty, meaty bullfrogs – chopped into big parts like stew chicken and then boiled, skin and bones and all.”

I wish I could tell you that our Laotian meal was half as interesting (no, I did not score some massive bullfrogs to eat). Instead, I made Lahp Tofu. I also wish that I could tell you that we liked it. We didn’t. I don’t know why exactly, we all like tofu. Maybe it was because it had a banana flavor. True, a little more appetizing than meaty bullfrogs. Then again, the frogs may have been quite tasty.

Lahp Tofu

Vegetable stock
Soy Sauce
1/2 banana flower (green beans or green bananas)
sticky rice
2 red chillies
Green onions
Mint
Cilantro
Cucumber

Heat oil in wok until hot, then add the tofu. Fry cubes, turning occasionally to ensure even browning until they are golden (about 4- 5 minutes). Remove from oil, drain and cool.

Place tofu cubes on chopping board and coarsely mince with a large knife or chopper. Put the minced tofu into a large bowl for mixing with other ingredients later.

Heat 2 TBSP of oil in a frying pan, and add garlic, fry until barely golden, then add water (or stock) and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

Squeeze out the banana flower, add to the minced tofu and mix lightly. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, then the fried garlic and some juice from the frying pan.

Sprinkle the ground roasted sticky rice over the mixture, and mix together by hand. Taste and adjust soy sauce if necessary.

Add the sliced chillies and chopped spring onions, mint and coriander. Lightly mix, then pile on a serving dish. Garnish with cucumber slices, beans and pieces of chilli or tomato.

Kyrgyzstan - Beshbarmak

2010-03-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Kyrgyzstan is a small mountainous country in Central Asia bordering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. It’s a country known for its hospitality (if you happen to get invited to a Kyrgyz home they’ll insist you drink fermented mare’s milk), but they also love to play and watch the aggressive game of kok boru. It’s not a game for sissy. You see, you ride on horseback, with many other competitors, and you try and grab a headless goat and throw it across a goal line. Sort of like polo, without the corpse.

For our Kyrgyzstan meal I made the national dish, Beshbarmak. It’s traditionally made with horsemeat or, mutton or lamb. Beshbarmak means “five fingers” which makes sense because you eat it with you hands. You will find this dish at any festive gathering – maybe even at a kok boru event.

Beshbarmak

1 medium sheep or a small horse (You read that right. However, I went to Whole Foods and bought lamb chops)
1 large onion
You can make your own flat noodles with flour and eggs ( or you can use lasagna noodles like I did)

Boil the meat with the onions until done. Boil noodles in the same water that the meat was in to give the noodles a meaty flavor.

Kuwait - Big Family Meals

2010-03-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe that the Gulf War was twenty years ago. Apparently, there is little evidence now that there ever was an invasion, except for the memories of it burned in people’s minds and extra security around the capital. But it still holds a reputation of being one of the more relaxed of the Muslim countries.

Kuwaiti dishes are influenced by Mediterranean, Persian, Indian and South Asian cuisine. Eating food is a big part of the culture and it is usually prepared in large amounts where it is common to invite neighbors and family to share the dishes.

For our Kuwaiti meal I cooked only enough for my immediate family (sorry neighbors). I made chicken with lemon with a side of cold spinach and yogurt salad.

Chicken With Lemon

Chicken pieces

Marinade:
1/2 – 3/4 cup oil (half canola and half olive)
2/3 cup lemon juice
2 TBSP thyme
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Marinade chicken for 1 hour or over night. Place chicken in baking dish and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Then broil 15 minutes or until golden.

Cold Spinach and Yogurt Salad

1/2 lb spinach
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 tsp onion, finely grated
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
1 cup plain yogurt
1 TBSP fresh mint, finely cut or 1 tsp dried mint

Wash spinach under cold water running water. Drain, then strip the leaves from the stems.

In a pot, bring water to a boil. Add spinach, reduce heat to low, and simmer, tightly covered, for about 10 mintues. Drain spinach in sieve, cool to room temperature and squeeze it completely dry. Chop finely.

In a bowl, combine spinach, lemon juice, onion, salt and pepper. Toss the mixture and stir in the yogurt and mix thoroughly.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled. Sprinkle with mint.

South Korea - Bulgolgi

2010-03-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

During the Vietnam War my dad, an Air Force Captain, was assigned to an Air Force base in Kwangju, Korea for a 13-month tour. I was a baby and my mother, who had never left the United States, insisted we join him.

Kwangju was remote and difficult to get to because of bad roads and primitive surroundings. It was only 250 miles south of Seoul but years behind. My mother was told by my father’s boss not to come and he made it clear that there was no authorized housing available for American dependents on the base and there was no commissary.

Many of my mother’s friends and relatives thought she was nuts for wanting to accompany my dad, especially with a baby, to a remote part of Asia. But South Korea was friendly with the United States and it eagerly promoted tourism. My mother discovered the presence of missionaries there and found that there was a good-sized community of American Presbyterians living in Kwangju and that they often provided housing to Americans staying in the area.

My father left for Korea to begin his assignment and to make the final arrangements for our housing. He then wrote to my mother and told her to “come on over” and my mom and I embarked upon our adventure. Since my mother wasn’t authorized to ship household goods, she had to figure out how to pack everything we needed for a year into 44 pounds of luggage.

The arrival in Korea, the reunion with my dad, and a sightseeing weekend in Seoul brought on a sense of euphoria for my mom who had dreamed of traveling since she was a little girl. But that ended abruptly when we flew over endless patterns of rice paddies and mountains and landed in Kwangju. Reality set in and it was time to begin making a life there.

The year in Korea turned out to be a rich and memorable experience (for my parents – not for me as much since I was a baby). The move there had set us on a course; it was the beginning of many more adventures living in different countries all over the world. It was Korea that gave my parents a taste of the life-style that made them decide to join the Foreign Service.

Though I don’t remember Korea, it shaped my destiny, it set me on a path for a life time of travel.

One of the dishes my mother made often from Korea was bulgolgi, a sweet marinated beef served over rice.

Korean Bulgolgi

1 1/2 lbs thinly sliced rib-eyed steak (you can find it already sliced in Asian stores)
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Yellow onion, halved and sliced into moon shaped slivers
2 green onions including the white parts, finely sliced into small pieces
2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds
1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes
2 pinches black pepper
1/4 tsp of ginger, finely minced

Whisk all the ingredients together in bowl except beef and onions. When most of the sugar has dissolved, add beef and onion slices to the bowl and massage the marinade with your hands into each slice of beef. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To pan fry, place a few slices of beef in single layers on a hot oiled frying pan and fry each side until cooked.

Serve with rice.

North Korea - Korean Noodles

2010-03-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

It was a few months ago now, but I remember being horrified by the story of the two journalists who were arrested and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for supposedly entering North Korea illegally. Even if the women were stupid enough to walk into North Korea without proper papers, I thought the punishment certainly did not fit the crime. Luckily it had a happy ending. Bill Clinton got involved and negotiated the release of the poor journalists.

North Korea has been shut off from the rest of the world for half a century. People live in fear, where dictator Kim Jong II runs the country with an iron fist. It’s the place George W. Bush declared a part of the “Axis of Evil,” along with Iran and Iraq.

Many of us know veterans of the Korean War. It began in June of 1950, when North Korea invaded the south. The United States got involved and the war lasted three years and claimed more than 54,000 American lives.

I consider myself an adventurous traveler, but I don’t think I’ll be putting North Korea on my bucket list.

Korean cuisine consists of rice, noodles, tofu, vegetables and meats. Beef is the most valued meat and its consumption used to be forbidden until the Mongols came into power in the 13th century. Chicken, pork and fish are also very popular, as well as dog meat. Using dog meat, they prepare a spicy stew that claims to balance a person’s vital energy in their body. Being huge dogs lovers, this spicy stew would be out of the question for us – even if it does have health benefits.

For our North Korean meal I made a delicious Korean noodle soup. It’s a quick and satisfying meal and one that I have made on a couple of occasions. It was definitely a big hit with the family.

Korean Noodles

1 pound of Chinese dried noodles or vermicelli, cooked and drained.
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups beef broth
1/2 pound ground beef
1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tsp Oriental sesame oil
Few drops hot sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

While the noodles cook, heat the oil in a medium skillet. Add the eggs and cook them in a flat sheet until they are set and the top is no longer shiny. Remove the omelet from the skillet and cut it in thin strips.

Heat the broth in a small saucepan.

For the topping, sauté, the beef in a medium skillet until it loses all pinkness. Add soy sauce, sugar, garlic, toasted sesame seeds, sesame oils and salt. Cook for 1 minute.

Divide the noodles among 4 individual soup bowls and spoon the beef sauce over them. Sprinkle each with 1/4 of the eggs and green onions and pour heated broth over.

Kiribati - Coconut and Curry

2010-03-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Kiribati, once apart of the United Kingdom, is an island nation located in the Pacific. You might have heard about it in your history class. It’s the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II,

Tarawa is the capital and it is also an atoll, an island of coral that surrounds a lagoon. The land looks like a ring and surrounded by beautiful blue water on both sides.

Surprisingly, it is not a big tourist destination, even with its beautiful fish, coral reefs and warm beaches. It still moves at a slow pace and it’s taking its sweet time catching up to the rest of the world.

It was not easy finding Kiribati recipes. I finally made what I thought was a typical islander meal: fish cooked in coconut milk and curry, and sweet potatoes. The curry and coconut combination was a nice blend of sweet and spice.

Kiribati dishes include rice, fish and shellfish seasoned with spices and coconut and coconut milk. Taro, and sweet potatoes and curries are very common.

Kenya - Safari Steak

2010-03-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Kenya offers one of the best safari adventures on the continent, and more. How about sunning on an Indian Ocean beach or trekking the glacial ridges of Mt Kenya? There’s a reason it’s one of Africa’s primary destinations. And, if we’re lucky while visiting, we’ll catch a glimpse of the magic of Africa.

Kenyan cuisine is influenced by East India and Great Britain, mixed with African dishes and tribal delicacies. Potatoes are a prominent feature and vegetable curry is very popular, as well as beef, chicken, goat and fish.

Ugali is the national dish, a cornmeal porridge. It is eaten by rolling it up in a ball and then dipping it into a sauce. It is inexpensive and easy to prepare, making it a common staple to most meals.

For out Kenyan meal, we did not have Ugali. Instead I made Safari Steak. It is steak served on a mixture of mashed potatoes and yams with a red wine sauce poured over it. It would have been tasty if I hadn’t gone to a bargain grocery store and bought low quality meat.

It served me right. I was too lazy to drive to Whole Foods to get quality organic meat.

Safari Steak

6 steaks
2 tsp oil
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup dessert wine
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
4 TBSP tomato paste mixed with 4 TBSP water
A mixture of mashed potatoes and yam
Bunch of parsley, chopped

Heat the oil in a pan and season the steak with black pepper. Fry the steaks for 3 minutes per side, or until they are done to your liking, then place in the oven to keep warm. Lower the heat in the pan and add the wine and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, scraping the base of the pan to loosen any meat juices. The add the tomato paste mixture. Cook until the sauce is thick.

Mix the mashed yams and potatoes together and place the steaks on top and spoon the sauce over the steaks. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.

Kazakhstan - Horsemeat

2010-03-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

I hate to say this, but every time I think of Kazakhstan I think of Borat chasing his chicken on a New York subway. I know many people from Kazakhstan were upset about how the movie Borat portrayed them, but then again, the movie didn’t exactly show the U.S. in its best light either.

But to be fair, lets forget Borat and explore this country that few from the outside world know. You may be surprised to learn that Kazakhstan’s biggest city, Almaty, is very European with international shops, suburbs, fine restaurants, nightclubs and 24-hour supermarkets. The country’s capital, Astana, is a multi-cultural city that is racing to catch up with the rest of the world.

Then yes, you’ll also find remote open spaces, Soviet-era service and many dishes with horsemeat. In fact, when I was looking for recipes I was having a hard time finding a dish that didn’t have horsemeat. There was horsemeat sausages, horse liver, served with onions and peppers, horsemeat lard made from horse’s neck and salted horse’s hip and hind leg.

Julia, like most nine-year-old little girls, is crazy about horses – has horse posters in her room and takes horseback riding lessons. There was no way I was going to serve up horsemeat – if even I could find it.

Thankfully I found a beef soup recipe (perhaps the authentic version required horsemeat). It was fairly easy to make and tasty and certainly something we could all enjoy.

Kazakh Beef Soup

3 beef soup bones
2 TBSP olive oil, divided
1 16 oz. jar of Sauerkraut, rinsed and drained 1
1 onion, chopped
2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cubes
1 TBSP hot chili sauce, or to taste
1/4 cup sour cream, optional

Place soup bones in a big pot with enough water to cover them by 2 inches. Bring to boil and cook uncover for about 1 hour to make a beef stock. Remove bones and col.

Heat 1 TBSP of oil in a large skillet. Sauté sauerkraut for a few minutes, then add just enough water to cover sauerkraut, cover the pan and let simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes or until sour taste is gone. Drain and set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté onion until tender.

When bones are out of stock, add potatoes and boil until tender. Stir in sauerkraut, onions and any meat that can be picked from the bones, Season with hot sauce and salt. Simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Jordan - Maklooba

2010-03-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

Since Jordan is one of the most stable and peaceful countries in the Middle East, it’s a great tourist destination. Petra, for instance, is one of the world’s most unforgettable sights. It’s a city of rock cut architecture, buildings created by carving natural rock.

Jordan is also a place to see Biblical sites such as where Jesus was baptized and where John the Baptist was beheaded. You can explore ancient Roman ruins and Crusader castles. Even today, you’ll see the classic Middle Eastern dessert scene of Bedouins with their flocks of sheep and goats.

But Jordan isn’t just a time warp. The capital city of Amman is modern, Westernized and glitzy and, while touring the country, you can do the typical beachy thing and go to Aqaba to snorkel in the Red Sea.

To me, Jordan sounds like the perfect place to go to experience the Middle East.

For our Jordanian meal we had Maklooba. It’s a popular Middle Eastern rice dish. It can vary from country to country but I’m hoping I got the more traditional Jordanian version. The main ingredients are rice, lamb or chicken, cauliflower and eggplant. The ingredients are layered in a deep pot and then cooked together. When it’s done, the pot is turned upside down on a serving platter.

I could not get it to mold. Despite that, the we all enjoyed the Maklooba.

Jordanian Maklooba

8 chicken thighs
Canola oil
1 tsp fresh nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cumin powder
salt
4 saffron threads
2 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cardamom seeds
3 peppercorns
Freshly ground black pepper
1 head cauliflower, trimmed into florets
1 eggplant, peeled, cubed and salted
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 cups rice

1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp all spice
4 saffron threads
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
Salt and Pepper
Toasted pine nuts for garnish

In a pan, brown chicken in oil. Once brown (but does not have to be fully cooked), add nutmeg, all spice, cumin powder, salt, saffron, cinnamon sticks, cardamom seeds and peppercorns.

Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a boil. Season with ground pepper. Cover and simmer until the meat pulls away from the bone. When done, set the chicken aside. Keep the broth – do not discard.

Fry cauliflower in oil until brown and then drain on paper towels. Repeat process with eggplant. Then set aside.

Heat oil in large pot and add onions and sauté. Then add chicken (bone and all – but I took the meat off the bone).

Rinse rice, then put in bowl and stir in spices into the raw rice.

Add cauliflower and eggplant to chicken, then put seasoned rice on top. Pour the left-over chicken water in the pot to just barely cover the rice. Bring to boil, then simmer and cover. When water is gone and rice is tender, dish is done.

Flip it, upside down, onto a serving plate and garnish with toasted pine nuts.

Japan - Guirei, Japanese Restaurant

2010-02-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Japanese food is one of our favorite cuisines. We all love sushi and fortunately we found a wonderful little Japanese restaurant not too far from our house called Guirei, located on Kerr street. The chef is a delightful man who always welcomes me with a smile and knows me by name. Every time I bring my children he gives them candies and he will often give us a free desert or appetizer. But that’s not why I go. I go because the sushi is fresh and delicious. The best I’ve had in the area.

I’ve made my own sushi, and it’s a fun thing to do with the kids, but when it came time for us to eat a cuisine from Japan, there was no question that it had to come from our favorite Japanese restaurant. We ordered the Spider Roll, deep friend soft shell crab with avocado and sweet sauce, Agedashi Tofu, deep-fried tofu with dipping sauce, the Rainbow Roll, salmon, tuna, red snapper, avocado on a California roll, and a California Roll with avocado, crab meat, cucumber and tobiko.

Japan fascinates me. I would love nothing more than to travel there. When my parents lived in Burma, when I was in high school and college, I would visit them twice a year and I would fly into Tokyo to change planes. I’ve spent countless hours in that airport but never was able to get outside of it. In retrospect, I should have spent a few days there as I was passing through. Then again, I was usually by myself and was anxious to get to my destination.

But I have read many books on Japan and seen movies about Japan. Here are some I recommend:

Books

The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd

Hiroshima by John Hersey

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Movies

Letters from Iwo Jima

Empire of the Sun

Lost in Translation

Jamaica - Jerk Seasoning

2010-02-24T06:35:00.000-08:00

Go to Jamaica and get ready to experience the three Rs: reggae, reefers and rum. It’s a Caribbean island that sets itself apart from the others; it has a proud connection to Africa. There are certain things we associate with Jamaica (besides the three Rs), Bob Marley, Kingston, Jerk seasoning, and Blue Mountain coffee. And who can resist saying, “Jamaica, mon.”

But don’t worry, you’ll still get everything a Caribbean island promises: Warm sun, beaches and resorts. You just may learn something. Maybe it’ll be about bush-medicine or a little history about the triangular slave trade and the Maroons, who preserved many of the African traditions.

Jerk Pork

4 1/2 lbs pork loin, butterflied ( I used 2 1/2 lbs. If you use lesss meat, adjust the recipe accordingly)
Jerk Sauce (Whole Foods had several to choose from)
2 tsp thyme
1 cup black sesame seeds (I used white since that’s what I had)
Crushed pimento (allspice)
1/2 bunch of green onions, chopped
Salt to taste
2 tsp crushed peppercorns
Cooking oil to brush pork

Season pork loin with salt, 1 tsp crushed pepper and 1 tsp thyme. Spread with jerk sauce and sprinkle with chopped green onion.

Roll the pork tightly, length-wise and brush with oil.

Mix sesame seeds with the crushed pimento, 1 tsp thyme, salt and 1 tsp pepper and roll pork in mixture to form a crust. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and let sit for 1 hour or overnight.

Roast 35 minutes at 375 degrees, or until done. It took my pork to cook longer.

Slice and smother with hot sauce. Serve with rice and peas, dumplings.

Jerk Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
3 cups flour
1 TBSP all purpose seasoning
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP baking powder
1 cup canned corn
1 cup green onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar (or any type of cheese you like)
3 large eggs
2 cups milks or coconut milk
1 cup melted butter
1 TBSP thyme
1/2 tsp scotch bonnet pepper (or chili pepper if you prefer less heat)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line a 9 x 13 cm pan with parchment paper. Coat with butter.

