Thighland?

That's right.  Thighland.  At least according to Ayden.  We corrected him the first few times and then realized that saying Thighland is much more fun then saying Thailand.  Plus, you can make much better jokes with it.  

 

As you can see, we took our little family food challenge on a road trip!  It was a place right by my salon that I knew was good and the decor is so "Thai".  Obviously I wanted to document our first challenge field trip so I brought my camera and was snapping away like crazy.  I think I officially embarrassed all of them.  I tried explaining to our super sweet waitress what I was doing but there was a bit of a language barrier and I am fairly certain she just thought I was nuts.  And, she's kinda right.  We had great food, tried new things and I even found a Thailand-Esq dress buried deep within my closet.  Fun stuff!

I forced him to put his arm around her, see how thrilled he is about it?  Don't worry, I will totally pay for his therapy.

Love this picture!

We brought along our facts and learned that Bangkok is the hottest capital city in the world and that Thailand is responsible for exporting more then $250 million worth of Orchids worldwide.

Up Next?  Spain!

Polska Noc...aka...Polish Night

I love that our family and friends are starting to get in on our fun!  Especially when they give me facts and recipes.  It was actually Adam's Grandmother Barbara that suggested we do Poland since it is part of her heritage.  She told me that her mother used to make something called a Paczki (polish doughnut) and that we should give them a try.  It helps to know that I LOVE to cook.  But I HATE to bake.  Not only do I hate it, I am not very good at it either.  I don't like all the precise measurements, patience it takes to flour boards, roll out dough, and let things rise.  These Paczkis weren't messing around, it was some serious baking.  I had to make a "sponge" and let it rise, mix in more ingredients and let it rise, cut out the doughnuts and let them rise.  It took me all day.  Worth it?  Totally.  They were amazing.  So thank you Barb for you great idea, even if I was cursing you halfway through the 3rd rising session ;)  We love you!

Here they are!

The kids gobbled them up, Ayden even had the few that were left over for breakfast the next day.

My beautiful babies on a little bit of a sugar high

Also on our menu:

• Polish Sausage - we will totally be having these again!  
• Mizeria  - went great with the Sausage.

The name day in Poland is more important then the birthday.  They celebrate their name and it's association with saints and martyrs.  The name Adam is celebrated on April 6 in Poland.  I couldn't find the rest of our names, I guess we we will just have to stick with our birthdays.

Next week:  Thailand!

Sweet Home America

America.  Easy, right?  Not really.  The problem with this wonderful melting pot that we live in is that not very much of what we eat is actually "American".  I wanted to find food that was original to America.  As it turns out, most of what we think is American cuisine originated in another country.  

For Example:

Hot dogs-"frankfurter" came from Frankfurt, Germany.

Hamburgers- Hamburg, Germany.

Mac & Cheese- Italy.

Apple pie- England.

Do you know what is American?  The Reuben Sandwich.  Seems foreign, doesn't it?  It isn't, it's actually about as American as it gets.  It was created by a man named Reuben Kulakofsky in Omaha, Nebraska.  It also happens to be one of Adam's faves and super easy to make!  Chicken wings are also authentic American cuisine and since my hubby makes the most amazing wings on the planet, we threw that on the menu as well.  I also made my dads famous homemade cilantro ranch dressing to dip them in.  Then we cooled our mouths down with a Coca Cola (created by John Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia)and some Cookie Dough ice cream (invented my Ben and Jerry's in 1984)

We learned that is cost more to buy a new car today in the United States then in cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake 3 voyages to the New World.  We also learned that George Washington was deathly afraid of being buried alive and requested that his body be laid out for 3 days just to be sure he was dead.  Yuck!

Cheers to America! 

Dad's Pick!  He is getting in touch with his heritage and pleasing his grandmother by choosing Poland!

Big Fat Greek Night!

Zoie helped us mark Greece off the map.

We may have gone a little longer then a week this time but we are officially back in the swing of things.  Adam and I were seriously considering taking our challenge on a little field trip to My Big Fat Greek restaurant since we sooooo love that place.  But because we learned last week that veal is in fact NOT lamb and I still have this lamb in my freezer we decided to get all 4 of us into the kitchen and cook up some authentic recipes from Greece.  

