Global Table Adventure | Valentine’s Day

Recipe: Braided Heart Bread | Pleteno Srce

February 21, 2013 By Sasha Martin 19 Comments

We are closing in on spring ... that special time of year, when weddings and baby showers sprinkle our calendars, and everything is awash in the promise of new love. In Slovenia, such times are marked with Pleteno Scre - an ornamental, braided, tender loaf of bread, shaped into a heart. Pleteno Scre is an honored gift. The slightly sweet loaves are painstakingly decorated with edible tokens, like wedding rings and flowers (as I have done), or even astonishingly detailed birds, or paper thin … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breads, Europe, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Slovenia, Technique Thursday, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian

Recipe: Blueberry Bublanina | Bubbly Cake

February 14, 2013 By Sasha Martin 11 Comments

From early springtime all the way into the deep heart of fall, Slovakia's mountains and hills burst with nature's bounty. For those who search, a perpetual harvest reveals herself. Here, trees swoon with the weight of delightfully sour cherries, juicy, grapes, apricots, and apples. There, bushes bloom with blueberries, woodsy and sweet. This land, surely, is magic. When there is more fruit than can be gathered in an apron, Slovakia makes Bublanina, a.k.a. Bubbly Cake. Just one … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, Fruit, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Slovakia, Technique Thursday, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian

Recipe: West African Peanut Bites | Kanya

February 3, 2013 By Sasha Martin 5 Comments

If there's one thing I've learned from this Adventure, it's that my family's unfaltering love of peanuts inexorably links us to the fine people of West Africa, where this little legume is enjoyed in both savory and sweet concoctions. Peanut soups and cookies are both fair game, but today we explore Kanya, an altogether new delight. Kanya are naturally gluten free and beyond simple, made with just three ingredients: peanuts, sugar, and toasted rice flour. That's it! Kanya remind me of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sierra Leone, Sweets, Valentine's Day, Vegan

12 Romantic Recipes from Around the World, Just in time for Valentine’s Day

February 1, 2013 By Sasha Martin 10 Comments

Valentine's Day is almost here, and there's no better way to show love than to bump hips in the kitchen, or, at the very least, to deliver an edible prize to the champion who stole your heart. While you're at it, why not take your love on a mini vacation, via stovetop travel? Without leaving your own global table, they can experience Egypt, Belgium, Morocco, Malawi, and beyond. And you can go with them, in the most sensual way possible: with your taste buds. It's all here, for the ravishing, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fun Friday, International Recipes, Valentine's Day

Recipe: Creamy Coconut & Banana Tart

January 25, 2013 By Sasha Martin 8 Comments

Imagine sitting by the sea one lazy afternoon, focused on the tattered nets of nearby fishing boats, when something big and hard bumps against your foot. When you look down, you see a giant, two lobed coconut has washed up, onto the sand. From end to end, this coconut is as long as your forearm, with tufts of hair poking out between the brown, oblong lobes. She would have traveled hundreds (thousands!) of miles to reach you, all the way from the Seychelles. And you'd know she came from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Fruit, International Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Seychelles, Technique Thursday, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian

Recipe: Sweet Semolina Cake with Lemon & Rosewater | Basboosa

January 3, 2013 By Sasha Martin 11 Comments

Love's every whimsy can be found in the tender, fragile curve of a rose. Arab cooks must know this in their hearts, as they imbue many of their desserts with the essence of this great flower. Rose water is made from hundreds (thousands!) of rose petals and I'm convinced there is magic in every drop. Today's cake, called Basboosa, is heavy with such magic. This incredibly moist cake is conjured up with durum semolina, then soaked in a pool of syrup made with sweetened rose water and fresh … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Saudi Arabia, Sweets, Technique Thursday, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian

Recipe: Cocoa Tea

November 23, 2012 By Sasha Martin 21 Comments

When I told Ava that the fine people of Saint Lucia like to wake up in the morning and drink Cocoa Tea, she squinted her eyes, titled her head, and said "what mama?" "It's like hot cocoa," I smiled, "but richer, and seasoned with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg." Her eyes instantly popped open in recognition and the corners of her lips curled impishly. I showed her my mound of chocolate chips and added that in Saint Lucia they use cocoa sticks and balls to make their Cocoa Tea, but we'd … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alcohol-Free, Breakfast, Christmas, Fun Friday, Hot, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, North America, Potluck Friendly, Saint Lucia, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian

Recipe: Rum Glazed Coconut Bread Pudding

November 15, 2012 By Sasha Martin 22 Comments

It's a fact of life: when the wind howls, children everywhere refuse to wear their coats. They arch their little backs, squeal-whine and assert "I don't need a coat, mama." In this situation, we have two choices. We can hunker down and try (struggle) to put their coat on, until one or both of us are crying. Or. (Or is that beautiful word that keeps life bearable and tantrums at a minimum.) Or... we can stand outside with them, coatless in the wind, just for a moment. We can feel … [Read more...]