Sweden

Grant cooked this last night but forgot to write the blog, so I'm doing it now. He cooked swedish crockpot meatballs, which is pretty self-explanitory really. They had breadcrumbs soaked in milk in them, which made them lovely and soft. He made a gravy from the cooking juices and served it all with mashed potatoes and carrots. They were delicious, especially on a cold night, and everyone loved them. There.

Korea (north and South)

We decided to eat from Korea while the place still exists! Boom!!! On researching their cuisine, we found that since segregation is a recent thing, both countries' cuisine are the same. We cooked a spicy stir-fry beef and served it with rice, which was really nice. We found that the real national dish of Korea, which families eat every night, is Kim Ch'i. This is in fact cabbage, which as been left to sit in salt for several hours, then mixed with ginger, onion, more salt and chilli. So it was salty pickled cabbage. Being good sports, and realising that this is their national dish, we dutifully made and ate this stuff. It was disgusting, and tasted like salty pickled cabbage.

Guyana

Guyana food is a mix between Caribbean and South American style cooking, so we cooked beans with pork (kind of like Boston Baked Beans but less flavouring) and corn. Surprisingly the kids loved the beans! I used borlotti beans and slow cooked them all day with the pork belly so they were really soft. The flavours were simple (salt, soy sauce, mustard powder, pepper) but really tasty. A big thumbs up to this meal and Niamh and Carter agree that we will cook it again. I have a couple of photos to load from previous nights but we have installed new anti-virus software and it won't let me! As soon as I work it out I'll put them on. P.S Rake: Check out the recipe for the chicken stew in the Senegal entry, re your comment.

The Netherlands

We have found a new favourite country! We ate Flenjes met zalm, which is salmon and spinach, wrapped in crepes and baked in a cheese sauce. Utterly divine; Niamh reckons it's better than Somalia! (her previous favourite) It is quite fiddly to make, in that it is done in 3 steps and then baked, but well worth it. For dessert, we had Blauwvingers, which translates as Bluefingers. The story behind these biscuits goes like this: In the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the town Zwolle asked the neighbouring town of Kampen to buy Zwolle's carillon in order to get much needed cash. Kampen agreed, but to embarrass their neighbours they paid in the smallest denomination possible; the pure copper four duit pieces. Apparently, Zwolle's officials counted every single penny until their fingers turned blue from the oxide. The dutch music is fun to listen to; kind of folk/country.

Senegal

Hi folks tonight we had Senagalese Barbecued chicken and Onion stew. Otherwise known as Yassa Au Poulet de la Casamance. It's a bit of a meat and rice feast- good for me (Grant) and Carter, but not so appreciated by the girls. It's fairly spicy too. Lots of Caynenne pepper. We all enjoyed the dinner and I would recommend it to anyone feeling like some spice in a stew. The music has been one chant from starting dinner till now and still going strong. One chap one tone no breaks and Jo now hates its. I think it must be a Muslim prayer, personally I quite like it, although far too often it sounds like he's saying "I'm dying for a pee". This was always going to hold my attention longer than Jo's. Final Anaylsis: Jo nonplussed; I loved it; kid's don't really care either way. Drop a note if you wish to try Lemon Barbie Chicken in onion stew. "Burrp"... it was good. YASSA AU POULET DE LA CASAMANCE Barbecued Chickens with Lemon and Onions over Rice Yield: 8 portions Note that chicken in the Yassa is marinated, partially broiled or barbecued to obtain required browning, and then finished in the oven, smothered in the onion- lemon sauce. For the onion lover (and we belong to the Onion Lover's League), this dish is superb. Rub: 1 LEMON, cut in half heavily over 4 2 1/2-lb. CHICKENS cut in halves. Spread chickens out in a 12 x 18 x 2-inch baking pan. Cover with: 3 lbs. WHITE ONIONS, thinly sliced 1/2 cup CHOPPED PARSLEY 1 Tbs. COARSE BLACK PEPPER 1 Tbs. COARSE SALT 3 BAY LEAVES 1 tsp. THYME 1 tsp. CRUSHED RED PEPPER (optional). Pour: 1 cup LEMON JUICE and 1 cup SALAD OIL over the chickens. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes. Remove the chickens and broil (preferably over charcoal) until chickens brown on all sides and are about half done. Simmer the onion mixture above over direct heat stirring up from bottom to prevent onions from browning. Onions should remain white. Cook no longer than 5 minutes. Return chickens to pan, smothering them with the onions. Pour 1 quart CHICKEN STOCK (including giblets) over the mixture. Bake at 375' for 20 minutes until onions turn a light golden color. Cook 1/2 to 1 Ib. WHITE RICE as directed on package. Place serving of COOKED RICE on a dinner plate. Top with 1 BROILED CHICKEN HALF. Cover with 1/2 to 1 cup YASSA ONION MIXTURE. Garnish with WATERCRESS or PARSLEY.