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another

Mix wet into dry and place in pan. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Most say that real jerk seasoning is made only using scotch bonnet peppers. The use of these peppers to make jerk seasoning dates back to the Maroons. They created this rub to preserve the meat. They would then slow cook the meat on an open fire.

(I got these recipes from the magazine Jamaican Eats)

Italy - My Kitchen in Italy

2010-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

Oh Italy. Sometimes I want to run off and live there. There are so many things to entice a woman about Italy – the history, the fashion, the food, the men! Wouldn’t you just love to say, “I live in Florence” or “I live in an old villa in Tuscany.”

That’s it. I’m starting my life over and I’m going to Tuscany. Or maybe I’ll go to Venice, Rome, Sicily, or Milan! My heart palpitates just thinking of all the places I want to go in Italy!

I think I shall become an expert on Italian food. If I did I would cook with such passion. I could become a fat Italian mother who spends all day in the kitchen. Pasta, polenta, risotto, oh my! I would do that if I had a kitchen in Italy.

In my kitchen in Canada, I made an Italian feast. I took my recipes from Jamie Oliver’s cookbook Jamie’s Italy.

Fried Pizza

Pizza dough (I buy fresh dough from our local bakery)
Flour, for dusting
Vegetable oil, for frying
Buffalo mozzarella
Dried oregano (optional)

For the tomato sauce:

Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
Fresh basil
1 14-oz can of plum tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make your tomato sauce. Heat oil in a pan and sauté garlic, then add half the basil, the tomatoes, and salt and pepper. Cook gently for about 20 minutes, mashing the tomatoes until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat your grill or broiler to its highest temperature. Pull off a piece of the dough and flatten it onto a floured work surface. Heat a frying pan over high heat, add vegetable oil

and fry each little pizza for about 30 seconds on each side. Remove with tongs and place on a baking sheet.

Once all the pizzas are fried, top each with tomato sauce, leaf or two of basil or dried oregano. Drizzle with olive oil and grill until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is brown and cooked through.

Jamie Oliver wrote that this is how the first pizzas were made. We love these pizzas and have made them a couple times since our Italian meal.

Spaghetti Trapani Style

1 lb dried spaghetti
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 1/2 oz almonds, skins on or off
1 clove garlic
4 large handfuls of fresh basil
5 1/2 oz freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 lb. Tomatoes, halved

Cook your spaghetti. Warm the almonds a little in a dry pan, then smash them up in a pestle and mortar or in a food processor until it is a powder consistency. Put in them in a bowl. Smash the garlic and basil in the mortar separately and mix with the almonds, adding the cheese, olive oil and salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and mash them with your hands into the almond mixture until they are all broken up. Add a little olive oil and toss with the pasta. Top spaghetti with the sauce.

Pork Chops with Sage

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
Sea salt and black pepper
4 thick pork chops on the bone
24 fresh sage leaves
1 bulb garlic
4 slices of prosciutto
4 TBSP butter, finely diced
4 dried apricots
Extra virgin olive oil
Flour
6 thick strips of bacon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Boil potatoes for only 3 or 4 minutes, then drain them and allow them to steam dry. Lay your pork chops on a cutting board and using a small knife make a pocket into the side.

Set aside 8 of the largest sage leaves. Add 8 more leaves to the food processor with a peeled clove of garlic, the prosciutto, butter, apricots and salt and pepper. After it’s mixed, divide the mixture between the pork chops and put it into the pockets.

Drizzle some olive oil on the 8 large sage leaves. Press a leaf into some flour and then press the leaf, lour side down, onto each side of the pork chops (so you have two leaves on each chop). Leave the pork chops on a plate, covered with plastic wrap, to come to room temperature.

Cut the bacon into thin strips. Put them in a pan with the potatoes, the rest of the sage leaves and the rest of the garlic. Drizzle with some olive oil and put the pan into a pre-heated oven. After 10 minutes, heat up a frying pan and get it very hot. Add olive oil and your pork chops. Fry until golden on both sides, then remove pan of potatoes from the oven, and place the pork chops on top. Put the pan back into the oven for 10 – 15 minutes, or until done. Then serve.

Salad from Caprese

4 5oz. balls of buffalo mozzarella
2 handfuls of mixed ripe tomatoes
White of one spring onion, finely sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
Herb vinegar

Dressing:

A handful of fresh basil leaves
Sea Salt and ground fresh pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Make your dressing first. Keeping a few leaves aside for later, chop the basil and pound with a good pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar. Add a splash of oil and stir it in to make the basil dressing.

Tear the mozzarella onto a large serving plate. Chop the tomatoes into chunks and put them in a bowl with the spring onion, olive oil, a little herb vinegar and salt and pepper. Place the tomatoes in and around the mozzarella and drizzle the basil dressing over the top. Sprinkle with the reserved basil leaves and serve.

If you want the more complete recipes, and lots of other fantastic Italian recipes, I suggest you check out Jamie Oliver’s book, Jamie’s Italy.

One thing I want to mention – that Jamie Oliver mentions in his book – is to eat consciously. Think about where your meats and dairy products are coming from, and buy organic fruits and vegetables. Make sure that the meat and eggs you buy, for instance, comes from free run farms, and try and buy local whenever possible. They will most likely be more expensive, so buy less. But the quality will be better, and healthier too. I hope we can send a message to farmers that we won’t tolerate the mistreatment of animals, or the environment.

Israel - Yarushaleim the Golden

2010-02-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

When I was preparing our Israeli meal I suddenly felt homesick. I said to Kevin and Julia, who were in the kitchen, “We should visit Israel someday. It would be so much fun. There’s so much to do and I could show you where I used to live. Did you know I could see the beach from my house?”

Julia laughed. “Like Sarah Palin could see Russia from her house.” She said it in a falsetto voice that made me giggle.

Kevin was reading the newspaper and I could see him stiffen. “Israel is dangerous,” he said.

“Why is it dangerous?” Julia asked.

I shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s because there are certain people who want to blow it up and wipe it off the face of the earth. But that shouldn’t stop us from going.”

Kevin gave me a funny look and Julia shook her head and said, “I don’t want to go if it’s dangerous.”

I started to feel impatient. I wasn’t suggesting that we spend a couple of weeks in Baghdad, for god’s sakes. I wanted to go back to my childhood home where I spent some of the best years of my life, the best fours years of my childhood anyway.

Paul Theroux warned against going back to the places you used to travel. “The decision to return to any early scene in your life is dangerous but irresistible,” he writes, “not as a search for lost time but for the grotesquerie of what happened since. In most cases it is like meeting an old lover years later and hardly recognizing the object of desire in this pinched and bruised old fruit.”

For me, the risk in going back to Israel is not getting blown up, but seeing it with different eyes, more critical and mature eyes. I may wonder why I thought of it as the object of my desire. On the other hand, it could be like seeing a long lost friend. If I go back, I will either be swept up with emotion or disappointment. I cannot imagine any other outcome.

We moved to Israel in September of 1976. My mother wrote back home how modern Israel fascinated us. She described the handsome sun-tanned soldiers wearing short shorts with machine guns slung over their shoulders, mingling in the crowds, and ads enticing tourists to come and have fun on the sea of Galilee, and the roadside sign on Haifa highway near our house saying, “Jerusalem, 74 kilometers.”

Jerusalem was magical. It was an hour drive from Tel Aviv. The last miles before we reached the city we would ascend up into the mountains – winding higher and higher and then we were there – Jerusalem stretched out before us. We stayed at the King David hotel, drove to the Mount of Olives for the fabulous, not-quite-real-seeming, panoramic view of Jerusalem, we visited the Wailing Wall where we put on skullcaps and shoved prayers in the wall. We visited The Dome of the Rock, the Garden of Gethesamane with its huge and twisted old olive trees, and roamed the markets in the old city and Bethlehem.

The first time we saw Bethlehem we all caught our breath and our guide said, “Look at that. It looks like 2000 years ago.”

Then we drove up the street and there was the “Holy Manger Souvenir shop.”

My mother thought the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem was tacky and commercialized. You would walk in and a guide would say, “Here’s where Mary bore Jesus and here is where she laid him afterwards.” Now, how could they possibly know that?

Israel was very special to all of us. My mother wrote home about how much we loved living there.

But Jerusalem held a special place in our hearts. She wrote in one of her letters, “There’s an Israeli song about Jerusalem that we want to learn – Yarushaleim the Golden. I don’t know the title but those words are in it. That’s the Hebrew pronunciation of Jerusalem. When you’re on the Mount of Olives in the late afternoon with the sun shining on the old city laid out in a panorama below you, you see why it’s called Jerusalem the Golden.”

Near our house in Israel there was a market square and almost every day after school I would run to the market deli and get a hummus and pita sandwich with red cabbage. When it came time to make our meal for Israel I knew just the thing I wanted to prepare: hummus and pita sandwiches with red cabbage and a side of tabbouleh.

I have had hummus and pita sandwiches since, of course, but not with the red cabbage. It didn’t taste quite the same (it never does), but it was good and I was surprised how much my children loved it.

Now, I need to find a way to take my family to Israel – perhaps even to that same deli in that market square in Tel Aviv – not in my mind or through my stories, but in person. I’m willing to risk being blown away all over again.

Tabbouleh

1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup fine bulgur
Leaves of one large bunch of Italian parsley
Leaves of one bunch spearmint (mint)
1/2 cup red onion
2 cups cherry tomatoes
juice of one large lemon
2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large bowl, pour the boiling water over the bulgur. Let stand for 30 minutes, uncovered, until the bulgur has absorbed all the liquid and is softened.

Chop the parsley, mint and onion. Add to the bulgur and toss to combine.

Have the tomatoes, place in a colander, and press lightly to drain off some of their liquid and eliminate some seeds, then add to the bulgur.

Pour the lemon juice and olive oil over the bulgur and vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours before serving.

Ireland - Irish Stew

2010-02-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

I have always thought of Ireland as a place of beauty with rolling green hills dotted with castles and quaint stone farmhouses. I read that it holds a sense of timelessness and is said to be one of the most beautiful countries. A place once visited, is never forgotten, the old saying goes.

Dublin, the capital, has been called the greatest city in Europe, mostly because of the Irish locals, I believe. Going to an Irish pub for a pint of Guinness seems to be a time-old cliché, as Irishly typical as the leprechaun. But who goes to Dublin and doesn’t do that?

Ireland is a must-see place, despite the crummy weather – or maybe that’s part of the charm.

In the 16th century, Ireland’s cuisine was changed forever because of the introduction of the potato. Two of Ireland’s most popular dishes are the Irish stew, made with potatoes, and Boxty, a potato cake.

Irish cuisine also comprises of dishes such as boiled bacon and cabbage, and coddle, boiled sausages. They are known for their hearty breakfasts of bacon, eggs, sausages, fried potatoes and black and white pudding.

For our Irish meal I cooked Irish stew. It was once a peasant dish. Traditionally, only the cheapest and most readily available ingredients were used for the stew. It was made of lamb or mutton with potatoes and root vegetables.

The stew has evolved and there are now many variations.

I used beef in our stew and it still had a real sense of Irish-ness to it. I used Guinness beer and red wine. There was nothing peasant about it. But the recipe still included traditional ingredients such as potatoes, onions and carrots.

What’s not to like about Irish stew? It’s full of goodness and warmth, satisfying until the last spoonful. Like Ireland, it seems.

Irish Stew

1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 lb well-marbled chunk beef stew meat, cut into one inch pieces
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock
1 cup Guinness beer
1 cup fine red wine.
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP dried thyme
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 TBSP butter
3 lbs russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and pepper
2 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Lightly salt beef. Working in batches (do not crowd) and beef and brown. Add garlic, sauté. Add beef stock, wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring to boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Melt butter in another large pot over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and carrots. Sautee until golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

After one hour, add vegetables to beef stew. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are tender. Discard bay leaves. Transfer to serving bowls, add salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley.
.

Iraq - War

2010-02-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

I remember during the height of the Iraq War someone wrote an article called “Between Iraq and a hard place.” I cursed America’s stupidity for getting us in this war. Before the first bombs were dropped, I could see that Iraq would be a quagmire. Even as it became evident that we were not going to change thousands of years of ingrained tribal thought in a matter of months - with our bombs - the situation divided us - and brought some of us closer together.

We were anti-American if we opposed the war and when I spoke to our neighbors, friends and relatives I would occasionally say something like: Bush is such an idiot and if the other person responded in the same diatribe, than we would both breath a sigh of relief and we would hug each other like we were long lost comrades and we would give each other some reassuring anti-war, anti-Bush rant to reaffirm to one another that we weren’t all out of our minds.

Those were the days when us “anti-Americans” would go to Michael Moore movies and cheer. I must admit, there was a feeling of camaraderie, a sense of belonging, ironically. It was us verses them – the Bushies. Strangely, our troops were dying to unite a country, to bring the Shiites and the Sunnis together, to accept, to vote righteously, live the American way. While their government toppled, so did ours, in a sense, and our reputation with it.

How could we have thought we were so noble – any of us? We all clung to our idea of truth – what it meant in that moment. Were we delusional? Yes, in a sense. Even us – the anti-war group - because even after all that cursing and foot stomping and pointing it only left us worthy of one thing: the privilege to say we were right. But it has also left us empty and broken and we now carry around that awful feeling in the pit of our stomachs that we didn’t do enough to stop it and we ask ourselves: how are we ever going to explain this to our children? Us, Bush-haters, held the I-told-you-so prize but what has it given us? ( okay, Obama was elected, and that was something good that came out of this, but Sarah Palin is coming around the corner – here she comes!) The truth is, we’re still stuck, we’re still divided, our troops are still dying and our reputation is still lost.

We have paid a high price for this war. Not just in lives and dollars and in world opinion, but it has wounded us, it has made us bitter, untrusting, and the emotions of it still so heated that one dare not, even now, mention it, unless one is looking for a debate, or a slap. Some are saying, Obama said he would get all our troops out of that godforsaken place. He’s not keeping his promise! Paradoxically, I hear myself defending our president on this issue. “If we just pull out,” I say, “then what will happen to Iraq?”

Does anyone care anymore?

Even years after the war started, after the anti-war demonstrations, after the movie Fahrenheit 9/11, after Bush, we’re still between Iraq and a hard place.

Iraq cuisine is the essence of Middle Eastern food, in my humble opinion. Ironically, it seems that I could combine what we ate for Iraq and what we’re going to eat for Israel and we’d have an Iraqi meal! Their popular dishes include: kebabs, falafel, hummus, tabbouleh, grilled meats and lamb.

For our Iraqi meal we had shawarma - grilled meat sandwich wrap - and chicken kebab with basmati rice. We could have eaten that anywhere in the Middle East. In food, at least, they agree.

Iran - Kebab Koobideh

2010-02-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

Being an American I don’t have a very good image of Iran. What stands out in my mind is the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981. It particularly hit home with my family and me because the hostages were American Embassy employees – like my parents. I remember having fourth grade fantasies that I would go over to Iran and somehow free those poor captives.

Since then, there have been other clashes with the West and my tainted image has only been reaffirmed. However, I would like to draw my own conclusions. I wish I could see Iran for what it is: the warm people, the beautiful mosques, the loud and dynamic city of Tehran, the ancient Persian city of Esfahan and the ruins in Persepolis. It is unlikely that I will see these places in person, at least not anytime soon. But I promise to try and learn about it, see it beyond my ingrained prejudices.

For our Iranian meal we had the popular Kebab Koobideh, minced meat made from lamb, beef or chicken. It’s prepared by mixing the meat with parsley, chopped onions, salt, pepper, turmeric and other seasonings. It is mixed together - an egg added to keep the mixture from falling apart - and then the mixture is pressed around a skewer.

We had both the lamb and the beef Koobideh from a little Middle Eastern restaurant in Oakville called Kebab Stop. We loved the Koobideh; it tasted like meatloaf only a bit spicier – though not at all spicy. The meat was tender, slightly juicy and we ate it with basmati rice and a salad. The kids loved it and even had the leftovers in their school lunch the next day.

Indonesia - Archipelago

2010-02-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

I think one of the most stunning features about Indonesia is its archipelago. There are more than 17,000 islands, 6,000 of which are uninhabited. Knowing that, one can see how it would be possible, even in this day and age, to get stranded on a deserted island.

Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad fate, for a while. I like the idea that there are places on this earth that have yet to be explored. There is a wonderful mysterious quality about that, the possibility of undiscovered cultures and animals, maybe a long lost city.

But if it’s simply a vacation you want, than Indonesia has plenty to offer. There’s the multicultural city of Jakarta, the beautiful resorts of Bali, volcanic lakes of Sumatra, the jungles of Sumatra Kalimantan and Papua, and much more.

Indonesia seems to be a place that would suite me. Bali is high on my list for places I want to go.

If you want to watch a great movie about Indonesia watch The Year of Living Dangerously starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt. It’s about a rookie journalist who is covering the Indonesian civil war of 1965. The journalist has an affair with an American diplomat who helps him with his story, but in the end, he has to choose between the woman he loves and the story that will make his career.

Indonesian cuisine is influenced by India, the Middle East, China and Europe. Many of the most popular dishes are now common across the world, dishes such as satay, and sambal. We had satay for our Indonesian meal. It was familiar to all of us and we enjoyed it very much.

India - A Passage to India

2010-02-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

If you look, you will find many books and movies about India. Just last year, if you recall, the movie Slumdog Millionaire won best picture in the Academy Awards. I watched it in the theater with Christa (in the end, everyone applauded) and, later, when it came out on DVD, I watched it again with Kevin and John.

Earlier that year, the kids and I rented the movie Gandhi. I had seen it before, but it was a treat to watch with my children and to answer their questions. Why did someone kill Gandhi? Why did the British put Gandhi in jail? Why didn’t Gandhi wear regular clothes? They were mesmerized as they learned about one of the most admired men in history. There are so many lessons to be learned in this movie! I reminded my children that we don’t have to resort to violence. Look at Gandhi, he brought down an empire through persistence and courage, not with guns.

My mother’s favorite book series was Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott. The novel is set in 1942 in a fictional city in a British province of India. In 1984, the Jewel in the Crown series was made into a television movie about the final days of the British Raj.

Another favorite is E.M. Forester’s book A Passage to India. It was also made into a movie, which I highly recommend. It is set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s.

In a less serious characterization of India, Elizabeth Gilbert goes to an Indian Ashram in her book Eat, Pray, Love. She was newly divorced, fighting depression and hoped to find herself through travel. She wrote that in India she, “wanted to explore the art of devotion,” and I suppose that if someone were to run away, in search for the meaning of life, or something, one would chose India.

One can travel to India without ever leaving their chair, it seems. But to be spiritually captured and never set free, to experience somewhere you’ll never forget, whether you love it or hate it, one must go there - I can only imagine - I was so close when I lived in Burma, but never did I set foot in India.

To find Indian cuisine is as simple as finding a book on India. Indian restaurants are plentiful, and to make my life easier, we got our meal from an Indian restaurant in Oakville called Coriander Green. We ordered Samosa, roti, butter naan, chicken tikka – chicken marinated in yogurt and cooked in Tandoor, Palak Paneer – spinach cooked with cubes of cheese, spices, garlic and butter, and Shrimp Masala – shrimp cooked with onions, green/red peppers, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and other spices.

