Satisfying International Taste Buds

I love the little reminders I get of the impact living internationally has had on our kids. This week, I observed one example...

I always cook a special meal for our family birthdays. I will ask the birthday person what their special request is and go at it! My son had his 11th birthday this week and I had to chuckle with his request: Red Thai Chicken Curry. Sounded good to me! I chuckled again when I remembered that my daughter had requested Maqlubeh {her favorite Middle Eastern dish} for her birthday meal. 

Thought I'd share the recipes and you can tickle your international taste buds too!

Red Thai Chicken Curry

¼ cup oil

 1 onion, sliced

 3-4 cloves garlic

1 can coconut milk

2 TBS red curry paste

½ cup peanut butter

 1 lb chicken, cooked and cubed

 2 TBS soy sauce

½ red pepper, sliced

1 1/2 cups of broccoli, thawed

1 TBS lemon juice

1 TBS sugar

 2 cups rice

Heat oil in wok or large pan and add onions and garlic. Pour in 1/3 can of coconut milk. Let simmer for 2 minutes. Add curry paste and peanut butter. Simmer. Add chicken and soy sauce. Simmer. Add another 1/3 can of the coconut milk, broccoli and red peppers. Let simmer 5 minutes. Add last 1/3 cup coconut milk and stir. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add sugar and lemon juice to taste. Mix well and serve over rice.

Maqlubeh

2 medium eggplants

4 potatoes

1 onion

1 lb chicken, diced

2 cups rice (uncooked)

2 TBS seven spice 

salt

olive oil

6 oz. tomato paste

Soak rice in water. Peel & slice eggplant, salt each slice & let sit 1 hour to drain. Peel & slice potatoes and onions. Spread olive oil on large baking sheet & bake potato and onion slices for 20 min. @ 350. Bake eggplant slices for 15 min. on large baking sheet. Meanwhile, spice chicken cubes with seven spice & brown in large pot with oil, then add 1 cup chicken broth, bring to boil to cook the chicken. Remove cooked chicken from pot leaving the broth. Layer baked potato & onion slices in bottom of the pot (that has the chicken broth in it). Layer baked eggplant slices on op of potato/onion slices. Place cooked chicken on top. Drain water from rice & spread the rice on top of the chicken layer. Press all down, pour 2 cups water mixed with tomato paste over top. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer 20 min. To serve, tip pot over on large platter (in Arabic, 'maqlubeh' means 'upside down'). Serve with plain (Greek) yogurt.

Culture Through the Eyes of A Child

My 4 year old niece visited {she brought her family along with her as well} last spring. I recently found a scratch piece of paper in which I had recorded some very funny things that she said during their visit. She was experiencing a different culture and it just delighted my heart to hear her process it all out loud.

My little twin.

While we were walking around downtown, she noticed the different clothes and said:

"Dad, I just love those curtain hats those boys wear."

We left our restaurant one night and it had gotten dark. All the city buildings were lit up, including the mosque close to the restaurant. With such delight, she looked up at the mosque minaret and declared:

"Auntie, we just ate right next to Cinderella's Castle!"

I guess the image in her mind of the desert was pretty close to the real thing. As we were driving down the main highway through the country, she yelled out:

"Wow, this looks just like the desert!"

And her common answer when any new food item was placed before her:

"Is it tortellini?"

I think that was the most exotic food item name she could come up with.

Each time she sampled a new food item, she always had something positive to say. Pretty remarkable for a little girl! My favorite:

"Everything is so delicious. Especially when they put honey all over everything!"

A lesson we all can learn from a little girl:

Different things, different people, different food can be delicious!

The next time you see a covered lady at the grocery store or a man with a curtain hat on television, think of the 'honey' that differences bring to our world.

Middle East Conflict...and Burritos

So we were eating burritos the other night. My 9 year old boy left the dinner table to go to the bathroom. When he came back, he asked:

Mom, I really don't understand why there are so many problems in the Middle East. Can you explain it to me one more time?

So, I did what any normal mother would do.

I dumped out the crumbs in the bottom of the corn chips bag.

I made a map of the Middle East out of chip bits.

And I started explaining.

These people think this is their land.

These people think this is their land.

These people don't have a land.

This major religious thing happened here for this religion.

This major religious thing happened here for this religion.

And this major religious thing happened here for this religion.

So, these people want this land.

And, these people want this land.

And, these people want this land.

And it's all the same land.

Then the boy said:

Oh, I think I get in now.

Then he ate Gaza and the West Bank.

I ate Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

And the sister ate Israel.

With some salsa on top.

The Middle East Peace process just got even more complicated!

Hope Floats…And So Does Poop…In My Kitchen

FROM THE ARCHIVES

There are a lot of different features in houses in the Middle East.

I will name a few...please note, these details are important for the story that follows:

· toilet paper cannot be flushed

· floors are marble and counter tops are granite (it’s the cheapest building supply – even the sidewalk curbs are made of marble)

· ‘houses’ are in apartment buildings usually eight family units in each building

· to hang a picture on the wall a drill is necessary because everything is made of concrete

· most apartments are long and skinny, each room is stacked behind the next, the floor plans are not really open

· a guard lives in the basement of most buildings, he does the maintenance and helps the tenants, takes out the trash, washes the cars, etc.

But the thing I love most about houses here is that each bathroom and kitchen has its own floor drain. It was actually an idea my dad came up with when my sister and I were babies. He wanted to have access to a hose and drain in the kitchen for clean up purposes. His brilliant invention is very prevalent here. If you need to clean the floors, you just dump a bucket of soapy water on the floor, use a squeegee to spread it around and send it down the drain.

The floor drains are also very useful if you decide to have a big water fight and totally douse your kids. I love that part!

Floor drains were on the top of my list of ‘great features’ until one day.

It was evening.

My family and I were having popcorn and watching a movie in our family room. I sent my smallish son into the kitchen to get some more salt for the popcorn. He came out very casually, handed me the salt and sat down. Then, very nonchalantly mentioned:

“There is poop floating in the kitchen.”

I giggled at what he said; wondering what had been dropped on the floor that would remind him of a little poop laying on the floor. I figured I better go see. I rounded the corner and to my horror, there WAS POOP floating, really floating ALL OVER my kitchen as it bubbled and bubbled up out of the kitchen floor drain. I ran to our door and yelled to our guard in the basement: "Mustafa! Come quick and bring a squeegee!”

Mustafa, (the best building guard in the entire city) came running and went to work. The main sewer pipe for the entire building was in the wall right outside our kitchen. It had backed up and therefore anytime someone turned water on, flushed, or sent something down any drain in the entire apartment building it pushed more poop/sewage up into our kitchen drain and therefore onto our kitchen floor. My clean, safe, happy kitchen floor. Now, forever defiled in my mind!

Mustafa, (the best building guard in the entire city) ran out the back door, tore off the main sewer cover and plunged his hands into the mess to unclog the drain. Once he quickly got that dirty job done, he ran into the kitchen and helped us push everything back down the floor drain. I was manning the small threshold between the kitchen and the rest of our house trying to keep the poop at bay by placing any towel I could find to create a dam. A poop dam. That is a fun phrase.

I did a lot of disinfecting from that day forth (and in fact until we left that nice apartment) and found it hard to cook in our kitchen for quite some time.

Mustafa (the best building guard in the entire city) became my hero that day...until forever. Here he is showing sheep to my smallish daughter.

I am very leery of floor drains now. Just the other day, I walked into the kitchen and saw this…oh my, what is lurking down there honey? At least he is using grocery bags instead of bare hands. I think I will invest in very thick rubber gloves!