East Timor (Did someone remember the Thiosulfate?)

East Timor joined the UN September 27th, 2002.

After I read the wiki page on the Cuisine of East Timor I knew immediately what would be expected of me: Bibinka, A grilled and layered coconut cake.

I love to bake.  And I'm not too terrible at it, but this cake made me nervous.  I read the recipe a few times before I even tried it, and then I still decided to make a "test cake" before the actual dinner.  It turned out great, but it is HEAVY.  One tiny slice and you were ready for a nap.  Lucky my office is full of hungry engineers, and it was gone within the hour after I left it in the office kitchen.

I had planned on making in the Friday before.  Of course I forgot about the "Fruity Wine & Mario Cart" night I planned with a friend for that very evening.  Couldn't do it in the morning because of the Husky Game I was going to.  (GO DAWGS!!!)  I had no choice but to leave work early to leave enough time to bake. (oh darn!)  After 2 hours of baking, and evening of slowly getting worse at Mario Cart (I blame the wine), and a football game I was on my way to my friends for this dinner.

One of the participants decided to make Cassava which is a staple in East Timor.  Cassava has to be prepared correctly because if improperly cooked can cause cyanide poisoning.  So, we prepared the snot out of it!  Not to worry, Thiosulfate will combat cyanide poisoning and can be ordered online through Amazon Prime with 1-hour delivery!

We all decided to take a bite of this root all at the same time.  If we were going down, we were going down together!  Paranoia ran rampant after dinner, including a web search for the symptoms of cyanide poisoning, but everyone was still breathing come morning.
















Please don't mind the awkward photo of my friend's chest.  It's actually, and I quote, "making the same face that she is".

(Celebrated September 12th, 2015)

Montenegro (Or as I like to call it, Mmmmmmmm-montenegro)

Montenegro became the 192nd UN Member State on June 28th, 2006.

After South Sudan being so successful we were pumped for Montenegro.  Being on the Adriatic Coast, Montenegrin food has a lot of Italian influences and flavors and an extensive selection of seafood.  (Yuck!)

I chose my dish this time: Pita Zeljanica, aka Spanikopita.  Had I known how long and  tedious it would be to make this I might have chosen something easier.  It's made by alternating filo dough and cheese/spinach layers.  Of course there were a million layers and and for each filo dough layer I needed to brush a million more dough layers with oil.  It took forever and I ended up leaving late for the dinner.

The day we scheduled for the dinner was a hot one (for Seattle).  My friend's apartment did not have any air conditioning, and with the oven on I was sweating as soon as I stepped through the door.  I brought my dish raw, so I had to bake mine as well.

But oh!  Worth it!  In addition to our prepared dishes, others brought a variety of cheeses, cured meats, and wine.  Sitting out on the deck eating that delicious food was the second best part of my day.

The best part was the dip in the pool after we were done eating.















(Celebrated June 27th, 2015)

South Sudan (Peanut Butter is Good in Anything!!!)

South Sudan became the 193rd member of the United Nations on July 14th, 2011.  Because of this I ate a lot of delicious food that contained a lot of peanut butter.

My first assignment in this venture was to produce some Kissra or Goraasa which is traditional Sudanese bread.  To me they seem more like tortillas with different kinds of flour.  I pre-made some Goraasa (since Kissra needs to be mixed the day before which I didn't realize until the day of) and headed to my friends house.  By the time I got there they were already cooking up a storm, which included several jars of peanut butter.

Throughout the entire process we were all feeling a little nervous.  The food combinations we were making (or I should say they were making as I was just watching the masters at work) seemed odd, and having never made these dishes before we had not idea if it was looking like it should.

But holy moley was it GOOD!  I ate until I couldn't eat any more and I still wanted seconds.. and thirds.  I would definitely make this meal again!

(Celebrated April, 25th, 2015)

Welcome to the United Nations Dinner Party... Online!

So one day a friend invites me to a South Sudan dinner party.  Not knowing anything about South Sudan I thought it sounded like a charity event.  Sure, I'm in!  Now what exactly is this event we are going to?

After further clarification, I found out that they were planning on throwing a series of dinner parties, one for every country that has joining the United Nations.  To be held in reverse order of when they joined.  South Sudan was the most recent member, so we would start there.

After we held a couple I realized I needed someplace to record recipes, reviews, and weird little things we learned about each country.  The first few posts are "catch up" as they were held over the past few months,  I hope to keep the blog up to date for future dinners.

Please note that the recipes are a collection of things we found online with modifications for personal preferences and dietary restrictions.  I hope we get at least close to authentic, but I honestly have no idea.  I imagine if the natives watched us prepare these meals they would likely end up laughing at us.

Enjoy!