Kevin and I loved the food. The kids weren’t as crazy about it, especially the Palak Paneer. I admit, the spinach and cheese didn’t particularly look good, but it was delicious and it put me in the mood to watch or read a book about India.

Iceland - Hot Springs and Cold

2010-02-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

When I think of Iceland I think of three things: clean, cold and hot springs. It’s true that it has, and is, all these things, although the country has higher temperatures than most places with the same latitude. Did you know that in July 2008 it had a record high of 79.2 degrees Fahrenheit?

Iceland also has glaciers, waterfalls and active volcanoes, and it’s a great place to whale watch. However, it’s barren and rocky too and the majority of the population ( under 300,000) lives in the capital of Reykjavik, a city full of writers, poets and musicians.

I read that the quality of the food in Iceland is superb. The animals they eat drink clean water, eat fresh grass and breath fresh air. Perhaps there is a lesson in this for us? We should stop buying meat from farmers who cage their animals in filthy, cramped conditions and pump them up with antibiotics. What’s that old saying? We are what we eat?

Icelandic food is mostly based on fish, lamb and dairy products. Traditional dishes include blood pudding, cured meat like ram and shark and skyr, a cheesy yogurt.

Our Icelandic meal was fabulous and something that I can see making again and again. It was a fish casserole made with white fish fillets, onion, grated cheese and breadcrumbs. It was easy to make and the kids loved it. In fact, I had left over fish and made the dish two nights in a row.

Serve it with boiled potatoes and a salad and you’ve got yourself an Icelandic meal.

Fish Casserole

2 white fish fillets, bones and skinned, and cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
2 TBSP grated cheese (I used a little more than that)
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP breadcrumbs
2 TBSP butter

Arrange the fish pieces in a greased casserole. Sprinkle salt and chopped onion over the fish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on top and dot with small pieces of butter. Bake at 425 degrees for 20- 30 minutes.

Hungary - Chicken Paprikash

2010-02-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

My friend, Kimberly, was kind enough to come over and cook Hungarian Chicken Paprikash. It’s a classic Hungarian comfort food heavily seasoned in paprika and served over spaetzel, dumplings made with flour, eggs and milk. While Kimberly stood over the stove and sautéed the meat, she told me about her trip to Budapest last summer with her husband and two boys.

Hungarian cuisine consists of spicy dishes, hearty soups and stews and delicious desserts. Paprika, the Hungarian name for sweet pepper, is infused in many of their dishes. The spice it made by grinding dried sweet red peppers into a red powder. It has a slightly pungent taste and there are many different kinds of paprika, ranging from sweet to hot.

Later, Kimberly showed me pictures of Budapest and I learned about the city’s architecture and rejuvenating spas. Hungary has been described as Europe’s soul and maybe one needs only to view the Danube River or to learn its history to know that this characterization fits.

To learn more about Budapest, plus travel tips, restaurants and the many sights the city has to offer, check out Kimberly’s blog at www.traveladdictonabudget.com

You may find that Hungary is a place you’ll someday want to visit – for it’s paprika infused cuisine, as well as its Nouveau and baroque architecture.

Chicken Paprikash

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces.
12 oz. sour cream
48 oz. chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
3 – 4 TBSP Hungarian paprika
2 TBSP garlic
1 TBSP salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
2 bay leaves
corn starch
Olive oil

Heat olive oil in a pot and add chicken and garlic and sauté. Then add onion and enough chicken broth to submerge everything. You should have some broth left over to use for later. Stir in the paprika, salt, black pepper, ginger and bay leaves. Simmer to let the chicken and onions cook thoroughly.

When the chicken and onions are fully cooked, add the starch as a thickening agent, by mixing it into the remaining broth and pouring it into the pot. If you are out of broth use water. Remove from heat and let it thicken. Finally, mix in the sour cream and serve over the spaetzel.

Spaetzel

1/2 cup milk
1/1/2 cups flour
3 eggs

Get a pot of water going at a high boil. Mix the milk, flour and eggs in a bowl. The resulting batter should be a little thicker than cake mix. With a sppon, drop small blobs of batter into boiling water and let boil for 20 minutes keeping the water at high boil. Then fish out the spaetzel.

The blobs will expand s they cook so don’t make them too large.

Honduras - Tacos Fritos

2010-02-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

Honduras seems to be a place of change these days. These changes include expanding the tourist economy, becoming more involved with matters of globalization, especially when it comes to free trade agreements and being more environmentally responsible, like tackling their illegal logging problem. They are also fighting against gang violence and HIV/AIDS.

It sounds like they’ve got a lot on their plate (No pun intended). But speaking of which, for our Honduras meal we had Tacos Fritos. These are tortillas filed with beef or chicken and rolled into a flute. The rolled tacos are deep fried and served with raw cabbage, hot sauce and cheese with some sour cream topping. Serve them with black beans and you’ve got yourself a complete meal.

I learned about making these tacos when my Mexican friend, Ana, and her mother came to visit me last summer. They told me that these rolled tacos are great to make if you have left over meat. The one trick they taught me was that you should quickly fry the corn tortilla, on both sides, in oil (careful not to make them hard), then roll them with the meat inside. After that, you fry them again until they are hard and crispy.

The rolled tacos are easy-peezy to make and the kids love them.

Haiti - Needs Our Help

2010-02-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine lived in Haiti in the 1970s. He lived in a hotel on a hillside overlooking Port-au-Prince and, later, on the south coast, in Jacmel. There, along sandy bays with tropical trees, local houses mixed with the colonial homes of a few wealthy Haitians. My friend reminded me that the whole island used to be called Santo Domingo and has a long history of slavery, oppression, poverty and civil strife.

I’ve never been to Haiti but it seems to be a place that can grab hold of you and linger in your heart and mind.

Haiti suffered from a terrible earthquake in January causing enormous damage to the country. It is the most improvised nation in the Caribbean and now thousands of people have died and millions are homeless. Many from around the world have come to its rescue and vowed to help the Haitians rebuild. I hope our determination to see this country back on its feet will not falter.

A list of organizations helping Haiti:

Canadian Red Cross
American Red Cross
Mercycorps
Concern Worldwide
Save the Children
Tearfund
World Vision
Partners in Health

I read that a typical Haitian dish is brown rice with red kidney beans topped with red snapper, tomatoes and onions. So this is what I made and it turned out to be a nice meal.

Rice with Red Beans and Fish

2 cups of long grain rice
1 cup kidney beans (or one can)
1 oinon, chopped
Hot green pepper, chopped
A strip if bacon cut into cubes
1 TBSP butter
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 TBSP vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Red Snapper or other white fish
Tomatoes, sliced

Cook beans in 4 cups of water for 2 hours or until tender. Drain beans but keep the water which will be used to cook the rice. (I skipped this part and used 1 can of beans instead)

Fry bacon until crisp. Add onion, garlic, green pepper. Add beans along with salt and pepper to taste. Add the water used to cook the beans and bring to a boil. Add the rice and cook for 20 –25 minutes.

In the meantime, fry up the fish fillets in a bit of oil and slice a tomato. When the bean and rice mixture is done, top it with the fish and then a couple of sliced tomatoes.

Guyana - Land of Many Waters

2010-02-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Guyana looks to be the largest of the three small South American countries that face the Atlantic and seem almost in the way of the two giants, Brazil and Venezuela. The three countries are Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana and they are pushed up together like children standing next to each other in a stair step fashion as if they’re siblings posing for a photograph.

Guyana may still have some old colonial charm but it’s mixed with a heavy reminder of the wicked side of occupation. African slaves were brought to Guyana in the 16th century and the treatment of these slaves was so dreadful it’s compared to Joseph Conrad’s book The Heart of Darkness. Even though it has a horrific history, political instability and an enormous foreign debt, the country has some of the most beautiful and unspoiled natural attractions and often called 'Land of Many Waters'. Hopefully, the government of Guyana will use this to attract tourism instead of depleting it further of its natural beauty.

Guyana cuisine has an East Indian influence, favoring curry and roti. Therefore, for my Guyanan meal I made curried shrimp. It was a flavorful and hearty meal with its mixture of shrimp and potatoes.

Curried Shrimp

1 lb shrimp
Lime juice
Salt and pepper
Thyme, chives and garlic to taste
2 TBSP curry powder
1/2 cup water
2 TBSP oil

Season shrimp and allow to stand 15-20 minutes. Mix curry powder in cold water. Put TBSP oil in pot, heat and add curry powder in water. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes or until thick. Add shrimp and stir to coat. Cook about 5 minutes, then turn off heat.

If you would like to add potato, cut a potato in thin slices and cook in curry powder before adding the shrimp. When the potato is tender, add shrimp and cook 5 minutes.

(I had trouble with the curry mixture sticking to the pan)

Guinea-Bissau - Fish Stew

2010-02-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

There seems to be hope for this little country in West Africa. After civil war crushed the country’s economy and infrastructure it is now at peace after its 2005 elections. It may not be a place that’s on a traveler’s radar screen but it is the home of the rare saltwater hippopotamus and the beautiful Arquipelago dos Bijagos. These offshore delta islands offer a glimpse into a matriarchal society and you won’t be disappointed with its white-sand beaches and crystal blue waters. It is not a place, however, that is easy to get to and it will give you the feeling of being quite remote. The country, itself, will welcome you with a friendly greeting, if you’re resourceful enough to get there.

Since Guinea-Bissau is a coastal country I made fish stew for our meal. It consisted of white fish, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, green bananas, bell peppers and chili peppers. It was cooked by layering the ingredients in a large pot. It was good and easy to make.

Fish Stew

1 lb white fish fillets
1 onion, sliced into rings
6 tomatoes, blanched, peeled and sliced
3 potatoes, thinly sliced
2 green bananas, quartered
1 green bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced
1 cup oil
Salt
2 hot chili peppers, chopped

Place alternate layers of onions, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, fish and bananas in a saucepan. Season fish with salt and chopped chilies along with a drizzle of oil. Add enough water to just cover. Cook on medium heat. Shake the pot every once in a while to make sure the sontents do not stick to the bottom. Continue cooking until vegetables are tender and fish is done. It will probably take about 35 minutes.

Guinea - Footi Sauce

2010-02-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

Guineans are proud of their country but they have had to struggle through the difficult decades since independence and an oppressive regime. Things may be looking up these days but it still has a long ways to go before it will be marked as a tourist destination and it’s one of the poorest countries in the world. However, it does have a lot to offer those looking for an African adventure. But if you do go, take care to stay away from the border areas of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire.

The meal I cooked for Guinea was a big hit with the family. It’s called Footi Sauce a la Nene Galle Diallo. It may not sound good but it has all those savory things we love: tomatoes, eggplant, onions and ground beef, mixed together and served on rice. It was tasty and a satisfying dinner for the kids.

Footi Sauce a la Nene Galle Diallo

1 can tomato paste
2 smashed tomatoes
2 small eggplants, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 chicken bullion cubes
1 lb ground beef
Oil
Okra, if desired

Combine first five ingredients, then cook meat in oil. When meat is cooked, add the tomato mixture and cook for 30 minutes. Cook the okras in the sauce and when finished cooking, pound the rest of the okras and then mix it into the rice. Serve sauce over rice.

Guatemala - Spanish Tortilla

2010-01-31T11:16:00.000-08:00

Guatemala is located in Central America next to the countries of Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. In the southwest is the Pacific Ocean and to the east is the Caribbean. You can’t go to Guatemala and not notice the Maya heritage, volcanoes, brightly colored textiles and crucifixes. And, although it’s had its problems in the past with guerilla warfare and dictators, and it’s still known to be unsafe in certain parts of the country, it’s a place many people fall in love with and return again and again.

Guatemala’s culture is apparent in its cuisine, a blend of Mayan, Spanish and Mexican traditions. For our Guatemalan meal I cooked Frijoles Negros Volteados (fried black bean paste), Spanish Tortilla and Arroz Guatemalteco (Guatemalan style rice). Everything was very good and not hard to make. I’ve made Spanish tortillas before when, years ago, a friend of mine from Spain taught me how to make it (although she called it a Spanish omelet). The only thing is that you have to be good at flipping mass amounts of potato and egg onto a plate and back again into the pan without it all falling apart. I had a bit of an issue with that. Even when making a standard omelet I end up making scrambled eggs.

Spanish Tortilla

3 large white potatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 eggs
1 small red pepper, seeded and sliced
Flat-leaf parsley, minced

Skins may be left on the potatoes, if you want. Slice the potatoes very thin. Heat TBSP of oil in a pan and sauté the potatoes and onion, stirring until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.

Beat eggs and mix the potatoes with the eggs. In a frying pan, heat the remaining oil and pour in the potato and egg mixture. Cook over medium heat. Don’t stir and let it set. With a plate, flip over and cook on the other side until brown. Garnish with pepper and parsley.

Guatemalan Style Rice

2 cups long grain rice
2 TBSP oil
1 cup mixed vegetables (carrots, celery, sweet red peppers, green peas) finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups chicken stock

Heat oil in saucepan and add rice. Sautee lightly until the rice has absorbed the oil. Add the mixed vegetables, salt and pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cool for 20 minutes or until rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.

Fried Black Bean Paste

2 cups of black bean puree (canned refried black beans)
1 TBSP oil
Tortillas
Cheese
Sour cream

Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add bean puree and mix. Stir until the puree thickens and the liquid evaporates. Continue until the mix begins to come away from the skillet and you can form it into a sausage shape. Serve warm with tortillas, cheese and sour cream.

Grenada - Spiced Islands

2010-01-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

Grenada is called the “Spiced Islands” because of all the spices it produces including cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove. Its waterfront in St George is one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. Few people may know this because of the hard knocks this country has had to face in recent years.

First, there was a U.S. invasion led by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Yes, it seems silly that we would invade a country the size of Martha’s Vineyard. It had to do with cold war politics and Cuba being, somehow, involved. Then in 2004, a hurricane destroyed much of the island.

Apparently, they have pulled it together, rebuilt and have a lot to offer a tourist looking for beaches, rainforests and friendly locals.

For our Grenada meal I cooked Jerk Chicken Wings made with spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. I’m not a huge fan of chicken wings but my family gobbled them up.

Jerk Chicken Wings

To make the marinade you will need:

1 onion, chopped
2/3 cup scallions, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup minced pickled jalapeno pepper, or to taste (I skipped this since my kids have a hard time eating spicy food)
1 tsp black pepper
6 drops of pepper sauce, or to taste
2 TBSP soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil

18 chicken wings

In a food processor or blender puree the marinade ingredients.

In a large dish arrange the wings in one layer and spoon the marinade over them, rubbing it in. Let the wings marinate, covered and chilled, turning them once, for at least 1 hour, preferably, overnight.

Arrange the wings in one layer on an oiled rack set over a foiled-lined roasting pan, spoon the marinade over them (I just baked the wings on a baking sheet). Bake the wings at 450 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes, or until cooked through.

Greece - Pastitsio

2010-01-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

I haven’t been to Greece since I was a little girl. I was only six or seven so I don’t remember much. But I do remember that my parents rented a van and we drove to a rented beach house. On the way I saw Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, my mother pointed out. She then told me the Greek stories of Zeus, Poseidon and Aphrodite.

I had moussakka for the first time on that trip. The savory combination of cinnamon, lamb, eggplant and cheese were irresistible on my young palate and stuck to the roof of my mouth. After that, every birthday, while growing up, my mom made me a special moussakka dinner. Even though she was not one who spent a lot of time in the kitchen, for me, she’d spend much of the day preparing the meal.

I already cooked moussakka for Cyprus, if you recall. So, for our Greek meal I cooked Pastitsio, a baked meat and pasta casserole. It is one of Greece’s most popular dishes. Most of the recipes I tackle for this project are quick. This one is not, but you’re not going to find many who don’t like this dish.

Pastitsio: Baked Meat and Pasta Casserole

1 1/2 lbs tubular pasta (ziti, penne)
1 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 1/2 cups peeled, chopped plum tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 whole cloves
Sea salt
20 or more ground peppercorns to taste
1 1/4 cup grated Kefalotyri cheese (or Pecorino)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Bechamel sauce with cheese

Sautee the onions in 2 TBSP olive oil in a large frying pan. When the onions are translucent, add meat and continue to stir until lightly brown. Add tomatoes, cinnamon, cloves, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid has been absorbed, about 30 to 35 minutes. Meat should be dry without sticking to the pan. Set meat mixture aside, uncovered and allow to cool.

In the meantime (while meat is simmering), preheat oven 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking dish. Prepare the pasta. Cook until slightly underdone, drain and toss with a couple of TBSP of olive oil to prevent sticking and set aside.

Make béchamel sauce with cheese.
2 cans evaporated milk (I used 2 cups of regular milk)
8 TBSP cornstarch
4 cups water
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated Kefalotyri or Pecorino cheese
1 TBSP butter
1 tsp salt
Pinch of nutmeg

In a sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Then dissolve the cornstarch in one can evaporated milk, and add to the water, stirring briskly. Lower the heat to medium and add the second can of milk, the salt and butter. Continue to whisk until sauce thickens. Add the beaten eggs and nutmeg, whisking quickly (so the eggs don’t cook) until well blended. Remove from the heat, stir in the cheese, mix well and set aside until ready to use.

Spread the breadcrumbs evenly on the bottom of the baking dish. Use half the pasta for the first layer and sprinkle with a 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Remove cloves from the sauce, add the meat sauce evenly over the pasta and sprinkle with 1/2 cup grated cheese. Add the remaining pasta on top. Carefully pour béchamel sauce over the top and use a spatula to spread evenly.

Bake for 30 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and continue to bake for another 15 to 30 minutes until the sauce rises and turns golden brown. Take out of the oven and cool before serving. Serves 6 to 8 people.

Ghana - Steamed Crab

2010-01-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

When we were living in Lagos in the 1970s, Shirley Temple Black was the American Ambassador to Ghana. My mother traveled there to visit friends and she wanted to meet the legendary Shirley Temple. Instead, my mother met her daughter, Susan Black. She looked quite a bit like her mother, my mother told me later. She was newly engaged and was sporting a rock on her left hand that would have made Elizabeth Taylor proud.

Ghana means “Warrior King” but these days its one of the most stable countries in the region. It is located in West Africa and borders Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo. It’s known for being the first country in West Africa to gain independence, as having built the biggest artificial lake in the world, for its ruined European forts and for its beautiful beaches and vibrant city nightlife.

Ghanaian cuisine is made up of starchy foods and sauce. Many of the dishes are served with soup made with fish, meat and mushrooms. Since it has a long coastline, seafood is very popular. For our Ghanaian meal I made Akotonshi, or stuffed crab.

John and I went to the Asian supermarket to buy the fresh crab. John loved pulling the crabs out from tanks with tongs. We bought four large Dungeness crab. On the way home, John sat in the backseat of the car and took one of the crabs out, much to my dismay, and put it on his lap. When we got home we filled our kitchen sink with water and put the crabs in there. John and Julia were delighted to have crabs for pets, even if it was for a very short while.

