Scotland

Scotland:

Today is Ash Wednesday. This marks the first day of lent: the 40 days leading up to Easter. As a Catholic, we are not supposed to take part in any calibration. Many Catholics still follow not eating meat on Friday. Strangely enough, fish is not considered meat to Catholics.  I have been told this was to help support the fishing industry.

Today, much of Scotland is not religious, but those who are, are usually Christian. Many of these are Protestants belonging to the Church of Scotland, but others are Catholic.

Book:

The book “Whiskey Galore” takes place just before Lent during World War II, so I thought this fun book would be appropriate. In Scotland there were alcohol was rationed, and much of it was sold to America to pay for the war.

The mostly Catholic island of Little Todday certainly felt the effects of the lack of alcohol.  They had been worried that they would not be able to have Whiskey during lent, something they felt they needed to get through such solemn times.

The book has some interesting characters, like a member of the home guard who pretends to be a tweed merchant, Mothers who refuse to let their sons get married, and a couple who are planning to get married despite the fact that one is a Protestant Englishman and the other is a Catholic Scottish Woman. 

Food:

Since today is lent, I thought I would eat Cullen Sink for lunch: a potato soup with smoked haddock. I used my potato soup recipe and just added smoked haddock.

Here my Potato Soup recipe:

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes

2 cups milk

2 cups water

2 cubes chicken bullion

½ cup Plain Yogurt

2 tbs. butter

½ onion (chopped)

1 carrot (chopped)

½ cheddar cheese

Turkey ham, turkey bacon to taste, or smoked haddock (1 fillet)

Directions:

1)      Peel the potatoes and cut half into quarters and half into smaller pieces.

2)      In a pot boil the potatoes.

3)      In a 2 quart pot heat half the butter. Once the butter is hot, sauté the carrots and onions until the onions are transparent and the carrots are tender.

4)      Once the potatoes are tender remove the smaller pieces to the pot with the carrots and onions. Pour half the water from this into the 2 quart pot.

5)      Discard the rest of the water, and mash the remaining potatoes.

6)      Mix the mashed potatoes, milk, yogurt, chicken bouillon, meat (such as turkey bacon) to the 2 quart pot and bring to a boil.

7)      Top with the cheddar cheese when serving.

References:

Mackenzie, Compton. Whiskey Galore . Published: 1947

“Scotland”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland#Religion . Retrieved: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland#Religion

 

 

New Orleans

New Orleans

Today is Fat Tuesday, meaning that many people are getting there party on the day before Lent. Lent for Catholics (as well for some protestants) marks a time when we are not supposed to have any real celebrations. In Latin America, this means Carnival. In New Orleans this is Mardi Gras.

Movie:
Today, I watched an old favorite: "All Dogs Go To Heaven". This animated feature takes place in New Orleans and is perfect if you want to get children familiar with Creole fan fair without overly exposing them.

Food:
Today, I made gumbo. Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:
1/2 onion chopped
1 turkey sausage link (sliced)
1/2 bell pepper (chopped)
1/2 cup sliced okra
4 oz. cooked pealed mini shrimp
2 cubes chicken bullion
2 tbs. creole seasoning
3 tbs. whole wheat flower
1/2 (14 0z) can stewed tomatoes with chilies
1 cup water
1 tbs. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Mix together water, tomatoes, okra, bell pepper, and shrimp, and bring to a boil over medium high heat in a 2 quart pot.
2. Once the mixture is boiling, add seasoning.
3. In separate pan, sauté onion. Add this to the boiling mixture when the onion turns translucent.
4. Sauté for a 3 minutes, and then add to boiling mixture 
5. Add flower to mixture so that it thickens, and let boil for 2 more minutes.
 
References:
Bluth, Don. Goldman, Gary. "All Dogs Go To Heaven".  Released: 1989.
 

Brazil

Brazil:

Saturday marked the first day of Carnival in Brazil, but not to worry. It runs from the Saturday before Lent to the Tuesday before Lent. Unlike most of South America, the people of Brazil speak Portuguese instead of Spanish. I do not know a lot about Brazil. According to my husband, Brazil was his father’s favorite place.

