Zaire Dad cooked a stew of borlotti beans, potatoes and spinach. This was pretty yum actually, and we all liked it. We enjoyed it more when we got some flat bread and wrapped some stew up in it.

Africa Last night mum was away so we had a few people around. A large number in fact so we decided to have an ancient feast known as elephant stew. Niamh started a couple of weeks back by tenderizing the Elephant with a four wheel drive car. Once tenderized we soaked the elepahant in salt water for two days. I then spent a week cutting elephant into bite sized pieces. Before placing in pot we added ten sacks of onions and a dump truck of potatoes. Carter covered the dish with water from the hose; it took a few hours. We added salt after Todd got home and we needed to borrow his wheel barrow. We then left it to simmer for a weekish. Once stew was ready to eat we added 1/2 an acre of parsly just in time for our guest to arrive. This recipe serves 3600 guests but wouldn't you know we had 3 gate crashers so we had to have something else. Wasn't even any beer left over. Mongolian After the party was over we had served the meals and done the dishes, paper plates so it wasn't that bad. We decided to have something to eat ourselves. We researched Mongolian eating, and found that they have a communal cooking pot. So we each cooked strips of meat and cabbage in a pot of broth, then had our own bowls of dipping sauce. We all really loved this and it just got better because after we had eaten the meat and cabbage we put some noodles in the pot and ate those too!

Turkey We had the full monty from Turkey tonight; think Cafe Istanbul all you Wellingtonians! Chicken kebabs, grated carrot, rice and pita bread, all served with garlic yogurt sauce. We had lots of fun making our own roll-ups and loved the Turkish flavours. We really enjoyed the funky Turkish music. We have noticed that all parts of the world have a dish that involves either rolling or scooping food up with a flat bread. India has naan, South-east Asia has roti, South America has tortillas, Europe has pita and souvlaki, and even Africa has cornmeal or flour pancakes. And we've tried them all! Please keep giving us your comments-we love to get them!

Peru In honour of Rake and Aaron we finally got to Peru! We couldn't barbeque a guinea pig without upsetting the neighbours, so we had shrimp chowder instead. They eat lots of seafood in Peru because it's a coastal country. For a meal that promised so much (shrimps, fish, potato, corn, garlic etc) this was pretty disappointing. We all ended up picking the shrimps out and just eating them. But...we love the peruvian folk music with its guitars and pan flutes. Ola!

Cyprus No dad tonight, so the rest of us enjoyed a meal called Afelia from Cyprus. This is pork fillet, rubbed with spices and baked in red wine. Yum! We all ate the lot! Then for pudding, we had a popular mediterranean dish of poached fruit with ice-cream (Mum had yougurt). Actually, they would have mascapone, but we didn't have any so ice-cream was the best substitute. Guess what? We ate all our pudding too!

Indonesia We really needed a light vege dish after all the meat we've been eating lately, so Gado Gado from Indonesia fitted the bill perfectly! A platter of hot cooked vegetables, with a hot peanut sauce for dipping. This is such a great way to make veges interesting: parents take note! Just cook some onion, garlic, soy sauce, peanut butter and coconut milk until boiling, then either pour over platter or use for dipping. The kids weren't so into the sauce tonight, but enjoyed the idea of a vegetable platter and especially using their fingers! We all enjoyed the interesting music. P.S. Grant didn't have this, so you can relax!

Nepal Dad cooked Aluko Chop from Nepal tonight. These are little cakes made from potato, onion and a few other ingredients, fried in vegetable oil. We all thought they were delicious and Carter ate the biggest dinner ever! Niamh ate lots as well. We especially loved the Nepalese music, a cross between Indian and Chinese music with a little bit of Santana mixed in.

South Africa Because the All Blacks are playing South Africa tonight, we thought we'd better eat some of their cuisine. And now we feel like we have rocks in our tummies. We ate Bobotie, which is a kind of curried meatloaf with egg topping. We also had Cape Rice, which is sweetish rice with sultanas. The cool thing about this meal (bobotie) was that Dad took one bite and said "Hey! I recognise this!" Apparently his neighbours when he was a little boy growing up in Auckland were South African and used to invite his family for dinner, and would serve Bobotie! Grant hasn't eaten it in 25 years but recognised it straight away, which is pretty cool. However, it was all a bit too meaty for us, and we don't think we'd like to eat in South Africa every night. Go All Blacks!

England I think these children have been a little spoilt by eating from all these exotic locations, because they weren't particularly enamoured with the old English tucker! We had corned beef with mustard sauce, boiled potatoes, cabbage and carrots. O.K, so I wasn't very excited by it, but is IS a traditional meal so had to be done. I especially enjoyed listening to Duran Duran (my most English cd), although Carter thought the lyrics: "Dance into the fire" were extremely hilarious! I tried to explain that lyrics didn't matter in the eighties, but he still had a good giggle. Look out for us venturing into South Africa on Saturday in honour of the killing they are going to get in the rugby.

