Suriname (UN Dinner and Cocktail Party)

Suriname joined the UN on December 4th, 1975.

I had thought that I would be fresh off the plane from VA, so I chose to keep it simple.  Roti, aka flatbread had a max of 4 ingredients, and required minimum effort.  The gestating Dack twins were feeling feisty around the time we had the dinner scheduled and ended up delaying it a week.  As I now had the time I stepped up my game and found another roti recipes stuffed with potato.  Winner!

Chris and Lola were determined to host.  Up until recently, they resided in NYC, and Lola's only participation was being my biggest blog fan, living vicariously through my poorly written posts.  With a new house and twins on the way, what a better house warming than a UN Dinner?

Due to Mike's close proximity to my own residence, Jenny, Mike, and I often carpool, and this was no exception.  Though this time didn't really go as typical, and the need to share is felt to my core:

Jenny: When are you heading to chris and lola's? Would it be possible for mike and i to snag a ride?

A dozen texts about whether I was driving or taking an Uber, and two photos of Mike, and 3 hours later...

Me: I'm just gonna drive.
Jenny: What time are you leaving?
Me: I'm going to be cooking for at least another hour
Me: Maybe 430ish?
Jenny: Ok cool. We'll prob grab a ride with you then. I'll confirm with mike when he gets off the phone
Me: K, I'll touch base when I get close

1.5 hrs later, and I'm ready at this point...

Jenny: We need like 40 mins.  Does that work for you?
Me: Yeah that's fine.  So pick you up at 445?
Jenny: Ummmm i am having casserole leaking issue so let me get back to you
Me: K.  I'm flexible.  Just give me a little forewarning.

30min later...

Jenny: We'll be ready at 5!
Me: Okeedokee!
Jenny: Nevermind, we'll meet you there
Jenny: Sorry
Jenny: <face palm emoji>
Jenny: We're at my house and just going to drive there!
Me: That would have been awkward to when I arrived at Mike's to not find you there!

To be clear, Jenny's place is nowhere near Mike's.  5 hrs of thinking they were is a different apartment, in a completely different part of town.  You can imagine the magnitude of the eye roll I performed after waiting around for them to be ready.

Last to arrive, cooking was in full swing.

Chris, being a huge fan of cocktails, has become the UN Dinner bar tender.  For the dinners instead of looking up food recipes he looks up cocktail recipes.  With the lemongrass syrup and a the coconut milk, this one was spot on.  So spot on, that even though I drove, I got a ride home.

We ate and drank.  Dessert was a mix of Suriname and not.  Amber making a her Surinamese dish while Mike opted to bake his famous family cheesecake (I have been hearing Jenny talk about Mike's promise to make it for months now).  The conversation went every direction, including one that made the boys squirm.  No details in this blog, you'll just have to use your imagination.

 

Dinner: 40
Country:52
Celebrated: November 2nd, 2019

Seychelles (Dinner in the dark!)

On September 16th, 1976, Seychelles (pronounces say-shells) joined the UN.  I don't know how many times I heard someone say Seychelles sea shells by the sea shore, or some version of.

This is our 39th dinner, and 51st country in the series.  4 years, 4 months, and 12 days since our first dinner!!!

This dinner could be described as... "electrifying".  Sense of foreboding?  No worries, no one got hurt.

Dinner was being held a Amber's, the hostess with the mostess... except for chairs.  Like me, her apartment is too small to own full time long tables, but I had plenty of folding tables and chairs to bring along to supplement for our fairly large group.

People arrive, the cooking begins, hors d'oeurves curtsy of Thanasi, and drinks curtsy of Chris, are served.  And it starts to rain.

Then it rains harder.  Then it gets dark.  Then we start to see flashes of lighting and hear the resulting thunder.  This is when Jack steps in to protect us from the dangerous thunder by barking ferociously back at the sky with every boom.

For those not familiar with Seattle/Tacoma weather, lighting and thunder is a rare occurrence, and even then only one, maybe two flashes light up the clouds, and are never really seen.  Now it was flashing and booming, for what seemed like once for twice every few minutes.  It actually got so bad that they had to postpone some sporting evens being held that evening in Seattle.

