All posts filed under: Learn

When World Art and Food collide

Over spring break Ava took an amazing art class with local artist Annie Ferris. An Unexpected Friendship Annie and I first connected back when I was on Rick Steve’s radio show on NPR. She had the radio on while running errands and almost screeched to a halt when she realized I was cooking the world from Tulsa – the same city she lived in. Annie logged on to this web site, emailed me, and – long story short – invited me to speak to her middle school Global Gardens class. We soon discovered we had daughters the same age and many similar beliefs regarding peace, appreciating other cultures, and the important role of food in bringing the world together. Annie’s friendship – and our daughters’ – are two of the happiest things to come from starting this blog. Two Worlds Unite When Annie suggested we collaborate on an Around the World Art Class over spring break I didn’t hesitate. For 5 days Annie taught the kids art from Russia, India, Australia, Rwanda, and the Navajo Nation… …

I have a mother

In celebration of “Tell the Truth Day”, I want to tell you about something that happened to me a few minutes ago. I was looking at a photo of a little girl sleeping in the outline she drew of her “mother,” tears streaming down my cheeks. Maybe you saw it, maybe you didn’t. For those whose hearts were also broken today by the photo, thinking this small child was an orphan, please read this statement by the photographer Bahareh Bisheh : “This little girl is my cousin and she actually fell asleep on the asphalt just outside my house. She must have played for some time and just lied to rest and fell asleep. im used a chair to stand on in order to take this shot. There is no orphanage involved and no tragic story behind this. i took this opportunity to be creative. It is a style of photography.” Now, Tell the Truth Day is not until July 4, but when I read this reveal, I thought there’s no reason to wait for a holiday. …

Martin Luther King’s Radical Notion: Extreme Peace

Thanks to this blog many well-meaning, genuinely curious people ask me: “Do you really think peace is possible?” They say “really” with those drawn out vowels that mean they think I’m either a) ignorant or b) naive. When I sit and think about it, I realize they’re right, on both counts. I am ignorant. When I was in eighth grade, my class went on a trip to Greece. One night while we were there, an explosion shook the very foundation of our hotel. In the midst of the chaos, the rumor-mill started. Someone decided we were at war with a nearby country. The truth was far more innocuous: a gas station had a minor explosion a few miles away. But it taught me one simple lesson: ignorance starts wars. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to work as a big shot in international affairs – knowing about the threats, the danger, the seething anger that threatens to boil over at any given moment. It is the job of those big shots to not be …

5 Secrets to Springtime in January, thanks to the Hindu Harvest Festival

You know that old saying, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”? Well the same can be said of springtime. Even while ice and and snow pummel the northern hemisphere and hot days sizzle in the southern, there are plenty of people celebrating springtime in India and other South Asian countries… Yes, in January. After the wild hair seventy degree day we had a couple of days ago, Ava and I were ready to say goodbye to winter, too. So how do we get there? This January 14 marks Makar Sankranti, the Hindu Harvest Festival. While Makar Sankranti is intended to celebrate the winter solstice and last year’s good harvest, it also celebrates the arrival of spring. This is one of those “looking forward” to warmth, while looking back with appreciation. To Hindus, the Sun stands for knowledge, spiritual light and wisdom. Makara Sankranti signifies that we should turn away from the darkness of delusion in which we live, and begin to enjoy a new life with bright light within us to shine brighter and brighter. We should gradually begin to …

Lessons from Peace Pilgrim, the woman who walked for 28 years

Nearly four years ago, when I set out to cook a meal for every country in the world, I didn’t know I was embarking on a pilgrimage. I just had a bout of wanderlust. A picky husband. A baby I wanted to raise with an appreciation for the world’s inherent beauty. I wanted her to love the world (and I wanted her world to love her!). I cooked, cooked, cooked. I took thousands upon thousands of photos. My husband, Keith, filmed Ava, week after week. I was so focused on checking countries off my list, I didn’t notice the hole in my own spirit. What the real adventure was all about. From the time I was a little girl, all the way into my twenties, I struggled with separation, loss, death. There were foster homes. There was estrangement. Again and again, I had to relearn what family meant. I had to figure out where I belonged. How to love and be loved. Unconditionally. When life is filled with one challenge after another, it has a …

Spam you very much! (w/ poll)

The thing about living on a coral atol with no good soil, waaaaay out in the middle of the Pacific ocean is … well, you’re a wee bit stuck when it comes to what you can and cannot eat. Bottom line, if nothing grows where you live, then breakfast, lunch and dinner all begin to take on the same appearance: Which is okay, since fish is the bees knees. And, as for breadfruit – it apparently smells like freshly baked bread – and pandanus fruit is said to be very sweet and juicy; they both sound like winners. Even still, the importance of imports in a country like Kiribati cannot be underestimated. Fresh deliveries of rice, colorful produce, and canned goods are much anticipated. I’ve even read that the chicken is imported. Now, time to get serious. Any ideas for what two of the most enjoyed canned goods in Kiribati are? …. wait for it…. …. Spam and corned beef. Are you into it?