Personal Experience:

When I was working at Cat Decatur, I was interviewed by a man named Tadashi Yomomoto. It came in an e-mail that this was who I would be meeting with. When I came into the interview there were three people sitting in front of me. One of them was a very Japanese looking man. He stood up to shake my hand and introduced himself. Immediately I was thrown. He didn’t have a Japanese accent or an American accent (I had expected either one of these accents). I sat through the entire interview trying to place it, and trying to make sure I understood him. At the end of the interview without me asking he said: “You know many people think I am Japanese, but I am not Japanese. I’m Brazilian.

Many people do not realize it, but there is a large portion of Brazilians are of Japanese descendent.

T.V.

I watched one of my favorite T.V. shows, “An Idiot Abroad”. This time I watched Season 1 Episode 6. Where Carl goes to Brazil, experiences carnival, the beaches, and the giant Jesus statue.

Current Events:

Brazil is hosting soccer's world cup this year, and there are so many delays it is ridicules. Infrastructure is not set up for the Brazil's current population without the increases in traffic when the world cup is taking place. (http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=265035233&m=265035234)

Food:

For dinner  I will be making shrimp bobo. A soup made from Shrimp, coconut milk, crushed peanuts. I will be adding tomatoes chilies and cilantro to mine.

Work Cited:

 Garvais, Ricky. “An Idiot Abroad” Season 1. Episode 6. “Brazil. 2010. Website: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=265035233&m=265035234

Wikipedia: Brazil,. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil, Brazilian Cuisine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_cuisine . Retrieved: March 2, 2014

"World cup woes for one Brazilian city" All things considered. NPR. Puplished:  4 March 2014. Retireved: March 4, 2014

Vatican City

Vatican City:
The Vatican City is considered by many to be its own country. The city itself is entirely within Italy, and is guarded by the Swiss Guard.

Documentary:
One of the better documentaries that I found was "National Geographic: Inside the Vatican." The documentary covers many of the rituals that go on behind the scenes in the Vatican, including what happens when a new pope takes office.

Books:
For this day, I listened to the Audiobook, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. This is the prequel to the Da Vinci codes. It takes place in the Vatican City. The protagonist, Robert Langdon is tasked with stopping the Illuminati (a secret society) from setting off a bomb made of antimatter.

Food:
Since the Vatican is entirely within the Vatican my dad, step mom and I ate Italian Food at Careira's. I had a vegitarian pasta dish in a white wine sauce, that contained green beans. I was told it contained spinach, but I didn't see any spinach in it when it came out. My dad had pasta with steak and portabella mushrooms, and Connie had gnocchi in meat sauce. How I envied Connie's gnocchi. Gnocchi, a potato dumpling has got to be one of my favorite Italian foods, but I didn't get it because of the meat sauce.

References:
Brown, Dan. Angels and Demons. Published: May 2000

"National Geographic: Inside the Vatican". Aired: 2001

Mexico-flag day

February 24 is flag day in Mexico, which is a national holiday.

Book:

One of my favorite books about Mexico is Like Water For Chocolate.  A young woman struggles with the fact that in her family, the youngest daughter is not allowed to marry because she is destined to take care of her mother. The woman falls in love, but her mother marries her older sister off to this man instead. She keeps her sanity through her love of cooking. What’s really neat about this book, is that each chapter opens with a different recipe.

T.V.

With Easter only a month and a half ahead of us, I thought it would be nice to see how the Mexicans celebrate Easter. Often it is celebrated with a parade. You can see one of these parades on Idiot Abroad (Season 1, Episode 4) “Mexico”. Here, Carl, the Brit who is out of his element everywhere but home, witnesses a Mexican Easter Calibration where he is appalled to discover that they celebrate with fireworks, a fake crucifixion and by burning papier-mâché effigies that represent the devil.

Food:

Living by myself, I often feel I am wasting food when I cook. So for today, I only ate TV dinners. For breakfast I made myself a bean burrito. For lunch I had a Mayan Harvest cuisine by Koshi, which had black beans, plantains, sweet potatoes, and grain. For dinner I ate a chicken enchilada by lean cuisine.

