Posts | Global Table Adventure

Menu: Spain

This is such an exciting week at the Global Table. We’re finally cooking Spain. Let me tell you what… she’s sweet, crunchy, saffron-loaded, and blooming with smoked paprika. And she’s also… well… a little off. You see, I made a teeny weeny mistake on this menu (see Very Important Note #2, below). With humble apologies, I’d like to share this Spanish proverb and hope that we can be… One who draws water from stones. Saca agua de las pierdras.* i.e. Let’s be resourceful and make use out of everything that happens to us, good or bad. i.e. With the right attitude, there are no mistakes in life. Very Important Note #1: Thanks to all of you all who voted on our Facebook Page. You helped determine this fun, relatively simple menu with Paella. Yay! I couldn’t do it without you. Cheers! Very Important Note #2: I got the memo too late on the “Spaniards don’t put chorizo in their Paella.” Yikes. For more authenticity, feel free to leave it out… this will give you a simple, coastal …

About the food of Spain

Here we are. Spain. No pressure. (bonkers pressure!) When I started this lil’ ol’ Global Table Adventure, I honestly wasn’t sure we’d make it this far. That was more than three years ago. I had a six month-old cooing in my arms. And cooking 162 countries (let alone 195 – now 196 with the addition of South Sudan) seemed all but a fairy tale. But I plugged on. One dish per week. And so, here we are. We made it to the 163rd country! Spain. A rocky land, with a giant dry plateau called Meseta, and scrubby plains. Life is quite different from when we started all those years ago. Now, I have a three and a half year old who only rushes into my arms for brief, sweet respite. The rest of the time, she’s in this world, fully and completely. So, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine her in Spain. I can see her loving it as much as I did. I was there in December of 1998. I swam in …

Monday Meal Review: South Africa

“Almost doesn’t fill a bowl” Zulu Proverb I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: a good friend makes for a great companion in the kitchen. Through the crackle and sizzle, conversation and laughter keep love flowing… right on into the meal… So, I was thrilled when my friend Janine said she’d help me figure out the food of South Africa. She’s South African, so I knew I was in good hands. But then things got a little wonky. Because she’s vegan, I offered to make the meal entirely vegan so she could share it with us. I never expected her to decline. But she did. Here’s the deal: she wasn’t just being polite. Janine insisted, with her smooth slightly British-sounding accent, that we could not eat South Africa without trying their true, traditional dishes. She says they “love their meat,” like Bobotie. Even if she couldn’t eat the food, she thought I might as well go all out and experience the real South Africa… after all, “Almost doesn’t fill a bowl,” as the …

Menu: South Africa

There’s an old South African saying which goes: “We begin with the meal before the water is boiling.” – South African Proverb Wow. There is truth to these words. Mighty truth. Sure, preparation goes into everything we do, this South African menu is no exception. But that’s not what this proverb is really about. This simple line draws attention to the work that goes into our meals before we ever set out to cook. Yes, we must go to the market. But even before that, someone had to grow our food and get it to the market. Heck, the Amarula in this week’s menu comes straight from South Africa, but can be found in most any liquor store. So when my hand touches that bottle, my hand touches South Africa. Little things like this bring me the most pleasure. And gratitude. Have you felt gratitude today? All recipes and meal review will be available throughout the week. Bobotie [Recipe] A traditional Cape Malay dish casserole… made with a festival of ingredients. There’s beef, curry, raisins, almonds, …

About the food of South Africa

Ah, South Africa. Almost since the beginning of this Adventure I’ve been looking forward to our week in South Africa. I’m not sure why – certainly the fairy tale mountains that tower above the white-capped ocean is one part of it. As is the bustling city centers and even the dry interior. But another is that my dear friend Janine is from South Africa. Whenever Janine speaks of her homeland, she gets a dreamy, lost sort of look about her face. She only goes back every 5-10 years, so South Africa remains a palatable slice of her childhood… representing her former youth and vigor, all wrapped up in memory… often more dream than reality. Janine tells me the food is heavy on the meats, especially grilled meats. Considering she’s a vegan, I was surprised when she asserted that I couldn’t “visit” South Africa without having tried some form of their meat. She said “they love their meat” and that almost every meal includes some, particularly in the cities. The funny thing is, while they certainly love their kabobs …

Monday Meal Review: Somalia

Keith falls asleep quicker than I can slip under the comforter and lay my head on the pillow. Most nights, I find myself staring out the window – watching the moon arc across the sky – while Keith snores next to me. I don’t know how he does it. My mind rarely clicks off… each night my head hosts a cluttered, clamoring PARTY of thoughts. Just as with the most ruckus of house guests, I’m lucky if I can control one out of ten of these thoughts. There’s no peace in my mind. There is just swirling, swirling, swirling. Worry, insecurity, negativity, hope, joy… it’s all bundled up in their, tied up and tangled in the confetti of my life. And yet, the Somali people say: This beautiful proverb made me question what I am doing at night to keep myself from this kind of soul-satisfying slumber. I asked myself: What is my personal roadblock to attaining inner peace? I sat with this question for a long time. I thought about it while dicing vegetables for the …

