Seriously, how long?

 How long has it been since my last post.  A few years, at least.  Let's see, Devon graduated high school three years ago, is working full time and getting ready to start college.  Sarah is starting her senior year in high school.  I'm now on my third job since my last post, full time working from home.  Jeff is now Vice President of Software Development at his company and works from home most days.  We bought a new house almost four years ago, our forever home.  What else......oh, yeah.  A pandemic shut down the world for a year or so.  

Anyhoo, now that Jeff cooks dinner most of the time, I've been really missing my kitchen.  So, I've decided to start our culinary trip around the world.  Whoohoo!!  And this time I've got a really good sous chef aka hubby dearest.  The challenge this time is figuring out when to cook the meals so that all of us are home to try them.  Bring it on, life.  

Over the years I had packed away my little jar of countries yet to be chosen.  I dug it out and drew the first destination, Bolivia.  Thanks to Pinterest, I have discovered a lot of common and preferred menu items from this landlocked country and look forward to researching actual recipes.  Stay tuned!!

How long...

...Since I actually posted.  Let's see...my last post was somewhere after New Year's, so it's been a while.  During the intervening time my son finished 4th grade and my daughter "graduated" Kindergarten.  Devon moved from the Developmental level of soccer to Competitive; Sarah will be starting soccer this fall; Jeff has started his own photography business; I held a part-time job from January to July; and, best of all, we have a new bathtub!!!  Woohoo!

But, it's time for the new school to start, and with no job, I've once again found various hobbies to fill my time.  Other than housework.  Ugh.  So, it's back to my adventures in the kitchen.  I've got a couple of meals to tell y'all about, but since my laptop died & I'm now on an iPad, I don't know if I can post pics.  Gotta get with Jeff & see if I can put the pics on Shutterfly & then link from here.  Hmmm..

Anyway, I'm back.  Again.  Lol.  I'm ready, are y'all?  Now, off to wash dishes and plan my grocery list for the Federated States of Micronesia.  See y'all soon!

New Year, New Determination

I'm Baaaaackkkk!!  In the words of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.  LOL  I've recently, due to the increased amount of cooking during the holidays and the new kitchen cookware & gadgets I received during said holidays, rediscovered my desire to cook & blog about it.  So, in the next few days, look for posts about the remaining meals we did during 2011 and the new ones to come in 2012.  See ya!!

Tajikistan...interesting.

Okay, so first of all, I can't tell time.  I said I would post this last night, and here it is 24 hours later.  Such is the life of a housewife.  LOL

Anyway, finally, I'm posting about our Tajikistanian dinner.  First of all, it was kinda hard to find recipes specific to that country.  There are lots of recipes native to that region, but not a lot I could find for Tajikistan in particular.  But, I did it!!  Success!!  We had Qurutob, Plov & Halva.  Try saying that three times fast.  There are various spellings and pronunciations of these words, but I think I got the right ones for Tajikistan. 

Traditionally, Tajiks eat meals of many courses, starting with dried fruits, nuts and maybe a sweet treat like Halva.  Next would be soup or a meat dish, then the Plov.  This is usually a communal dish, with a large wooden bowl of it placed in the center of the table.  The old way of eating this was with the hands.  Um, in my house, we'll eat in the modern style.  LOL  There is also what is considered the national dish of Tajikistan, the Qurutob.  This is also a communal dish eaten with the hands.  Okay, again, I strayed from tradition.  Hey, I'm dealing with a 5 year old.  It's hard enough already to keep her from making a mess.

Anyway, on to the reviews.  We kinda went backwards in our meal, starting with the meat, rice & dairy dishes, then finishing with the sweet item.  First, the Plov.  This was a little time consuming to make, mainly due to my trying to carve the fat off the lamb without carving my hand.  Using the lamb fat did make the dish rather rich & heavy on the stomach, but overall it was good.  A bit plain, but good.  Maybe I just didn't use enough spices, or mine are getting old & stale.


Next was the Qurutob.  This was really good, in my opinion.  Making the bread was easy, but I think I overworked mine.  It was a bit tough & chewy when all was said and done.  The taste, however, was tangy & smooth all at the same time.  The plain Greek yogurt has a much different taste from your common, every day plain yogurt.  Jeff said it had a cream cheese type taste.  All I know is I enjoyed it.  Too bad it had a lot of carbs & calories. 

Last, but not least, was the Halva.  Okay, I wasn't too crazy about this.  Maybe I didn't cook it long enough; maybe I overcooked it.  It was rather grainy, as if the sugar hadn't dissolved.  Also, I wasn't crazy about the tahini taste.  Jeff & Devon like it, but agreed it was rather rich and that a small piece was more than enough.  While at the International Food Club, I found several different brands & flavors already made & boxed.  I think next time I'll try one of these, see what the real, professionally made thing is like. 

So, there's my dinner from Tajikistan.   Not bad, but I don't think it's something I'll be doing on a regular basis.  Although, the Greek plain yogurt would make a good veggie dip.  Yum. 

Now, what's next?  Well, this week's Passport Dinner comes from Tonga.  Should be a very tropical dinner.  In the meantime, y'all take care!!

Food for thought...

The other day I was thinking about this journey I've decided to embark on; and am dragging my family along on.  I started thinking about how many countries there are, and how many weeks there are in a year.  It hit me (like a cast iron skillet) that I'm going to be doing this for about three years.  Wow!!  That's a lot of learning and trying new techniques, spices and foods. 

