All posts filed under: Monday Meal Review

Monday Meal Review: Azerbaijan

This is meal #11 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world. “Hey, wait a minute!” Brian said. Startled, I looked from him, to his fiancée, to my husband. We were standing in the kitchen. I was pouring drinks and telling them about the Azerbaijani food we were about to eat. “What?” I asked. Brian didn’t answer immediately; he was scanning my kitchen. I followed his gaze nervously, wondering if I’d missed a spill. The counters were clear. The dishwasher was running. Maybe that was the problem. The dishwasher was a little loud, I thought. “Oh, I’m sorry, I can run this later,” I said, pulling the door open. The rythmic swish of the water stopped suddenly. There was a pause while we shifted in the new silence. “No – where’s the,” and he trailed off, looking at the empty stove top. “The food?” I asked, finishing his sentence, laughing with relief. “It’s under control.” I pulled a tray of raw lamb kabobs from the fridge and headed to the …

Monday Meal Review: Austria

This is the 10th meal in my personal challenge to cook one meal from every country in the world. We planned on eating our Austrian Global Table over candlelight. As a new parent, I’m learning to improvise. As you know, we have a 9-month old. With just the two of us juggling our little sweetheart, there was no way we could get our meal done, take pictures, feed her dinner, nurse her, put her to bed, and fit “romantic dinner” into all of that. So, to make things “easier” we ate our meal with little miss adorable, and saved dessert for after her bedtime. I highly recommend this technique for new parents. Perhaps our date wasn’t typical “dinner and a movie,” but it sure was romantic. After a nice family diner, my husband and I ate our dessert (chocolate Sachertorte and Viennese Hot Cocoa) on the back patio, under the stars. As we ate, we read love poems to each other. Even the low hiss of the baby monitor didn’t drown out the moment. I …

Monday Meal Review: Australian Barbie

This is meal #9 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world. “What’s wrong?” I asked. For the third time Keith waved his hand over $50 dollars worth of kangaroo meat to feel the grill. “I don’t know why the grill isn’t hot,” he muttered, “It’s just warm. It won’t get hot. The grill should be hot. I think it’s out of gas.” I looked over at our friends who were expecting their first taste of kangaroo any minute. A few glanced back at me. I felt my neck get hot and repressed the urge to get mad. The grill had not even been on 10 minutes. The irony? For the last three days Keith and I had this exact conversation at least five times: Me: “Do we have enough gas for the grill?” Keith: “I don’t know.” Me: “We’re having 15 people over. We’re going to use a lot of gas.” Keith: “Yeah.” Me: “You don’t think we need any gas?” Keith: “Yeah. Maybe.” Hosting tip of the …

Monday Meal Review: Armenia

This is meal #8 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world. Before I get into the Armenian review, I want to mention a few words about hosting dinner parties. Hosting dinner parties is a lot of work if you don’t have much experience. In terms of food you have to: – Go shopping – Cook the food – Serve the food at the right temperature But, I find, far more stress is spent on cleaning than on food: – Clean the inevitable disaster areas around the house – Clean the kitchen that you just destroyed before guests arrive (including mopping up crumbs and spills scattered on the floor). If you don’t do this someone will definitely walk into the kitchen. It’s Murphy’s Law. – Empty the dishwasher so that, when the party is over, you actually have somewhere to put all the dirty dishes. – Set the table, being sure to remember appropriate items for each course – Get those nasty dishwasher spots off your glassware With each …

Monday Meal Review: Argentina

This is meal #7 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world. This week I used my Great Aunt’s dishes for the first time. Her name was Caterina, but we called her Lulla Rina. Lulla Rina made two of my favorite childhood treats: spaghetti tossed with boiled potatoes and marinara, and braided challah with whole eggs baked inside. She’s been gone a long time now but I still smile when I think of those unusual treats. The day of our Argentine feast, I carefully unpacked the dishes. Many were missing or chipped, but I pulled out what I could and rinsed them under hot, soapy water. My fingers traced along the hundreds of harmless fractures that spidered across the old china, telltale signs of decades of use. She must have served thousands of meals on those beautiful dishes. I drank Yerba Mate tea from a teacup she’d once drank from and my heart was with her. Roasted Seasonal Pumpkin Salad with Arugula and Chevre [Recipe] What I like most about this dish: Imagine, if you will… aged goat cheese melts like butter into steaming roasted squash. Baby arugula …

Monday Meal Review: Antigua and Barbuda

This is meal #6 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world. Sea, salt, sand, balmy, breezy, beautiful. Nope. I woke up to 40F and overcast (with the closest beach a full day’s drive away). Not exactly the best weather or locale for Caribbean picnic food. And, just think, we had had 70 degree weather a few days earlier. Darn. Refusing to be brought down by ol’ man winter, I got dressed up to my smile and chanted the old mantra “mind over matter, mind over matter.” By meal time I was still dragging a little (I kept glancing out at the clouds, looking for some piece of blue sky – only to be dissapointed). I’ll tell you what – one bite into my sandwich and the dreary weather was far from my mind. The delicious flavors of the Caribbean uplifted me! (Perhaps I should be chanting “food over mood, food over mood” from now on). The meal just oozed spring sunshine (coconut rum, anyone???). So much so that, after eating, I invited our guests to bring their daughter Abigail out back …