Menu: Somalia

Somalia quite the melting pot, and this week’s menu shows it. The food is peppered with a little bit of Italy (hello, tomato sauce & garlic!), a lot of east Africa (howdy, stewed meat with veggies!) and a smidgen of India (hey there, yellow, yellow turmeric!). I made this menu while Ava was home from school, so I purposefully chose recipes that were easy to make. That way I’d have more time to wiggle and spin my way through a toddler dance party. Priorities. Even with such simplicity, I think you’ll be pleasantly be surprised by these recipes. They’re just unusual enough for a dinner party, but easy enough for a week night. My kind of food. All recipes and the meal review will be posted throughout the week. Beef Suqaar [Recipe] If there was ever any comfort to be found in slowly simmered meat, this is it. A cozy combination of beef, carrots, peppers, onions, and potatoes. The flavor comes from the very Italian addition of garlic and onion. If you want to spice things up, a …

About the food of Somalia

On the easternmost edge of Africa, next to the Indian Ocean, lies Somalia. This long, lean country is shaped rather fortuitously like the lucky number 7. Or a boomerang. The arid land is a haven for wanderers – rugged nomads who trace trails through the shifting sands and savannas until they can find a suitable spot to set up home for yet another night. Date-dotted mountains line the northern reaches of Somalia, while the south is known for farming treats like corn, sugar cane, sorghum, citrus, and bananas. Thanks to her lengthy coastline, fishing is a major source of food and income. The food reminds me both of our Ethiopian Global Table and our Djiboutian Global Table (her immediate neighbors), where spongy flat breads like lahooh start the day off right, perhaps with a drizzle of honey, or a soaking of tea, or even some egg and cheese… (see the Djiboutian recipe called laxoox). Other breads include chapati [recipe] and muufo (a bread baked in a clay oven). The chapati is a mainstay from the days Somalia was the center of trade between countries to the …

Monday Meal Review: Solomon Islands

Ava’s been saying something disturbing lately. If a toy breaks, she says “let’s buy a new one.” If fruit sits too long in the basket and gets mushy, she says “let’s go to the grocery store.” She says these things, even with a father who shows her how to build and repair her toys in the garage … Even with a mother who teaches her how to make apple pies with bruised apples. Maybe she says it less than some children, but I’m still concerned, and I’m at a loss with how to handle it. Our week cooking the Solomon Islands brought the issue into clear relief. In the Solomon Islands, food is incredibly difficult to grow. There’s mountains. Monsoons. On the remote islands, locals might have to row to another island just to get to the grocery store. You get the drift. Food is not to be wasted. Families must make due with what they have. This includes eating green papaya and grated cassava, wrapped up in banana leaves, some of the rare indigenous foods. So, …

Top recipes from around the world with 3 ingredients or less

I can’t get over how many unique and occasion-worthy recipes can be found all around the world that only have three ingredients (not counting water, of course). There is no limit, it would seem, to creativity in the kitchen. With just three ingredients, our global neighbors can offer something sweet or savory, simple or complicated. These easy recipes can take our imaginations to any continent. Once I assembled the list, I realized something rather amazing… [dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”570px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]All of these recipes are vegetarian (V) or vegan (V+) and most are gluten free (GF).[/dropshadowbox] Bonus. So, now the question is, which recipe will you make? NOTE: Country listed indicates when we cooked the dish in our Global Table Adventure. In many cases the recipes may be available and beloved by other countries as well. THE LIST ( Click through for the recipes ) Hokey Pokey | New Zealand ( V, GF) Baked Papaya with Sweet Coconut Cream | Marshall Islands (V+, GF) Vanilla Bean n’ Tropical Fruit | Madagascar (V+, GF) …

Menu: Solomon Islands

When wind, ice rain, and snow blast our home, I shut my eyes and escape to Solomon Islands for a little imagination vacation. It doesn’t become real, though, until I try the food. What I find, more than anything else, is that the traditional food relies heavily on that which can grow on the islands. This is limited to staples like coconut, papaya, taro, sweet potatoes, and cassava. There would have been a time when 80% of these ingredients would have scared me off. Not because there’s anything wrong with them,* but because I would have no idea what to do with them. Heck. I wouldn’t have even known what they were. But, this is our 160th country. After this week, there’s only 36 weeks left. I’m not scared any more. I’m excited. Curious. Open. So here’s what we made. All recipes and meal review will be posted throughout the week. PawPaw Curry [Recipe] Take green papaya (a.k.a. not ripe) and cook it down with sweet onion, coconut milk, and a blast of homemade curry powder. …

About the food of the Solomon Islands

This week’s country meets the ocean with two faces. On one side are her cliffs, razor sharp and formidable On the other are gentle slopes. The two are connected by a central spine of mountains. This is the Solomon Islands, a collection of islands to the northeast of Australia, just east of Papua New Guinea. In this tropical land, many houses are built on stilts and about 80% of islanders live in the boondocks. The Pacific Ocean is as much a valued friend, relied on for nourishment in the form of fish, lobster, and crustaceans, as it is an inestimable danger in times of storm or tsunami. Finding information about food on the islands required quite a bit of detective work, which ultimately led me to a fascinating collection of blogs created by volunteers visiting the islands. Of these, Stilettos in the Solomons gave the most helpful overviews (and had the most intriguing name). Like much of the Pacific, crops are limited to what can grow along rugged mountains, not to mention they must be hardy enough to …