At some point during the storm, the lights begin to flicker, but I don't think anyone thought that hard about it.  Right up until the lights went out and we were left standing in the dark.  Thus begins our first UN dinner in the dark!

Thanks to it being the 21st century, everyone whipped out their smart phones and turned on the the flashlight feature.  Thanasi even went as far to McGyver our own ceiling light and ingeniously stick his phone to the ceiling.

Lucky for us, everyone was either done, or far enough to be considered done, cooking, and we were able to still enjoy our meal.  Food and conversation can be enjoyable in any venue, but only at a UN dinner can a discussion about micro-bioms... or was it macro?... degrade into discussions about Jack eating poop.

Unfortunately, the entire time I was thinking about how I planning on providing dessert, and it still sat uncooked on the counter.  I was just resigning myself to having to eat a ton of plantains tomorrow when <pop!> the lights switch back on!  I believe I jumped up with a shout of glee and ran immediately to the kitchen to get my dish on the stove.  So our dinner in the dark ended with dessert in the light.

Dinner: 39
Country:51
Celebrated: September 7th, 2019

Angola (How many nuts could a nut-shucker shuck if a nut-shucker could shuck nuts?)

Angola joined the UN December 1st, 1976.

We have done enough dinners at this point, it's getting hard to keep track, so I'm going to start a running tally of out dinners.  Did you know that this is our 38th dinner and 50th country!  Happy 50th UN Country Dinner Party!!!  Only 143 more to go!

But, more importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER!!!!!!!!!!

The dinner happily landed on the birthday of one of the loveliest of ladies known to womankind, so we had more to celebrate than just Angola.  As a result we had quite a few attendees.  Jenny was the hostess with the mostest and had reserved a bungalow for the celebration.  When I arrived I could barely find any space in the fridge due to the impressive amount of beverages she had already filled it with.

Angolan cuisine was interesting because it was colonized by Portugal.  As a result, it shared a great deal of similarities to Brazilian cuisine (Brazil having also been colonized by Portugal).  Isn't it crazy that the cuisine all over Africa holds so many similarities to European countries all because they were colonized by said countries?  France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and even Spain.  It makes me wonder what food was like prior to colonization.  Traditional, 100%, zero outside influence, African food.  Probably a lot of potjies.  Mmmm.

My dishes were done, and Jenny was waiting to start, so as people trickled in we played some card games to keep up entertained.  Once everyone arrived, we played some board games to keep everyone entertained.

Amber's dish called for a salted roasted peanuts as a topper.  I'm not sure what circumstances lead to it, but she found some alright.  Fully shelled.  The result of which could only be a pre-dinner peanut shucking competition!  It wasn't too competitive, but I'll claim a higher quality shuck, while my rival had a greater quantity (but only because he had a decent head start on me).

Dinner was ready in no time and we all sat down for another delicious meal.

During these dinners, when someone says something that I think would be good for the blog I make a little note in my phone.  This time I wrote, "Would you like me to massage some peanut butter into your dish?"  Of course I wait too long and now the context for that comment!

After dinner, more board games of course, continually interrupted by phone calls wishing Amber a happy birthday.

At last our meal had settled enough to think about dessert.  I had planned on making brittle a while ago, but we also absolutely needed a cake for the birthday girl.  Jenny graciously picked up a cheesecake from Costco ahead of time, to be topped with some home made raspberry sauce curtesy of Thanasi.

So Jenny and I go sneaking off to her apartment to get the cake.  It's already getting dark at this time which was perfect, since we needed cover to sneak up on Amber who is sitting in a 360 glass walled bungalow.  We're 20 feet from the door when it opens and Amber steps out, talking to yet another well wisher on he phone.  Both Jenny and I, probably wide eyed and cringing, did as swift and subtle a 180 as possible as to not be noticed by the birthday girl.  She was 100% focused on the call so we managed to make it around a corner without her noticing.

