Here’s the idea. Cook a different meal from a 180 different cities, regions, and countries. We’ll make our way around the world — eating. Family meals from as many places we can cram in.
I’m not sure this idea is terribly unique. There might be a blog devoted to a similar theme. It might get a million visitors a day. I haven’t looked and I don’t really care.
I’m not big on rules so this won’t have many. Or any really.
I might post everyday, or I might not. It might be a 180 consecutive days of cooking. Or it might be 180 meals before they graduate from high school. We’ll see what works.
Why am I doing this?
To get back to cooking, for one. I’m not a great cook but I have done the family meals for the last 8 years. Lately I’ve been slipping a bit. More pre-made stuff from Trader Joe’s, more eating out, more simple stuff like hot dogs and hamburgers. I swore I’d never feed my kids macaroni and cheese but even that proscription fell by the wayside a few months back.
I also want to make the family meal a bigger part of our evening. We’ve always eaten together but the meals have been getting a bit more rushed and fleeting of late. More of a haze we pass through than a pillar of the evening’s routine. I’d like to get that back to way things were a year or two back, when we always waited for my wife to get home before starting dinner and tended to stay seated for a longer stretch of time.
I’ve been reading No Impact Man — a great book by Colin Beavan about living a more sustainable lifestyle — and in it he mentions that when he was young everyone would sit down at the table before the meal was served. I love this idea and I think we’re going to make it a part of our Around the World ritual.
We’ll see where this plan gets us. But so far — about 72 hours after I first thought of it — I’m excited.
Day 1
So what region should we start with? How about Seattle?
This wasn’t by design but I saw the book Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen at the library yesterday and thought it would be a great place to start. It sort of makes sense doesn’t it? A trip around the world has to start from your hometown.
Tom’s book is great too. One of those cookbooks that you can actually read. It’s fun to see how he uses the local markets, where he shops, and how he gets a sense of what’s fresh and what’s not. He seems to have been a locavore before that term was trendy and hip.
I chose Tom’s Oven Roasted Clams with Chanterelles, Bacon, and Tomatoes for our first meal. (Chanterelles aren’t in season now so with went with crimini mushrooms instead.)
Kipling and I began the day by heading down to Pike Place Market to buy the ingredients for our meal. We started with some of the markets great little sugar donuts and coffee at the original Starbucks then headed for the stalls found in the main hall of the market.
I love seafood but am not much of a seafood cook. I’d never cooked clams before — never bought them and probably haven’t eaten them more than a half dozen times. So while this was a local recipe it was a bit outside my comfort zone — in other words a perfect start.
While I was getting everything prepared for cooking the boys were downstairs — apparently going through some of my boxes of knick-knacks and memorabilia. As I was about to throw everything into the post Samuel appears with my Kindergarten workbook. I doubt I’d seen it in more than 20 years. Wow.
There was some worry that I had a lazy eye when I was in kindergarten and 1st grade. As a result I wore a black eye patch for a couple of years. I guess it made quite an effect on me.
Ok back to the stove.
Samuel, Beth, and I thought it was fantastic — thanks Tom! — but Kipling was not pleased and only managed a few bites. How much of this was due to the mushrooms — his least favorite food — and how much to the texture of the clams is hard to know.
We finished everything off even without Kipling’s help. A modest success for a first meal.
And I learned that the statement, “clear the table” translates to “throw everything on the floor or the sofa.”
I think next up is Italy, as I’ve got a very interesting book sitting on the floor called La Cucina and Kipling has helped me pick out a risotto with sausage.
My Favorite Websites
I get lots of questions about booking hotels. These are my favorite sites.HotelsCombined.com – The absolute best for finding hotel deals and discounts.
Agoda.com – A great resource for hotels in Asia.