Week 7: France

Of all the countries that we are exploring this summer, this week's country is the only one that I've actually visited.  It was the summer of 1998 and a time in my life when a lot of my friends were backpacking through Europe.  I remember the desperation that I felt to go with them, but for whatever reasons back then, it didn't work out... until it did.  We spent two weeks exploring as much as we possibly could fit into that time and had some positively exhilarating moments and some absolutely horrendous moments.  Overall, it was truly a wonderful experience... our first travel outside of the US.  So many memories, tied so tidily into one little photo album... how is that even possible?  Here are a few pictures from that trip.

Catedral de Notre Dame

Sunset on the Seine

Tour Eiffel

The husband in Nice with a big bowl of Bouillabaisse

Me in Marseilles

And now back to the food.

We actually fit in two French meals this week!

Dinner1:  Boeuf Bourguignon with Boiled Potatoes, Salad Niçoise, and Crusty French Bread
Dessert1:  Soufflés Chauds au Citron

Dinner 2:  Coq au Vin, Ratatouille, Quiche, and Baguette
Dessert2:  Mousse au Chocolat

Dinner 1:
My husband, not being a vegetarian who only sometimes eats chicken, really wanted a dinner with beef.  He is also an over-the-shoulder Internet surfer.  So when he saw that I was looking for dinner recipes for France, he requested something with beef.  He even offered to help prepare it, so he settled on the beef stew for our Sunday meal.  The boeuf bourguignon is traditionally served with boiled potatoes... perfect!  I attempted to round it out a bit, with a salad nicoise (minus the tuna), and the lemon souffles for dessert.  Voila... a perfect French dinner!  However, I did not want this to be our project dinner for two reasons:  1)I couldn't partake of the beef stew and 2)the kid's weren't prepared with any of their facts or flags.  And, besides... there is a LOT to choose from when it comes to French cooking.  My guess is that we could have devoted an entire week to France with a different meal every night.  Wait... isn't that sort of the whole basis for the book 'Julie and Julia'?  Well, except she did a year... but I digress. 

Boeuf Bourguignon

 Salad Nicoise

Lemon Souffles

I didn't try the boeuf bourguignon, but I'm so glad that I have my husband and my eldest to cheer me on with these dinners.  If I relied on the reception from my middle little and my littlest, I would be a lot less likely to put in all this effort.  The salad nicoise was surprisingly better than I expected... and it was a full meal by itself.  I replaced the green beans with broccoli.  The souffles looked perfect coming out of the oven.  I made the mistake of cooking them ahead of time, when I should have cooked them right before we were ready to eat them.  So as perfect as they looked coming out of the oven, by the time we ate them, they were deflated... and I was too.  I didn't even get a picture of them looking all puffed and perfect!  But they were oh so tasty!

Dinner 2:
I chose Coq au Vin strictly to use up that gargantuan bottle of burgundy that we bought to make the boeuf bourguignon.  I was a little worried about making two dishes that were so similar, or at least had such similar ingredients.  Although after talking to a friend, I was reminded that the chicken gives it a much different flavor, and also the coq au vin is less of a stew and more of a chicken in wine sauce.  The eldest was insistent that this dinner include quiche and mousse.  And I had always wanted to try ratatouille.  In fact, I was wondering just the other day how it was that I never tried it while we were in France.  I think I concluded that I just didn't know what it was back then... and may not have been adventurous enough then to try it even if I had known what it was.  Anyway... that is how tonight's meal was formed.

