If you like windmills, green pastures, unusual architecture, a dollop of Indonesian culture, and being way, way below sea level, then our week at the Dutch Global Table is for you. But first, let’s start with the basics. We have lots of names to keep track of. The country goes by the Netherlands and Holland (Holland being reserved for when her territories are also being referred to). Regardless, her people are called the Dutch and 25% of their land is below sea level and twice that no more than 1 foot above sea level, giving the country yet one more name: “The Low Country.” It’s funny to be spending a week on the food of Netherlands during 101F days, since this isn’t really her element. In fact, there’s a wintery-crunchy-leaves-snowy-skies sort of feel to the place which is reflected in the food. Most Dutch food is hearty and homey – sausages, potatoes, soups, stewed meat (hachee), and thick brown gravies. They are known for a fantastic potato salad, loaded up with all manner of goodness …
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After a few minutes of rummaging through the kitchen, I find a plastic bottle in the refrigerator door, half full of water. The bottle is from Ava’s trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago and is covered with tigers, zebras, and lions. Apparently, it’s the only bottle in the house. I remove the lid and slowly begin to fill it with iced coffee. For an odd, fleeting moment, I find myself wishing I had more plastic bottles laying around to use. I shake my head at the silliness. “What are you doing, mama?” Ava asks, standing on tiptoe to peer over the counter. Her head is now a good few inches above the counter, growing taller every day. “This is a grownup drink enjoyed in Nauru, made with coffee and milk,” I say, and offer her a tall glass of milk so she doesn’t feel left out. They drink their iced coffee out of old water bottles” I say. “It helps them make less trash.” Ava’s eyes gets big. “It’s good to use …
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See the look on our faces? Yep. This week’s menu for Nauru reflects fun, easy breezy island fare – all you need is one bite to feel the joy. The only thing we’re missing is the ocean breeze. I can’t decide if the best part is making fries on a grill, the simplicity of fresh pan-fried fish, or drinking iced coffee out of plastic bottles. What!? What. Seriously. Stay tuned for more explanation on that. What sounds good to you? Grilled Island Fries [Recipe] This week the Nauruan love of all things grilled inspires me to toss French fries on the grill. It’s a little crazy and a lot delicious. Especially once you learn the secret to doing it right every single time. Coconut Crusted Fish [Recipe] A super simple way to cook fish, dipped in egg, then coated with a mixture of shredded coconut and breadcrumbs. The finishing touch? A hearty squeeze of fresh lime juice. “Recycled” Iced Coffee [Recipe] Come with me on an iced coffee journey which begins with a smooth pitcher of cold brewed grounds …
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If you’re the kind of lost soul who loves isolation, knowing your neighbors, and an ocean breeze, then Nauru is for you. Clocking in at just eight square miles, Nauru is the third smallest country in the world (and the smallest island nation). With more than three hundred miles between her and the closest piece of land, well, I can’t help but be amazed that anyone found their way to Nauru in the first place, let alone make their home there. I mean, what are the odds? So let’s figure out what’s for eats on this little island. As you can probably imagine based on the size of Nauru, not a lot of food grows here. Once host to lush forests, Nauru is now stripped almost bare with poor soil. Coconut and pandan fruit are about all you’ll find. Of course, off the island you’ll find a teeming buffet, filled with as much seafood as your net/rod/spear can capture. Coconut fish is on every menu [recipe]. The majority of the food in Nauru is shipped …
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THE SCENE Slowly, slowly I fold the momos, turning them into little moons. I am relaxed. My fingers work, awkwardly at first, but gradually pick up a gentle, gliding smoothness as my muscles memorize the steps. Folding these dumplings feels like meditation. Whenever I try to rush the process, everything collapses and the folding becomes a source of frustration instead of peace. So I keep my movements measured and slow. I keep a towel under my elbows, to catch stray bits of filling. I continue, remembering that the process is as important as the final dish. This night we share dinner with our friends Annie, Scott and their daughter Bea. We eat with great relish – while the kids go crazy for the dhal baht and besan burfi, we adults fixate on the momos. They taste gingery and cabbagy and bright. We dunk them in sauces and smile. Eventually we move outside to sit in the starlight, by the flickering chiminea. Conversation turns to our children and the choices we make to give them the …
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There’s nothing quite so wonderful as preparing food for friends, especially when there are special requirements. For our Nepali Global Table I was tasked to prepare an entirely vegetarian meal so I could share it with my vegetarian friend, her daughter, and husband. I loved it! This “constraint” (which I use very loosely as I eat vegetarian much of the time) meant that I got to look through Nepali recipes with a vegetarian filter. Ironically, this opened my eyes to many dishes I might not otherwise have noticed if I’d felt the pressure of cooking some sort of meat dish. The timing couldn’t have been better – many people in Nepal live a vegetarian lifestyle. This “constraint” also meant that I learned something new that i might not have come across otherwise: being vegetarian in Nepal means no meat or egg (although milk and cheese are fine). Who knew? What sounds good to you? Vegetarian Momos [Recipe] These small dumplings not only have an adorable name, but they taste fantastic. Filled with cabbage, carrot, onion, …
