Week two of world travelling from home had me going to Greece, Poland, Italy, Morocco and France. Not bad for a week of travel; a good coverage of Europe and a sneaky trip to North Africa. Yes I know, Italy again, but it’s Italy and let’s face it, I’ll probably return each week. This week I channeled my inner Polish grandma to make delicious dumplings and made moussaka for the first time. So here is the spread.

Greece

I’m meant to be going to Greece in July. The plan was to island hop our way around the Greek islands while sun-baking, swimming, hiking and eating our weight in souvlaki and other goodies. Alas, that plan has changed just slightly, but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying some Greek goodness. I choose to make moussaka because I never have… and because I was watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding the other week and was inspired by the scene where she is in primary school and excluded for eating her foreign moussaka. I can’t understand why you would distance yourself from someone with such delicious offerings, but then primary schoolers are brutal.

Turns out making moussaka is an absolute labour of love! I began immediately after returning from work and ta-da… 2 hours later dinner was ready. Luckily you can taste every morsel of that 2hr labour. Moussaka is delicious and I should be so lucky as to have it in my packed lunch. I took mine on a little journey to feed my friends because they were willing to eat with me.

Cuisine: Greek

Dish/es: Moussaka (Vegetarian)

Company: Life group girls and Chili (a very cute Kelpie pup)

Ah the Greek, they know what they are doing. Maybe they have the answer to this pandemic… maybe it’s as simple as Windex?

 

Poland

If you’ve read my real life travel blogs you’ll know that I was pleasantly surprised by Poland. An unassuming Eastern European country that far exceeded my non-existent expectations. One thing that I particularly loved was the delicious and CHEAP food! My favourite being the humble Polish dumpling called Pierogi. I imagine that if you were feeling down, Polish grandmas would be activated to whip these up and force feed you until you feel better. They are just what the doctor prescribed… actually no doctor would ever professionally prescribe these as they are the most ‘extra’ of your comfort foods. Carbs on carbs on cream on cheese on butter. Excellent. Oh well, at least we all roll out of this isolation together, right?

Cuisine: Polish

Dish/es: Pierogi stuffed with cheesy potato and sweet cranberry with rosemary and garlic cream.

Company: House mate!

 

Italy

Italia! I love you! Like I said I will continue to return here because it is il mio favorito. I’m learning Italian because I love it so much and what better motivation/reward than to eat ridiculous amounts of Italian food. This week the very local Belvedere Stonemill provided my dinner. I highly recommend these guys. They are doing some amazing and affordable takeaway options which make it all too tempting to eat my way through the menu. This time my housemate and I went with gnocchi with focaccia to start (and mop up the sauces). We ate this, as per new tradition, while watching a movie on a Friday night (not too surprising as there isn’t much else to do).

Cuisine: Italian

Dish/es: Gnocchi di Zucca (Pumpkin gnocchi with pancetta and rocket) and Focaccia Barese (Focaccia bread with oregano, tomato and olives)

Company: House mate and National Treasure. My brother joined too but he ate a frozen pizza… Shame.

 

Morocco

So I’m still waiting to see about Morocco. I’m meant to be going in October so I guess it’s not completely ruled out, but it’s also not looking good. When I do go though, I am excited to sample the food, the markets, the sights, the Sahara. There are so many spices and different ways of cooking, the food is sure to be delicious. I opted for cooking a Moroccan feast to scratch the surface of what lies ahead. I don’t own a tajine unfortunately so my meal is definitely not as legit, but still so yum! I invited over my Moroccan travel buddy and we ate and dreamed and watched the movie Sahara, you know to get the feel.

Cuisine: Moroccan

Dish/es: Lemon Chicken Tajine with green olives, Couscous flavoured with turmeric, saffron and raisins and mixed vegetables (I got adventurous at the markets and got squash and green eggplant, then your more common veges such as sweet potato, zucchini and chickpea).

Company: Morocco travel buddy

 

France

Oooh la la. What a way to end the week. The French are like their food, rich and dripping with butter. No not really. I think the French can be mistaken as pretentious but are actually just really good quality.  There is a lot of meticulous eye for detail and passion in french cooking and that is why I outsourced to Le Cafe Gourmand. These guys have been very creative during these uncertain times and have made fine dining at home a reality. You can order a five star meal to reheat at home and claim as yours. We made this a family affair and had the family (my household plus sister and husband) over for the experience. The plan was to then watch a free online Broadway Performance; An American in Paris… but the connection was no good so we Netflix-ed instead.

Mum got the fancy plates out and we pretended that we were chefs. The boys had beef and the birds (girls) had bird (duck). It was delish! Trust the french to make gourmet diners out of us. All that was missing was a crusty baguette, oh those baguettes.

Cuisine: French

Dish/es: Duck Confit with potato gratin and beans, Boeuf Bourguignon; Beef cheeks with mashed potato and red wine jus.

Company: The family

Well that’s it, on next week’s itinerary is Brazil, West Africa, Japan and Israel. Really jumping all over the place. Love your ideas and feedback, Bon Appetit!

I’ll leave you with some inspiring french from Joey…