Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to let all our avid readers know that we will be taking a break from international eating while we eat like pigs over Christmas! (You can't have it all) We look forward to eating from our final remaining countries in the new year. Keep a look out for more exciting food adventures, coming soon... Until then- Merry Christmas- ho ho ho! We hope you've had a great year and look forward to 2007.

Laos

We went to our last South-East Asian country tonight, Laos. It's always nice to eat from around here as their meals are usually vegetable based, light and healthy. Tonight's was marinated beef, stir-fried with red onion, red pepper and snow peas. We served it with steamed veges and rice. It was really nice, and the kids have discovered that they love snow peas!

Belize

This is the best chicken recipe ever! We marinaded a whole chicken in orange juice and some other stuff, then baked it in a sauce of orange, mango, garlic, olive oil, mustard and fresh thyme. We made a gravy out of the left over sauce. It was sooooo tender and beautiful, we all pigged out! It is actually meant to be made with with fresh papaya, but the closest we could get was tinned mango...it was still great! If anyone wants the recipe-let us know.

Serbia & Montenegro

We found a traditional Serbian recipe for cheese pie, which initially seemed healthy as the pastry is made from flour and water and no butter, but then... you add a whole lot of feta, butter, eggs and milk! You spread the filling over the dough then fold the dough over it several times and bake it. Of course it is divine, but a little goes a long way! We ate it with fresh veges and have plenty left over for lunch tomorrow. Mmmmmmmm

Ukraine

I was not looking forward to eating from Ukraine as the food in this region is typically stodgy and meaty. But then I discovered that the ubiquitous Chicken Kiev is of course, from Kiev! (The capital of Ukraine.) I stuffed chicken breasts with chopped chicken and garlic butter, crumbed them, quickly fried them then finished them off in the oven. We served them with mashed potato and fresh beans. Carter loved the dinner. Niamh loved it delicious, mum agrees.we all loved it. dad has not had his yet. Niamh cleared her plate! For dessert we had Varenyky, which are little dumplings, stuffed with fresh strawberries and boiled. We served them with the traditional creme fraiche, and other sweet sauces. Niamh liked chocolate sauce, Mum and Carter liked Creme Fraich and maple syrup, while noone really liked the jam. These were good! We give the Ukraine 2 thumbs up.

Southern Africa

Last night (yes I know I'm slack for not writing this straight away!) we ate from the region of Southern Africa. This area is influenced by Dutch, African, Asian, and Indian settlers, and is a mixture of various flavours. We ate Sosaties, which are skewers of beef, lamb or pork. The meat is marinated in sauce for 1-2 days, then threaded onto a skewer and barbequed. We had beef kebabs and lamb kebabs. It was nice, but a bit of a meat overload!

Buckingham Palace!

As tonight was our 100th blog, we felt that we had to eat a very special meal to mark this important event. We didn't want to single out a country, so we found a recipe that the head chef at Buckingham Palace cooks for the Queen's garden parties and special events. A truly royal meal! It is called Jubilee Chicken, and is a magnificent dish of smoked chicken served with a creamy sauce, simmered with lime, ginger and thyme, and served with pasta. It was fabulous. We dressed up as Royals- Niamh was princess, Mum and Dad were king and queen, and Carter was a knight. What a splendid way to mark such a special occasion; we hope to have photos up soon. Please leave comments.