“Doogh” you like fizzy yogurt? (w/ poll)

Have you ever taken a big swig of a drink expecting to taste one thing, but getting another? I have. Here’s what happened: I was little. I woke up in the middle of the night, crazy thirsty, and wandered blind into the kitchen to get a drink of water. Because we bottled our own spring water from Cape Cod, there was a lot of it – all stored on the side of the fridge in jugs. I felt my hand over the top of one and hoisted it up. I took several giant gulps before I realized it was most certainly not water. Nope. It was apple cider vinegar. My throat burned. I sweat. I shook. Then, I sweat some more. I’ll always blame that moment as to why I have an immunity to vinegar. The more the better. Even though the story turned out well for me, I don’t want you to burn, sweat, or shake. Nope. I want you to know what you are in for with doogh. #1 It looks like a …

There’s what in my drink?

Welcome to the wonderful world of “I didn’t know that!” Haiti Take a stroll through the Haitian markets. Soak up the sights and smells. See that lady selling jars of brightly colored liquid? She’ll tell you “All the medicine you’ll ever need is in a jar of rum.” She’s not selling just any rum, this is the Klerin pharmacy, a.k.a. the white rum pharmacy. All manner of goodies are added to her jars – from spices to bark, fruit to leaves. A few sips of this trempé and you just might find your tummy woes gone. Or eyes feeling better. Or that growth on your face suddenly shrinking. Who knew? Honduras Honduras, like many countries in the Americas, enjoys a good smoothie. Pineapples and melons, outrageously heavy with sweet juices, get whirred up into licuados, meaning latin smoothie. The fun thing about licuados is you can have your breakfast cereal right in your drink. Locals particularly love granola, oatmeal, and cornflakes. Try it with your next drink – toss in a small handful and give it …

Guyana for the win (w/ poll)

For a long time now I’ve wanted live with goats. But it doesn’t end there. I want to eat thick, hearty cheese sandwiches made with rustic, country bread. I want to eat them every day. All day. While smelling wildflowers and wearing a frock. It all started when I read Heidi, the story of a little girl who does, well, almost exactly that. Enter Guyana. They do it. They eat cheddar-cheesy bread sandwiches for snacks. For dinner. Whenever, really. Winning. Just imagine this after school snack: … visions of a warm, hearty Tennis Roll, sliced in half and protecting thick slices of cheddar cheese … To wash it down, an ice-cold glass of cream soda made creamy with carnation milk. Ooo la la! Childhood memories of this after school snack thrilled me. Cynthia Nelson, Starbroek News. I’m thinking I can somehow combine my Heidi daydream with these tennis rolls for an outrageously awesome fantasy. And in this daydream my frock will never get too small because I ate too much cheese and bread. So what …

What to do with the rest of the goat? Find your beat in West Africa (w/ poll)

Want to get up and dance? Shake a little soul onto the dance floor? Come, let’s find the beat, West African-style… with the Djembe, the drum of choice. Use it or lose it: The top of the drum is spread tightly with goat skin. Loads of goat meat is consumed in West Africa, often wrapped in banana leaves [recipe] or stewed, so making a djembe with the skin is a fantastic way to use the whole animal, not just the meat. As my mom always said, “waste not, want not.” Say what? The goats in West Africa live a tough, tough existence which, in turn, makes their skin tougher…. which, in turn, makes the drum sound different than djembes in other regions. Inspiration: I like to scour the net for people who have traveled, who can give me a picture of the foreign lands I can only dream about. Today I’d like to share with you two descriptions of dance in Guinea and Guinea Bissau… descriptions that I found inspirational. That made me want to …

In Search of the Guatemalan Sweet Tooth (with poll)

Did you know there’s a town in Guatemala called El Chocolate? It’s true. It’s a sign of the times. Guatemalans love, love, love chocolate. They grow it. They drink it. But for some reason, they just don’t eat a lot of it. In fact, they drink chocolate way more than they eat the stuff. I have first-hand reports from my pen-pal Audrey (of Uncornered Market), that they had a surprisingly difficult time finding a regular bar of chocolate to eat during their stay in Guatemala. Amazing. The only bars they could find were dry and crumbly – meant for making hot cocoa. They even participated in a chocolate bar making class (pictured above), in which the learned how to press and decorate the bars, but – again – they were only meant for drink making. Sounds at once delicious and unusual – which is why I’ll be posting a recipe for Guatemalan hot cocoa in a few days. It’ll be rich. It’ll be frothy. It’ll be everything you ever dreamed hot cocoa could be. With cinnamon. Stay tuned.

How to walk like a Grenadian (w/ poll)

If you’re thinking this pale green fruit is sweet and unassuming, think again. By the time she turns soft and golden, she will pop open to reveal her true personality and it’s rather punk rock. First of all, there’s the vivid red mace which seems to slither and snake around the fruit’s dark inner shell. Despite the strange appearance, people try and eat mace both for it’s mild flavor and vivid color. Then, once you break open the hard casing, there’s the most floral fragrant goodness your nose (and mouth) have ever sniffed (and tasted). This is nutmeg, the spice we so affectionately use in grandma’s apple pie and in recipes like homemade nutmeg ice cream. If you think that’s sweet, think again. Too much can make your tongue go numb, or even kill you. I told you, this is one tough broad. Finally, well… she proves exactly how tough she is – by allowing her dried, cracked, hard husks to be laid out in paths, like gravel, for pedestrians to enjoy. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Sometimes …