So we're standing there.  Watching Amber talk.  She starts meandering around the bungalow.  Slowly.  Still talking.  While we wait outside.  In the dark.  Holding matches and a cheesecake.  For like, 10 minutes.

Finally she heads back inside and we don't hesitate to take the opportunity to sneak up, light the candle (barely), and get inside with the surprise unspoiled.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER!!!

(Celebrated July 27th, 2019)

Samoa (thank you for eating my buns)

Samoa joined the UN on December 15, 1976.

This dinner started as every summer UN dinner starts: with my apartment's temperature exceeding 80degF by 10am.  And I'm hosting!  Nothing makes you a better host than treating your guess to a dinner/sweat lodge combo, but since I didn't believe that at all I whipped out my brand new AC unit and brought that crazy back down to 70.

I went with the too-much-is-better-than-too little approach and doubled that already generous serving size of the dumpling recipe.  I managed to finish readying all of those dumplings/buns for steaming just in time for people to arrive.

As usual, it smelt (and looked) AMAZING.

As I was shoveling the chop suey into my mouth, I think Jenny posed the question, "Vietnam or Samoa was better?"  Not fully aware of what I was doing my body shut down and I completely stopped moving as I internally work through the problem and thought about that previous delicious meal.  Unfortunately this was also the most critical moment of "the shovel", as I like to call it, and I froze in place with a stream of noodles flowing out of my mouth.  Since this glitch was corrected in seconds no one was able to snap a pic, but I generously obliged a re-enactment so the memory could be captured.

Once all the laughing and teasing had concluded about the relatively minor fault in my programming, I was back to shoveling, and Jenny followed up with a comment about how good those Vietnamese spring rolls were.  *Glitch* goes my brain once again.

I really enjoyed this meal.  I even got a second full helping of everything, when usually I hold off on because I usually remember the lesson learned in the "remember to leave room for nut cake" episode.

Post dinner we held our usual leftover frenzy.  As planned, I had tons of dumplings left over.  However, I did not anticipate there being more vegetarian guests than meat eaters, so the vast majority were pork.  I ended up forcing more than a few on Mike (the other meat eater), and also brought quite a few to another friend whom I visited a couple days later.  To those who, like I, ate leftover buns all week... you're welcome.

As is tradition, during the pre-dessert meal break we pulled out a card game.  This time, Wizard.  Several rounds in Amber's pooch, Jack (or Jacki-poo-bear as I like to call him) let out a whine that was a good indication that it was time for a pee break.  Amber and Thanasi headed out, and a conversation was struck up about my multitude of hats on stands and hung on the wall that I never really wear.  The conversation progress and Amber and Thanasi end coming back inside to to Mike in a stereotypical Fargo bombardier hat, Jenny in my excessively poofy white alpaca hat, and me, sporting my Chinese rice hat, shuffling for the next round.

After defeating all my rivals I celebrated (while everyone else drowned their sorrows) with some coco rice dessert.

Post dessert, Mike picked up some beer (thanks Mike!) for some Baseball-not-that-Baseball, and ended our night.early morning with a little Drawful.  I spent over half the following day regretting life's decisions, except for the one where I decided to double the dumpling recipe and ended up with leftover buns for days.  Mmmmmmm...

(Celebrated June 29th, 2019)

Djibouti (I hope you warmed Djibouti up, because this one is going to be a marathon)

Now that we got the Djibouti pun out of the way...

Djibouti joined the UN on September 20, 1977.  Same day as Vietnam!

On to dinner!  We were supposed to have a couple guests but day of turned out to be just the fabulous three!  Also, we got to pop the UN Dinner cherry on Amber's new apartment!  How cool is that!!!

When I got to Amber's she was already starting in on the hors d'oeuvres.  Since it was just us three, we decided the kitchen would be a one dish at a time area, regardless of time.

When Amber was done she had made so many of those little pockets of deliciousness.  And then we proceeded to eat them all.  And then we proceeded to be real full.

