Background

         Every sophomore at my school must do this project called the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Project or IB-MYP Project for short.  They can do pretty much anything they want to do, as long as they can apply to certain "areas of interaction" (i.e. Approaches to Learning, Health and Social Education, Human Ingenuity, Community Service and Environments) and it is within the boundary of the law.  Some people try really hard and end up with completely amazing results. Others, not so much.  

         At first, I wasn't really enthusiastic about the Project. One day I noticed that my watch was late and I decided to make it my project to understand how clocks work and to fix my watch (I really just wanted a working watch).  To make a long story short, I ended up quitting that.  This project is supposed to last a few months and I really had no idea where to start.  I needed to find something that I really liked to do but that I wasn't good at.

         I enjoy cooking but have never gotten around to doing it often.  Only pancakes or eggs for breakfast or stir-fried noodles for lunch.  My family has lived in many different countries and traveled to many more.  Each country providing a unique blend of flavors and textures could be found nowhere else.  I want to not only learn how to cook food from each country but create something entirely new, mixing together different flavors and cultures.

        This blog will contain pictures of the dishes I made from around the world and their recipes.  It will also include some commentary on how they turned out.  The last entry will probably be the new recipe.

Original: Lime Cumin Mushroom Shrimp and Pasta

Ingredients: 1/2 pound of shrimp

1/2 tablespoon of cumin

1 lime

some mushrooms sliced

1 onion

a few sprigs of cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic

fish sauce to taste

 heat up the olive oil in a pan, sautee the mushrooms, garlic and onions until soft.  season with cumin
put in shrimp, cilantro, salt, pepper, and fish sauce, tasting it every few minutes until you like it.
make some spaghetti
serve with a fresh lime.

Brazilian Black Bean Stew and Collard Greens

When I lived in Brazil, I ate feijoada, this black bean stew, all the time.  However, when I looked up the recipe, I found this.  After I made it, it turned out that I made a different Brazilian recipe.   It was still good, but not what I was expecting.  I fried the collard greens with bacon and garlic which also is not the Brazilian way but it was still delicious.  I served it all with white rice.

Here are the recipes:

http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/saladssidedishes/r/Collardgreens.htm

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/brazilian-black-bean-stew/

Chinese Pot Stickers and Stir Fried Beef and Broccoli

American? Italian? German? Devilled Eggs

When I searched Wikipedia for the origin of devilled eggs, I became very confused.  They can be traced back to ancient Rome but since then, they have spread around the world, with varying recipes and tastes.  The part I love about this appetizer is that you can put almost anything into the yolk.  I was making these for a party and decided to put Sriracha into the mix to add some spiciness.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/deviled_eggs/

German Schnitzel with Broccoli and Mushroom Pasta

 Whenever I make something, it usually never goes right the first time.  In this case, it was organization.  I recommend putting the plates in an order so that they can go straight into the frying pan once the pork is ready.  Look at picture two to see what I mean.  Or else, your meat can get overcooked or burnt very quickly if you don't watch it.  Schnitzel can get very dry very quickly so to counteract the dryness, I made some tahini sauce to put on the Schnitzel.  The pasta was nothing special, just some sauteed mushrooms on linguini.  The broccoli was steamed and dipped in mayonnaise.  If you want to make sure that your Schnitzel doesn't turn out dry, use plenty of oil.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pork_schnitzel/

Japanese Pan-Fried Salmon, Steamed Flavored Rice, Bok Choi and Miso Soup

Salmon is definitely my favorite fish.  It contains so much flavor and can be prepared in so many ways, my favorite of which being fried.  This meal does take a while to prepare and uses many ingredients so plan before you make it.  

http://www.zojirushi.com/recipes/-i-takikomi-gohan-i-mixed-rice-

http://www.food.com/recipe/miso-shiru-soup-12744

http://justbento.com/handbook/johbisai/how-make-salted-salmon-shiozake

For the Bok Choi, I just fried some bacon in a wok, put in the bok choi, stirred it around with some garlic and served it.