On the internet, I found directions on how to steam live crab. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do but, I must say, the end product was delicious. I have to also say that this recipe confused me and there were steps that I didn’t do because I didn’t think they made much sense. For instance, it said to clean and dress the fresh crab and boil the crabmeat for fifteen minutes, then set aside. Later, you are supposed to add the crabmeat to the rest of the ingredients and cook. Then you’re supposed to put this mixture in the crab shells and broil. To me, it sounds like you’re over cooking crabmeat. The only way this makes sense is if the meat from the fresh crabs is raw when you boil it the first time. But how do you take raw meat out of a live crab? Or do I want to know? Maybe there’s another way of killing the poor crabs other than throwing it in boiling water? I’m not sure I want to know about this either.

I’ll write out the recipe as I have it. Perhaps you know more about cooking crab than I do and I wouldn’t want to omit a step because I’m a bit clueless.

Akotonshi – Stuffed Crab

1 tsp salt
3 cm fresh ginger
6 cloves
4 TBSP vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 bell peppers
1 TBSP tomato puree
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
2 generous pinches of paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 TBSP dried shrimp
Whole wheat bread crumbs
1 hard-boiled egg
Parsley
4 large crabs

If using fresh crab, clean and dress and then place the crab meat in boiling salted water along with ginger and cloves. Cook for 15 minutes or until the meat is cook through. Drain and set aside. (In my case, I simply boiled the whole crabs and did not add ginger and cloves. When the crabs were fully cooked I took the meat out – at this I’m an expert since I have spent many years on the U.S. east coast where we used to frequent all-you-can-eat crab houses).

Add oil to a large pot on medium heat. Add onion, cook for 1 minute and then add ground ginger and tomatoes. Cook for another minute. Then add the tomato paste, bell peppers, paprika, cayenne pepper and dried shrimp. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring until the vegetables are cooked. Add the crabmeat and stir for another few minutes.

Spoon the mixture into cleaned crab shells or ramekins and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of each crab. Then toast under broiler. Garnish with parsley and egg. (I just garnished with parsley).

Germany - Been There?

2010-01-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

“You flew into Vienna, not Frankfurt”, my dad said to me over the phone. We were discussing how Prague used to be, when my dad lived there, and how complicated it was for me to travel there. I mentioned that I had flown into Frankfurt. I was a kid then, probably thirteen or fourteen. My dad had picked me up at the airport and we spent the night in the city – which city, I’m not sure now – and the next day we drove on to Prague. “It makes more sense that you’d have flown into Vienna. It’s much closer to Prague,” my dad insisted. Maybe, but I’m still convinced I’ve been to Germany.

When most of us think of Germany we think of WW II, the Nazis, the Berlin Wall, the autobahn, Volkswagen. For me, I think of my heritage.

When I scour through family photo albums, and I get to the photograph of my German great-grandfather, his image makes me pause. He’s sitting perfectly straight, his stern features staring into the camera. I never knew him. My dad told me that when he was little he was afraid of his grandfather who yelled at him for climbing trees and making too much noise. On the other hand, my grandmother described her father as generous. During the depression he was a funeral director and he accepted eggs, butter and other farm products as payments from farmers who couldn’t pay their funeral bills. I’d describe my great grandfather as a typical German: stern, hard working, generous and loyal.

To decide what to eat for my German meal I contacted my German friend, Sabine.

Sabine told me that the cuisine in Germany differs from region to region, and season. Sabine grew up in Northern Germany where fried white fish is very popular. It’s served with a green salad and boiled potatoes, with the skin on. Traditionally they are peeled at the table.

As it gets closer to spring, a common dish is steamed white asparagus. This is often served with cold cut ham from the deli and boiled potatoes, with garlic butter.

A very traditional German meal is fried or grilled Bratwurst served with sauerkraut and fried breakfast potatoes.

As you go further south, the meals become hardy. An example would be dear meat, red cabbage and potatoes.

For our German meal we had ham, boiled potatoes (with the skin on) and white asparagus. I couldn’t find fresh white asparagus but I did find it in a jar. It was surprisingly good. Having bought the ham, which we ate cold, had jarred asparagus and boiled potatoes, without even having to peel them, it was one of the easiest meals I’ve made for this project. It was delicious too.

I went to a European grocery store to get the meat and the asparagus. I stood in a long line at the deli counter. There seemed to be quite a few Germans there. I could almost convince myself I was in Germany - again.

Georgia - To Life!

2010-01-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Georgia is a country that you could say is in Europe or Central Asia or the Middle East. Or, you might simply say that it is in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. However you say it, it’s where European and Asian and Middle Eastern cultures emerge. If that’s not intriguing enough for you, (or you’re not blown away by its beauty) visit Georgia for the people’s warmth and friendly hospitality. And, if you happen to go there, make sure you attend a traditional Georgian dinner so you can bare witness to the elaborate toasting and revelry, and the large amounts of wonderful food. There will also be heavy drinking and dancing and, perhaps, someone will read a poem. From this I take away that Georgians know how to enjoy life.

For our Georgian meal I could have made a number of things. In fact, I feel a little sheepish that all I made was chicken soup. If I had more time, or thought of having a Georgian party, I would have made a feast, or a supra. I cooked a very popular chicken soup called Chikhitma. It was very good but I’m now thinking that I should go back sometime and cook more Georgian dishes such as cheese pies, pickled eggplant and fish dishes, plus many more. Or, if I’m lucky, I’ll get invited to a Georgian feast.

Chikhitma

1 chicken
2 onions, chopped
1 TBSP flour
1 TBSP butter
2 eggs
1 tsp saffron
2 TBSP grape vinegar
Coriander
Salt and pepper

Cut the chicken in pieces, add to water and bring to boil. Skim the top. Remove the chicken when tender, strain the stock through a cheese cloth. Sautee the onion in butter, sprinkle with flour and brown. Return the chicken to the stock, thicken with brown flour and onion. Add saffron and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Separately boil the vinegar, add it to the soup, bring to a boil again and remove rom heat. Beat the egg yolks, combine with a little stock and then stir into the soup. Reheat but do not bring to a boil or the yolk will curdle. Sprinkle with coriander and serve. (I added chicken bouillon for more flavor)

Gambia - Rice and Peanut Porridge

2010-01-25T05:57:00.000-08:00

Gambia is a winter getaway for Europeans. It’s got sun, beaches, resorts, wildlife reserves and a great place to bird watch. But don’t whistle after dark, it’s a taboo.

This sliver of a country with stunning beaches is not without its problems, though it has enjoyed relative stability since independence. This is not to say that Gambia is prosperous. It relies heavily on exporting peanuts. Apparently you earn peanuts when your only major crop is peanuts. Though the country does have tourism and so, as their tourist slogan says: visit the Gambia, the smiling coast of Africa.

I decided to cook a Gambian breakfast. I woke up early on a school day and served John and Julia Churah Gerteh (Rice and Peanut Porridge) before sending them off to school. I figured it would taste like oatmeal, only with peanut butter. It wasn’t exactly a big hit, but it was an interesting start to the day. It’s fairly safe to say that none of their classmates had Gambian porridge that morning.

Churah Gerteh

3/4 cup rice
1/2 cup peanut butter
4 cups water
Salt and sugar to taste

Add rice, peanut butter and water to a pot. Season with salt and bring to a boil. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and continue to simmer for 50 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Add sugar to taste, spoon into a bowl and add a little milk to thin and cool the porridge.

Gabon - Mustard Chicken and Baked Bananas

2010-01-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

I mentioned Gabon to a friend of mine. She said she knew someone who used to work there and he didn’t have a very high opinion of it. “And he got a tropical skin disease,” she said.

I tend to romanticize the places I write about, or the places I’ve never been to. After reading about Gabon I didn’t think it sounded all that bad. Gabon is sparsely populated, compared to its neighbors, and the country is covered in tropical forests. It’s made up of over forty ethnic groups and has the largest population of forests elephants in the world. Gabon is abundant with natural resources and foreign private investments. The jungle is full of wildlife and the government is wise enough to have opened up national parks, closing them to loggers. To me, it sounds like Gabon may have a promising future.

Gabonese cuisine is typically spicy and fish is very common - and giant crocodile is also a favorite, apparently. Their national dish is Poulet Nyemwe, chicken cooked in a sauce made from palm butter or palm soup base. For our Gabonese meal we had mustard chicken and baked bananas. Both dishes were very tasty, especially the baked bananas. We were all surprised at how much we enjoyed this dessert.

Mustard Chicken

8 pieces of chicken (legs, thighs, breasts)
200 ml Dijon mustard (or one jar)
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 2 lemons

Brown chicken in oil then transfer to a plate. Fry onions and garlic in the same oil until onions are translucent. Transfer onions to a large lidded pot, add the chicken, mustard and lemon juice. Mix together and then cover the pot with aluminum foil then the lid to trap all the steam. Cook on low heat for about an hour until chicken it cooked through. Serve on a bed of rice.

Baked Bananas

4 bananas cut into 3 equal diagonal pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 TBSP orange juice
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Sour Cream
Brown sugar

Beat the egg with the orange juice and dip the bananas in this before rolling in the bread crumbs. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry bananas until they begin to brown.

Transfer to a baking dish and place in 300 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Serve 1 banana per person, topped with sour cream and sprinkled with brown sugar.

France - French food, the Theater and a Lost Car

2010-01-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

I think the reason why France is set apart for its cuisine is because it has food integrity. French chefs are bold and creative and the French people love to eat. This is why people who genuinely love food, love French food. It’s also why I like taking my kids to French restaurants. By exposing my children to French cuisine I’m hoping that an appreciation for food will rub off on them, they’ll understand that eating isn’t always just about supplying your body with nourishment.

For our French meal John, Julia and I went to a restaurant called Marcels in Toronto. The restaurant described itself as unpretentious, and it was. It was rather small but packed full and lively and our waitress made a fuss over the children (This experience was entirely different than what we had in Montreal last year when we showed up at a well known French restaurant with our kids and the waiter was horrified – I think he would have been happier if we had brought our dog. We were told that no children were allowed in their establishment and we were banished to the outside seating area to eat our meal). Our waitress, at Marcel’s was, however, surprised by my children’s appetite and their adventurous tastes, being, likely, accustomed to most North American children. For our meal, we had veal, escargot and mussels, which John and Julia devoured happily.

After our scrumptious dinner we went to the theater to see “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was a night of high culture and I was very proud of myself for exposing my children to such worldly experiences. We were all enjoying the show until I suddenly realized that I forgot where I parked. I had driven into the city with Kevin’s company car and we were running late for our dinner reservations and I was having a hard time finding a parking spot. With running late and the traffic and not knowing where I was going I got flustered and a bit turned around. When I finally found a parking lot I pulled in and we quickly jumped out of the car and we ran to the restaurant. Forgetting where I parked is so me. I once picked Kevin up at an airport in a rented car and I forgot where I parked and what I rented. Christa told me about a tracking device for cars. I think I’ll have to look into getting one.

After the show, we spent the next hour walking around downtown Toronto trying to locate our car. It must have been a pathetic scene, a mother and her children wandering the streets on a late and cold December night. As worry and agitation grew I still stubbornly held on to the belief that we would find our vehicle. The last thing I wanted to do was call Kevin and tell him that I lost his company car somewhere in Toronto. Believe me, that would not have gone over well.

We finally found the car, much to our relief. Our evening of sophistication ended with my air-headedness. But I felt satisfied that my children had been properly exposed to the finer things in life and learned a valuable lesson of paying attention to where you are.

FOOD FACT: The French consume approximately 700 million snails a year, making them the biggest snail consumers in the world.

Finland - Ski Week and the Midnight Sun

2010-01-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

My dad lived in Finland and he told me that Fins are just as fanatical about ice hockey as the Canadians. In fact, Fins are, for the most part, very athletic and outdoorsy. They love ice-skating and every winter kids get off from school and grown-ups get off from work for Ski Week. Everyone heads for the mountaina to ski and my dad and his family were no exception when they lived there. In the summer, since it’s a short season, the Fins take full advantage of the warm long days and the midnight sun. They fish and sail boats and have summer home cottages. You’ve got to admire these folks who take full advantage of whatever season happens to be upon them.

I must remember this when I’m feeling depressed in the dark days of winter.

When I was in Finland my impression was this: it was simply simple. Not in a bad way, mind you, but in that familiar uncomplicated way. It’s large and mostly remote – though Helsinki is a vital capital – and it has a sense of peace about it. People seemed to go about their business and live their life in a quiet manner. For me, to be honest, I didn’t quite find it interesting enough. I much prefer unpredictability. Too much uncluttered certainty leaves me feeling lethargic. But with that said, my dad, stepmother and their two children loved it and they look back on the three years they were there with very fond memories.

Our Finnish dinner was a typical Nordic meal. We ate cabbage rolls that I purchased at a European grocery store, Rosolli potato salad and a blueberry pastry. The salad I made had potatoes, carrots, pickled beets and gherkins. It was very good and I even got Julia’s friend to try it. She was proud of herself for eating pickled beets. The meal was very similar to something I would cook for Germany, Sweden or Russia.

The food was good, but simple, uncomplicated.

Rosolli Salad

Mix together 4 chopped boiled potatoes, 4 chopped carrots, 4 chopped boiled beetroot or pickled beet root, 1 chopped gherkin (I put in more), 1 chopped small onion, salt and white pepper.

Fiji - Paradise?

2010-01-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

I’ve never been to Fiji but my impression is of a sun-soaked paradise with warm sand beaches and sparkling blue waters. I’ve always thought of Fiji as the Cadillac of island vacations.

Despite its stunning reputation as a tourist hot spot its politically unstable because of racial and political tensions since 1987. Trouble in paradise, apparently. I should research this political tension further, but the truth is I don’t want to. I have no plans to visit there anytime soon. A large part of me would like to keep Fiji high on that island utopian pedestal. I want to continue to think of it as a place where you could always go to escape if you should need a hide-away from the world; a place where you can dream about and say, someday I want to go there…. There is just no room for coups and violence in my built-up fantasy of Fiji. You see, when writing articles about all the countries of the world, I write more about war, conflict and poverty than I do about peace, happiness and wealth. I really don’t appreciate having to see Travel Alerts on articles describing, what I always thought of, as perfect vacation spots.

Fiji is a dream come true with its exotic blend of cultures, white-sand beaches and warm azure waters. (Sound of record scratching) Oh, I’m sorry. This island paradise may be dangerous to visit. The political situation could crumble at the drop of a hat. Don’t hang around the capital or any large gatherings and I wouldn’t get in any political discussions with the locals if I were you.

It just sort of ruins it for you, doesn’t it? If I wanted to find myself in the middle of a coup during my vacation I have plenty of other spots to choose from, thank you very much.

Have you noticed that I have been writing about my fantasy? I’m not on some narcissistic kick, I swear. That’s what a place is until you’ve actually been there. It’s your fantasy. You can dream about this place with all the wonderful (or not so wonderful) expectations that you like. It can be anything you want it to be. It’s like when you have a crush on someone that you don’t really know and you’ve got it in your head that they’re the most perfect person in the world and you can’t ever imagine them doing anything wrong or, God forbid, gross. They’re your secret fantasy and you can tuck them away in your heart and feel it flutter every time you think of them. But then, you get to know this person - maybe you date them - and you start to see all their faults and their disgusting habits and suddenly they’re not very appealing.

The problem with researching every country on the planet is that, more than not, it messes with my superficial, dreamy fallacy about certain countries. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised, like when I researched Costa Rica. Other times my heart sinks when I see those travel alerts and I think, God damn it not another f***ing travel alert!

With all that said, our Fijian meal was delicious. For this, I had no expectations, and I loved it. I cooked Fijian Fish Lolo and taro root. I cooked cod in onion, garlic, spices and coconut milk and served it with boiled taro root, a tuber, potato-like vegetable that seems very popular around the world. Actually it is very popular around the world. I read that it was probably first cultivated in India, or somewhere in Southeast Asia, perhaps, as far back as 5000 BC. From there it spread worldwide and this vegetable now comes in many different varieties and has numerous names. It’s widely known as dasheen but in China it is called yutou, in Brazil its called inhame, in Japan it’s called satoimo, in the Philippines it is called gabi, in Lebanon it is called kilkass (Interesting name. Wonder if it’s pronounced kilk-ass) and so on. Whatever the name, it’s easily recognizable with its dark brown hairy skin. The flesh is white and highly nutritious. I knew very little about taro but in Hawaii, it is the base for making poi.

I’m not saying that Fiji is unsafe. The truth is, I don’t know what’s happening over there because, frankly, I don’t want to know. When reading about it I saw a travel alert and I backed off. On this one, I want to remain happily ignorant when it comes to any flaws. I want to keep thinking of Fiji as paradise, as the Cadillac of island vacations. I want to fantasize and swoon every time I think of that crystal blue water. In other words, I want to keep my crush. I’m not interested in having an intimate relationship.

Fish Lolo

1/2 lb halibut or cod
1 TBSP oil
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 serrano chili, chopped (optional)
1 can coconut milk
Salt and pepper
1 TBSP fresh basil
1 TBSP coriander

Heat oil in pan. Add chopped onion, garlic and chili
Saute until onions are translucent. Season fish with salt and pepper. Add fish to pan, fry for a few minutes and then add coconut milk. Bring to boil and then turn to low heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with basil and coriander.

Taro root

Peel and cut into 1 inch thick slices. Boil in sated water until soft. Drain water and steam on low heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

Ethiopia - Wass Restaurant

2010-01-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

When many of us think of Ethiopia we think of the song “We Are the World” and the 1980s famine. My mother was working on the Ethiopian Desk at the State Department in Washington D.C. during that time. She took a trip to one of the famine camps in Ethiopia and she got violently ill from food poisoning, of all things.

Later, when I was in college, my friend, Karla, and I visited my parents in D.C. and we went out for Ethiopian food. For Karla and me, it was our first experience with this cuisine and we both felt a little nauseous when we all dug into a communal plate with our hands, using only the injera bread to pick up pureed beans and bits of meat. It wasn’t an experience we were anxious to repeat.

In fact, I never did go back to an Ethiopian restaurant until recently with Kevin and the kids for my Eat Planet project. There were quite a few Ethiopian restaurants to choose from in the Toronto area, but because of location we chose an establishment called Wass, a new Ethiopian restaurant in Hamilton.

The restaurant was dark and it smelled like cleaning solution. Our waitress, whom I’m guessing was the owner, was very friendly and talkative. She told us that coffee originated in Ethiopia and, if we wanted, she would perform a coffee preparation ceremony. The menu was extensive with lots of explanations and glossy photographs. There was even a detailed description on how to eat with the injera bread. It’s the only restaurant I’ve been to that came with an instruction manual.

I was very interested in the injera bread since I had recently tried to make it myself. The waitress seemed very happy about this but seemed confused when I told her I used teff flour. Because of my interest, I’m assuming, she brought us a free dish to try, chicken with Berbere sauce. It was delicious, better than any thing we ordered for ourselves. We had ordered a lamb dish and a vegetarian combo.

Berbere spice is the key ingredient in most cuisines in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It’s a mixture of spices usually including ginger, fenugreek, cumin, allspice, cloves and cardamon. Sometimes spices are included that are not common in the Western world, but are grown in Ethiopia, like long pepper. The waitress told us that a friend of hers traveled to Ethiopia and came back to Canada with big bags of the Berbere spice. Apparently, this coveted spice was in our chicken dish.