Spinach Quiche

Ratatouille

Coq au Vin

Chocolate Mousse

Let me first just say that the quiche was perfect! It was my first time making the crust from scratch and it looked, smelled, tasted absolutely perfect. The quiche was the one thing that my middle little assured me that he'd eat (which I wasn't sure I believed since it did have spinach in it), but he was begging for seconds! The Gruyere was the secret ingredient, I'm sure of it! The ratatouille, although good, wasn't as 'special' as I was expecting, especially as time-consuming as it was to make. I think that may have been everyone's least favorite... looking at how much of it was left over. The coq au vin was really good. I was afraid it would have too much of a wine flavor, but it wasn't overpowering at all. The only thing that I would have changed, using boneless, skinless chicken cut up into pieces instead of a whole chicken. I thought it was a bit cumbersome to eat through all the sauce. Although, honestly, I could have done without the chicken altogether and just had the sauce on my noodles! And lastly, but most definitely not least, the mousse. I have never made mousse, or even tried it... so making it and having it actually turn out was a surprise. I have this idea that these delicacies are more complicated to make than they really are. Although, what was really funny is that the middle little was worried that he was going to have to eat moose covered in chocolate. Thankfully, no... and the real thing... oh... so... chocolatey delicious! And truly enough said.

I'd say that overall, this has been an incredibly successful visit to France, without the plane tickets. Of course, the husband and I have been reminiscing all week about our trip. It's been nice, but it's time to move on. Next week... Costa Rica.

Interesting Facts:
- The capital of France is Paris.
- Although French is the official language, 77 other languages are recognized in France.
- The French currency is the franc.
- 20% of France's land is outside of it's European borders (e.g. French Polynesia).
- La baguette means 'little stick'.
- The Eiffel Tower today has 2 restaurants, an observation deck, a post office, and elevators to the top.
- The Statue of Liberty was made in France.
- The population of France is 60,876,136.
- The area of France is 210,026 square miles - slightly less than twice the size of Colorado.
- France won the 1998 World Cup, came in 2nd in the 1986 World Cup, came in 3rd in 1958 and 1986, and 4th in 1982. France has participated in 13 times in the FIFA World Cup.
- France had a high scoring soccer match, beating Azerbaijan 10-0.
- In soccer, the top scorer is Thierry Henry, from France, who plays for the New York Red Bulls.

Week 6: Russia

We had friends over to enjoy our Russian feast, which helped elevate the mood.  It is so nice to share our experience with others, I don't know why we don't do it more.

Dinner:  Cold Borscht, Kasha Simenukha, Pirozhki, and Chicken with Prunes
Dessert:  Blini with Hot Fruit Compote

So to start, there was a question of what was on the menu, because my friend's 16-year old daughter was worried that Russian food would be "gross".  Now added to the list of 'will my kids eat this' was the concern 'will my friend's kids eat this'.  I was not going to let these worries interfere with the bit of excitement that I felt in preparing this meal.  No matter my mood, I am still loving the project and the preparation that goes into fixing each country's meal.  And as I grew up eating certain Russian staples, I knew that it would be good.  Really, I just need to take a deep breath and dive in!

Ok... I think I made enough food to feed four families, plus the enormous amount of kasha that was literally overflowing from the baking dish. 

Finding a traditional recipe for borscht (hot or cold) was incredibly difficult, as all the recipes that I came across were incredibly varied... not just slightly different. One website said "that there are as many 'real' recipes for borscht as there are grandmothers in Russia and Ukraine."  So I finally settled on one that I thought would be the most well received by my family and our guests.  It worked... the borscht was a hit with the adults and my littlest.  Even the day after when we were talking about the dinner, when asked what was their favorite dish, the littlest responded "porsh".  My guess is that the color, referred to by some as "the pink stuff", was a turnoff for my middle little.  I'm not sure if he even tried it. 

Borscht

I had high hopes for the kasha, as I am always on the lookout for an interesting new grain to add to the dinner table, but it was my least favorite new taste.  I really think it was the recipe I used, which of course was a more authentic way of preparation, but I feel like if I had cooked it in broth instead of water, that would have helped immensely. 

Kasha Simenukha

I chose to stuff the pirozhki with a cabbage filling, but I read that other traditional fillings are mashed potato or sour cherries. 

