Where is Maharashtra, India?

So on Sunday afternoon I was just getting ready to embark on the next leg of my culinary travels, when there was a clap of thunder, followed by a lightening bolt, followed by a blackout. Well, I have actually been known to cook in the dark because I have a gas stove, but I wouldn't have been able to manage taking photos in...

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Recipes from Madagascar

So Madagascar was OK. I think it really just suffered from the whole "not enough resources online" problem that a lot of African countries tend to have. I found a scattering of options but nothing that really sounded thrilling, and a lot of it actually sounded like stuff I've already made for other countries. The main...

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Recipes from Madagascar - Coconut Chicken

So there was nothing wrong with this recipe. It was good--flavorful and easy to make. It just wasn't that different--I've already tried a lot of recipes for chicken in a coconut milk sauce. Most of them have some additional feature besides just coconut milk, like a curry paste or garam masala. This recipe was really just...

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Recipes from Madagascar - Kabaro au Carry (Curried Beans)

No matter how many times I've cooked dried beans, I never get used to the whole "you have to soak them first" thing. Or more accurately, I just never remember to do it. Kabaro au Carry (Lima beans in tomato sauce) Now, a few weeks ago I bought myself a new pressure cooker. You might remember that for a long time I...

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Recipes from Madagascar: Malagasy Cake

Banana flavored scrambled eggs, anyone?  OK so clearly something went very, very wrong with this recipe. Because, check out the photo of this cake on this page: Afro Tourism If it looks like an omelette, that's because it's an omelette Now check out the photo of my cake, to the left. Same ingredients, same...

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Where is Madagascar?

This week we're in ... San Diego. White sandy beaches, cleverly simulated natural environment ... complete with fake rocks. No! We're in Madagascar. And if your kids didn't watch that movie on loop for like six months straight, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Madagascar, as it turns out, is not anything like...

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Recipes from Macedonia

So I spent the first half of my week on this "cleanse" diet where I was literally living off of baby carrots and protein shakes. I used to laugh at people who did that sort of thing. But dammit, I really wanted all that extra Christmas cookie weight to go away. By the end of the third day I was worried I was going to sleepwalk...

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Recipes from Macedonia - Selsko Meso

Selsko Meso is one of those multi-meat dishes that we really don't do very often here in the US. It's pork, but it's also beef. It's chunks of meat, but it's also meatballs. And beef jerky. I know. So when you're making this stuff, you do the meatballs first. In this version of the recipe (though it's always hard to tell...

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Recipes from Macedonia - Pogacha with White Cheese (Breadrolls baked with feta)

Bread is one of my favorite things to make, especially when I can hide cheese in it. Of course I'm never exactly sure if I'm pairing all of this stuff correctly, but to me these cheesy rolls seemed like a good fit with the creamy Selsko Meso. And they're easy to make, especially if you cheat and let your bread machine do...

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Recipes from Macedonia - Bombici

And finally ... dessert! Now, I'm not really supposed to have dessert, at least not every week, but these were perfect because they were small and didn't really amount to much in the way of calories. If I'd only eaten one, I suppose. In my defense though, I stopped at two but it was hard, they were pretty yummy. Here's how...

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Where is Macedonia?

OK, so on Sunday I cooked a meal from Macedonia. I didn't feel like getting my lights down, so my photos all suck, but I did cook the meal (yay). Actually this is the second time I've cooked a meal from Macedonia, but the last time was like two years ago and I honestly couldn't tell you a thing about it. In fact when I look...

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New Year's Resolutions and Stuff

Hello. Surprised to see me here? I kind of am, too. I'm not even going to look at the date of my last post because it's been a long, long, time. And it's no coincidence that my first post in months (or is it years??) is in the first week of January because yes, it's one of my New Year's resolutions to get back to blogging....

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