Posts | Global Table Adventure

Monday Meal Review: Saudi Arabia

“If I am a prince and you are a prince, then who will lead the donkeys?” – Saudi Proverb We sat in the middle of the tight, woolen rug, cross legged, our toes bumping the edge of the soft cotton table cloth. Without a table to drape upon, the cloth looked like a slack sail, hungry for the wind. Sunlight streamed through the windows, massaging our backs. It felt good. If I shut my eyes, the windy, freezing day that clattered against our window almost disappeared. In fact, if it weren’t for the glittering Christmas tree at our side, there’d be no sign this was winter. The scent of black cardamom and fennel in our Saudi pizza dough made the room smell sweet and woodsy, while the ground lamb and green onion topping felt like an early spring. My friend Becky and her mom joined us for lunch. I hadn’t seen Becky in more than a year and I hiccuped a tiny laugh, despite myself, when I opened the door to find the entire door frame full of …

Menu: Saudi Arabia (with Giveaway)

Saudi Arabia is all about love of family and strong relationships. That’s why this week at the Global Table is all about party food. Not crazy, New Year’s Eve party nibbles (been there, done that), but goodies that will pull family and friends together around the table (or, as the case may be, the floor mat). These bites make a festival out of even the most ordinary day (I know because we enjoyed their bright flavor in the No Man’s land between Christmas and New Year’s with my dear friend Becky and her mama). So go on, invite some friends over and create an afternoon filled with animated, laughter-filled, buoyant spirits. And when the fun is done, sit back and smile. Saudi Lamb “Pizza” | Aysh abu Laham [Recipe] A hearty round of fennel and black caraway infused flatbread, topped with lamb, green onion and a lemon garlic tahini sauce. Phew. Sounds weird. Tastes amazing. Sweet Semolina Cake with Lemon & Rosewater | Basboosa [Recipe] A sweet, incredibly moist semolina cake perfumed with lemon and rosewater, topped with almonds. …

About the food of Saudi Arabia

Let’s rub the glitter of the New Year out of our eyes and spend this week feasting on Saudi Arabia. If, perhaps, you over-indulged during the evening’s festivities, this alcohol-free country will be apropos. Dotted along her sandy slopes and rubble-tumble mountains, from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, we find groups of people sipping on hot tea, enjoying richly spiced lamb stews, and riding camels. But let’s not stop there… My friends, we also find groups of people zooming along in cars, processing petroleum fields, and eating pizza. Or shall I say… “pizza”… This is a land of duality. Take this “pizza,” for example. Otherwise known as Aysh abu Laham, we’re talking spiced flatbread topped with lamb, spring leeks, and lemon-tahini sauce. This dish, like much of Saudi Arabia, has elements of the familiar (hello, pizza shape), but taste entirely different to a westerner (goodbye tomato sauce; this is all about fennel, black cardamom, and tahini). Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still find Domino’s in Saudi Arabia… but in people’s homes, it’s all about …

Merry Gingerbread Winners!

Ho, ho, ho! The time has finally come! We’re beyond excited to announce the winners of this year’s Gingerbread for Peace Competition. Every year I love looking at your beautiful creations. You and your power over icing never cease to amaze me… which is why, if it were up to me, you’d all win. Truly, truly. And that, my friends, is why I enlist the help of an amazing panel of judges. With that said, I’d like to thank our sweet judges, who have the tough (impossible!) job of rating the contestants on the following criteria: – Overall design – Creativity – Difficulty & Technique – Neatness & Precision – Adherence to theme of Gingerbread for Peace and Globally inspired structure – How much does the essay relate to the theme.. So THANK YOU to Jenny Buccos from ProjectExplorer.org for who is a powerhouse of energy, bringing the world into the heart of the classroom. Her virtual field trips make it possible for children to not just “see” the world, but to learn about it in the context of math, …

Monday Meal Review: São Tomé and Príncipe

Our children grow up frittata fast. They start out little bitty eggs, get whipped up into a froth (by our mad parenting skills, no doubt), and then poured into a pan… ready for the oven (a.k.a. the world). We turn around for ten minutes, and when our gaze next falls upon them, they are a … frittata… nothing like the little round egg we started out with. Our hearts break a little (partly because we’re proud of how far they’ve come, and partly because we’ll always miss the baby they once were). This week I turned around for ten minutes and my daughter was no longer a toddler. She was a full-fledged little girl. For the last year Ava’s been sleeping in a crib with several slats hacked out. We called it her toddler bed (considering the drop-side crib is no longer safe nor salable) , but we all know it’s just her old crib, hacked up. Well, this creative solution is no more: this week we finally moved Ava to a big girl bed, complete …

Menu: São Tomé and Príncipe (with Giveaway)

Ava’s never been a big fan of bananas, but when I told her we were eating mousse for dessert this week, she giggled. Loud. Like a startled bird. The holidays are in full swing; her three year-old brain clearly imagined something like this… Thankfully, moose is not an option in São Tomé and Príncipe, but mousse is. And so, without further ado, I’d like to share our menu. Each item has been selected with the holiday crazies in mind: they require few ingredients and come together in a flash. The inspiration remains firmly Santomean, as locals prefer to eat simply. The sweet potato frittata is my new go-to, the Feijoada will warm your bones, and the mousse? Well… it’s mousse. That’s all anyone really needs, besides love. Unless you also need a moose. With antlers. All recipes and meal review will be posted throughout the week. Sweet Potato Frittata [Recipe] Need a great brunch idea for the holidays? This healthy & hearty frittata (yes, that’s possible) only has four ingredients and comes together in a snap. The best part? You …

