Grams does Malaysia

My very favorite person in the whole wide world came all the way from Alabama to get in on our little challenge.  Okay, so there may have been a few other reasons for her trip but this was definitely a bonus!  I am not exaggerating when I say that I have the world's very BEST grandma, I cannot tell you how many people actually have grandma envy.  She wanted to to pick the country, choose the recipes, do the shopping, and the cooking, and even some blogging!  Here she is, take it away Grams!

Hello!

What a lucky grandma I am....to have the most awesome granddaughter and family and be a part of such a special part of their lives.  My pick for the Ford Country Challenge was Malaysia.  After a little research, I learned that Satay (one of my favorites) originated in Malaysia.  I had no idea how many spices were used....Thanks to the internet I found another recipe (Laksa) and we were off and running...to the store to find the ingredients.  I found out very quickly that this challenge was not as easy as I thought it might be, and making recipes that I had never made before made things just a little stressful! 

We weren't so sure how it was all going to turn out.  Our first few samples of the Laska were a bit strong of ginger and shallots....so strong that we thought this dish might be doomed and heading to the garbage disposal.  However, with a little help from Kara and some grilling expertise from Adam, our dinner came together and to my surprise, was really pretty tasty!  I had planned to make banana fritters or as the Malaysian call them Pisang Goreng for our dessert, but we decided that we might try them another time. 

-Grandma Sue

Zoie decided that she really didn't care for Malaysian food and fed her dinner to the family dog who enjoyed every bite!

Little Turkeys

We had very special guests this week!  Papa Dana and Aunt Alex came over to help us celebrate Turkey.  Alex was going to be in town so we invited them to pick our country for the week.  What did they pick?  Turkey!  Duh, Dana is Turkish!.....which I guess means Alex, Adam and the kids are as well!  The cheese stands alone.  Even though I am not Turkish I definitely enjoyed getting down on some Turkish cuisine with my favorite Turkeys.  The cool part was that even though I may be the least Turkish person in the room, I had the most experience with Turkish food.  While doing my research I realized that one of my favorite dishes that my Aunt Jen introduced me to years ago is in fact a very popular Turkish dish!  Ready Jen?  TAVA!(Click for recipe)  There were a few small changes (improvements) to the way that we usually make it.  They added a jar of pureed sun dried tomatoes and they baked the dish with cheese on top.

 Baked Tava

Alex liked it :)

We followed up with a Turkish desert called Samsa Milfoy Tatlisi made buy my gorgeous sister.  Great job Alex, that cake rocked!

 After the Zoie monster went to bed, the Ford's, well the Turkish ones, went to work off their Tava with a basketball game.  Alex snapped some really good game pics for me!

 Little Zoie before bed.

Had to sneak one of Oprah in.

Fact Time!

Part of Turkey's southwestern shore was a wedding gift that Mark Anthony gave to Cleopatra.  And No Adam, we are not talking about J-Lo's husband :)

The Ford Family gets a BRAZILIAN....(Written by husband Adam)

Hey all!  So at the conclusion of our Spain-ish night I was offered the wonderful opportunity to take over the whole process from Kara and do my own thing, since it was my choice for the country this week.  I figured we had yet to venture the continent of South America.  So of course, I chose the biggest country on the continent....BRAZIL! I was in charge of finding the recipes, doing the shopping, cooking, and the infamous writing of the blog.  I picked one of the first and easiest(of course) recipes I could find.  I picked a entree called PicadinhoA-Brasiliera , ya, easy for you to say. 

It was very yummy; beef, veggies, rice, the works!

Ayden and Zoie loved it so much they devoured their whole plates.

Then I was in the process of making a decision on my Brazilian desert..when I found out Kara and Ayden had made a cake when I was gone today so we already had something for desert, but not Brazilian, so I went with an authentic Brazilian beverage called Caipirinha.  It was delicious made with a Brazilian rum called Cachaca, lime, and brown sugar....mmmmmmm.  Unfortunately when I went to the store they did not carry Cachaca but here is what I found:

(You can't see it in the picture but it says smooth Brazilian Rum in the middle)

Pretty much the same thing right? Anyway, I made the alcoholic concoction all by myself:

YUM!!!!!!

We did learn some pretty interesting facts about Brazil:

Ayden remembered in particular that 0.5%(1 million) of the Brazilian population are Asian.

Kara recalled that Brazil is the largest Catholic nation in the world.

I mentioned that Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world in terms of population.

So in conclusion I have learned that my wife works a lot harder then I give her credit for on our country challenge.  You work hard baby and I love you for that..plus I look forward to the benefits of eating your wonderful ethnic foods once a week.  Love you baby! 

Adam OUT!

SPAIN-ish

For some reason in my brain I have a hard time separating Spain from Mexico.  I mean they do speak SPAINish in Mexico, right?  I found that although the language is similar (do to Spain having colonial possession of Mexico for 300 years) the food can be pretty different.  Not only is it different, it was probably our favorite thus far.  The kids loved it and it made me happy to be sneaking some veggies in those cute little mouths of theirs.  Dad had seconds...and thirds.  I tucked this recipe in my favorite recipe book, its defiantly a do-over.  If you have never had Paella (pa-el-la) you have got to try it.  Best part is the whole delicious meal is cooked in one pan so clean up was a breeze!  Thanks babe ;)

Our Menu:

• Sangria- I made it the night before and thought about it all day at work. I couldn't wait to get home and try it!

•  Paella- Sausage, Chicken and Shrimp.  This is our recipe.

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• And Churros!  Okay full disclosure, the churros are totally from Filiburto's. 

 

Spain had so many interesting facts.  These are some of our faves.

• Accepting a second serving is one of the best ways to show appreciation to the cook :).
• About 40% of Spaniards between the ages of 17 and 24 are smokers.
• More women then men are currently enrolled in Spain's universities.
• Rather then pick a girl up at her parents house for a date, teenage boys usually meet a girl at a prearranged site. (Adam thought this was a grand idea.)

Coming up next week:  Dad's Choice.  Brazil.  This is our 12th country and our first visit to South America!

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!