Pirozhki

The chicken with prunes was good, but nothing special.  I really liked the prunes with the chicken... they added a mild sweetness that was nice.  I know that my husband wasn't impressed, but the kids ate it up.

Chicken with Prunes

The blini was the obvious best... everyone LOVED the blini.  The blin is a Russian pancake that we topped with warm fruit compote and homemade whipped cream.  My kids had a blast helping make them, but that didn't come close to how much they enjoyed eating them.  And as much as my kids loved them... our guests' kids loved them even more.  As they left, each child clutching cold blini for the ride home.

Yum!

What I came away from this dinner was how similar and yet how different traditional Russian food is to my mom/great-grandma's Jewish food.  When I first set out to find the recipes for this dinner, I was sure that this was all stuff that I had growing up, but it's not... it's close, but definitely not the same.  The pirozhki are reminiscent of my mom's knishes, which she always stuffed with mashed potatoes and onions.  My mom used to make kasha varnishkes, which is the kasha mixed with a bowtie pasta.  I am actually going to try to use some of my mountain of leftover kasha to make this.  And... oh how I remember the blintzes that she would make as a special treat!  Blintzes and blini... so similar, with only the thickness of the later separating it from the former!  I remember fruit stuffed blintzes topped with sour cream and a sprinkle of sugar.  It was a rare treat... and sooo yummy.

Interesting Facts:
- Russia has 12 seas, 35 national parks, and 100 forest reserves.
- Russia is the largest country in the world.
- The Russian alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet with 33 letters.
- There is the closest point between Russia and USA that is only 4 km long.
- Russia borders North Korea, Mongolia, China, Finland and Norway.
- The Ural Mountains in Russia are the oldest mountains in the world.
- Lake Baikal is the world's deepest lake and the largest fresh water reservoir on Earth.
- Russia is a federation of 86 republics, provinces, territories, and districts all controlled by the government in Moscow.
- Moscow is the capital of Russia.
- Russia was the first country to launch a man into space.
- The population of Russia is 142,893,540.
- Russia is 6,592,800 square miles - 1.75 times the size of the US.
- The people of Russia speak Russian.
- The Russian coin is the ruble.
- Oymyakon in Russia is the coldest city on Earth. It's nickname: "Pole of Cold", with a recorded temperature of -96F.
- Russia came in 4th in the 1966 FIFA World Cup.  Russia has participated in the FIFA World Cup 9 times (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 2002).

Week 5 1/2: Morocco

I find myself suddenly in one of those typical situations where I'm feeling both the good and the bad and can't settle on one or the other. Last week, I wrote of the immense pride that this project has brought me. This week, I'm feeling the immense weight of being grounded. This project has opened wide my desire to travel, my wanderlust, at the worst possible time. Especially, as I hear about the travels and adventures of others. I started this project as a way to experience the world from the comfort of our own home, but I'm not feeling comfortable... I'm feeling restless. Of course, I realize that by putting this down on record, it has the possibility to take away some of what exactly I'm doing, but I really hope not.

Inspired by the spontaneous purchase of an eggplant, I decided to stop for an impromptu night in Morocco.  I also thought that diving into another cooking endeavor would help my mood.  It totally worked... what also helped was the last minute hunt for the necessary ingredients.  Tonight's dinner required the ever elusive orange blossom water, which isn't carried by any of the stores that I frequent.  Thanks to a tip from a friend and my knight's brief jaunt down to a Mediterranean store, dinner was ready!

Dinner:  Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous and Cabbage Salad
Dessert:  Rice Pudding

Initially, I was concerned how a cabbage salad would go over with the littles, until the eldest started sneaking the cut up cabbage right off the cutting board.  Add to that apples, raisins, and cinnamon... and the littles ate it up!  The middle little was the funniest.  At dinner, he was so fixated on how everything looked that when I finally asked him if he had tasted it, it seemed almost like an afterthought.  He finally tasted it... and then it was gone.