On the menu:

• Lamb Ragout -Lamb and onions sauteed in tomatoes and Cinnamon.

• Spinach pie  - Spinach, feta, garlic in a filo dough pie crust...Delicious!  
•  Baklava 

Adam rocked the spinach pie, it was amazing!  Fox and I cooked the lamb together, Adam loved it, Fox and I were not so fond.  Baklava seems to be authentic to a few countries, Greece included.  But hey, who wouldn't want to claim layers of buttery pastry filled with sweet honey sauce and toasted nuts?  We certainly enjoyed it!  I think Zoie had a little too much!

FACT:  Every citizen of Greece is required by law to vote.  What a great law!!

It is once again Mr. Ayden Fox's turn to pick the country.   He picked a good one!

AMERICA!

"Austria, well then....."

Adam and Zoie mark Austria off our map! 

You may be wondering how we decide which country to visit each week.  We started by going from youngest to oldest but I think each of  us has a different way that we choose. For Ayden I think he wants the country that is the biggest, smallest, or most oddly shaped, he wants to really study the map before choosing.  I pick countries that I have always thought were interesting or ones that I think would have yummy food.  Adam, well he has an entirely different process, and this is it....

 

I am finding that a lot of the countries we have picked lately eat very similar.  Austria is famous for its wiener schnitzel.  We kind of already did that for German night.  We ended up making something called Zwiebelrostbraten, Ayden and I have fun trying to pronounce that one!  It is made with veal, I have never had veal.  I asked Adam what it was and very matter of factually, he said "oh its lamb".  So after visiting many stores and being unable to find anything named veal I bought some lamb.  I called my personal recipe encyclopedia and the best cook I know, my Grams, she said that veal was VERY different from lamb.  I then googled veal, don't EVER do that. Ever.  Needless to say, we didn't use veal.  I switched up the recipe and made it with chicken and chicken stock.  The best part were the homemade onion rings! 

Of coarse we had to have cheese danish!!

We learned that Hitler, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the inventor of the sewing machine were all from Austria (thanks Aunt Jen!!!)

It's my turn!  It's my turn!  Since I now have lamb in my freezer,  Greece! 

Russia, Russia, Russia

This week was a busy one for us so it was hard to find a night that we would all be at home to enjoy Russian night.  We sort of pulled it together last minute.  It wasn't as elaborate as the past few weeks but it was nice to know that we can still mark a country off the map without tons of planning.  Plus, dad got to use his grill and we all got to enjoy the awesome weather we have been having!

Our Menu:

• Kottlety-Pozharskie- Chicken burgers w/tangy coleslaw.  

 

 

We learned that the Russians love their pickles!  It was hard to find a recipe that didn't have pickles!  Pickle soup, fried pickles, even their potato salad is made up of pickles.  Now, we love pickles just as much as the next guy but pickles in a soup or salad just didn't sit right with us.  So we just stuck with the burgers.   We also learned that Russia makes up 1/7 of all land mass.  We are getting so smart!

It's Dad's turn and he picked.....Austria!

Cook like an Egyptian

Egypt...check!  

Our Menu:

• Sambusak- kinda like an Egyptian hot pocket.

• Feta Salad- it had fresh mint and cucumbers and green onion....so good!!

• Basbousa-an Egyptian cake like dessert with lemon sauce.

• "Egyptian Beer"- not really, but I couldn't resist! 

I had the day off yesterday so I spent my day finding all my ingredients for our recipes.  I actually enjoy the hunt.  Grocery shopping might be the lowest form of retail therapy but its still shopping in my book.  I baked the cake and made the salad ahead of time so that when Adam got home we could get cooking.  Adam made the dough for our sambusak and I made the filling, I really love being in the kitchen with him.  He was very serious about his dough and very proud of how it came out.  Adam thought the little sambusaks were great, I thought the salad was great, and we ALL thought the cake was great! 

Zoie loves basbousa!

We learned that the caterpillar was fist discovered in Egypt and that Pharaohs would walk around with naked slaves covered in honey so that flies wouldn't land on them.  How would you like that job?

It's Mr. Fox's turn to pick again and he picked Russia!