There are three ways to avoid the awkward party phenomenon. 1. You can get to the party early enough to snag a good seat on the couch. 2. You can bring a friend (it’s a well documented fact that, if you have a friend at your side, you’ll have someone to talk to when you don’t feel like dancing, someone to laugh with when you do feel like dancing, and someone to make sure you don’t do anything silly during the twilight zone part of the party). 3. Then there’s these rolls. Oh boy. Show up to a party with steaming hot Portuguese rolls filled with chorizo sausage and not only will you have something to hold onto when you’re not sure what to do with yourself, you’ll draw a crowd. People think bread is so hard to make, but the secret is you just pile everything into a bowl or standing mixer, mix it up, and let it sit for an hour and half. Then you shape it, let it rest and bake. Done! …
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At any given moment I’m an arm’s reach from my cellphone. It’s not just a phone, it’s a laptop, a GPS, and – when my daughter tells it “I love you” – a female voice replies with almost lifelike bashfulness “You are sweet.” Frankly, I’m frightened. That’s why, when I receive mail – real mail, bundled up in cardboard and clear packing tape – I get so excited. Cardboard boxes don’t talk back. The postage stamp doesn’t double as a GPS when I’m fifteen minutes late for a show. It simply sits there, until I open it. The best possible mystery. The way it should be. This week, Global Table Adventure received a package from my mom which tickled my funny bone in the most delightful way. This is reason #3,568,999 why my mom is so special. Ava, who was as curious as I was, tore out the sheets of crinkly tissue paper to reveal a heavy duty heart-shaped bowl, small pitcher, and a covered sugar bowl. The bottom of each bowl read “Handmade in Poland.” …
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Rumor has it, no meal is complete in Paraguay without a slice of warm, cheesy cornbread. While sopa means soup in Spanish, this is definitely bread and… traditionally, all mixed up with a happy bundle of homemade cheese. One of our readers – Emily – says everyone in Paraguay makes their own cheese so that this would be no big deal to a local. I read up on the origins of this bread… there are two main versions. In the first version, Don Carlos ( President of Paraguay from 1842-62) requested his favorite white soup for dinner – one made with cheese, egg, corn flour, and loads of milk. One day the chef put too much corn flour in the soup and decided to bake it up as bread in cast iron. The new dish became a hit and Don Carlos dubbed it Sopa Paraguaya. Here’s the second story, from Wikipedia: In ancient times, this food was made with fresh corn and cooked in the “ñaúpyvú” (clay pot), not in the oven “modern” inherited from the …
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Sometimes we need a do over. A chance to get it right. And a little forgiveness. Because in every mishap is a silver lining. Especially when it comes to sweet, crumbly dulce de leche filled alfajores – the popular South American cookie. One bite instantly dissolves on the tongue into a cloud of tender lemon zest deliciousness. Divine. But back to forgiveness. Specifically, I need to forgive my sweet, bumbling husband for being so thoughtful as to fill up the cooler with ice for our 3 1/2 hour road trip, yet being so forgetful as to overlook returning the cookie dough to the cooler. I need to let go of the grief that the cookie dough rode in the bed of our pickup truck, saran wrap in the wind, balanced precariously on top of my red suitcase, all the way to our family vacation in Beaver’s Bend. And I need to accept that, because it was 100F and sunny, the cookie dough could never be cooked. In situations like this, it’s all about the silver …
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There are a few ways to keep cool in hot weather. In the west, we wear shorts, drink cold drinks, and blast the A/C. In Niger, they use a completely different set of tricks. The polar opposite, in fact. For starers, they cover up. Believe it or not, wearing long layers made of lightweight cotton keeps the sun’s hot rays off your skin. The flowing movement of the fabric acts like natural air conditioning. The elephants accomplish the same thing by dusting themselves with dirt. Not quite as desirable if you have somewhere nice to go. There’s one other trick to staying cool in Niger. Drinking hot tea. While it sounds like it’d make an already hot day feel like an inferno, it is the opposite. The hot liquid makes you perspire… and the tiny beads of sweat catch the slightest breeze, cooling you off. That’s what our tour guide in Tunisia told me, anyway (they do the same thing all over North Africa). All you do is splash hot water over green tea and… a …
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If you wake up in Nepal, chances are you’ll be eating Dhal Baht. In fact, you’ll probably also eat Dhal Bhat as the sun bobs below the horizon. Nothing wrong with eating the same dish twice in one day. There’s a beautiful simplicity in waking up and knowing that, as certain as the sun will circle the sky, there will be Dhal Bhat. Ah, yes. There’s something to be said for consistency. And for not having to make quite so many decisions during the day. I’m not sure what in my life is that certain. Perhaps my daily cups of tea. All day long I drink glass after glass of the stuff. This fancy name simply means lentils, split peas, or other pulses (dhal) with rice (baht), but each bite reveals so much more. This might as well be the national dish of Nepal. While rice doesn’t grow well in the mountains, this is a dish from the valleys. The seasonings in Dhal vary widely, but most commonly this soup-of-sorts contains tomato, turmeric, ginger, onion, and garlic. …
