The Sea

This is it!!!!The ultimate meal from around the world, that we have been planning for months! Yes, now that all the countires are coloured in, we have eaten from the sea. And what a magnificent meal it was! We covered most bases: fish bites, calamari, prawns, smoked salmon, kippered hoki, mussels, crabsticks, sushi (made from seaweed) and a couple of salads thrown in there for good measure. It was an amazing feast, made even more special by having all the family around to share it with us (and a couple of nice bottles in wine didn't hurt either!).

We really want to thank everyone who supported us on our quest; we loved getting comments on our blog and encouraging emails from friends and family. We loved being able to share some interesting meals with friends and family, and appreciated people's ongoing interest. Thanks to those who supplied recipes for us, and the Neals for providing the chocolate fish for the Around the World Seafood Dessert!

This journey has been far bigger than we ever planned! We were going to just try some new recipes and have some fun, but ended up eating some pretty bizarre and exotic meals, and really stepping out of our comfort zone. We have learnt so much more from this we thought we would.

Jo's geography has improved no end, and her cooking skills have expanded to include making dumplings, hand-rolling pastry, and generally not being afraid to try combinations that just shouldn't work!

Grant reckons the message that one should not make any assumptions about any food without trying it have been reinforced by this trip, and he has discovered a new love for beef stews!

Niamh has learnt that countries close to each other tend to eat quite similar meals (eg Asia, Northern Africa, Meditterrean etc) while those from different regions are really different! She has also been interested in learning why people eat certain foods, for example eating a lot of seafood while being a coastal country, or eating cheap cuts of meat and lots of potato in poorer areas.

Carter has been adventurous throughout, and tried things that not many 3 year old would have. He reckons he's loved it all.

We have learnt that while ingredients and spices vary hugely across the world, the vast majority of cuisines are based on rice, potatoes or bread. Most countries have a national dish which involves wrapping or accompanying meat or vegetables in some sort of bread; be it crepes, roti, naan, tortilla, foccacia of African maize bread.

I think we have also learnt to appreciate a meal as an occasion, a celebration, and a time to enjoy being with family, something we sometimes forget in our busy lives.

Memorable moments include the Mongolian hotpot, eating with our hands from Oman, stinky fermented cabbage from Korea, and the Swiss fondue. Some of the desserts have been amazing, in particular the layered cake from Russia. The music has been a really neat aspect of the experience. It just seems right to be eating curry while listening to Indian screamy kind of music; spinach pie and folky peasant tunes; Asian curries and stirfries with twangy mandolins. We got up and danced to the Greek music and tried our cossack dancing skills to Russian folk tunes.

It's been a blast, and we are all the richer (and fatter!) for this experience. Watch this space as we decide what our next culinary adventure will be....

Antarctica

We decided before the finale that we should eat from Antarctica as we had a big, white space left on our map. So we emailed the chief at Scott base, and asked if there was anything that was queintessential fodder for the Antarcticans. The reponse was anything that is Kiwi in origin, as they are all New Zealanders working down there. We had slow cooked lamb shanks with mashed potatoes, which were very nice...but when we told her this she said that they would never eat that down there! This is because they have to pay by weight to fly all their food in, and the bones are just wasted weight. Also, they have to fly all their rubblish out, so a whole lot of lamb shank bones would be very expensive! They would be more likely to eat lamb rumps or stir-fried meat. Isn't that interesting?

Suriname and French Guiana

Well, we only had 2 little gaps left to fill in last night, and they were next to each other, so we did them together. Rake gave us a great recipe for white bean fritters from French Guiana, which we cooked and really enjoyed, and we made spicy chicken and rice from Suriname. It was cooked with ginger, garlic, onions and some other spices and soy sauce. Delicious! And now, we have coloured in the whole world, except for Antarctica. We are looking into finding out what they eat down there. It's hard to believe that our map, which started out all white, is now almost all coloured in orange. It has taken 120 meals and about 9 months, but we have done it! Look out for our meal (hopefully) from Antarctica, and then the final fling-a massive seafood platter from the world's oceans. WOW!

Jordan

This was a bit of a cheat dinner, because it was a hot night and we really felt like a barbeque, and we discovered that they eat shish kebabs in Jordan! So we made authentic kebabs with chicken, tomato, capsicum, mushrooms and courgettes and Grant barbied them. They were great! We did a very un-Jordanian thing though, and ate them in front of them cricket. Oh well, some things are sacred...

Moldova

Another former U.S.S.R country, another meat and potato meal... We ate meat and potato pudding, made from a mashed potato and egg mixture layered with a mince mixture. I found it really plain, and would want to season it a lot if I was to make it again, but the kids loved it! So here we are, 9 months and 115 countries in, and they still love mince and mashed potato.... A very filling meal, it would be lovely in winter. We served it with green veges. Keep checking our blog; we only have Suriname & French Guiana and Jordan to go until our map is all coloured in!

Turkmenistan (and Kryzygstan)

We know these are two different countries, but we've done so many from this region and all their cuisine is the same! And anyway, these guys are neighbours so we know their food is the same. We searched high and low to find a recipe that is not plov/pilaff; or rice and lamb, so were pleased to find this recipe for lemon chicken. It was a whole chicken, rubbed with spices, garlic and onion and roasted. The juices are then mixed with chopped green olives and lemon rind, and poured over the top. It was delicious; quite subtle but still noticably more flavoursome than ordinary roast chicken. And the sauce was nice for the grown-ups. We finished with 4 clear plates, so that must be a sign of approval. Just 2 countries to go!!!!!!

Uruguay

Last night we had black bean tortillas from Uruguay, with thanks to Aunty Rake who provided the black beans and ah, the tortillas... Very nice, we put grated carrot, cheese, sour cream etc in there too. It was a nice change to have burritos without meat. The black beans, however, failed to live up to their promise of being "the magical fruit", and sadly didn't make anyone toot. I'm sorry- was that too much information? On the home straight now; just 3 or 4 countries to go!!!