Food Adventuring Around NYC
Neither Sam nor I have seen an episode of Game of Thrones, but we visited one of the many locales where that epic show was filmed. We explored the southern part of Croatia a few years ago and loved the history, sites, and incredible food. In fact, Sam got to sit on a throne on …
Perhaps by the end of this adventure, we’ll have learned how to say “coast” in every language? Doubtful, but last time we visited a Spanish-speaking coast (Costa Rica) and this stop will be a French-speaking coast in Western Africa. While we could have included this country with the letter “I”s since most Americans know it …
Shortly after we filmed this video, Sam and I took a family vacation to Costa Rica. It had been on my bucket list for a long time and the time was right. So this was a rare example of where we filmed the video first and then actually took a visit to the country. I …
I never thought we would get so fancy on this journey, but tonight we had lobster in a vanilla butter sauce. Courtesy of a former French colony where both lobster and vanilla are plentiful on possibly the most beautiful smelling country in the world. Comoros produces vanilla, cloves, and the ylang ylang flower which is …
Sam has been asking about this country from the day we started this project. Obviously, China finds its way into popular culture much more than a place like Bhutan. I think he learned about China from his Thomas the Tank Engine Stories. And to this day, it is still the country he seems to want to …
Since the beginning of this journey, we have always made a dish for dinner from each country. We may have incorporated a drink or a dessert here and there, but it’s always been dinner. This week will be a little different. We’re waking up early and getting the day started with a warming breakfast from …
We need to give every country a fun four year old nickname. The truth is we weren’t the first to say CAR when referring to Central African Republic, but you’ll see how Sam’s ears prick up when I tell him what some people call this country. Of course, the poverty crisis in Central African Republic is not …
Sam gets to learn what an archipelago is and I continue trying to pronounce it correctly. A series of islands off the coast of West Africa, Cabo Verde (or Cape Verde) conjures up images of beautiful beaches, humpback whales, and volcanoes. But it’s also a place with really delicious food. Say it in English or …
We’ve never been so close to home on this journey. We’re headed just a bit north to our friends and neighbors in Canada. I have so many friends from Canada who I hope check this out and give me honest feedback. They’ll probably just be nice (as Canadians are known for being). Sam was not so familiar …
Sam had never heard of the country Cameroon until we signed him up for an awesome soccer class with strong connections to the Central African country. Kids in Cleats offers soccer class by a Cameroonian soccer coach and also proceeds from the classes go to help children in Cameroon find their way our of poverty through education and sports. It’s …
And we’re back. We took a few weeks off for a nice family vacation visiting a country that Sam and I will be cooking in the coming weeks. hint: it begins with the letter C. We’ll get to that soon enough but this week we are conquering our first C country and surprisingly our first …
And we’ve come to another milestone. We have now completed a meal from every country beginning with the letter B. Check and check. We finish with another African country that sadly suffers from great poverty. Food insecurity is prevalent in Burundi (as well as our last country Burkina Faso) and Sam and I work to create two of the …
We’re heading into the last two countries starting with the letter B. Both are in Africa and both sadly suffer from quite a good deal of poverty. The food we’re going to make is quite hearty and filling and we are fortunate enough to include it as part of a cultural cooking project, while some …
If you had told me we would be making three vegetarian dishes from Bulgaria, I would have told you that you were thinking of the wrong country. I don’t know a lot about Bulgarian cuisine but I knew that its diet like much of the Balkans consisted of meat. Yet this international cooking adventure continues to surprise …
I’m not one to eat (or serve my son) fast food. But when the fast food in question is part of the culture and cuisine of another country, I make an exception. For the oil rich country of Brunei, we chose the country’s iconic fast food dish called Nasi Katok. Who doesn’t like some fried …
Go big or go home they say. And if you don’t want to go home, maybe go to Brazil. It’s a huge country with a huge cuisine. This week, we get a little (or big) taste of the colorful and hearty food from Latin America’s largest country.
Thanks to large deposits of diamonds, Botswana is no longer the massively poor country it once was. Since the 1980’s it’s been one of the leading producers of gem diamonds in the world. Although there is still an unfortunate amount of poverty, the country itself is now one of the wealthiest in Africa. Neither Sam nor I are particularly …
Before the pandemic, Sam was on his way to having a pretty full passport. We were big travelers (and hope to be again) and Sam was lucky enough to come with us on our adventures for the first three years of his life. The first country on our cooking journey that Sam has actually been to in …
I’m so excited about Bolivia. Not just because I think Sam will really love the food, but it’s a cuisine that is sadly under-represented in this country and really deserves more attention. Its neighbors in Peru and Brazil get lots of food praise, but Bolivian food is just as worthy. And all you need to …
There is a white American YouTuber who speaks fluent Mandarin and goes around Chinatown shocking people with his perfect language skills. I am not quite that well-versed in Bengali, but there have been times when I’ve met a taxi driver or a food cart vendor and shocked them by asking them “How are you?” or …