On top of that, I was starting to daydream about then embarking on a nationwide quest, preparing meals that are specific to each of the 50 states.  Like Florida gator tail; Louisiana jambalaya; Tennessee pulled pork barbecue versus North Carolina style.  You get the idea.  I almost fell over with the enormity of it all.  Devon would be a teenager and Sarah would be entering 4th grade by the time I finished.  Ack!!

Who knows, maybe I will do it.  If I do, then Jeff & I will have to come up with a new spice cabinet storage method.  So far I've not had to buy anything new, but I expect that will change.  HeeHee  And now, a quote I read today, from Jamie Oliver, third-generation chef, past star of his own TV show and current host of ABC's Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: "You're going to eat a few times a day for the rest of your life, so you may as well enjoy it!"

I'll be back tonight with a post about my excursion to Tajikistan.  See ya!!

Shopping Trip Time

Okay, I just had to yap about this.  I'm so excited!!  I finally remembered what sparked the topic of conversation the night this idea was born.  It was not only our meal, but a shopping trip we had made to the 1st Oriental Supermarket in Orlando.  Wow.  That place was amazing.

Well, tomorrow I'm going on another shopping trip to another specialty market.  This week's Passport Dinner (ya like that?  I just came up with it) is from Tajikistan.  Tajikistan is a country in Central Asia, bordered by Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan & the People's Republic of China.  Hey, I'm re-learning world geography!!

So, anyway, I'm shopping at this place I've heard of, International Food Club.  Supposedly, they have an excellent selection of Mid-East items, which should cover some of the things I'm looking for.  Next week is the country of Tonga.  It'll be back to the 1st Oriental for that dinner.  This is looking like more & more fun!!

My First Two Dinners on This Trip

Okay, so I should've posted last week, but hey, life gets in the way.  So tonight is catch up night.  Hang on, this is gonna be a long post.

Last week's country was China.  Okay, I thought, we have a friend from China.  I'll contact her.  But, I didn't.  I never made the time to simply email her.  Instead, I found recipes for White Cut Chicken, Deep-Fried Bok Choy, and Sponge Cake.  Okay, I should've emailed her.  The chicken was easy to make, but didn't have a lot of flavor.  It tasted like, well, chicken.  But it was moist.  One point to the chicken.  The Deep Fried Bok Choy was surprisingly good.  I do advise making this in a deep fryer that has a basket & a lid.  I didn't bother to dig mine out and simply set up a stainless pot of oil on the stove.  Yeah, let's see how many droplets of hot oil I can be splattered with before I can get the lid on the pot.  It actually ended up not being too hard to do.  You do have to watch the bok choy closely, as it can be overcooked quite easily.  But, it was crispy & the sweetness of the sugar was surprisingly good.  Jeff liked it a lot, as did Devon.  Sarah just liked the chicken.

Maybe I was just tired that night.  Maybe I just wasn't into cooking that night.  Whatever.  But I ended up not making the Sponge Cake.  I still plan to, I just don't know when.  I'll get back to you on that.  In the meantime, here's a picture from last week's dinner. 




Now, on to this week.  This week's journey took me to Canada.  I've always wanted to go there.  I have a close childhood friend who lives there.  I have another friend who used to live there.  Maybe I should live there?  Yeah, Jeff would have to be dragged kicking & screaming.  Love you, honey!  So, anyway, this week turned out to be easy to plan.  The menu included a Tourtiere, Maple Apple Baked Beans and Nanaimo Bars.

First, let me say, if you're on a sugar free or low fat diet, do not try these recipes at home.  Wow.  Talk about bad for your health.  But, hey, it was worth it. 

The Tourtiere was really good.  I wasn't too sure about how the spices called for would taste in an entree like this, but it was really good.  It also seems like one of those recipes you can tweak as you desire.  We did end up lightly salting the dish at the table, just to awaken the various flavors. 

Next came the Maple Apple Baked Beans.  First, I was surprised at using apples to top this dish.  Next, when I realized how long it would take to make this, including cooking & standing time, I realized dinner would be late tonight.  But it was worth it.  Wow.  I now have a new favorite recipe for potlucks.  The bacon fell into pieces when I served this dish.  The beans were soft, but not mushy.  The apples added just a hint of flavor, but it was enough.  The sauce was such a wonderful blending of flavors.  Outstanding. 

Okay.  Now for the sinfully rich dessert.  The Nanaimo bars.  Oh, and it's pronounced na-NY-mo.  Just learned that tonight.  These were easy to make, as long as you are careful not to scorch the butter/chocolate mixtures.  This particular recipe called for walnuts, and apparently a lot of variations call for coconut.  But, we don't particularly care for either, so I did change the recipe a bit.  Bad girl.  I'm supposed to be making authentic dishes.  Sigh.  Anyway, these were so good.  I thought Jeff was going to melt right out of his chair.  Devon's eyes were as big as saucers at his first bite, and Sarah even ate more of her dinner, just so she could get a second piece of dessert.  Success!!  The down side to these is that the recipe makes a 9x13 pan.  As rich as they are, and as small of pieces as we can tolerate at one time, it'll take forever to finish the pan.....Not!!

So, there ya have it.  Tonight's dinner and dessert.  I have to admit, I was quite proud.  Jeff & I cleared our plates, Devon ate almost everything on his plate, and Miss Picky Sarah ate quite a bit as well. 






















What's on tap for the next two weeks?  Hmmm...it's a surprise.  Why?  Because I enjoy mysteries?  Because I like to make people wonder?  Or simply because I totally forgot to get Sarah to spin the globe & make the decision?  Yup, that's the reason.  Bad mommy.  Anyhoo, stay tuned to see where our journey takes us next.


Zai Jian & au Revoir!