“Many vegetables and fruits grow in Ethiopia,” our waitress assured us. Every time she said the word Ethiopia it sounded like Utopia. “But the government is corrupt,” she said and laughed uneasily. Her country is still synonymous with famine and war.

When I asked her if Ethiopia was doing better, she shrugged. “I’ve never been there. But I want to go.”

Later, a couple of young women walked in and we lost our waitress. She tended to her new customers and then disappeared into the kitchen. We waited a while for our check, and then finally, the kids and I had to go sit in the car because our meter ran out.

The food was good, better than I remembered. But, still, when thinking of Ethiopia the tune of “We Are the World,” pops in my head and I wonder, after all this time, if things have really changed.

Estonia - Blood Sausage

2010-01-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I have been to Estonia. We were there in the early nineties right after Estonia gained independence from Russia. At the time it was a struggling third-world country. But since independence, Estonia has undergone a rapid transformation. They are a success story and have made some major technological advances. It’s capital, Tallinn, is described as cosmopolitan with galleries, nightclubs and lounges. Apparently, it’s no longer the Estonia I knew.

Tallinn, which is said to be Estonia’s crown jewel, still seems to have the old charm that Kevin and I fell in-love with; the cobblestone streets, old churches and 14th century homes. Now its hip, a quintessential mixture of modernity with old-world Europe. Outside the capital you’ll find seaside towns, quaint villages, forests, islands and castles. I’d like to go back and see it again.

Kevin, my grandmother and I went to visit my dad and his family in Finland one summer. Estonia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland. We caught a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, about a three and a half hour trip. We were on the rough Baltic Sea and the ship rocked and swayed so much that we all got terribly seasick. But once we hit land we were fine and we spent the entire day shopping in the communist-style shops. Everything was incredibly cheap, even for poor college students like Kevin and me.

We had lunch in Tallinn but I don’t remember what we ate. I didn’t know anything about Estonian cuisine or that they love blood sausage. For our Eat Planet project, I knew I had to find blood sausage, or “blood pudding.” I was having trouble finding any when Christa told me I should go to the European grocery store called Starsky’s. Of course! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Our Estonian meal consisted of blood sausage, sauerkraut, jellied meat, potatoes and pork meatballs.

I can’t say this was our favorite meal. The kids were finicky about eating the blood sausage. I think it was mostly for its name. It had sort of a strong smoky flavor. I didn’t think it tasted bad and I can see why it’s called “blood pudding.” When it’s cooked it turns very soft. None of us liked the jellied meat – we didn’t even like the looks of it, or the texture. The dog wouldn’t even eat it, though our cat did.

Another favorite Estonian meal is pig ears with sauerkraut. That didn’t sound appealing to me at all, but then I was watching a show on the Food Network and they were cooking pig ears and it didn’t look half bad; they cut the ears in strips and it was crispy like bacon.

Now I wish I could remember what I had eaten in that Tallinn restaurant all those years ago, in the early nineties, in the beginning, when Estonia was first becoming a country of its own.

Eritrea - The Land of Punt

2010-01-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

A small country with big problems, Eritrea, is trying to rebuild after more than thirty years of civil war and conflict with Yemen and Ethiopia. This former colony of Italy – evidence of which can still be seen in the architecture of the capital – is a conglomerate of deserts and fertile lands. It’s known for its long coastline on the Red Sea and bisected by the world’s longest mountain ranges.

In researching Eritrea I found a photograph of the Eritrean Railway that was built during the Italian colonialism. It looked like a scene from a movie – like Out of Africa or The Ghost and The Darkness – and it was so beautiful. Surrounding the railway was mountains of various heights and shades of brown and green, and blue sky; a small train chugged across a railway bridge bellowing out puffs of white smoke.

I am currently reading the book King Leopold’s Ghost and so, despite myself, I find the days of colonialism romantic. It can only be seen this way from a white man’s perspective, of course. Colonialism could be a brutal business but I suppose in some cases good came out of it as well. It depends on how you want to look at it. For instance, during Eritrea’s Italian rule the country underwent industrialization and modern infrastructure was put in place. From a modern Western point-of-view I see this as a good thing, but I wonder what the average Eritrean thought of all that development at the time. Italy ruled Eritrea from 1890 to 1941, only a short span of fifty years. In the 1930s around 100,000 Italian colonists had settled in Colonia Primigenia – this is what Eritrea was called by the Italians.

Because Eritrea is a former province of Ethiopia their food is very similar. For instance, both countries enjoy injera, a pancake-like spongy bread. Pieces of the flat bread is torn off and used to scoop up the food. I decided to make injera, I even found teff flour that I needed at Whole Foods. It wasn’t hard to make, but then again, my injera didn’t exactly turn out the way it was supposed to. For our main Eritrean dish I made Alitcha Birsen, a vegetarian lentil soup. I love lentils and the kids enjoyed the soup. We ate the soup with our spoons, by the way, and ate the injera as I side dish.

From my brief glimpse of Eritrea I get the feeling that it possesses a magical quality. The Egyptian pharaohs referred to present-day Eritrea as The Land of Punt, the area known for its abundant source of gold, ebony, ivory, slaves and wild animals. Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, was to be Mussolini’s “Little Rome” – but it was never to be.

It sounds like Eritrea has great potential. It certainly has a rich history.

Alitcha Birsen

5 TBSP vegetable oil
6 garlic cloves, crushed
250g tomatoes, blanched and peeled
200g lentils
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ginger
2 fresh red chilies, finely chopped
1 liter boiling water

Heat oil in a pan and fry the garlic until golden. Add the sliced tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes before adding lentils. Simmer for a few minutes then add the ginger, chili and boiling water. Season with salt and pepper, cover the pan and simmer for an hour.

Injera

1/4 cup teff flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
A pinch of salt
Peanut or vegetable oil.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl then slowly add water stirring to avoid lumps. Add the salt and stir some more.

Heat a nonstick pan and lightly oil the pan. Coat the pan with a thin layer of batter. Injera should be thicker than a crepe. Cook until holes appear on the surface of the bread. Once the surface is dry, remove the bread from the pan and let it cool.

(This is a quick injera recipe. In other recipes that I saw the dough was turned sour by letting it sit for three days).

Equatorial Guinea - Pick A Pepper Soup

2010-01-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

Equatorial Guinea might not be a place you’ll want to visit unless you’re the real adventurous type. If you do go, I hope you like it hot, hot on your palate that is. For our Equatorial Guinean meal I cooked a dish called “Pick a Pepper Soup.” It had peppers, all right, and I know that the soup I made didn’t match up to what the soup should have tasted like. But I’ve got kids to cook for so I had to be careful not to make it too spicy. The pepper I refused to put in was the habanero chili. This pepper is the hottest on earth.

I’ve always thought of myself as someone who can take the heat. I grew up eating spicy food. Kevin didn’t. He grew up eating that bland Iowan food. But his palate adjusted, it had to when he visited my parents in China when we were dating. My parents had a Chinese cook and instructed him not to hold back on the spice, and he didn’t. It took Kevin time to build up immunity, if you will. But still, the hottest pepper on earth? I’m not sure I could handle it, though I’d be willing to give it a try, if I could take a very small bite.

If you travel to Equatorial Guinea you may have to take the heat in another way, from corrupt officials who may want a bribe or from a military officer who wants to check all your papers. The former Spanish colony may be small but now is rich in newly discovered oil and has one of the world’s fastest growing economies. But you may not see evidence of this wealth throughout most of its population where many don’t even have access to clean drinking water. It’s the ordinary people of Equatorial Guinea who shouldn’t have to feel the heat.

Pick A Pepper Soup

1 1/2 cups water
450g red snapper fillets (or any firm white fish)
3 medium onions, peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 red bell pepper, deseeded, chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 habanero chili, deseeded and pounded to a paste
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground guinea pepper (it is also Ashanti pepper – closely related to the cubeb pepper) I used cubeb pepper which I found at Whole Foods.
Pinch of dried rosemary
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
Bring the water to a boil in a large pot and add all the ingredients except the vegetable oil. Cover the pot and allow to simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally (add more water if the mixture becomes too dry). After the hour is up add the oil and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and serve on a bed of rice.

El Salvador - Needs More Filling

2010-01-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

When thinking of El Salvador most will evoke images of volcanoes, coffee plantations and civil war, but for my family and I we will always think of pupusas. These thick corn tortillas stuffed with cheese, refried beans and pork is a very popular dish. Though they pre-date the arrival of the Spaniards, they did not become popular nation-wide until the 1960s.

I’m not sure I liked my version of the pupusas. I made the tortillas out of masa harina and warm water and used a mixture of mozzarella and an Italian cheese called Tuleggio, much like quesco fresco, according to the cheese lady at Whole Foods. I also heated up refried beans and decided not to go through the trouble of adding pork.

The direction called for one to roll a portion of the dough into a ball, press an indentation into it and then add the filling. You are then supposed to fold the dough mixture over the filling and press the ball into the form of a disc without letting the filling spill out. But how in the world does one flatten something and not allow the filling to come out?

Kevin finally took over since this whole process was proving too frustrating for me. He did it his own way and made a “bowl” out of the ball shaped dough, filled the “bowl” with the filling and then made a “lid” for it. It seemed to work, though I’m not sure that was the correct way of making the pupusas.

We ate our pupusas with salsa, which helped because I didn’t think there was enough beans and cheese, even with Kevin’s “bowl” technique.

Perhaps that’s the way pupusas are supposed to taste, more tortilla than cheese and bean. If that’s the case, I think they need to start making pupusas with more filling. It’s sort of like El Salvador itself. It has all the makings of a great vacation spot – forests, active volcanoes, beaches, museums and a vibrant nightlife – but there’s been too much violence, crime, hurricanes, flooding, mudslides and earthquakes.

What they need more of is the filling – the good stuff.

Pupusas

2 cups Masa Harina
1 cup warm water
1 cup filling

Refried beans
Cheese such as quesillo, quesco fresco, farmer’s cheese or mozzarella
Green chili, minced

In a large bowl, mix together the masa harina and water and knead well. Knead in more water, 1 TBSP at a time, if necessary. You want dough moist, yet firm. Cover and set aside to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Roll out dough into a log and cut into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Press an indentation in each ball with thumb. Put 1 TBSP of filling into each indentation and fold dough over to enclose it. Press the ball out with your palms to form a disc, but don’t let the filling come out.

Fry it in a pan with a little oil until brown on all sides.

Egypt - Begin and Sadat

2010-01-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

I have yet to see the pyramids in Egypt, even though I once lived in the Middle East.

It was complicated. My parents and I lived in Israel in the 1970s and you couldn’t exactly get a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Cairo. The fact that we had Israeli visas stamped in our passports and a home address in Israel made it difficult. In any case, we didn’t go into Egypt and I still long for the day to see the ancient relics left by the pharaohs.

That’s not to say we didn’t witness history between Israel and Egypt. While we were living in Israel something historic happened: Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister and Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president, agreed to meet. The American Embassy in Tel Aviv was heavily involved with Sadat’s visit. There were many U.S. congressmen in town for the meeting and my mother and her friend, Tracy, volunteered to take two Congressmen’s wives shopping (this was before my mother joined the foreign service and was still married to my father).

I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but my mother and Tracy somehow ended up at the Prime Minister’s office. They walked through lines of TV cameras and newsmen and into a briefing room with the American Ambassador and U.S. Congressmen. Then Begin came into the room and said, “I have news for you. Sadat is coming here on Saturday.” Everyone stood and clapped. Then Begin gave them an impassioned plea for Israel. My mother was in awe. She was seeing history in the making and was right in the center of it.

It’s hard to believe that its been over thirty years since Sadat landed at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv opening peace talks between Israel and the Arab world. In the speech he gave at the Knesset in Jerusalem he said:

I come to you today on solid ground, to shape a new life, to establish peace. We all, on this land, the land of God; we all, Muslims, Christians and Jews, worship God and no one but God. God’s teachings and commandments are love, sincerity, purity and peace.

Two years later, in March 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a comprehensive peace agreement.

For my Eat Planet project we ate falafel, hummus and pita bread, a very typical Egyptian meal. It was something I had in Israel quiet frequently. You can buy falafel mix at most grocery stores but I bought our falafel sandwiches, hummus and pita at a Middle Eastern restaurant and brought it home to eat. In Egypt, McDonald’s has their version of a falafel sandwich, they call it the McFalafel.

John and Julia aren’t fond of falafel, but I like it. It reminds me of my childhood days in Israel, and it’s a healthy vegetarian meal. The kids, however, do love hummus and pita.

Someday I hope to see the pyramids and, though it may sound sort of ridiculous, peace in the Middle East.

Ecuador - Cevieche

2010-01-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

For Ecuador I made two dishes. One was fantastic and the other I spat out on my first bite.

I made Locro, a potato and cheese soup. It was delicious, easy and made a great weekend lunch on a cold day. For dinner I made cevieche. I made sure to buy the fish at a reputable fish market and I chose a variety of fish including sea bass, shrimp, squid, tuna and scallops.

I have had cevieche before – the last time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I liked it, but I didn’t like mine. Maybe I should have used lime instead of lemon. Maybe I didn’t use the right kind of olive oil. The kids didn’t like it either but – surprise, surprise – Kevin went back for seconds. Mr. Sloppy Joe man gobbled up the cevieche. Who knew?

I was disappointed. Because I couldn’t eat my cevieche I ate a chocolate covered ice-cream cone with caramel, a glass of red wine and a handful of chips for dinner.

Ecuadorians love seafood and they like to accompany their dishes with rice, salad, potatoes, and pata cones, squashed fried green tomatoes. They also love bananas, bread and yucca. Their food is mild but they spice it up with aji, a chili sauce.

I think it is fascinating that one of the lasting affects of the Spanish conquest was the wide variety of food they took back to Europe from the Americas. The potato, for instance, had more impact on the world’s diet than any other food.

A couple of interesting dishes that they like to eat are roasted cuy (guinea pig) and tranquito (bull penis soup). These are dishes that didn’t seem to catch on in Europe.

Ecuador is located in South America near Colombia and Peru. It is a diverse country in climate and landscapes. It has distinct geographical regions: the Sierra, the Costa, the Oriente and the Galapagos Islands.

It’s a small country – second smallest in South America. So, if you can’t decide if you want to go somewhere cold or hot, or if you want to hike across glaciated Andean volcanoes or soak up the sun on a balmy beach. You can have it all in Ecuador and in one day’s journey.

After the end of such a long day you may want to sip on a drink called Chicha, a traditional alcoholic drink made by mixing freshly ground corn with boiling water and allowing the mixture to ferment.

Then if you’re hungry, you could order cevieche. Rest assured, I won’t be making it.

Locro (potato-cheese soup)

1/4 cup oil or butter
1/2 onion, minced
3 or 4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 to 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups of water or stock (I used chicken stock)
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup muenster, quesco fresco or mozzarella cheese, shredded.

Heat oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add onion and garlic and simmer until onion is translucent. Stir in potatoes, water or stock, milk and salt and pepper and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are falling apart, 30-45 minutes. Mash the potatoes up a bit with the back of a spoon to thicken the soup, leaving it a little chunky. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in cheese. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately. Garnish with chopped avocado.

Cevieche

1 lb fish or seafood, chopped
3/4 cup lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt to taste

Toss all ingredients together in a large, non-reactive bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 3 hours.

Adjust seasoning and serve with popcorn or tortilla chips

East Timor - A Fight for Freedom

2010-01-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

In 2002 East Timor became a new nation. But independence has not been easy. Indonesia occupied the country for twenty-five years and it resulted in the deaths of about 100,000 Timorese people. But even after independence the atrocities against the Timorese people didn’t stop.

In 1975 Portugal withdrew and Indonesia invaded. World powers turned a blind eye during some of the worst atrocities of modern times. Some world powers supported the occupation by supplying weapons to Indonesia. When the East Timorese voted for independence, loyalists to the Indonesian militia murdered hundreds and burned down villages. An international peacekeeping force stepped in to stop the mayhem and the United Nations helped rebuild East Timor. But security has been volatile and it’s been a bumpy road. East Timor is one of Asia’s poorest nations and it relies heavily on foreign aid.

The tourism industry is practically non-existent, but that doesn’t mean you can’t travel there. There are still plenty of things to do: dive, snorkel and enjoy the beaches. You may find some decent accommodations but there are still many unpaved roads. Perhaps, for the more adventurous traveler, that’s part of the charm.

Even though the cuisine from East Timor is influenced by Indonesia and Portugal they eat lots of seafood and tropical fruits. Our meal was simple. It consisted of grilled fish, papaya, and boiled cassava.

A simple dish for a country with a disturbing and complicated past.

Dominican Republic - A winter destination

2009-12-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

The Dominican Republic is the second largest nation in the Caribbean and it has everything from rainforests to deserts. Of course, it also has white sand beaches and beautiful blue water for those looking to escape to a tropical island. It’s Caribbean’s largest tourist destination and known for its golf courses, baseball, and merengue, the national dance and song. Yes, the word merengue actually comes from the word meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar.

Here in Canada, my friends seem to go to two places to escape the winter blahs: Cuba and the Dominican Republic. From what I am hearing it’s cheaper than going to Mexico or some other Caribbean island. From the little research I’ve done about the island nation it seems like quit a nice place to bath in the sun and forget about life for a while.

My only connection with the country is a memory I have of a friend’s mother. When I was five and six I was living in Lagos, Nigeria and my best friend was a little boy named Tico. His sister Desiree was also my friend and the three of us often played together. Their father was an American diplomat and their mother was from the Dominican Republic.

One story I remember about Tico’s mother was one my mother told. When we first moved to Lagos I was at home with the servants and apparently not being watched too closely. I wandered outside and found a stray dog and decided to take it into our house. I locked our cat and the dog together in one of our bathrooms upstairs, with me in there with them. Our cat went ballistic and bit me on the wrist. The poor dog was so distraught that our cook had to carry him down the stairs.

I got blood poisoning from the cat bite on my wrist. To remedy it I had to have a series of shots. Being that I was five this was the most horrible thing in the whole world. Two people had to keep me still while the doctor administered the shots. Tico’s mom happened to be working at the doctor’s office and helped my mother hold me down. While I screamed and cried my mother looked over at Tico’s mom and saw she had tears streaming down her face. My mother never forgot that.

We all loved our Dominican Republic meal (and we had it with our Dominica soup). It was Asopao de Mariscos, a shrimp and rice dish. It was wonderfully flavored with tomato paste, green peppers, garlic, olives, parsley, cilantro, and chicken bouillon. It was easy to make and you could try other things other than shrimp such as lobster or crab.

Other popular dishes in the Dominican Republic are fried green plantains, fried dumpling with meat and cheese, and Mondongo, a soup made from cow’s stomach.

Here in Canada our short days of winter are getting depressing. You wake up to dreary weather and then it gets dark and your day is over. Many of the Canadians I know are flying off to the Dominican Republic. I must say, that does sound rather good right now.

Asopao de Mariscos

2 lbs shrimp, crab or lobster
1 lemon
2 1/2 cups rice
3/4 gallon water
5 TBSP oil
4 TBSP tomato paste
1/4 cup green peppers, chopped
1 pinch oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch black pepper
1/8 cup seedless olives, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1 TBSP parsley, chopped
1 TBSP coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
1 cube of chicken bouillon
salt.