Uganda Tonight we ate Ugandan Kabobs, which are interesting little meatballs with a yogurt dipping sauce. They were accompanied by sweet potatoes and a vege stew called Yataklete Kilkil. Dad loved the meatballs but reckons they should be cooked on a barbeque. Carter loved the meatballs and the broccoli and carrot. I liked the meatbolls they were very yummy.

Iraq Tonight's meal was mince kebabs served with pita bread and grated carrot. The kebabs needed to be chargrilled, so Dad got the barbie out for the first time this season! He was very excited. The kebabs were delicious and everybody enjoyed their meals a lot. Niamh and Carter liked the bread and the music best. Yay for barbeques!

Ethiopia Tonight for Ethiopia we went hungry. Just kidding! We ate the traditional Ethiopian meal of Sega Wat (lamb Stew) which is really just lamb simmered in water with some spices. We served it in the traditional way, which was to make some flatbreads (like pancakes) and lay them all out on a large tray. We then dished up a serving of wat and a hard boiled egg in front of each person, who tears off pieces of bread and scoops up the food with it. Carter loved the bread. Niamh enjoyed eating the egg white.

Mozambique Mozambique meals are quite different from most other African countries, as they have a strong Portugese influence. We were very pleased to eat from an African country and NOT have meat and bean stew! We ate Shrimp Mozambique, which is just shrimp simmered in some yummy ingredients (beer, butter, seasonings, parsley etc). We served it with rice and carrot sticks and it was really nice. Niamh is the shrimp queen so she loved it, and Dad just couldn't get enough!

Israel Although it was tempting to serve bagels with lox, or kruegel, we wanted something that Jews in Israel would eat. We found this recipe that kept cropping up and being described as a very traditional, typical kosher meal. It was Coffee Chicken with Herbed Rice and and Currants. Sounds a little odd but it was absolutley delicious! The rice was mixed with pine nuts, mint, parsley, cinnamon and salt and pepper. The currants were mixed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and salt and left for half a day to marinate. These were great, but it was the chicken that was the biggest surprise. Definitely greater than the sum of all the parts. We all agreed that we had to post this recipe as it is so scrummy yet so simple. PLEASE try it: don't be put off by the coffee as you can't taste it in the end! Israeli Coffee Chicken (serves 4): In a saucepan, boil 3/4 cup coffee, 1/3 cup ketchup, 3 tabs soy sauce, 3 tabs lemon juice, 1 tab olive oil, 2 tabs sugar. Pour over chicken pieces in a dish (we used bone-in thighs) and bake at 180 until cooked, about an hour. Baste a couple of times. I stirred some cornflour through the sauce at the end and it made the most divine gravy. We would love to hear some feedback from anyone who tries this.

Iceland Fish and potatoes; that's about all they seem to eat here! We made a recipe for fish pancakes (ie pancakes made from fish and potatoes) which were quite nice but a little plain. They were lifted into delicious teritory though with the addition of some lemon juice, salt and pepper and a tiny bit of melted butter. Yum! We served them up with more potatoes and some asparagus. It was nice to have Grandma here to share our meal, and gave us a great excuse to crack open a bottle of Allan Scott Sauv Blanc which was the perfect match. Oh, and we found out that they all grow rhubarb in Iceland (alongside their potatoes) so we had rhubarb crumble with custard for dessert. Ah, full tummies...

Mali Niamh saw Mali on the the map and thought it was an interesting shape, like a whale or a shark, so she asked if we could eat from there tonight. There aren't many recipes from Mali, but we found their national dish, jollof Rice with Lamb. It was lovely. We also had a very popular Mali dessert, Meni-meniyoung, which are little logs made from sesame seeds, butter and honey. Mum and Carter loved them (here's a photo of Carter devouring his second) and Dad and Niamh hated them. Oh well.

Lithuania O.K-hands up who knows where Lithuania is? Put your hand down Gareth, you do not! We didn't either, but we found it on the map, between Poland and Belarus. Go and look it up sometime. Anyway, they were traditionally poor, peasant folk who ate only what they could grow or raise. Their meals are dominated by potatoes, pork and chicken. We ate a potato and chicken cake, made by layering grated potatoes with cooked chicken and breadcrumbs. Despite being quite plain, with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper it was really nice. We served it with gherkins, carrot sticks and cheese and everyone gobbled it up, even Niamh who has been very sick today. Carter gives it 100 thumbs up and he says he loved it!!

Liberia To night we had a reciee from Aunty Raewyn. We ate from Liberia to night. we reley liked the fish. It was reley intrrsting. Palaver means argument in the language ofLiberia. When the first person would dish up their stew, a bit of spinach would always hit the person standing next to them. A fight would break out, hence the name "Palaver Stew". we loved it. I,ll give you the reciee.By Niamh.