 

References:

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Published: 1992

Flag Day in Mexico. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_in_Mexico flag day in Mexico Retrieved: February 24, 2014

Garvais, Ricky. "An  Idiot Abroad" Season 1. Episode 1. "Mexico". 2010.

 

Ireland

Ireland:

Yesterday, I had very little choice of what country I could write about since I was traveling. I knew that this would be a long trip so I decided to listen to a book on tape. I hadn’t purchased one in a while so I went to a truck stop that was on the way home, and picked up “Minding Frankie”. I listened to it the whole way in the car.

Book:

Minding Frankie, takes place in Ireland. The book follows many different characters. One of them, Noel is a 29 year old alcoholic who is in a dead end job. He has few friends, and his parents are overly devout Catholics, who are completely unaware that their son has a drinking problem. Two events turn change the family and the other cast of characters lives forever. The first is the arrival of Emily, a long lost cousin from America. The second is the discovery that Noel is going to be a father. He finds out that a woman he had been drinking with months earlier is not only 8 months pregnant but is also going to die before she will be able to meet her daughter. She asks Noel to take care of the child, which forces Noel to change his ways. Throughout the book a social worker is constantly trying to take the child away from Noel. This particular character, I felt had more opportunity to grow and didn’t.

The book seems to be trying to show two sides of Ireland’s foster care system, but it falls short. It shows why Frankie’s mother was a ward of the state, and why she doesn’t want her own daughter to grow up in that system. At the same time, it shows why the social worker is such an advocate for the state taking over. Still the social worker seems cold and mean to the end, and there is not enough from Frankie’s mother to show that the foster care system in Ireland is a “lottery”. I found the book a little slow, repetitive and predictable, but I can see why people would like it. There is a lot here that people can identify with.

Food:

I was on the road, so I couldn’t cook. I picked up some fish and fries from Long John Silvers on the way, and when I got home I had a crustless Chicken Pot Pie, a tv dinner from Healthy Choice, which was really good.

References:

Binchy, Maeve. Minding Frankie. Published: 1 May 2012

China

China:

Today is the Zonghe Festival in China. During this festival celebrates the dragon who is believed to be the ancestors of all humans. The dragon is also believed to bring rains.

Book:

“The Bone Setter’s Daughter” is a story by Amy Tan. The goes through three generations of Chinese/ Chinese American women. The youngest is Ruth, who struggles with to understand her mother’s behavior. Her mother’s behavior is explained by how she was raised in China. While living in China, LouLing was raised by a mute nursemaid. This nursemaid is the daughter of a medicine woman (a bone setter).

TV Show:

“An Idiot Abroad”. Season 1 Episode 1. “China”. The first episode seems to be Carl’s first experience out of the country (England). He is very out of place, and it does not help that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant purposely send him into awkward situations. He seems to hate China, and he does not quite get what is so great about the Great Wall of China.  

Food:

For dinner I will be making my dad’s stir fried chicken, over steamed rice. Here’s how I make it.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

½ cup frozen pees

½ chopped carrots

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tbs. sesame seed oil

1 tbs. cornstarch

2 tbs. vinegar

1 ½ cup water

Water for chicken

Directions:

1)      Place two chicken breasts in a crock pot. Cover chicken completely with water. Cook on high for 8 hours. If you do not have a crock pot, you can use 1 large can of canned chunk white chicken breast in its place.

2)      Mix cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and vinegar.

3)      Heat Oil in a wok. When the oil is heated, add chopped carrots. Once cook for 3 minutes or until carrots are tender.

4)      Add peas. Cook for 3 additional minutes.

5)      Drain Chicken. Chop chicken, and add it to the wok. Stir for an additional minute. Reduce heat.

6)      Stir soy mixture again to ensure that the starch is fully mixed and add it to the wok. Stir in the wok until the broth thickens.

Serve this over steamed rice.

 

References:

 

Gervais, Ricky. “An Idiot Abroad”. Season 1. Episode 1. “China”. 2010.

Tan, Amy. “The Bone Setters”. Published: 2001

“Zonghe Festival”. Wikipedia. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhonghe_Festival. Retrieved: March 2, 2014.