Cabbage Salad

I have made a similar stew in the past, which is why the eggplant inspired me toward Morocco.  Of course, it was great... how could it not be with all those lovely vegetables and spices?  Only the middle little had issue with the contents... "but it has mushrooms in it" and "is that zucchini" and the ever-present "but it doesn't LOOK good". 

Moroccan Stew with Couscous

This was my first time making rice pudding and I love rice pudding!  It doesn't make sense that I wouldn't have tried making something that I know I like before now.  Instead of rationalizing it, I'll just add one more notch to the benefits of this whole project.  So easy to make... and it tastes divine.  I made it according to the traditional Moroccan flavor by adding the orange blossom water, but can see how it can easily be more versatile with just almond or vanilla extract.

Rice Pudding

Interesting Facts:
-  The capital of Morocco is Rabat.
-  Morocco is the 12th richest country in the world.
-  Moroccans eat prickly pears and avocado milkshakes.
-  Morocco's official name is "Kingdom of Morocco".
-  The shrine of Sidi Vahya in Morocco is said to be the tomb of John the Baptist.
-  Morocco's money is the dirham.
-  Morocco went to the World Cup in 1970, 1986, and 1998.  They made it to the 2nd round only in 1989.
-  The population of Morocco is 33,241,259.
-  Morocco is 172,317 square miles - slightly larger than California.
-  The languages spoken in Morocco is Arabic, Berber, and French.

Week 5: Spain

What I've learned after doing this for the last five weeks is that this is the one day each week that I completely look forward to!  I always knew that I enjoyed cooking, but having this project that involves the kids and gets everyone excited about what ends up on the dinner table makes it so much more than just trying some random new recipe that I hope everyone enjoys.  I love doing the research into the region-specific cuisine and figuring out how best to represent that at home.  I love shopping for these items that I wouldn't be buying except for these recipes.  And best of all, I love making and creating and trying all these wonderful new foods.  Truly the best thing I've done as a mom, as a homemaker, for me... in a long time.

So... onto Espana!  The kids have been speaking in only their broken, limited Spanish vocabulary all week.  I have loved every interesting conversation.

la cena

Dinner:  Gazpacho, Tortilla de Potatas, Paella
Dessert:  Flan

I attempted a gazpacho nearly 14 years ago.  It was so terrible that it took until now for me to attempt it again.  I don't really know what I did especially wrong back then, but this time around, I did it especially right!  I made the gazpacho two days ahead so that it could sit in the fridge and let flavors mingle.  So how did it go over?  My husband, the littlest and I loved it.  The other two rated it on a scale of 1 to 100 at right around 48.  Not really sure what they didn't like about it... I'm already looking forward to the leftovers!

Gazpacho

The paella was maybe the most expensive dinner that I've ever prepared, thanks to the hugely elevated price of Spanish saffron... holy cow!!  Was it worth it?  Oh yeah.  It had such a unique and lovely flavor.  It was a hit with everyone.

Paella

As much as everyone liked the paella, it couldn't even come close to the tortilla de patatas.  Seconds and even thirds were consumed by some.  It was the obvious favorite of our Spain meal and so simple... potatoes and eggs.

Tortilla de Patatas

What was left.

I was also looking forward to finally trying flan.  I have wanted to try it for years, but have been afraid based on certain other's opinions.  Yes, I was absolutely afraid that I would mess it up!  It was perfect... perfect spongy goodness.  The eldest seemed fixated on it's spongy texture, but never stopped eating it. 

The finished flan... perfectly lovely.

My slice.

Interesting Facts:
- Spain's king is Juan Carlos.
- The population of Spain is 40,397,842.
- Spain did not participate in either the first or second world war.
- In Spain's universities, there are more women than men.
- The people of Spain eat lunch at 2pm and dinner at 9-10pm.
- Madrid is the capital of Spain.
- Spain's currency is the Euro.
- In Spain, hot chocolate is thick like pudding.
- They have a tooth mouse instead of a tooth fairy in Spain.
- The area of Spain is 194,898 square miles - slightly more than twice the size of Oregon.
- The languages of Spain are Castilian and Spanish.

