Ratcha Anachak Thai

All of us love Thai food, so this particular meal was a pleasure to research, cook and eat!  I spent half my day scouring Asian markets for kaffir lime leaves - I am definitely impressed with the selection of herbs & vegetables available in this city.  There are many benefits to this cooking world tour, besides giving me something to do to escape my boredom.  I have improved my knife skills, and can slice and dice up a storm.  I have opened our eyes - and our palates - to a world of new foods and flavours.  Plus, I have learned a bit more about each country, even if only about its culinary heritage.

For my menu tonight, I started with a Thai Tom Yum Soup, for which I am proud to say I made my own tom yum paste.  When I saw the sodium content on the store-bought paste, I couldn't bring myself to buy it, so I found a recipe for it & made my own.  Now, I have some leftovers for future meals.  I made some jasmine rice to go with the main course of a Chicken Pad Thai, which is a colourful and flavourful dish.  To accompany the meal, I was able to get some Singha beer, which was quite enjoyable.

                                     kŏr hâi jà-rern aa-hăan!

Republik Indonesia

For a number of different reasons, I have decided to leave Europe and move on to some Asian cuisine.  Because of the understandable similarities in cuisines, I was finding it difficult to get excited about selecting my menu.  Not that there aren't still some delightful cuisines there that are still to be experienced, but I am looking for a bit of a change.  Plus, I have decided that I need to diet, to lose some weight before summer, so for the next month or two I need to be able to select cuisines that will work with the particular diet I have in mind.  Stirfrys, which involve lots of cleansing vegetables, will work just dandy.  I will eventually wend my way back to Europe, back to England for some fish and chips, Norway and Slovenia, among others.  A friend of mine suggested that I look to current events for help in selecting a country, and I was sorely tempted to do Japan in view of the recent tragic earthquake, but I knew the kids would want to be here, so it will have to wait until next weekend.  

So, here I am in Indonesia (following in line with my "Eat, Pray, Love" theme, I guess).  I was totally delighted with my choices, particularly the Nasi Goreng, which comes close to being the national dish of Indonesia.  That is an especially hard thing to pin down, because there are some distinct regional differences.  But it is a delicious dish, and probably would have been enough by itself.  I started the meal off with a Soto Ayam, a yellow chicken soup (thanks to the addition of tumeric), and a chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce accompanied the Nasi Goreng.  While there are Indonesian beers (made by the same company that makes Heineken in Indonesia), none were available at the MLCC, so I went with a Tiger beer from Singapore, which was a pleasant lager.  All in all, I am quite happy with my decision and I am quite sure I'll enjoy the next leg on this journey!

Selamat makan!

Éire

Ireland is another place that is definitely on my bucket list of places to see.  I am proud to claim my Irish heritage, my maternal grandmother's family hails from the Emerald Isle.  That must be why I have always thoroughly enjoyed a pint of Guinness, right from the first time I tasted it.  I have heard it said that in Ireland every second building on the street is a pub - my  kind of country!

For this particular weekend, in honour of the recent celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I chose Irelad. On our menu tonight was an Irish stew, made with Guinness, of course, accompanied by Irish soda bread.  At the MLCC, they were offering an Irish Taster's pack with Guinness, Kilkenny, Smithwick's & Harp, so I had my choice of delightful Irish beer!

                                                cin-cin

Konungariket Sverige

I thought I might change things up a bit & head to Scandinavia - Sweden, to be more specific.  And of course, for Sweden one has to make ...... Jansson's Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation).  Oh, and Köttbulla (Swedish meatballs), too, of course!  I have to say, I have never been a fan of anchovies, and tonight was a reminder of why that is so!  Apparently, Swedish anchovies are different from what we know as anchovies, but I couldn't find the Swedish version (next time, I would search much harder)!   As for the meatballs, well, not much I can say there, meatballs are meatballs, of course, and they are pretty straightforward.  I did a mix of ground beef and ground pork, which did add a bit of flavour.  Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the search for and selection of the menu - I think I am becoming obsessed with cooking (becoming....??)!

I must say, the last weeks have prompted me to look into a tour of Europe for my holidays next year - how wonderful it would be to see many of these places and enjoy these cuisines on their home turf!

                                 Smaklig måltid

República Portuguesa

Well, for a small country on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal has much to offer.  Its name derives from the Roman name Portus Cale, and it is the home of Vasco da Gama.  It has the 19th-highest standard of life, and it is the 8th most globalized country in the world - not surprising in view of its location, actually.

Because it borders the ocean, one of the traditional dishes is Bacalhau, or smoked cod, for which the Portuguese have as many ways to prepare as there are days in the year.    But I could not bring myself to make it, probably only because I discovered that it needed to be soaked for hours before using in any recipes....oops, too late for that!  So we settled instead for Bife A Portuguesa, with Batatas A Portuguesa.  Much to my surprise, the meal was enjoyed by all, even my finicky son who usually does not like beef.  A simple meal to make, with a complicated beverage choice!  Portugal has an extensive wine selection, far more than I expected to encounter.  I did learn something about the incredible variety of wines, from the Vinhos Verdes region to the Dão region of the country.   Ultimately, I chose a Gazela Vinhos Verdes, a young almost sparkling white, to accompany the meal preparation, and then a lovely red, Doque de Viseu Quinta Dos, for the meal itself.  The white was recommended by one of the associates at the local MLCC, which she said became quite popular following last year's Portuguese pavilion at Folklarama.   I am not really a fan of sweeter wines, so the white was simply okay.  But the red was, well, fabulous might be an understatement!

                                                  saude