Heat oil in a pot, add herbs, olives, spices, tomato paste, peppers, garlic, and salt. Then add the shrimp and stir. Cover and cook for two minutes, then stir again. Add water and bring to boil. Add all remaining ingredients including rice. Stir. Let most of the water evaporate. Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

Dominica - Natural Beauty

2009-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

Dominica is nicknamed the “Nature Isle of the Caribbean” because of its unspoiled natural environment. The island nation, in the Caribbean Sea, has mountainous rainforests, national parks, the world’s second largest boiling lake and many rare plant, animal and bird species. It could be a great tourist destination, except hordes of tourists would spoil the island’s natural beauty. Maybe it’s a good thing that there are no direct international flights and to travel there requires some island hopping.

Dominica’s cuisine is rooted in Creole techniques. Creole food is influenced by all the countries on the American slave route – West Africa, Caribbean, Eastern coast of South America and Louisiana. I chose to make Callaloo soup, a Creole food, and popular with the Dominicans. The national dish is Mountain Chicken and, no, it’s not chicken but frog legs and from a special kind of frog found on the island.

The soup was delicious. It was perfect for a cold winter day, or sitting on a beach in the Dominica knowing that it’s one of the few island nations in the Caribbean not swarming with tourists.

Callaloo Soup

1 lb Callaloo leaves, Chinese spinach or Swiss chard, chopped
1 celery stalk with leaves, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
2 med. Onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp thyme
1 sweet pepper, chopped
1/2 lb okra, sliced
1/4 tsp ground cloves
4 cups chicken or vegetable stocl
1 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp hot pepper sauce

Put chopped greens, celery stalk, green onions, garlic, thyme, sweet pepper, okra and cloves into a pot. Add stock and coconut milk and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes. Puree soup. Add salt and pepper and pepper sauce. Serve hot.

Djibouti - Harira

2009-12-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

I’ve been cooking meals around the world since late August and I haven’t attempted to figure up how much I’ve spent on food or how many hours I’ve spent in the kitchen. Each month has blurred into the next and I’m consciously aware that I have way over a hundred countries left to go. Every day I’m obsessively searching for recipes and running to the grocery store. Our dinners begin with my kids asking what country we’re eating and then patiently posing for the camera as I snap away at them eating. They smile in almost every picture even if they don’t like what we’re eating. John, who is very competitive, pushes me to continue so that I finish this project in a year.

My life is centered around food and though I’m not paying much attention to the news anymore I can’t help but be sucked into the same media hype as everyone else, like the Jon and Kate break-up, the mistresses of Tiger Woods and the Swine flu.

Kevin, the kids and I ran out to get our H1N1 shots as soon as we were able, and the night I cooked the Djibouti meal, Kevin called me from work to remind me that it was the last night, until January, for us to get our seasonal flu shots. It was snowing and I considered the inconvenience of going out to the clinic to stand in line with the kids, for God knows how long.

I decided to go but I had already begun cooking. I was making Harira, a beef stew with lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, spices and pasta. I told Kevin that he would have to finish making it since I had no idea how long it would take us to get the flu shot. He had already gotten his shot at work.

Djibouti is a small country located in the Horn of Africa. It borders Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. There is nothing in the media about this country. It gained independence from France in 1977 - after a hundred years of occupation - and it may be considered just a transit point on the road to Eritrea and Ethiopia but it’s stable with a well organized infrastructure, unlike some of its larger neighbors.

Djibouti is ninety percent desert with the hottest and driest climate on earth. However, it has one of the best harbors on Africa’s eastern coast making its location its main economic asset. Much of Ethiopia’s foreign trade passes through the port, providing Djibouti with its primary source of income. Plus, in an effort to counter terrorism, France and the U.S. have stationed troops in Djibouti. This provides the country with additional income. It’s the only place in Africa where the U.S. has a base.

It ended up taking us well over an hour to get our flu shots and when we got home I saw our Harira. It was a massive conglomerate of food in one big pot, and even though Kevin and the kids didn’t seem to mind it, I didn’t like it at all. There was too much stuff mixed in together and I didn’t like the idea of lentils and pasta together. There was so much of it that we ended up throwing most of it away.

I wasted food for a country that is poor and relying heavily on foreign aid. It made me wonder how I can help feed those who don’t have enough to eat. From now on I’m going to regularly supply the food bank with food – canned food, not my Eat Planet leftovers.

Harira

1 onion, chopped
A pound and a half of steak, cut up into bite-size pieces
1 cup of lentils
1 can chickpeas
1 28 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
3 lemons, quartered
1 cup chopped celery
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 pinch saffron
3/4 cup sifted flour
2 cups water
1 large handful of angel-hair pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
2 litters of sparkling water

Add oil to a large pot with meat, cumin, saffron, cilantro, parsley, onion, celery, and salt. Cook for 5 minutes then add the sparkling water and cook for a further 10 minutes. (I’m not sure what the sparkling water is suppose to do) Add lentils and chickpeas and cook for 50 minutes. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for another 20 minutes. Mix the flour with 2 cups of cold water and mix well with a whisk to get out any lumps. Pour this mixture into the pot stirring all the time. Add pasta and cook for 10 minutes. Serve hot and garnish with lemon.

Denmark - Anchovy Paste

2009-12-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

I was in a contest. I competed in the Canadian Blog Awards under the category of crafts, cooking and other activities. I came in second place and I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s funny. A year ago I never would have thought I would be in a blog competition. I don’t know if Denmark has been in any contests per se but it sure has “won” a lot of recognition.

It ranks as having the world’s highest level of income equality.
It has the best business climate in the world, according to Forbes Magazine.
It’s one of the happiest places in the world based on standards of health, welfare and education.
It’s the second most peaceful nation in the world, after New Zealand.
It’s ranked as the least corrupt country in the world in 2008 Corruption Perception Index.
It’s ranked 10th for the greenest countries to live in the world.
It was the first country in the world to implement an environmental law in 1973.

You notice how the greenest and most peaceful countries rank the highest on the Happiest Country Index? Maybe pollution, greed and war isn’t the way to go – at least if you want to be happy.

The UN summit in Copenhagen seemed a failure this year. While countries debated the news programs like CNN were bringing in “experts” that don’t think we need to be making such a fuss over the environment. Here’s my question: Even if these so-called experts are 1% wrong where does it leave the planet and all of us? Wouldn’t it make sense to err of the side of caution? I know, environmental laws costs money for industry. That’s why I wonder if these “experts” are getting paid to play devil’s advocate.

Maybe we should look to countries that are the happiest. Follow their example. Just a thought.

The night I made our Danish meal I was not in the mood to cook. I wanted something easy. I was delighted when I saw that open-faced sandwiches are very popular in Denmark. It was a snap to make but turned out to be a disaster.

I found a recipe for an open-faced sandwich that was easy peezy. All I had to do was spread butter and anchovy paste on slices of bread (I was supposed to use rye but I used multi-grain) and top them with slices of hard-boiled eggs. To go along with the sandwiches I bought Danish pastries at the bakery. Of course the kids loved the Danishes but absolutely hated the sandwiches. It was the anchovy paste they detested and, I was surprised, because I honestly thought they liked anchovies. After dinner I gave our cat, Lewis, some anchovy paste, thinking he’d go nuts over it, and he wouldn’t touch it. He eats bananas for God’s sake!

A few days later I met a woman from Denmark who told me they don’t eat anchovy paste. My God! Does anyone like anchovy paste!

So I decided to do a redo. I decided to make Frikadeller, Denmark’s national dish. On the day before Christmas I fought the crowds at the grocery store, after finally finding a parking space and almost getting run-over. Frikadeller are pan-fried meat dumplings often served in soups. There are different variations, minced pork, veal or beef. I mixed the pork and beef, which was a suggstion from the woman from Denmark. I served the meatballs with boiled white potatoes, gravy and cooked red cabbage. Everyone loved the meatballs.

Denmark may be one of the happiest countries but I wasn’t too happy to have cooked two meals for one country. But, in the end, I learned a lot about Danish food and anchovy paste.

Anchovy Paste Open-Faced Sandwiches

1 1/2 cups soft butter
1 1/2 ounces anchovy paste
4 hard-boiled eggs

Spread a slice of rye bread with softened butter, then with anchovy paste. Cut strips of the hard-boiled egg whites to arrange in petal shapes. Filled center with sieved yolks.

Frikadeller

Mix ground pork and beef together with chopped onions, an egg, milk, breadcrumbs and salt and pepper. Form into balls and flatten as you pan-fry them in oil.

Serve with boiled white potatoes, gravy and cooked red cabbage.

Czech Republic - Pork with cabbage and dumplings

2009-12-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

My dad and stepmother were stationed in Prague in 1982. My mother and I were living in Tel Aviv at the time and I would visit my father twice a year, for the Christmas and summer holidays. The Czech Republic is now a very popular tourist destination but at the time it was a communist country called Czechoslovakia and tourists found traveling there too restrictive and intimidating.

From Tel Aviv I would fly into Vienna where my dad would pick me up and we would drive three and a half hours into Prague. Crossing the border was always interesting. We would have our car searched by sour-faced border security looking for smuggled western goods or, when we were leaving the country, Czechs trying to escape.

Despite the repressive environment, Czechoslovakia was one of my father’s favorite posts. The U.S. Embassy and its employees were housed in the 17th century Shoenborn Palace in the Mala Strana district. It had over a hundred rooms, some with thirty-foot ceilings, and three courtyards. Behind the palace was a terraced garden and orchard with pear trees. Each family had a little plot of land where they could grow fruits and vegetables. The garden extended up a hillside where, on top, rested the Glorietta, a tall structure we climbed to see the magnificent view of the city and the Royal Palace.

Except for Czech crystal, there were few consumer goods and what was available was very bad quality. But there were a few nice restaurants in walking distance from the embassy and the city had beautiful opera houses, symphony orchestras and ballets. Since the Czech government funded the arts, the tickets were only a few dollars each, which made it possible for the average Czech to go to the performances. My father doesn’t remember a time going to an opera or ballet where the theater wasn’t packed.

Prague was a popular location for Hollywood. The first week my dad and stepmother were there they were filming the Barbra Streisand movie “Yentil” Not long afterwards another film crew came in to film “Amadeus.” There were several embassy people who were in the movie as extras. After my dad and stepmother left Prague the movie “Mission Impossible” was filmed there. The embassy RSO ( the regional security officer – the same position my dad held) had a speaking part in the beginning of the movie.

For our Czech Republic dinner I made vepro-knedlo-zelo, a pork roast with dumplings and cabbage. It’s the most popular Czech dish. It was not a difficult meal to make though I was a bit jittery about making the dumplings. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. I dumped little dough shaped loaves into boiling water and I was quite proud of myself when the dumplings came out just as they should.

For the cabbage, I sliced it into pieces, blanched it and then sautéed it with onion and butter. I then seasoned the cabbage with sugar, salt and vinegar. For the pork, I simply rubbed it with garlic and caraway seeds and roasted it.

It was fun talking with my dad about the Czech Republic. He reminded me of some of our experiences there. He also corrected me on a few things. For instance, since I was fourteen, I have been telling people that to get to Czechoslovakia I flew into Frankfurt, Germany where my dad picked me up before taking me to Prague. But my dad told me I had it all wrong. I flew into Vienna. Strange. I don’t remember being in Vienna. But I do remember gorgeous Prague and Shoenborn Castle.

Vepro-Knedlo-Zelo (Pork with dumplings and cabbage)

Pork roast
Garlic cloves
Caraway seeds
Salt

For dumplings:

1 1/2 cups flour
Salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 white bread roll, cut into pieces
1 tsp baking powder

Cabbage:

1 head of cabbage (red or white – I used red for color. I also heard it’s healthier)
1 onion
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp caraway seeds
Sugar
Salt
Vinegar

Rub meat with minced garlic and salt; sprinkle with caraway seeds and roast in a 350 degree oven until tender and cooked through. It took my pork roast an hour.

For the dumplings, mix all the ingredients until combined and add the bread cubes last. The dough should be a medium consistency. Shape the dough into 2 or 3 small loaves. Dump them into a big pot of boiling water and simmer for 20 – 35 minutes. Fish them out and slice them thick. The dumplings are supposed to have a soft and bready taste.

Cut the cabbage into strips and quickly blanch in boiling water; strain. With butter or oil, sauté chopped onion and then add the cabbage strips and a teaspoon of caraway seeds. Cook until cabbage leaves are tender. You may have to add in a little more water. When the cabbage is done, season with sugar, salt and vinegar.

Cyprus - Mousaka

2009-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

Cyprus is called ‘the island of Aphrodite, according to many travel brochures, maybe because, like Aphrodite, it rose out of the sea about 20 million years ago.

It’s a popular tourist destination. You can lounge on one of its gorgeous beaches or explore the Karpas Peinsula, medieval castles or visit the Byzantine frescoed churches of the Troodos Mountains and much more.

For now, you may want to stay away from cemeteries. The body of the former president, Tassos Papadopoulos, is missing from his grave. Thieves stole the remains on the eve of the first anniversary of his death.

The bizarre incident is messing with the peace efforts aimed at reuniting the Turkish and Greek parts of the island. Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded the island after a coup to stop the plans to form a union with Greece. The tensions between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot have been high since independence from Britain in 1960. Papadopoulos was president from 2003 to 2008. In 2004 he denounced the UN plan to reunite the island.

I decided to make mousaka for our Cyprus meal. I had many recipes to choose from since Cypriot food is a delicious fusion of Greek and Turkish cuisines. I had a selection of seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, grilled lamb, potatoes and souvlaki,. One of the things I found most interesting was the Hallounni cheese that originated in Cyprus in the Medieval Byzantine period. It’s often garnished with mint and served fresh or grilled.

Every year for my birthday, when I was a kid, my mother would make me mousaka. I believe I had it for the first time in Greece when I was about seven and I instantly fell in-love with the cheesy meat and eggplant dish.

I consider mousaka labor intensive and it takes me several hours to make. But it’s always well worth it. I’ve cooked mousaka plenty of times before but each time it brings back fond memories and I always enjoy it immensely.

Cyprus gave me the excuse to tackle the recipe once again.

Mousaka

1 large eggplant, sliced
Vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef or lamb
1 glass of white wine
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained of some of their juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp oregano
Grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese (I used both and I grated the cheese over the dish and put on as much as a wanted)
A bit of chopped parsley

Bechamel Sauce

6 TBSP butter
1/3 cup flour
4 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
75g grated Parmesan
pinch of nutmeg

Topping

Grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese
Toasted bread crumbs (I used plain coutons and crushed them)

Immerse the eggplant slices into salt water for 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Fry them in hot vegetable oil until they become golden (they absorb a lot of oil). Drain on a paper towel.

Heat oil in a pan and sauté onion. Add the meat and sauté until the meat turns brown. Pour in wine, tomatoes, spices, salt and pepper and oregano. Cover and cook for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Then mix in grated cheese and parsley.

To make the béchamel sauce, melt butter in medium saucepan until melted. Add flour. Cook, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly until smooth. Return to heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until sauce comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in parmesan, salt and nutmeg.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a rectangular baking dish place half of the eggplant slices on the bottom, then spread half the meat mixture evenly on top and then cover the meat with the remaining eggplant. Spread the remaining meat on and then pour some bechamel sauce over the meat and. Sprinkle with grated cheese.and breadcrumbs.

Bake for 1 hour, until a golden crust is formed on the top. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Cuba - Julie's Restaurant and Bar

2009-12-17T06:02:00.000-08:00

My family and I are standing in front of Julie’s Cuban restaurant on a small street in Toronto. It’s the closest we’re going to get to Cuba anytime soon. We walk in from the bitter cold and into the tiny eatery, the only other customers are a couple that look to be on a date. The hostess is friendly but concerned we don’t have reservations. After a few confused moments she pulls two small tables together, even though I spot plenty of tables for four, and we are seated. I can’t imagine why we would need reservations. It’s a Sunday night and we just left the mall where, I swear, half of Toronto is doing their holiday shopping.

An older woman with a pile of blonde hair swept up on her head welcomes us with a warm smile. I explain to her that we want very typical Cuban dishes and she happily points them out on the menu. For appetizers she suggests Corn Frituras and Yuca Fritas. Kevin says, ““Kids, mommy boiled yuca at home, remember?”

For our main course the woman suggests we get Ropa Vieja, shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce, black beans, rice and plantains. “Mommy’s made fried plantains too,” Kevin says. Yes, mommy has made a lot of things these days!

We also order the Enchilado de Camarones, rice and shrimp with roasted red pepper. For dessert the woman recommends Tres Leches and Chocolate Rum Flan, both are to die for.

As we’re eating, I notice people are piling in. The few tables the restaurant has to offer are quickly getting occupied.

The restaurant has a homey quality about it. White lights line the outside and inside giving the restaurant a cozy ambiance. We figure the restaurant had once been a townhouse, judging by the neighborhood and the old townhouses surrounding it. It’s sort of hidden away, a little gem, a bit of Havana on a cold night. One side of the room is a shelf covered with photographs and memorabilia from Cuba. Next to us is a large cigar ashtray that prompts an explanation to the kids about Cuban cigars.

“Why are they so special?” the kids ask.

“Because they’re really good cigars” I say remembering how I had snuck in a Cuban cigar for my stepfather when I had gone to Tijuana. “You can’t get them in the U.S.”

“Why?”

“Because the U.S. government doesn’t like Cuba and won’t trade with them.” The kids still look confused and finally I say, “It’s all very complicated.”

Truthfully, I don’t understand it myself.

When I first arrived in Canada it sounded strange to hear about Cuban vacations and read travel ads in the newspaper promoting all inclusive vacation packages to Cuba. It’s jarring to the ears when your whole life you’ve viewed Cuba as this non-accessible mysterious place where that Fidel Castro rules.

One day I told my hairdresser that I wanted to go to Cuba. He called over a Cuban woman who worked for the salon and told her my dilemma: I’m an American who wants to visit her country.

“You can go!” the woman assured me. “They welcome tourists. The Cuban officials don’t care that you are an American. They won’t stamp your passport.”

It’s attempting. It angers me that I can’t loll on a Cuban beach with my Canadian friends. President Obama has said he wants a new beginning with Cuba but has not lifted the U.S. commercial, economic and financial embargo against the island nation.

At Julie’s, we scarf down our meal and thank the nice lady with the blonde upswept hair. The restaurant is full now. As we leave I look back at the other patrons who look like they’ve been here before, they seem at ease, comfortable with where they are. We step out into the frosty air. It’s cold and dark as we walk to our car and the white lights from the restaurant fade from view. Back to reality, but still dreaming of hot Havana nights.

Croatia - Under the Croation Sun

2009-12-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

It’s rare to find a place these days that has a timeless quality about it, especially one that has cruise ships pulling into its coastal isles. As the country tries to preserve its authenticity tourists scramble in to see Croatia’s cozy rustic villages, Roman ruins, medieval cities and gorgeous beaches. One can island hop to one of the 1185 islands and then stroll through art galleries in the capital of Zagreb where the architecture speaks volumes about its socialist and Yugoslavian past.

