Last week Mr. N took us to Indiana for our mid-week stateside adventure. This week it was Miss A’s turn and she went for a more exotic destination – Hawaii! 
She’s been quite fascinated with the state after learning that mom, dad and Mr. N were there before she was born and that we’re trying to plan for a trip there again next year (fingers crossed!). The first choices for our dinner were obvious – a Tropical Fruit Salad and the nonalcoholic version of the Lava Flow. Mr. N and I indulged quite frequently in this delicious little drink on our last trip to the Big Island, and he was very excited to try them at home. As for our main course, after a little digging through internet recipes we decided to try the Manapua. Coincidentally the manapua recipe was brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the Chinese – so it’s a good fit for our international theme this week too. Continue reading
Category: Main Dish
Good Fortune and Chopsticks
Now that everyone has had a chance to select a location, it’s Mr. N’s turn again and this time he’s taking us to China. Both he and Miss A enjoy Chinese food – especially with Nana and Papa who often take them out for Chinese. So for Mr. N’s first recipe selection we’re going with Kung Pao Chicken served over jasmine rice. This promised to be a quick and tasty meal – just what we needed before heading out to a St. Baldrick’s fundraiser (excellent cause by the way).
Miss A was responsible for measuring and pouring tonight. She began with the sesame oil for the stir fry. Mr. N in the meantime got to try out the potato peeler on some fresh ginger. 
He seemed a bit nervous at first, but quickly got the hang of it. Dad took care of cutting the chicken and I tended to cooking the initial ingredients at the stove. Continue reading
We win some and lose some….
…and we sure are having fun! Tonight was our second foray with Greek cooking, and it was probably the most fun we’ve had yet. We opted for the Kotopitta me Feta (Chicken and Feta Pie) recipe using a homemade Whole Wheat Phyllo Dough. As we’re all big fans of feta and chicken, we were really looking forward to this meal.
Our adventure began early this afternoon with our phyllo. The phyllo gave us all the opportunity to do something we love – Mr. N got to make a pool of oil and water in the flour mix (he spends hours making holes and filling them with water on the beach), Miss A got to smash and flip the dough (much how she does with her play dough), Dad got to make a mess with the flour, and I just get such satisfaction out of a good a pie crust. Continue reading
A Big Fat Greek Success
Opa! Tonight we begin our Greek adventure. This is Dad’s first time at bat in this international cooking experience and he hits it out of the park! On the menu tonight – Psari a la Spetsiota, Dolmades with Bechamel and
Sfiggoi. Continue reading
Answer: Electric Tinker Toys, A Two-Year Old and Penne Rigoletto, Question: What items are on your kitchen table?
What do you get when you combine a missing ingredient, a last-minute recipe change-up, a child trying to jump out of a grocery cart, noise from four different sources (not counting the children) in our little kitchen, a frazzled mom, a child standing on top of the kitchen table, a burned thumb and biscuits spilled on the bottom of the oven?
One upside down six-year old and a delicious meal. Continue reading
A Brazilian Valentine
After a crazy (but totally fun) weekend, we’re ready to have our cooking around the world night – and on Valentine’s Day. It’s the perfect way to end the day. Miss A has decided to take us to Brazil after picking a color-coded country on her globe. This came as a huge shock to us all as we were sure she was going to pick a pink colored country. Brazil is green! That said, we couldn’t be more excited to begin our Brazilian adventure. This week we needed some quick options since it’s a weeknight and we’ve got homework and routines to run through. So our menu for this evening is Brazilian Chicken with Coconut Milk from allrecipes.com (I’m not sure if this is an authentic Brazilian chicken or not, but it’s what we found that works for this evening) and Pao de Queijofrom a great cooking blog Bewitching Kitchen. Continue reading
Eat, Play, Love 