Global Table Adventure | Potluck Friendly

Recipe: Coconut Fish Curry | Cari de Poisson

January 24, 2013 By Sasha Martin 11 Comments

When the sun dips low and spreads her rouge all over the sky, I enjoy knowing that this glorious watercolor of light travels around the world like a comet, leaving behind a glowing trail for all to see. No matter where they are from, or where they are going. The sun has universal beauty. It makes me smile to know that, somewhere in the Seychelles - half a world away - they, too, see her rose and curried colors curl through the clouds, right before bedtime. And I imagine that maybe, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Gluten Free Adaptable, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Seafood, Seychelles, Technique Thursday

Recipe: Serbian Salad

January 20, 2013 By Sasha Martin 3 Comments

Although the air still hangs crisp with winter, seed sowing season is nearly upon us - that time of year when the window sills of the industrious are stocked with small, peat lined plastic containers. With careful gifts of water and radiant window light, small seeds will crack open and send vivid green shoots through the black, crumbling soil, into the glow. In a few months time, these brave seedlings will make their way outdoors, into the deep, hot sunshine, where they will mature into edible … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, Gluten Free Adaptable, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Salads, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Serbia, Vegetarian

Recipe: Potato Musaka

January 18, 2013 By Sasha Martin 11 Comments

Every once in a while we need chow down on good, ol' fashioned home cooking. The kind that reminds us of mom, checkered aprons, and creaky kitchen chairs. We all need this edible comfort, especially when the wind chill drops down into the single digits. Keith informed me that, against all odds, I happened upon one such recipe when I selected Potato Musaka for our Serbian Global Table. "This is kind of like my mom's 'Hobo dinner,'" Mr Picky said, after his first taste. "Hobo what?" I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, Fun Friday, International Recipes, Meat, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potatoes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Serbia

Recipe: Chocolate Ice Cube Cake | ledene kocke

January 17, 2013 By Sasha Martin 17 Comments

If there was a giant table strewn with every cake, brownie, custard, and pie, ever, I'd be the first in line. But I wouldn't be there to eat them. Not initially. I'd be there to soak in their beauty, to enjoy the geometry. Circles, rectangles, towers of truffles. Cubes, even. I'd languish to revel in the colors - chocolate browns, raspberry reds, vanilla-cream whites, mint-leaf greens, passion fruit golds. I'd eat with my eyes until ever bit of my spirit was nourished. Then I'd … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Serbia, Sweets, Technique Thursday, Vegetarian

Recipe: Chicken Yassa

January 13, 2013 By Sasha Martin 5 Comments

In Senegal's villages, which dot lazily between scrubby fields, life is slower. People gather barefoot on stoops, pounding millet or boiling rice. Talk and dance reverberate in rhythm with hide-covered drums, around outdoor fires, as though there were nothing more to do with the day than to live. There's a popular proverb: Yarude seesa haɗtaa yettaade* or Going slowly does not prevent you from arriving. The words make me wince a little. Even with this Adventure I'm often in a hurry, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Poultry, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Senegal

Recipe: Senegal’s PB & Peanut Sugar Cookies | Cinq Centimes

January 11, 2013 By Sasha Martin 6 Comments

In French, Cinq Centimes means Five Cents. Don't be fooled by the name. This isn't the sort of recipe that must be studied like a terrible, paragraph-long math problem. This is not a prerequisite to calculus, or even rocket science. This is a snippet - a slice of a dream from Senegalese street vendors. A one-two-three treat worthy of any snack time. No more. No less. Every step is ridiculously easy. The hardest part will be keeping your sweet, adoring Mr. Picky from sniffing the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Fun Friday, International Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Senegal, Sweets, Vegetarian

Recipe: Senegal’s Black-eyed Pea Salad | Saladu Ñebbe

January 9, 2013 By Sasha Martin 4 Comments

This New Year, I'm making room for sunlight to lay across the floor. No more discarded shoes to trip over. No more stacks of books or useless tchotchkes. Senegal inspired me. I saw photo after photo of her beautiful waters... vast expanses where sunlight runs free, unhampered by clutter. Less stuff in general, with more of the right stuff - friendship, laughter, love. This is how I want my home and my life to be. I want to eat fresh and right. I want sunlight in my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Gluten Free Adaptable, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, New Year's, Potluck Friendly, Salads, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Senegal, Technique Thursday, Vegan, Vegetables/Pulses, 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