Despite the fact that it’s had a rough history I think it would be the perfect setting for the next chick flick. It could be called “Under the Croatian Sun.” Of course it’s a spin-off from the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” but, I swear, from my perspective, it looks like Croatia has all the beauty and romance of Tuscany. Maybe. I’ll have to go there to make sure.

Croatia night was also Kevin’s birthday. Normally I would have cooked Kevin’s favorite meal of – do I dare say it? – Sloppy Joes and French fries. Well, not this time, not when I have a deadline! It could have been worse. It could have been Botswana night! Actually, what I made wasn’t a far stretch from what he likes. I made a sausage and potato casserole. I cooked the sausage and potatoes with bacon, garlic, parsley and other seasonings. I topped it with sour cream.

Croatian cuisine varies from region to region but there is something for everyone. While it still holds firm to its Eastern European roots its reminiscent of the many cultures that have influenced the country throughout history. On the coast you will feast on Italian-style dishes and on the mainland you’ll experience the flavors of Hungary, Austria and Turkey. But whatever the region they love fresh seasonal ingredients.

There are days when I wish that I could hop on a plane, without a care in the world, and travel to somewhere like Croatia. The day of the Croatian meal I went to parent/teacher conferences, picked up Kevin’s birthday cake, hung up decorations, cooked dinner and tended to John and Julia and their friends who were running through my house. When Kevin got home from work I made a big effort to make him feel special. I placed his presents on the dinning table next to his dinner plate while the kids and I lit the candles on his cake and sang Happy Birthday.

After dinner we went to see the movie “The Blind Side.” It was a good family movie about hope, perseverance and working hard to achieve your dream. I liked the movie but I think I would rather have seen “Under the Croatian Sun.”

In the theater I sat back and relaxed for a couple hours. When we got home I was on the computer again deciding what to cook next. I won’t be seeing Dalmatia’s coastal isles anytime soon or any signs of timelessness.

Sausage and Potato Casserole

4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
250 g spicy sausage, sliced
2 oz smoked bacon, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 TBSP vegetable seasoning (I used Italian seasoning)
Bay leaf
Parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Flour
4 cups water
Sour ream (optional)

Heat vegetable oil in a pan and sauté the bacon, onion and sausage. Sprinkle with paprika add potatoes, vegetable seasoning, bay leaf and salt and pepper. Dust with four, stir well and add water. Boil gently until the potatoes have softened. Add chopped parsley and garlic. Bring to a boil then serve. Top it with a little sour cream.

Cote d'Ivoire - French City

2009-12-13T05:54:00.000-08:00

For many years Cote d’Ivoire was the jewel of West Africa. When we lived in Nigeria it was known by its English translation as the Ivory Coast. My mother visited Abidjan, the capital, dubbed “Paris of West Africa” with its boutiques and fancy restaurants. My mother described it as a beautiful French city.

Cote d’Ivoire’s modernity is exceptional compared to other West African countries. It has impressive skyscrapers and a basilica that closely resembles Rome’s St. Peter’s. However, things have changed. Since the death of their first president, Houphouet-Boigny, the country has taken a dramatic downward turn. A series of coups, insurgencies and the northern-led rebellion in 2002 has devastated the country and its economy has crumbled.

For our Cote d’Ivoire meal I managed to find a recipe that didn’t require peanut butter. I cooked Kedjenou, chicken pieces baked with eggplant, okra, onions, tomatoes and various spices. It was a one-pot meal and I got to use my new baking dish with a lid.

I love eggplant so my hopes were high but I was not overly impressed. Maybe I’m just sick of chicken. The kids had no complaints.

Ironically, after dinner, I sat down with John and helped him study for a French test. My mother learned a little French so she could get by in those French African countries. I think she would have been very impressed that John is learning the language, even if French Africa seems to be disappearing.

Kedjenou

Large chicken cut into pieces
4 small eggplant, peeled and cut into pieces
6 okra, chopped
2 onions, chopped
4 tomatoes, blanched, peeled and chopped
2 cm length of ginger
bay leaf
sprig of thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup chicken stock
1 TBSP groundnut oil (I used peanut oil)

Combine ingredients in cooking pot. Stir then seal with a lid. Seal lid with tin foil ringing the rim of the pot.

Place in a 350 degree oven and cook for 1 hour and 40 minutes (I only cooked it for about an hour). Take pot out of oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.

Costa Rica - Rich Coast

2009-12-12T10:25:00.000-08:00

When I was in college my friend Karla went to Costa Rica on a class trip. She came back and described to me how she found a cockroach in her hotel room the size of a Buick. She must have told me other stuff about her trip, the country’s beauty and diverse ecosystems, but quite honestly, I don’t remember anything else.

I was so fascinated by the size of Costa Rica’s creepy crawlies that I missed learning about this amazing country. Costa Rica, which means “rich coast,” is ranked first in the Happy Planet Index and the greenest country in the world. The government has plans to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021.

It’s also peaceful. In 1948 it abolished its army and has managed to avoid violence that has plagued other countries in the region. Costa Rica’s military budget now goes towards security, education and culture. Their president, Oscar Arias, has something in common with Obama. In 1987 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end civil wars in several other Central American countries.

The staple food in Costa Rica is gallo pinto, rice and black beans and is considered the national dish. It can be eaten as part of any meal but seems to be a favorite for breakfast. It’s a simple recipe composed of rice, black beans and cooked together with onion and fresh cilantro.

For our Costa Rican meal I made gallo pinto and served it with fried eggs and toast. Even though we were eating this as our dinner the kids thought it was very strange to eat rice and beans for breakfast. I liked the idea. My friend, Ana, who is from Mexico, once cooked me breakfast and she served me eggs with hot sauce and refried beans. I thought it was delicious!

The night of our Costa Rican meal we had our first snow. It was just a dusting but exciting nonetheless. But I think I would prefer the climate in Costa Rica. It sounds like a marvelous place to live, minus the enormous bugs.

Recently I realized that most of the countries I write about are war-torn and corrupt. It was refreshing to write about Costa Rica’s peace and environmental awareness. It gave me a better outlook on the world and humanity.

Thank you Costa Rica.

Gallo Pinto

1 lb black beans (I cheated and used 1 can)
Fresh cilantro, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans of chicken broth
2 cups of white rice
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP vegetable oil

Add oil to a large pan and sate dry rice for 2 minutes. Then add half the onions and cilantro and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer until rice is tender (you may have to add some water). Once rice is cooked, sauté the rice with the beans and the rest of the onions and cilantro in vegetable oil.

Sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top before serving.

Congo, The Republic Of - Fish with Sorrel

2009-12-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

The Republic of the Congo is on the opposite side of the river from Democratic Republic of Congo and its less dangerous and friendlier. It’s famous for its lowland gorillas and chimpanzees, dense forests and jungle. This country, which was a former French colony, is in central Africa and borders with Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Republic of the Congo offers tourists surf beaches in Pointe-Noire, white-water rapids on the Congo River and Odzala National Park. Nearly half the people live in the urban areas and Brazzaville, the capital, still has a French feel with its tree-lined boulevards and street cafes serving French croissants.

Still, The Republic of Congo has had decades of political turmoil since independence in 1960 and for centuries the country’s coastline was one of the main areas for slave and ivory trade by Europeans. Today, even though it’s on its way to becoming a modern multi-party state and is more industrialized than most of its neighbors, its unsafe to travel along the Ubangi River border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the routes between Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.

For our meal I cooked Fish cooked in sorrel (in my case, I substituted the sorrel with baby spinach). I fried onion, garlic, chili pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste to make a sauce and then poured it over the fish. I then added spinach along with seasonings and served with rice.

Sorrel is also known as Spinach Dock or Narrow-leaved Dock. You can use sorrel in soups, sauces and salads. The flavor is sharp and has a similar taste to kiwi. It is not related to Jamaican sorrel.

For us this recipe was a disaster. It had to do with the fact that I bought some bad fish, I believe. I bought whole Sea Bream that John filleted for me since he’s a fisherman. He kept saying to me, “You’re lucky mom that I fish.”

We ate some of it, but it didn’t taste right. Needless to say, I won’t be buying fish from this particular grocery store again.

Fish cooked with sorrel

Oil for frying
1 fish cut into serving sizes
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 chili pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 small can tomato paste
1 bunch of fresh sorrel (or baby spinach)
Bay leaf
Ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Heat oil in pan and fry fish until done. Set aside. Heat more oil and fry onion, garlic, then chili pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir in enough water to make a smooth sauce. Heat to a slow boil. Pour sauce over the fish. Add the sorrel leaves, bay leaf, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Simmer gently for 10 – 20 minutes. Serve over rice.

Congo, Democratic Republic Of - King Lepold's Ghost

2009-12-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Democratic Republic of Congo has also been known as Belgian Congo, Congo Free State and Zaire. It’s located in Central Africa and the third largest African country, and yet, only the most adventurous would consider traveling to DRC. It has been the center of Africa’s world war that has claimed the lives of 3 million people all in the name of mineral wealth and the ability to plunder natural resources.

The history of DRC has been defined by corruption and civil war. It’s the setting for the famous book by Adam Hochschild called King Leopold’s Ghost about one of the most infamous international scandals of the turn of the 20th century.

If only greed and corruption could step out of the way, DRC could be a rich African nation with its untamed wildlife and trillions of dollars of untapped mineral resources. With its exotic animals, sprawling rainforests and fast-running rivers it could also be a favorite tourist destination. If only….

For our DCR meal I cooked chicken a la moambe (fried chicken with peanut butter sauce). The chicken pieces were browned and cooked in tomato paste and peanut butter. As a result, the coating on the chicken was gooey and messy – we used lots of napkins – but was quite tasty. I served it with cassava, or yuca.

The cassava root is not very appealing to look at; it’s long, rough and brown on the outside. I looked up how to cook it and found several good recipes but decided to do the most simple. So I peeled it, chopped it, boiled it and then served it. It looked like cut up boiled potato but had a more delicate flavor.

After we ate our meal the kids and Kevin went to Toronto to see a football game. I had the whole evening to myself. I worked and then decided I should do something more fun so I dug around in my collection of movies and found “An Officer and a Gentleman.” I hadn’t seen it in years and I was surprised by the nudity, just because I’m almost certain I watched this with my parents.

There’s a scene in the movie where the Sergeant is putting Zack (Richard Gere) through hell because he caught him breaking the rules. The Sergeant dares him to quit but Zack breaks down and cries, “I have nowhere else to go!”

The people of DCR live with violence and failed politics, and they’re stuck. They have nowhere else to go. But perhaps they too will learn to rise up from their circumstances and do more than just learn how to survive.

Chicken A La Moambe

Pieces of chicken
Vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 oz. peanut butter
salt and pepper

Brown chicken and discard oil. Combine tomato paste and water and pour over chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper and peanut butter. Simmer for another 20 minutes.

Comoros - Cloud Coup-Coup Land

2009-12-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish I could zap myself somewhere around the world. I wish I could say, “beam me up Scotty,” and I’d be on a remote white sand beach in Comoros with the scent of ylang-ylang in the air. Then again, if it’s too easy to get somewhere everyone goes and it looses its mystery.

Comoros is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Africa. Its nearest countries are Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar and the Seychelles. The country consists of four major islands and many smaller islands, although, the island of Mayotte is still apart of France.

Comoros has had a troubled history since independence of France in 1975. Its been nicknamed “Cloud Coup-Coup” land because of its crazy political climate. The country’s three major islands – excluding Mayotte - have experienced almost twenty coups since independence. The political violence has left Camoros desperately poor and it has few natural resources.

But the islands do have a spectacular array of exotic plants and animals. For instance they have fruit bats with a wingspan of more than four feet. I told you I read the book The Bizarre Truth by Andrew Zimmern and he ate fruit bats when he went to the islands of Samoa. He said that these bats are so clean you can eat every part including the insides of its intestinal tract because all they eat is bread fruit. He and his traveling companions cooked the bats over an open fire, scraped off their fur and roasted them whole.

Another interesting species in the waters around the islands is the coelacanth. It’s a fish that has been around for 400 million years and was once thought to be extinct for 60 million years. It’s called the “living fossil” fish and a live fish was discovered in 1938 and one was recently caught by a Comorian fisherman.

Life was crazy the day I cooked a meal from Comoros. More accurately, the day Kevin cooked a meal from Comoros. The company children’s Christmas party was that morning, Julia had a birthday party to go to that afternoon, and John announced that he was going to have a social studies test about the Vikings in French. So, while Kevin cooked, I spent a good part of the evening translating John’s notes. I now know more about the Vikings than I ever cared to know. I just hope John knows it. Plus, I was shamelessly voting for myself for the Canadian Blog Awards and watching my Eat Planet blog name ride up and down the list, celebrating when my name was on the top, cursing when my name was on the bottom (though I’m not sure that has anything to do with where I stand). I could be dead last, for all I know, or it could be all very random. Nonetheless, it ‘s turned into an excessive hobby of mine, watching my name go up and down the list.

So Kevin made the meal, but I did choose the recipe and I did run to the grocery store. Cooking all these new recipes can be exhausting and yet, I discovered, I cannot let up. In fact, I must up my game if I want any hope of doing this in a year. I mean, my God, I’m still in the C’s! I feel like I’ve been doing this for years. How am I still in the C’s? So, at any rate, it helps when Kevin volunteers to give me a break.

The meal Kevin made was Poulet Au Coco (Chicken with coconut). Technically I should have picked out a seafood recipe since Comoros is known for its excellent seafood. In fact, I was going to cook langouste a la vanille (lobster cooked in vanilla sauce) but, quite frankly, I didn’t have it in me to make some complicated seafood dish no mater how delicious it sounded. Although, I may cook it one of these days so I will be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, I found this lovely chicken and coconut dish that was quite simple and the perfect thing to throw at Kevin. He did a wonderful job; he diced the chicken in little pieces and cooked it in butter, onions, garlic, curry powder, fresh thyme and coconut milk. When it was done it looked beautiful and tasted very good - except for the pieces of branch we kept pulling out of our teeth. When putting in the fresh thyme Kevin didn’t just throw in the leaves but the tiny branches as well and, at first, John thought they were little bones. At the end of our meal our plates were rimmed with thyme branches. But who’s complaining? I didn’t have to cook!

Beam me up, Scotty!

I’m standing on a picture postcard beach just as the sun hits the water. In the distance I can see Grande Comore Island, the home of the largest active volcano in the world. My hotel is far from fancy and since it’s a Muslim country I can’t drink wine and I must be modest and cover up. But it’s a great place to escape and, best of all, its still shrouded in mystery.

Poulet au Coco (Chicken with coconut)

1 lb chicken, diced
2 TBSP butter
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp fresh thyme
6 green onions, chopped
1 bunch parley, finely chopped
1 lemon

Fry chicken in butter until golden brown, then add onion, garlic and curry powder. Stir-fry for 15 minutes then add coconut milk, thyme, green onions and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and stir and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve on a bed of rice and squeeze lemon juice over the top.

Colombia - Bandeya Paisa

2009-12-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

Lonely Planet says Colombia is back and it’s now safe to visit. The country is in transition from being the homicide capital of the world to being a paradise. But who knows how long they will be in this transition. Since the 1960s left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in the continent’s longest-running armed conflict. Violence escalated in the 1990s fueled by the cocaine trade.

My dad was in Colombia on business in 2003. Since he works in the anti-terrorism division for the U.S. government he met with the police in Bogotá. Their meetings were delayed since a drug gang had massacred 20-30 police officers and everyone was busy going to funerals. My dad’s constant escort, a police major, had a bounty on his head and drug lords had threatened to kill him and his family. When my dad went to the police base he had to take a helicopter in because the roads to the base were too unsafe.

Despite the violence, Colombia could very well be the favorite tourist destination in South America, according to Lonely Planet. It definitely has all the makings - beautiful climate, diverse terrains, a rich mixture of people and good food. For our Colombian meal we had Bandeja Pais,a a large platter of food that is very popular and typical of a Colombian dish. It’s a plate of grilled steak, pork loin, Chorizo sausages, rice and red beans, avocado, sweet banana chips and topped with a fried egg. We loved it. It was easy to make and we had so much food we were able to eat it again the next night.

Another popular dish is hormiga culona, a meal of fried ants. During the rainy season the ants are harvested, soaked in salty water and roasted in a ceramic pot. If I ever go to Colombia I’ll make sure I try it.

I would love to visit Colombia but I hope they have the strength to move forward and out of this dark period of drugs and violence. They need to move on and go back to a better time. Sometimes you have to go back to move forward, and even then, it’s a long way to paradise.

Bandeya Paisa

Grilled steak
Pork loin
Chorizo sausages
Rice
Red Beans
Avocado
Sweet banana chips
Eggs (fried)

China - China Time

2009-12-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

For our China meal I decided to try a new Chinese restaurant in our area called Cynthia’s. Ideally I wanted to go to China Town in Toronto but the day had become too hectic for us to make a trip into the city. Besides, John was exhausted. He had spent the night at a friend’s house and then spent the entire next day playing. He was now feeling the effects and we had hardly seen him all weekend. When Kevin and I tried to snuggle with him he pushed us away and told us that he didn’t do that anymore. “Well, you should have warned us about six months ago,” I told him, “so I could have made sure to get in extra cuddling time.”

To make it easy on myself I called the restaurant and ordered take-out. I then hopped in the car and took off for the restaurant. The only thing I knew about this place was from the flyer I got in our mailbox. I was worried. The other Chinese places I had seen in Oakville looked questionable, to say the least.

As it turned out the restaurant had a theme park feel - a far departure from the non-aesthetic take-out places that seem to dot every strip mall . Two life-size terracotta warriors stood outside in front like guards. The heavy, wooden front door opened automatically and inside I was greeted by friendly waiters and waitresses dressed in elaborate Chinese costumes. They certainly didn’t depict Communist China but a more romantic time in Chinese history.

Back home we ate Peking duck, along with tofu and spicy eggplant. The kids dug in, and devoured the duck – one of their favorite foods. We were a happy family, together again, laughing, and I wished I could freeze time and put it in a bottle. But things are always changing.

Sometimes the passing of time is most noticeable when we travel. The most striking example was when I first traveled to China in January 1993.

My mother, stepfather, a couple of traveling companions and I touched down into Kunming, China at sunset. The sky was glowing red and we could see mountains in the distance.

Kunming was a bustling vision of lights, tall buildings and roaring traffic. It was different than what I imagined. I had read about China’s drab sameness of everyday life, the fear and the pervasive bureaucracy. My traveling companions had not been back since the late 1970s shortly after China opened its doors to the West. From them I heard repeatedly, “My things have changed.”

We saw karaoke set up outside on every other street corner where young men and women trilled out what sounded like Taiwanese pop music, venders too intent on making a buck to waste time on politics, numerous publication stands selling Playboy-like publications, and young women outfitted in stretch pants and wearing stiletto-heeled ankle boots. One in our group muttered, “right revisionism” as we entered the vast, marbled lobby of our hotel and were greeted by a huge, neon Santa and the words, “Merry Christmas.”

Later, we ended up at a restaurant that was loud and packed full of customers sitting at simple round tables. The owner, a lively old woman with a squinting grin, seated us. She was elated when my traveling companions spoke to her in Mandarin. The food was excellent. One of the dishes had a strange spice that numbed first my lips and then my tongue. At the table next to ours, rowdy Chinese men crudely spat chicken bones on the floor by our feet. My traveling companions were delighted. This was the old China they had loved and remembered.