Week 4: Argentina

A quick interlude to China made it's way into our journey thanks to our friend who is visiting from across the country.  He treated our family to Chinese takeout and the littles were ecstatic.  They even created a China flag to add to our wall.

But let's get back to Argentina.

Argentinean Delight

This dinner really tested my commitment to the project.  The result:  I'm definitely committed!

I had actually been looking forward to Argentina since we started this project... empanadas!  Of course, according to the self-imposed "rules" for this project, everything has to be from scratch... hence, the "committed" part.  What I proved to myself is that I can do it... and even enjoy doing it.

I came across this website when looking for empanada recipes.  Her recipes are wonderful and easy to follow AND she had a recipe for each of the items that I was planning to make.  It was an incredibly wonderful find!  Now I can't say that what I made looks or even tastes like the items that I tried to copy, but I can tell you that everything I made was extremely well received.  This may have been the best dinner yet!

And as a special treat, we were able to share tonight's dinner with our friend.

Dinner:  Empanadas, Humita, and Ensalada
Dessert:  Alfajores with Dulce de Leche

Empanadas

I made the empanadas using this dough recipe.  I opted for baking instead of frying and made them a few days in advance and froze them.  I also made humita, which is a corn pudding wrapped in corn husks and baked.  This was my first time doing anything with corn husks other than ripping them off the cob and tossing them in the trash.  I was apprehensive that it would all go wrong, but it wasn't bad at all... and they even looked appetizing.

Humita

All wrapped up and ready to go in the oven

Right out of the oven

Every web page I visited wrote of the sensationalism that is the alfajor, so I couldn't resist.  Making the dulce de leche was a moment of pride!  To start with milk and sugar and end up with milky caramel goodness or "milk jam"... mmm.  And now allow me to add to all those other web pages, and say that the alfajor is just as sensational as they all say it is.  Simply put, it is two shortbread cookies sandwiched together with dulce de leche.  And it is pure heaven to your mouth!

Alfajores

A highly successful visit to the wonderful country of Argentina.  Highly successful.  And then the littles finished off the night with a bit of Copa America, Argentina vs. Uruguay.  Why not?  Soccer is in fact the most popular sport in Argentina!

Interesting Facts:
- The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires.
- 39,009,833 people live in Argentina.
- Argentina's money is the peso.
- The tallest mountain in Argentina is Aconcagua.
- Iguazu Falls in Argentina is bigger than Niagara Falls.
- The language of Argentina is Spanish.
- Roman Catholicism is the religion most practiced in Argentina.
- The area of Argentina is 1,073,518 sq. miles - slightly less than three-tenths the size of the US.
- The "Tango" dance comes from Argentina.
- Argentina has 23 provinces.
- Argentina means "land of silver."
- Argentina declared independence from Spain in 1816.
- Argentina's Independence Day is July 9.
- Argentina is the 3rd biggest producer of beef and the 5th largest producer of wine.

Week 3: Netherlands

My middle little chose the country for this week.  His sole basis for choosing Netherlands:  the color jersey of their national soccer team - orange, his favorite color. 

The book that we've been using as our reference guide for the meals said that the national food was risjstafel.  So I started to look up recipes, only to discover that risjstafel is actually an Indonesian feast of many (one site said that it could be up to 40) side dishes accompanied by different rice dishes.  I felt like a banquet feast was a bit over the top for our little project.  So I talked to a friend of mine who actually grew up in the Netherlands and she steered me in a different direction.  She told me of a popular dish that she grew up eating.  I looked it up and found it here, where I also learned that traditional dutch food consists of a lot of potatoes. 

I opted for a very traditional dutch meal of soup, a stamppot, and a sweet dessert.  