Monday Meal Review: Angola

This is meal #5 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world. I am something of an “Eeyore.” I wear worry like it’s going out of style. These are just a few of the things I worry about when I put on a dinner party: – will the food taste good? – what if I burn the food? – what if the food is raw? – what if I don’t have time to finish the meal? – will my friends like the food? – will I like the food? So what about this weekend’s Global Table? I was unsure of three ingredients: the red palm oil, the habanero, and the prawns. All of these items were new to me and I had no way to predict how they would taste. Worse yet, I wasn’t even sure how to work with them. I overcame my Eeyore tendencies by telling myself that if an entire country eats these foods, they are probably pretty good! Turns out, I was right. For the fifth weekend in a row, things went great. …

Monday Meal Review: Andorra

Hitting stride with Andorra I’m really starting to figure out this whole “dinner party” thing. Knock on wood. Of course, the first two times I did this (Afghanistan and Albania) I was all nerves and chaos. Getting a small dinner for 4 to table with grace felt unattainable. I had never heard of most of the dishes and I did not know how to pronounce many of the ingredients. I was unsure of myself and although I enjoyed eating the meals, I spent the entire day locked in the kitchen in a mad state of panic. “Honey, could you please….? Oh, no I forgot… honey would you mind? CRUD!” were about the only things I managed to mutter from my own personal tornado. The good news is my timing gets better with each meal. Also, my stress level goes down. Finally, with Andorra, I enjoyed the entire process. You want proof? Exhibit A: For a brief moment I thought I might have to remake the dessert from scratch. I wasn’t even worried. Exhibit B: I was able to go out with my husband and daughter to grab a “commercial coffee of choice” and run some unrelated errands …

Monday Meal Review: Algeria

A Timeless Algerian feast “Great.” My husband smiled. “I think dinner was really great.” Our friends quickly nodded in agreement. Basic words. But their warmth was balsam after a hectic day cooking. I might as well have won an Oscar. We sipped our Ceylon tea with fresh mint sprigs, savoring the memory of the meal we just enjoyed. Although we were going on four hours of sitting around the dining room table, no one made a move to get up. If that’s not indication of an enjoyable meal, I don’t know what is. (The spell finally broke when baby Ava woke up for her midnight feast). Aside from the company, our Algerian meal was a big hit for two simple reasons: big flavor and originality. Our favorite dishes were (by a mile) the chickpea Soup and the Hot Algerian Lasagna. I will be making both of these dishes again. The Algerian Recipes: Algerian Chickpea Soup | Hummus bi’l Kammun [Recipe] What do I like most about this dish? This soup was smoky, earthy, and downright craveable. I cannot say enough good things about this soup. If you love …

Monday Meal Review: Albania

Exercising Restraint in the Albanian Kitchen I’ll be honest with you. I spent most of Saturday feeling a bit put out. As I cooked my way through Albania, I rummaged through my spice drawer for nothing in particular. I picked up and put down a head of garlic at least 5 times. Cooking with just one herb or spice per dish – a trait I found in all the recipes we tried this week – felt, well, foreign to me. None of these dishes even had garlic in them. Exercising restraint was not easy but, as we all know, this is what I am here for! Turns out paring down the aromatics in a recipe amplifies the main ingredient, resulting in big dose of bright, clean flavor. As with a theater performance, when a bare stage allows for the star to shine, each of these Albanian dishes left room for the main ingredients to steal the show. The Albanian Recipes Tava Elbasani | Lamb in Yogurt [Recipe] What did I like most about this dish? The tangy yogurt laced with Hungarian paprika makes …

Monday Meal Review: Afghanistan

Skipping Silverware No one moved an inch. Afghan music tiptoed softly about the room. Steam rose from our plates. I knew, as hostess to our dinner party of four, I had to make the first move. Holding my breath, I dipped my fingers into the slimy eggplant and brought the food to my lips. There was a pause. “Wow. This is…. good!” I said. The tension gave way to giggles. My friends gingerly dug their fingers into their meal. I waited, searching their faces. One by one, they smiled. “Yes, this is good!” Skipping silverware is not a simple proposal. Out of consideration for my friends, I had put a few forks by their plates – “just in case”they (or Mr. Picky) weren’t game. Even after everyone began eating with their hands, the challenge remained: not making a complete mess of our plates, our hands, and our faces. Even using a napkin became confusing; our hands just got dirty again. I can’t get over how much enjoyment I got out of being so uncomfortable. The awkward experience of using my hand as silverware gave me a fresh dining experience. I kept a …