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As you fly into Nepal, the first thing you might see is Mount Everest, rising up through the clouds like the spirit of the earth stretching in greeting to the sky. Once in town you’ll find monkeys eating with the pigeons and ambling through the cobblestone streets, baby following mother. A bus, loaded up with people (even on the very roof top) might zip by on your left, British-style. Curiously, this is the only country in the world that has a zig-zag looking flag, as opposed to a rectangle. As my husband remarked, it looks like half of a Christmas tree. This means that, wherever the Nepali flag floats in the breeze you’ll find two two triangles decorated with the sun and moon. From the freezing mountain tops to the subtropical southern reaches of Nepal, an astounding assortment of temples, shrines, and plain ‘ol beauty awaits. The food reflects her status, tucked between China and India. There are all manner of curries, most commonly you’ll find dahl baht [Recipe] which I like to think of as …
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As Ava scuttles off to the zoo with her grandmother, I stay behind to wrangle alligator for the first time. While she walks between the lanky giraffes and prowling tigers, seeking a tail-slinging alligator of her own, I coat ours with a bright layer of lemon piri piri sauce and pop it in the refrigerator for a few hours. As she watches the lions, padding their way around their enclosure, scanning the perimeter, looking for a way out – wondering where the rest of Africa is – I place a loaf of Veldt bread in the shimmering oven. Ava looks at the animals curiously but not exactly afraid. Not like she would be if she ran into them in the actual wilderness. She is an observer but not a participant in the scene. But things could be different. Last week I was confronted with a sordid, disturbing tale called The Veldt by Ray Bradbury from the 1950’s written about the veldt in southern Africa. The term veldt is a lot like the term outback – it’s the way-out-there land, …
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Sometimes life throws us some pretty major “boulders” – huge, overwhelming problems we can’t seem to solve, let alone nudge out of the way. In Namibia, you can find a lot of these boulders, literally. Strangely out of proportion, these massive stones perch atop bald, widswept vistas. I like to think of these formiddable boulders as mangoes. Yes, mangoes. Something that, if given enough time, will soften and sweeten and delight you. Why can’t all problems be this way? Today’s recipe combines three beloved Namibian ingredients: mangoes, ginger, chili pepper flakes. The resulting chutney tastes great with meats, veggies, breads… you name it. It’s quite sweet, vinegary, and mildly spicy. You can add fresh minced chili peppers to increase the heat to sweat-inducing levels, if you’d like. Makes 1 quart Ingredients: 4 cups cubed mango 1/2 cup white wine vinegar 1 cup sugar (less if your mangoes are very sweet) 1 small onion, chopped 1 tsp fresh ginger 1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes (or more to taste) 1/2 tsp mustard seed (I had …
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This week we’re celebrating two awesome, wonderful, happy, lovely things. 1) We’re in the “N” countries… finally! It’s been nearly 2 1/2 years of cooking food from every country in the world and here we are! Namibia is a great place to start, too. This menu combines something new (alligator), with the rustic (Veldt bread) and a dash of sass (mango chutney). If that doesn’t sum up the spirit of this adventure, I don’t know what does 2) My husband was promoted to a new fancypants position at his company. It’s long since overdue. We’re fairly sure this means he has to stop wearing superman shirts, except for on the weekends. We shall see. What sounds good to you?* An Alligator’s Bite (Bushmeat Skewers) [Recipe] In Namibia Crocodile reigns supreme. Since we can’t get those in Tulsa, Oklahoma we’re cooking up the (incredibly similar) alligator. Just marinate with piri piri sauce and thread with peppers on skewers. Bread of the Wild (Veldt Bread) [Recipe] Dense whole wheat quickbread made with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. A rustic …
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Not that you’d really believe you were in Germany while gazing upon the vast deserts of Namibia, but quite a few things might make you wonder – especially closer to the coast. For starters, German words are everywhere, from the names of towns, to the distinctive brats and beer on the tables. Lüderitz Port, for example. Could that be any more German? If you dig in a little deeper, however, you’ll enter the Veldt or the wide open scrubby expanses. In this space, times moves more slowly. Dust hangs in the air where lions, giraffes, and zebra roam. Here, the food is much simpler. An entire meal might be made from bushmeat, such as crocodile [Recipe using a local substitute, alligator], or prized lamb meat. Vegetables would include simple stewed greens. Seasoning might consist of nothing or it might be piri piri sauce, bright with lemon juice and spicy peppers. Food can also be amped up with a sweet and spicy chutney [Recipe]. Deeper into the heart of Namibia you may experience dense quickbread called Veldt (named …
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Ava runs past me as I place the last clothespin on the line. Our blue sheets undulate with the breeze. Parting them with a quick swipe of her hands, Ava runs behind them and calls out: “Mama, come on! The big bad wolf is coming. Let’s hide!” She points at Malky, our cat, who slouches on the grass, licking his leg. “Oh, is he the wolf?” I ask, chuckling despite myself. Together we hide behind the sheets and every time the breeze blows the soft cotton towards our faces we squeal and say: “Not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin.” Malky continues his first bath of the afternoon, unconcerned. Soon the game evolves into random singing and arm waving; the rudimary performance of an almost-three-year-old. And, yet, in this glorious moment, she’s not a toddler. She’s a queen and I, a guest in her magical Kingdom. This isn’t surprising, really. Children conjure up entire worlds with nothing more than a sparkle glinting off of a ray of sunlight. But what is surprising is that Ava has second kingdom. This …
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