Dinner:  Boerenkool Stamppot and Zaanse Mosterdsoep
Dessert:  Vla

Our starter, zaanse mosterdsoep, was a uniquely dutch soup.  I decided to make it even though I knew that the elder little wouldn't like it... she can't even stand the smell of mustard.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a "uniquely dutch soup" though.  And I'm so glad that I did, it was delicious!  And the elder little even tried it, which surprised me, though as expected didn't like it.

Dutch Mustard Soup

A stamppot is a typical dutch dinner of mashed potatoes mixed with other mashed vegetables.  Boerenkool stamppot was a kale hash.  I wasn't sure how the littles would like the kale, but all three cleaned their plates.

Boerenkoot Stamppot

Dinner is served.

Vla is a vanilla custard.

Interesting Facts:
-  Another name for the Netherlands is Holland.
-  Netherland's national soccer team came in 2nd in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
-  It's landscape is dotted with windmills.
-  Orange is the national color of the Netherlands and is why their national soccer team wears an orange jersey.
-  Netherlands borders Germany and Belgium.
-  Dutch people like to eat pancakes.
-  The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, ruled by Queen Beatrix.
-  Netherlands gained independence in 1579 from Spain.
-  The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam.
-  Languages spoken in the Netherlands are Dutch and Frisian.
-  16,491,461 people live in the Netherlands.
-  Netherland's currency is the euro.
-  The area of the Netherlands is 16,033 sq. mi., which is slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey.

Week 2: South Korea

After the success of last week's dinner, I was really excited and looking forward to this week.  I did a bit of research trying to find a recipe for Kimchi and found many.  I was then faced with the question of do I use an authentic, traditional recipe... or do a follow a more updated one that uses ingredients that are more common to our Western culture?  I posed this question to my husband for a nice second opinion.  His input was that it depends on if I want our kids to eat it or not.  Good point... so we opted for the more updated recipe, which after reading the recipe website is still made in the traditional way.  Now here's hoping that our kids eat it, because it made a ton!

Dinner:  Tak Toritang with Kimchi
Dessert:  Maejakgwa

This dinner required a bit of preplanning as the Kimchi has to marinate/ferment for 2 days before eating.  The recipe I followed said that it should be refrigerated, whereas other recipes specifically say that fermentation needs to be done at room temperature for the first 24 hours.  Well, after 2 days, it didn't really look any different at all, and traditional kimchi should be almost soupy.  So my chance at making a traditional South Korean staple went awry.  The silver lining:  it tasted good (at least to the majority).  Did I mention that it made a TON!

Kimchi

The tak toritang is spicy chicken and potato served over rice.  Yum!  Let me add another "Yum!" for emphasis!  I think we all could have handled it being a little bit spicier, but what a treat.  This is exactly why our Around the World Tasting project will be a success.  I will definitely be making this dish again!

Tak Toritang on rice

The maejakgwa are crispy ginger cookies, or "pretzel cookies" as the littlest called them.  They were such a nice compliment to the spiciness of the dinner.

Dessert

Interesting Facts:
- 48,846,823 people live in South Korea.
- South Korea is 38,375 sq. miles, which is roughly the size of Indiana.
- The South Korean coin is the won.
- The people of South Korea speak Korean.
- Seoul is the capital of South Korea.
- Hyundai and Kia are South Korean cars.
- Tae Kwon Do is the national sport.
- The lines on the flag are trigrams and represent harmony.
- South Korea time is 13 hours ahead of the US.
- South Korea is the largest shipbuilder in the world.
- South Korea is one of the 5 most poplular automobile makers in the world.
- The emigration rate of the South Koreans is one of the highest in the world, with Koreans migrating to China, the US, Japan, and the former Soviet Union.
- South Korea has a republican form of government (representative democracy) like the US.
- The nickname of the South Korean flag is Tae-Gheuk-Ghi meaning "great extreme flag."