We took a 24-hour train trip to Chengdu. My companions who had traveled extensively in China in the past decided either our train was the most disgusting in China or train service had seriously deteriorated. This is when we wanted modern China. The government-run service was in sharp contrast to the more pleasant encounters we had with the private sector. When we got any service at all, it was surly and haphazard. The train was filthy; especially the dinning car and the bathrooms and cigarette smoke was so thick it made our eyes water.

My mother gazed out the train window and tried to make something of the vast countryside. She pointed to some mountains in the darkening sky, and searched for light to pinpoint human life. It was desolate. She mentioned how odd that was – China having a population of a billion. She tried to quote a Tang Dynasty poem that she had read, something about mountains in China where no one is seen but heard. I thought of Yunnan’s national minorities, in the remote and isolated regions of the province, whose lives had changed very little in the last hundreds, if not thousands, of years, still inaccessible by public transportation.

A year after my first trip to China my mom and stepfather moved to Beijing. “I want to see Peking,” my mother mused using the old name for Beijing. I knew it was the old Peking she longed to see that Westerners described as the “lingering city of splendor” – lakes and palaces, courtyard mansions, pods of camels and ancient trees. Even then, things were changing, its old society was disappearing with the onslaught of war with Japan and infighting between the communists and the Kommingdong. “I want to see the old city walls,” she said. She and I both knew that the walls had been torn down by Mao years before to use the material for air raid shelters. This was during the Cultural Revolution when angry bands of Red Guards tried to destroy all elements of the old society to rebuild China under a single communist ideology.

My mother complained about the constant noise of construction and what a pity it was that they were destroying the old hutongs. She loved to ride her bike down the old narrow alleyways with cobblestone streets lined with faded red gates that offered a glimpse of ruined courtyard houses and China’s past. She detested the nondescript apartment buildings they put up in their place.

I have traveled to China many times and my mother and I wrote a book about China called Hard Sleeper that journeys into China’s past. In our own way, we saw the old China.

In the book China to Me Emily Hahn wrote about her life in China in the 1930s. In it she said how she loved Shanghai but feared it would change. “Always changing, there are some things about it which will never change" she wrote, "so that I will forever be able to know it when I come back. No, they can’t take Shanghai away from me.”

So I must remember: we can freeze time and put it in a bottle. We store it in our hearts and minds. And now when I hug John I savor the moment but I will never forget what it was like to cuddle.

Chile - Curanto

2009-12-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

For Chile I cooked the national dish curanto, or, to be more accurate, I cooked pulmay, the indoor stewed version. Curanto is prepared in a hole dug in the ground. It consists of every meat and seafood ingredient imaginable. It’s the perfect dish to have at parties. When I cooked my pulmay I invited Christa and her family over to help us eat it. It was rather fearless of me to invite guests over when I had no idea what I was cooking. But it would have been more fearless if I had made the traditional curanto. Nonetheless, we were up for the adventure and it turned out to be a tasty experience.

For the pulmay I bought a 14-liter pot and I layered it first with vegetables, then sausage and chicken pieces, then clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops. I covered each layer with cabbage leaves and I poured a bottle of white wine over the top. The cooking wine mixed in with the garlic, onions and seafood was enough to make you salivate. The wine juices were also the perfect dipping sauce for the homemade bread that Christa brought.

We ended up eating the pulmay in courses starting with the shellfish, then the shrimp and scallops and then the pork, sausage and chicken. Christa and her husband, Neil, brought Chilean wine and it was delicious. I’ve recently become interested in Chilean wine and it has become quite popular around the world. It all started in the 16th century when Spanish priests cultivated the country’s first wines because they needed wines to celebrate the Catholic Mass. The Chilean climate is ideal for grape growing and today Chili is exporting wine to more than 90 countries.

Chile has also become a popular tourist destination with its award-winning wines and exceptional seafood. Some of their popular cuisines are conger eel, sea bass, mussels, king crabs and locos – large abalone. It’s also known for its hardy country dishes with meat, potatoes, corn and beans, and they love their empanadas - pastries stuffed with meat. I found empanadas at the Latin grocery store I go to and they were a big hit with Christa and her family. They were made fresh and I put them in the oven until they were warm and crispy.

I thought how fun it would be to have a traditional curanto. I could invite people over to literally pull their food out of the ground. It would make us feel one with the earth.

If anyone is interested this is what you do: You dig a hole, 1 foot deep, 5 feet wide (hopefully your neighbors won’t think you’re burying a dead body in your backyard). You then start a bonfire in the middle of the hole. Spread wood coals evenly on the bottom, then stones on top of the coals and then cover the stones with leaves. Rhubarb leaves are the best to use. Then put on the layers of food. Seafood (best to use shellfish) goes on the bottom, then meats and then the vegetables. Cover each layer with the rhubarb leaves. When all the food layers are down, cover it again with leaves, then lay down a thick cloth over the top of it all. Now shovel dirt on top of that. It will cook for one to two hours.

So the next time you want to have a backyard barbeque you may want to consider making curanto. I’m sure it will be the talk of the neighborhood, especially if the neighbors called the police because they really did they think you buried a dead body or because you broke some city ordinance.

In any event, friends, great food and wine and lively conversation, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Pulmay

2 green bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped parsley
4 onions, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
5 potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 head of cabbage, with leaves separated
1 1/2 lb pork loin, cubed
1 1/2 lb pork sausage, sliced
1 chicken cut into 8 pieces
10 mussels
10 sea scallops
20 clams
10 large prawns
7 blue crab and soft shell crabs and any other seafood available
1 bottle of white wine
salt

You will need a very large pot. Spread the peppers in the bottom of the pot, sprinkle with parsley and salt, follow with onions, garlic, and potatoes. Spread a layer of cabbage leaves and follow with pork loin, sausage, chicken pieces and salt. Spread a layer of cabbage leaves and follow with seafood and cover and cover with cabbage leaves again. Pour wine over the layers. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 25 to 35 minutes until cabbage is tender. If needed add water.

In my experience the seafood may be done much sooner.

Chad - Drought

2009-11-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

When we were living in Nigeria my mother described Chad as the most benighted hole of a nation on earth. Not nice, I know, but it was when Lagos was in a state of emergency because the water and electricity workers had gone on strike and my mother was fed up with all of West Africa.

Chad may not be the most benighted hole but it does have a painful history, harsh climate, few natural resources, lack of infrastructure and torn by conflicts between nomadic desert herders and ethnic groups. It has also been ravaged by droughts and famine and with all this combined you can see why it’s one of the world’s poorest countries.

The first time my dad went to Chad, since he was in charge of the security for the U.S. Embassy there in the early 1970s, he said it was a backward and dreary country. He told us that the people were suffering because of the Sahel drought that affected the land areas directly south of the Sahara desert and stretched across Northern Africa. The Sahel drought was a series of droughts starting in the 17th century and famine and dislocation followed the severe droughts. There was one on a massive scale from 1968 to 1974 and then again in the mid 1980s. During these two droughts 100,000 people died and left 750,000 dependent on food aid. When my dad was there in 1975 he said there were truck loads of U.S. grain sitting at the Chad-Nigeria border never to be delivered because Chad’s president’s wife owned a trucking firm and they refused to let Nigerian trucks bring it in. It’s hard to even comprehend the cruelty in that. Later, in 1975, her husband, president Francois Tombalbaye was killed by a group of soldiers who then installed, Felix Malloum, a general in the army, as the new head of state.

Traveling to Chad is unadvisable. The entire border area with Sudan is very dangerous and the police and soldiers are a nervous bunch these days as the government continues to lose its grip on the country. Despite this, there are a few reasons to visit, if you are up for the challenge. Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, has a thriving live-music scene, you could also check out the wildlife at the Zakouma National Park or experience the exotic desert landscapes of Ennedi.

For our Chadian meal we had fried fish cooked with garlic, tomatoes and cayenne pepper and, to go with the fish, I cooked courgette with peanuts. Courgettes are zucchinis and after boiling them I mashed them with butter and sprinkled them with crushed peanuts.

It was a tasty and enjoyable meal. Although later I realized how ironic it was that I cooked fish for this country when it has experienced years of drought. Perhaps it wasn’t the best choice.

Chadian Fried Fish

6 medium fish (tilapia or perch)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 TBSP flour
5 TBSP oil
3 tomatoes
salt, pepper and cayenne pepper

Pierce the fish with a knife and place the garlic pieces inside. Dip the fish in the flour then heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the fish on high heat. When the fish is golden brown add the tomatoes and cover the pan and allow to simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Add a little water if necessary and serve on rice.

Courgette with Peanuts

4 small courgettes (zucchini)
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP butter or oil
220g unsalted peanuts, ground to a fine powder

Simmer the whole courgettes in salted water until tender. Combine the courgettes and butter then mash to a smooth consistency. Top with the nuts and serve.

Central African Republic - Peanut Butter

2009-11-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

I’m learning that Africa likes peanuts. It's in many of their recipes. When I was trying to decide what to cook for our Central African Republic meal it seemed like I had a choice between recipes with peanut butter or recipes with peanut butter. I could have made fuloni boullie, a porridge cooked in peanut butter, or kanda ti nyma, beef meatballs cooked in peanut butter, or spinach stew flavored with peanut butter, or vegetable leaves and yams cooked in a sauce thickened with peanut butter. I decided to go with a beef and mushroom dish cooked with – you guessed it – peanut butter.

I’ve never been a big fan of peanut butter. When I was a kid peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were the staple for kids lunches and I hated it. I would say, give me mussels, artichokes, hummus or moussaka but don’t give me peanut butter! I think it’s because my mother used to use peanut butter to get gum out of my hair and I have never quite gotten over the association. Still, as much as I hated peanut butter sandwiches I would eat things that had peanut butter in them – like cookies and ice cream. Now I eat peanut butter in my stews and chicken and beef dinners.

Central African Republic is a landlocked country in Western, central Africa boarding Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo. Formally a French colony, it achieved independence in 1960. The years since have been turbulent but it is now under democratic rule and with a new constitution. However, it is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Africa and still relies on France for financial aid. The country has little industry but it does export coffee beans, cotton, and tropical hardwoods. They also have diamonds and gold which remain virtually untouched.

When my dad was assigned to the embassy in Lagos in 1976 he was in charge of the embassy security for five African countries - Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Niger and, of course, Nigeria. He was often away on business at one of these countries but he would come home bearing gifts like: carved wooden animals, necklaces, embroidered table cloths and once brought home a lion’s tooth set in silver filigree for my mother.

In Bangui, Central African Republic’s capital and largest city, my dad sometimes stayed with the Administration Officer from the U.S. Embassy and they would breakfast on his verandah looking down over the jungle and the river while wild monkeys climbed around the vines over their heads. The country is noted for its amazing wildlife.

When my dad went to Baugui it would usually be a two-week trip, not because he had two weeks worth of work, but because once you flew into a place like Bangui, if you couldn’t complete your job in 9 hours, you would have to wait a week to fly out again. As they say in those French speaking countries, "C’est Afrique.” That’s Africa.

Beef and Mushroom in Peanut Sauce

1/4 cup palm oil (or peanut oil)
1 lb beef steak, sliced
3 tomatoes, sliced
3/4 cup peanut butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
ground ginger to taste
salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Add the oil to a pot, heat and then cook the onion and garlic until soft but not colored. Add the meat and brown before adding the mushrooms, tomatoes, ginger and 2 cups of water. Cook on low heat for about an hour then remove 1 cup of the cooking broth and use this to dilute the peanut butter to a paste.

Add the peanut butter to the meat mixture and cook for another 20 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Serve on rice.

Cayman Islands - Conch (pronounced "konk")

2009-11-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

I believe in signs. But most of the time we need to be hit over the head until we notice them. It’s like in the Jim Carrey movie Bruce Almighty when Bruce Nolan, a television reporter who is down on his luck, thinks God is ignoring him. One night, he’s very angry and he’s driving his car down a dark road and he’s talking to God and asking him for a sign – any sign. In the meantime, we see Bruce passing road signs that warn him of danger ahead but, of course, Bruce is so wrapped up in blaming God for all his problems that he doesn’t see the signs and crashes.

Sometimes, with all the choices out there, I need direction on what to cook for any particular country that I’m working on. I need a sign.

On Sunday morning I woke up and lazily grabbed the book I was reading called The Bizarre Truth by Andrew Zimmern. Zimmern has his own show on the travel channel and he travels around the world and eats, well, bizarre foods. This guy eats everything from giant fruit bats to cheese covered in maggots. Yet there are times when he eats things that are quite tasty.

I was reading the chapter where Zimmern was describing catching conch off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. After collecting a bunch, he and others, took the mollusks back to shore where they ate a delicious conch meal on the beach.

I then got out of bed, got dressed and went to my computer where I googled my next country to cook, the Cayman Islands. The first thing I read about the Cayman Islands is that it’s the homeland of the conch. Interesting. However, it was a Sunday and the seafood market I go to was closed, and besides, I read somewhere that one shouldn’t buy seafood on Sundays and Mondays because it's not fresh. So I tossed the conch idea aside.

Later, Julia and I decided to go an Asian grocery store, called T&T, which I had been dying to check out. I envisioned a little Asia-mart but this place was an Asian superstore. It had everything from Peking duck to durian. Best of all, it had fresh seafood, and not the kind you see at your local grocery store. It had large fresh crab, eel, many different kinds of fish and they had conch. Not only did they have fresh conch but it was on sale, it was the manager’s special.

If this isn’t a sign I don’t know what is.

I grabbed a basket and tongs and helped myself to the conch. That’s what you do in this Asian supermarket: you fish out what you want from the tanks and then put your find in a basket to be weighed. The woman who weighs threw my conch in a bag and handed them to me. I handed them back. I knew from reading Zimmern’s book, just that morning, that extracting the conch from its shell can be hard laborious work. He recommended that you don’t simply boil the conch to get them out because it might ruin the taste of the meat. I know the idea of me trying to get the little buggers out of their shells would have made a hilarious story but I was going to play it smart this time and have someone else do it.

I tried to explain all this to the Chinese woman who spoke no English. She looked at me with incredulous impatience as I began miming in front of her and Julia hid behind the tank of giant clams. The woman grunted, grabbed the bag and walked away. I then heard very loud banging and she came back with just the conch and no shells.

At home I found a conch chowder recipe from the Cayman Islands. To make the chowder was quite simple but when Kevin asked if there was anything he could do to help I handed him the conch and told him I needed him to chop them up.

“Are they alive?” he asked.

I shrugged. “They were when I bought them.”

I placed the conch on the cutting board and the two of us inspected the species that looked like a cross between slugs and scallops. I pointed out the conch penises, which are rather large compared to their body sizes. Kevin made a face and diligently cut that part off.

“That’s good meat,” I protested since these suckers weren’t very big to begin with.

“No way,” Kevin retorted. “We’re not eating that!”

When I cooked the chowder which consisted of leeks, carrots, onion, potatoes, garlic and cream I should have thrown in the penises along with the other meat – like they would have known. Maybe next time. I’d like to brag that I’ve eaten conch penis, however pornographic that may sound. Zimmern did. But then again, he’s eaten maggots…

The conch chowder was delicious - one of my favorites. I wouldn’t mind going to the Cayman Islands, in the Western Caribbean Sea and the location of the world famous seven-mile beach, to eat it fresh. I bet it would taste much better.

I wonder if I should go there. I’ll look for the signs.

Conch Chowder

1 lb chopped conch
1/2 leek, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 potatoes, cut into small cubes
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups fish stock (I used chicken stock )
2 cups water
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp corn starch dissolved in a little water
Marjoram
Cumin seed
1 bay leaf
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper
A few drops of Tabasco

Heat the butter in a skillet, sauté the leeks, carrots, onions and garlic for two minutes. Then add wine, cream, water and fish stock. Then add the potatoes, conch and seasonings. Simmer until potatoes are cooked.

Cape Verde - music and volcanoes

2009-11-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

If you’re looking for a unique, less-touristy destination that hasn’t been fully exploited you may want to consider Cape Verde. The island country, composed of ten islands and eight islets, is located in the Atlantic Ocean off the West Coast of Africa. Despite its proximity to the mainland it has its own distinct culture with Portuguese-speaking, hip swaying music lovers who dance to tunes ranging from the samba to the salsa. The island’s famous singer, Cesaria Evoria – the “barefooted diva” – sings morna, a type of folk music similar to Portuguese fado.

Cape Verde has a wide variety of landscapes ranging from white-sand beaches to volcanic mountain ranges. Here, you’ll experience beautiful scenery, friendly people and a handful of island-y things to do such as hiking, water skiing, snorkeling, fishing and scuba diving. Each of Cape Verde’s islands offer something unique and I imagine it would be fun to island hop. For instance, you could go to Fogo and check out the volcano that erupted in 1995 or you could go to Santiago, the first island settled in Cape Verde and where the capital Praia is located.

The islands were uninhabited until the Portuguese discovered and colonized them in the 15th century. In the 16th century it prospered from the transatlantic slave trade and later it became an ideal location for re-supplying ships. In 1975 it gained independence from Portugal but the country has struggled with isolation and cyclical drought insulting in famine. It now has a fairly stable political and economic system and in 2007, Cape Verde went from being classified as Least Developed Country to being promoted to Developing Country.

Cape Verdean cuisine is a mixture of African and Portuguese traditions with Brazilian influences. Fish is very popular. Meat, fresh vegetables and fruit are also a part of the cuisine. Many of the dishes include potatoes and rice and a variety of beans. The national dish is Cachupa, a stew made with beans, corn, potatoes and fish or chicken. For our Cape Verdean meal we had Calco de Peixe, a fish soup featuring white and sweet potatoes and various vegetables. It was very good, despite the fact it had no spices. I also made Pudim de Queijo, a cheese pudding made from eggs and goat cheese. It looked beautiful but none of us cared for it.

Cape Verde has been added to my bucket list (I’m creating quite a long list with this project). I doubt I’ll get to go in the next year, or two, or three and I hope that when I do finally get there it’s not over-run by tourists. Then again, tourism will help this country – Europeans do vacation there. So what are you waiting for? Go now.

Caldo de Peixe

6 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
3 medium onions
2 tomatoes
4 green onions
1.5kg fresh saltwater fish (though I used 4 tilapia fillets and cut them up in cubes)
oil for frying

Gently fry the onions, tomatoes, green onions and peppers in oil. Cut the fish into small pieces and fry for a few minutes cover with water and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and parsley then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are soft.

Pudim de Queijo

450g soft goat cheese
450g sugar
2 cups water
12 egg yolks
4 egg whites

Boil the sugar in water until it forms a thick syrup. Add the cheese and mix thoroughly (it may be easier to add the cheese in small parts instead of all at once). Now remove the mixture from the heat and combine with the beaten egg and yolks and egg whites.

Sprinkle the bottom of an over-proof dish with burnt sugar. Pour the cheese mixture into a double broiler and stir until custard thickens. Then pour into the over-proof dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until top browns. Allow to cool. Cut into slices and serve topped with granulated sugar.