About the food of São Tomé and Príncipe

Are you slightly offbeat? Do you prefer to stand out from the crowd, preferably while eating chocolate? São Tomé and Príncipe is just the place for you. These two tropical islands, just over 372 square miles combined, are home to an amazing amount of plants and animals that have developed into their own, exotic form. These spectacular critters are literally found nowhere else in the world. The cocoa covered islands have guaranteed that they evolve in isolation – think of it as a tropical petri dish with azure beaches. Yes, there are spiders, but they have their own… shall we say… crabby sort of look. Definitely a tad bit offbeat, eh? As for the food, it’s an amazing blend of traditional, sub-Saharan African foods with a strong blast of Portuguese influence. You’re as likely to find a simple sweet potato/pumpkin and egg dish [Recipe], goat or cassava… as you are a hearty plate of Feijoada (bean stew with pork or fish) [Recipe] with rice (or better yet, riz creole – seasoned rice). That being said, there’s nothing like …

Monday Meal Review: San Marino

Neighbors. I’d already planned on talking about neighbors last week, but when the grief of Newtown, Connecticut struck, I realized how much more urgently this message needs to be said. Abe Lincoln called the people of San Marino his “Great and Good Friends,” despite being separated by an entire continent. There was such tenderness in his words, but this particular weekend they struck me hard. Why? Because so few of us know anything about the people who live in our very neighborhoods, let alone an ocean away. Did you know, neighbor Sandeep Kapur, who lived two doors down from the killer (who I shall not name out of respect for the grieving), stated that he had never met the family, despite the fact that he’d lived there for three years? Three years, without so much as a hello. Unfortunately, this is not unusual. Listen, friends: my only platform is love. Love, love, love. Always more love. Do you know who lives near you? Are situations like these keeping you from finding out? Listen. We can’t …

Menu: San Marino (with Giveaway)

Here’s something you might not have known: Abraham Lincoln was made an honorary citizen of San Marino in 1861. This made him happy, as he believed that San Marino demonstrated how a “government founded on republican principles is capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring.” (Read the whole letter) What he doesn’t mention in his letter to his “Great and Good Friends” is their food, likely because he never had the opportunity to sample it. Personally I believe that any “secure and enduring country” has to have great food. Thankfully, San Marino delivers like a champ in this department. This menu is a little like cooking Italy all over again (northeast Italy, anyway)… but with a flair distinctly Sanmarinese. Each bite of this menu is comforting, rich, and perfect for the curious stovetop traveler on a wintertime journey through the rugged mountains. You’ll notice a lot of milk, from the bechamel to the pork roast, as well as typical ingredients like polenta, honey, and dried figs. Consider serving this menu with some …

About the food of San Marino

Let’s dive into Italy, right over the mountains, into the tiny 24 square mile country of San Marino. In this small enclave, there is no level ground. Indeed, every sunny vista is filled with the jawdropping scenery of a life “away from it all.” In this land, tenacity is the name of the game. Whenever San Marino comes up in conversation people like to ask how they managed to stay independent within Italy all these years. Why aren’t they just a part of Italy, they ask. For one, I think the difficult mountain terrain has provide a natural barrier (both physical and somewhat cultural), but also the people seem to be filled with good ol’ tenacity. One simply has to look at their determination to grow food in the rubble-like soil. Almost miraculously, they manage to produce a bounty of chestnuts, barley, fruit, and wheat in this small land. The food is typical of Northeastern Italy, with specialties like Swallow’s Nests, spirals of filled noodles coated in bechamel and Parmesan [Recipe]… and then there’s pork slow cooked in milk and …

Monday Meal Review: Samoa

There’s a Samoan proverb which reads “Ua iloa i vaʻa lelea,” or we are one family. I love this proverb. I spent most of my topsy turvy childhood figuring out what love means. What family means. And then, one day, those grace-filled words dawned on me … We are one family. The Samoans knew it all along. Blood bonds and geographic bonds are just the wonderful beginning. We can find love whenever and wherever we open our hearts. We are all one family. Sometimes it’s a bit messy. Sometimes it’s not how we pictured it. Sometimes we disagree and sometimes we cry. Sometimes we need a break. But sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes we laugh and see eye to eye. Sometimes we can’t get enough of each other’s smiles. We are one family. How my life changed when I began to look at the world through this lens. Sure, I still mess up (all the time, actually… and I’m sorry for that), but reminding myself of these words helps me to slow down and “think kinder,” with more love, …

Menu: Samoa (Plus Giveaway)

“E tuai tuai, ta te maʻona ai.” This Samoan proverb states that food which takes a long time in the oven will be satisfying. It’s the equivalent of “good things come to those who wait.” You see, much of Samoan dinners were traditionally cooked in underground ovens made with hot stones and covered with dirt and leaves. My mom said that was just about all there was in the late 70’s. Today, electricity takes much of the guesswork out of when dinner will be done but there’s still satisfaction in enjoying traditional favorites. For our menu, I went with yet another festive holiday spread. Bring that Palusami to your next holiday potluck. As for the rice and the puligi? Yes, yes. Definitely. Special thanks to Soraya, a lovely Samoan friend of Brian (longtime reader who always leaves the neat musical selections). She was kind enough to message with me about all kinds of good, traditional eats (especially the Palusami). All recipes and meal review will be posted throughout the week. Coconut Creamed “Spinach” | Palusami …