I had my laxoox and meat stew to make.  I can't remember if I started right away or gave our tummies a break.  By then we were already working on a couple bottles of rose, and it's been too long for me to recall.  But while I was cooking, holy cow, talk about fragrant.  I do remember that.  That stew had such a mixture of spices that filled Amber's apartment.  At some point someone said, and I quote, "the intense smells are like a semi truck into my nose."

While the stew was... well... stewing, I was also frying up the bread to eat with my meal.  For every bread I fried up for us (which was a lot), I also fried up one little mini bread for our four-legged friend.  Jack REALLY LIKED the stuff.  I've always known him as a picky eater, so to see him so interested in what I was cooking up, I couldn't resist.

At some point he started looking a little uncomfortable and I slowly realized that I probably treated him to significantly more bread than he really needed.  Than anyone really needed, really.  I blame the wine.

Dinner was finally done at... 9?  9:30 pm?  When you're not cooking on a schedule it just happens when it happens.  The dish was as flavorful as it smelled, and we were all hungry, so we scarfed our portions down.

There seems to be a pattern in Jenny's poses that evening, that entailed holding up whatever piece of food available to her like she just reeled it in on a fishing pole.

So Jenny still had her banana pancake dessert to make.  But we were once again so full and it was already so late the proposition was made to instead eat it for breakfast, to which everyone readily agreed.  I mean, we were all staying the night anyway due to wine.

I won't go into details on how my night went but here's how I looked the next morning.  Others in my group refused to be caught on camera in their early morning state of being, but Jack seemed perfectly okay with showing off his manly bed-head.

Even then, nothing would stop me from eating those banana fritters.

Let's review.
Dinner start: 5pm
Dinner concludes: 10am
Dinner duration: 17 hours

LONGEST UN DINNER EVER.

(Celebrated 5/4... and 5/2019)

Vietnam(-nom-nom-nom)

Vietnam joined the UN September 20th 1977.

Let's be honest.  There are HIGH expectations for this one.

The last dinner left me ready to bake, so when I found the recipe for Vietnamese mooncakes I was sold.  Who cares if they are traditionally eaten during the mid-Autumn festival?

I found a couple of delicious looking recipes, but upon further examination I noted that NONE of them were complete.  Listed ingredients that are never used, ingredients in the instructions that are not specified in type or quantity, incorrect ingredient types.  This is where I like to use the family secret my grandmother likes to call the "ah peuff" method (aka "winging it").

I got 90% done before I left to pick up my cousin.  We were driving to Tacoma for this one.  When I got there I was expecting to find the usual cooking frenzy, but instead everyone was just sitting around drinking wine.  Well, okay, not what I was expecting, but I could get into it.

Marine and I wrap up what we need to get done, and got out of the way.  Jenny and Amber finish up their combined dish.  Travis, who finished cooking much earlier in the day, admits that he's been eating his dish all day.  All the while 3 rambunctious dogs chased the reflecting lights off of every phone, watch, you name it.  Worse than cats.

THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD.  I mean, I admit we usually say that the meal that is in our mouths is the best one yet, but this time it was true.  We filled our plates and paused to take our group photo, but before Jenny to take second one most of us had already given up on smiling and were already focusing on eating.

The food was so good, it brought tears to Jenny's eyes.  Literally.  (She had to cough, but couldn't since her mouth was full, so started crying from the strain.)  I would have taken a photo but I would had to have stopped eating for that so...

The entire time I was so happy because I knew I would be taking leftovers home.  Which, by the way, I'm eating as I write these words.

Somehow everyone refrained from filling their plates with seconds.  I like to think it was because everyone was eyeing those beautiful mooncakes that have been sitting on the counter all through dinner.  I think the below picture conveys this idea really well.

(Celebrated April 13, 2019)

Solomon Islands (Hanging out in flavor town)

Solomon Islands joined the UN September 19, 1978.

This dinner was scheduled the day after I got home from being in Europe for a week and a half.  I strategically chose the easiest recipe I could find so that I didn't over commit to something I would not be able to achieve in my jet lag.  Poi!  2 ingredients: Taro, and water.  Here's hoping someone else cooks something with a little more texture and flavor so we don't have a repeat of the Marshall Islands baby food incident.