Switzerland Ohhhh, we have been to heaven! A dreamy cheese and garlic fondue, with homemade bread and fresh raw veges. Niamh didn't like it but she liked the raw veges and bread. Carter has found a higher level in life. He could eat fondue every night! Mum and Dad loved it, but feel very guilty about their new cholesterol levels.... Here are some photos of us enjoying our swiss dish:

Thailand The grownups had a divine red curry from Thailand tonight. Yes, I made it myself, although I must confess to using a red curry paste from a jar (oh the shame!). It was really authentic tasting though, and with light coconut milk was a fairly healthy meal. Obviously the kids didn't share our "blow your head off curry" and just had chicken and veges in a coconut milk sauce, with a bit of soy sauce and lemon juice. Probably not overly authentic Thai food, but accessible and still a little "exotic". Join us tomorrow for the piece de resistance (I hope) of the journey so far... cheese fondue from Switzerland!

Sudan Keeping with the Africa theme, we ate gorraasa (flat bread) with dama (beef and tomato stew). You eat it by ripping off a piece and soaking up some stew-no utensils required. We all loved it, and enjoyed the tribal african music. Well done Dad, this was delicious and we'll definitely have it again. For the Neals, here is the recipe: 3 onions 2 tabs tomato paste Dash of oil Garlic 200 grams steak 1.5 cups water 2 tomaotes 1/2 green pepper 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cardamom 1/2 tsp cinnamon For the stew: Chop onions and fry. Add tomatoes. Chop steak into small cubes and add to pot with chopped pepper, salt, cardamom and cinnamon. Cover and leave for 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir, adding water until smooth and runny. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, adding more water if required. Stir in crushed garlic. For the bread: Sift 500grams flour into a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt and stir in approx 500ml water until a batter (like crepes). Pour a ladle full of batter onto a non-stick flat frying pan and flatten out with the back of the ladle until evenly spread and almost see-through. Fry on medium heat and flip when cooked. Tanzania This post is a bit late, due to broken computer and being too busy, but...on Friday night we ate fish cakes from Tanzania. And they were nice.

Singapore Mum felt like veges tonight so we went to Singapore where they eat lots of stir-fry vegetables and noodles (among other things). We had a dish of carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, onion and garlic stirfried with an asian sauce and served over vermicelli. Really nice if you like chinese 5 spice, which Mum, Dad and Carter do, a bit overpowering if you don't (Niamh). It made a nice change from all the meat we've been eating lately, but sadly was an anti-climax when it came to colouring in, because it's so tiny!

Mexico (and China) I know it's a bit of a sellout, but we all really felt like nachos tonight so ...we went to Mexico! We just love the food there, although we're all feeling pretty full now. On Monday we went to China. We had sweet & sour pork, egg foo young, fried rice, beef chow mein, wontons and crispy chicken. I know I'm a legend. O.K, so I didn't cook it, but I'm sure it was very authentic, coming from a Chinese takeaway shop...? Niamh has discovered the delights of Chinese crispy chicken, mmmmmm. Our map is looking pretty good with lots of orange spread all over it. We hope to go to USA and Canada soon, and get some more big blocks of colour in. Hey guess what? Niamh's got a wiggly tooth! First one!!!!!!!!!!

Malaysia Tonight we ate pork sweet and sour from Malaysia. It had marinated pork and pineapple, along with some veges. We had a special guest in the house, who was invited along on our travels. (Grandma) We all liked the meal except Carter, and some of us liked the Malaysian music, while the rest of us found it rather amusing.

India In the interest of colouring in a good big country, we went to India tonight and had a good old curry. We cooked lamb with spinach and tomatoes in the slow cooker all day so it was incredibly tender. Surprisingly, the kids really enjoyed it, even though it was "a bit spicy". They especially enjoyed the poppadums and homemade naan bread; but even adults always like those! We all had a glass of beer to wash it down with. Yum. Go the All Blacks!

Camodia We had Royal Rice which is rice with eggs, chicken, little baby mussels and some spices. Carter liked it SO much he reckons he'd love to have it again. We drank a traditional Cambodian drink, made from lemon juice, sugar and water and served over ice. We think this would be very refreshing on a hot Cambodian day. Niamh loved the drink. We didn't listen to any music because we just couldn't find a local radio station!

Somalia Last night I mentioned that we really wanted to crack into the big, uncoloured spaces on our world map, so Somalia was a good place to start. We cooked a spicy fish stew, made with a selection of seafood, curry and tomatoes and served with rice. We have included a photo which is meant to show the big tentacly octopus on the top of Niamh's bowl, but it hasn't come out very well. I would just like to say how proud of the kids I am; it's a pretty big call to eat whole octopus in the name of experimentation, but they both did. Niamh actually ate the whole lot: squid, shrimps, mussels etc, a lot of which were new tastes for her. We all discovered some new and interesting flavours which we would not have otherwise tried...and I guess that's what this adventure is all about. We have the night off tomorrow as Niamh is having a pizza party, but are back into it on Thursday.

Ireland Yes....I know we've already done Ireland but I had a really nice looking recipe for beef stew wih guiness that I was just dying to try! And it was yum! We have noticed a distinct lack of colour in the Asia and Africa parts of our world map, so will be looking to eat from those regions over the next few nights. And maybe Portugal, just to celebrate them beating the poofter brigade in the World Cup.