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Today we’re traveling to the sandy, dusty plateaus of of Southern Africa where you’ll find the Veldt – large expanses of wilderness, often filled with scrubby bushes and the occasional scraggly tree. Here, too, you’ll find prowling lions, circling scavenger birds, and hearty veldt bread – which pretty much means bread of the wild. According to the World Cookbook for Students, this quickbread was created by European settlers as a way to nourish themselves with familiar ingredients in an unfamiliar land. Since it’s leavened with baking powder, there’s no long rise time – just pop in the oven (or over a campfire) and chow down. No muss, no fuss. Spices like ginger, cinnamon and cloves give this rugged, dense “wheaty” bread a lovely lift. Much like Irish soda bread, Veldt bread tastes best when steaming hot, slathered with butter. So go ahead, set up camp by a Namibian sunset and enjoy a slice. Makes 1 loaf Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 3 Tbsp brown sugar 1/2 …
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Pretty, pretty, pretty. Say hello to the juiciest carrot salad in the world. Inspired by the cuisine of Morocco, the salad blends shredded carrots with fresh squeezed orange juice (loads of pulp!), cinnamon, sugar, and orange blossom water. It’s all kinds of crazy and… it works. I felt that, hot on the heels of our Mongolian Carrot salad, it’d be fun to make a variation from Morocco. And I’m so glad I took the risk. This is one wild salad. So take a deep breath, and breathe in the orange blossom goodness. NOTES: While it won’t be quite as good, if you decide to use orange juice instead of squeezing your own, please get the extra pulp kind. Those little bursts of pulp really make this salad special. Also, try shredding your carrots even finer, as this easier to eat the traditional way (in a tea glass with small spoon). You may purchase similar glasses at your local Middle Eastern market. Ingredients: 2 lb carrots, grated 2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice (all the pulp …
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Introducing the black diamond of Monaco: Tapenade. She glitters in the night. She belies the briny bite of the absolutely fabulous. But here’s the thing. She’s also, not so secretly, rustic. This dip and crostini topper has its origins in the grassy hills of Provence. Love for this treat spills over into Monaco and parts of Italy. While many people pulverize their blend to a paste (with a mortar and pestle or even a food processor), I prefer a rustic, coarse mixture. I like seeing the capers and slices of olives. I like seeing bits of herbs. So all I do is run my knife through the ingredients a few times. The choice is yours but, either way, this mixture tastes grand – dressed up with cognac, capers, and a sprinkling of rosemary and thyme. Serve at the beginning of your next garden party, on crusty, toasted baguette, spread on crackers, with cheese as an hors d’ouvre. And be sure to raise a glass to Provence and even sunny Monaco. Ingredients: 1/4 cup capers 2-4 anchovy …
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I am ready for a day-dreamy sort of day. One where I walk along the pier and smell the salty, ocean air… On this easy-breezy day I’ll nibble bits of crispy socca – an olive oil and chickpea based crêpe popular along the riviera. On this day I do not stumble. I do not stain my shirt. Nothing I say sounds silly and I’m free of heartache. Yes, there are days when a crêpe can do this for you… …especially if enjoyed in glitzy Monaco, with diamonds on the soles of your shoes. The bonus? This recipe is gluten-free. While the gluten-free craze has infiltrated popular culture, there are some segments of the world that have eaten this way for generations. Mostly thanks to dishes like socca. Along the Mediterranean coast socca is the go-to street food, enjoyed hot, out of hand, while walking around, listening to the the caw of gulls. While laughing. While smiling at the clouds bumble by. I shared this treat with my friend who’d recently been to Sicily, where he said he …
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I’ve done it standing in front of my refrigerator at midnight. I’ve done it at 8:30 in the morning, right after eating a complete breakfast. I’ve even done it in celebration of eating all my veggies. I fill my belly with bowlfuls of carbs – pasta, bread, potatoes, or rice – it really doesn’t matter. Simply put: I’m carb crazy. Enter Mamaliga, Moldova’s favorite side dish (and Romania’s, too). Carb-tastic. This thick, dense polenta is made with corn meal (the coarser the better), water, and a bit of butter to make it slip-slide out of the bowl you set it in. Traditionally Mamaliga is sliced into slabs with a string or fishing line. Traditionally, you’d serve it with sour cream and cheese, and it is much appreciated on the side of nearly any dish, especially the locally adored sour soups (like borscht [recipe]). So, friends, join me on the fast train to Moldova with Mamaliga. I’ll save you a seat. Serves 3-4 Ingredients: 3 cups of water 1 cup of yellow cornmeal (medium or coarse grind, …
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