Mike and Melissa's place smells great when I get to their place, and it only got better.  Since I had already made my dish I got to drink some wine while I sat and watched all the activity.  Which included Jenny being too aggressive squeezing limes and accidentally dropping one into her GIANT vat of soup.

How many people does it take to open a can of coconut milk?

We of course had many different conversations while we waited for dinner to be ready.  Conversations at this dinner party was particularly interesting.  I won't go into too much detail, but they included duck reproduction, getting high on nutmeg, and nude bars.  Very stimulating.

Good news!  It was not a baby food dinner, and someone even described it as "taking a trip to flavor town".  I had watched several spicy peppers get added to several dishes, but luckily everything I tried was totally fine.

The Poi tasted exactly like it looked.  Grey, boring, bland,  But to be honest, I wasn't expecting much.  It seemed the biggest fan wasn't sitting at the table, but standing under it.  Mike and Melissa's dog couldn't seem to get enough.  She was also one of the few takers when it came time to fill up on leftovers.

(Celebrated March 24th, 2019)

Saint Lucia & Dominica (These figs are bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

Saint Lucia joined the UN on September 18, 1979.  Dominica (NOT to be confused with the Dominican Republic) joined exactly 9 months earlier on December 18, 1978.

When we were first choosing recipes, Jenny claimed rice and beans, and one of my top choices was Green "Fig" Salad.  When Jenny realized that her recipe came from the Dominican Republic, I made the mistake of mentioning the fact that "fig" doesn't really mean fig, and instead they are green bananas, and how there was salad that you boiled them for.  She ended up taking that recipe.  As I continued looking I can across a recipe for a black bean soup with rice, so in the end, we sort of ended up cooking each others recipes.  How neat is that?

I got all my items done ahead of time, inducing an avocado daiquiri that ended up spending too much time in the freezer and became more like an avocado sorbet.  Left me a lot of time to watch Jenny boil some bananas with fascination.

Dinner was delicious, as usual.

Our dinner ended like most did, with card games and Drawful.

(Celebrated January 19th, 2019)

Zimbabwe (Happy Zimbabwean Ugly UN Xmas Sweater Dinner Party!)

And a Happy New Year!  Last Dinner of the year is dedicated to Zimbabwe.  Joined August 25th, 1980.  First country since Switzerland that I've been to!  Embarrassed to say, while we were there we mostly ate burgers and pizza...

Per Jenny's suggestion, I focused on finding a dessert recipe... or 3.  Needless to say, I had a lot of baking to do Saturday morning, and more than I had anticipated.  Cookies went as expected.  Glaze is like crack it's so good.  Mapopo ended up okay, though not the consistency I expected.  If you had any loose cavities they would be gone after eating that sticky deliciousness.  Candy cake however, was the bane of my existence.

First time I mixed the batter a did a giant baking no-no (I know better!) and I tried to mix cold butter in with the liquids.  What a chunky disaster.  I kept adding sugar and flour thinking it would smooth out.  It didn't.

Second time I mixed the batter I misread the recipe and added the sugar for the frosting to he batter as well.  It was dense, but I was also getting fed up so I tried to bake it anyway...

... unsuccessfully.

So I mixed it for a 3rd time.  The bake went well, right up until I burnt them again.

When I arrived at Amber's I was overwhelmed by the festive sweaters.  Though I did not get the memo about them being dog themed...

"Dachshund Through the Snow"

"Pugly Xmas Sweater"

 As you would expect, many of our African main courses were full of peanut butter and delicious.

In order to help digestion, Jenny and Amber had the forethought to print out some Christmas Charades.  Turns out most of us had never even played any sort of charades.  How to charades candy cane without making a lewd jesture, I do not know.

Then, dessert!  If you are choosing one of the recipes, the sweet potato cookies are the real winner of the evening.  (And that glaze!)

The only thing left to say is Happy Zimbabwean Ugly UN Xmas Sweater Dinner Party!

(Celebrated December 8th, 2018)