Week 3: United States

It was difficult to decide how to approach this week. Should we go with the great American diner breakfast? Should we research Native American foods? Ultimately we decided to go with something very regional, and native: salmon and blueberries. We simply baked some wild King salmon, and topped it with a balsamic/blueberry reduction with a little local (Harvard, Idaho) honey. It was a delicious combination and went very well with the roasted red potatoes we made, with some rosemary from the back yard. To drink we had a delicious Washington state wine, Chateau St. Michelle Chardonnay, and also some Cascade Brown Ale, brewed by Michael using cascade hops grown in our front yard. Could dinner BE more local? In January, when the garden is bare, probably not!
















A few fun facts about the USA:

• The USA has more Americans per capita than any other country in the world. Amazing!
• Fattest country on earth, followed by Mexico and the UK.
• The USA is the largest country on earth^*
• The USA boasts 146 Heliports, the most in the world.
• Worlds largest consumer of cocaine. That blows!

^*Except for Russia and Canada

Week 2: India

The largest democracy in the world, India is the most culturally, linguistically and genetically diverse geographical entity after the African continent. Hindi is the official language, but English is widely spoken. Over 80% of Indians belong to the Hindu religion. Black pepper, common in many western kitchens, is originally indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.

There are so many different cuisines to choose from we could spend years trying to include them all. So we picked a few basics that sounded good to us. Naan has always been a favorite (along with any bread, regardless of origin) and our attempt turned out very well. Chicken tikka is a simple curried chicken dish. The curry was a little overpowering but Jean noted that on the second day the flavor had mellowed. Kheer is a sweet rice desert with cardamon and rose water. It is one of our new favorite things and Jean didn't want to wait for the picture to eat it. We are definitely looking for more uses of cardamon in our kitchen.

Week 1: China

Home to 1.3 billion people, China is marginally smaller than the US with more than 4 times the population. China has 56 official ethnic groups with the Han group comprising 92% of the population. Although politically a single country, culturally, it might be more accurately thought of as a sum of parts similar to Europe.

The recipe we made, Steamed Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao),was very highly rated. The buns were delicious! However, they did not turn out as tender and fluffy as the buns we have enjoyed in China Town in San Francisco. It was a multi-step process to make these, and we are not sure it was worth the effort since pre-made versions are so readily available and readily delicious.