A journey through world cuisine from A-Z
A journey through world cuisine from A-Z
These dinners are each hosted by one of us, inviting everyone over to (usually) their place.
6th of September You’d think nothing would be more disturbing – as dinners go – than being served grasshoppers and squirrels to eat. But you’d be wrong. Having Premier Putin open Idit’s apartment door was much worse, and scared the bejeezus out of me. Well, Idit in a Putin mask. But it was still bloody …
This one, my friends, offers quite the detour from our usual theme, and was, all round, a dinner-for-the-books, which tested both our mettles and our pallets. Q, like O, has only one country in it’s list: Qatar, which Bernhard and Dorottya have already had the first time round the alphabet. It’s cuisine is also rather …
Monday, 19th of July 2021 By now, 16 letters and dinners in, preparing for a A-Z Dinner has assumed its own life cycle: First – when assigned a letter – choosing which cuisine to take on: finding all the countries which start with that letter, then considering which sounds interesting, not too similar to one …
O. Oh no. Omani again! Wait, wait, let me explain: Did you know there is only ONE country starting with O on the face of the earth?? So during the first, restaurant-based cycle of this culinary pursuit, Dorottya and Bernhard already had Omani food, and as they couldn’t find any Omani restaurants in London, Dorottya …
( Just Don’t tell the kids) We are back. For a time it seemed like being able to meet and share food & fun together is a lost art, an arcane tradition which will never return. But after many disappointing postponements, Covid restrictions are steadily easing, hopefully permanently, this time. So, where were we? N, …
21.9.20; M#2: Yes, I know… a gross violation of protocol. But there are SO many countries beginning with M, with so many lovely cuisines… so Bernhard convinced the rest of us (even purist Dorottya. He’s very good that way) to do a double M. Dorrotya’s worry of ‘so which countries will we do next time …
Bernhard, 30.8.20: Mexico This dinner was soundtracked by a teriffic Mexican album we found on Spotify: La Cantina, by Lila Downs. Heres the link Bernhard knew from early on that when M came his way, he would choose Mexico, and prepare Pollo con Mole (Chicken with Mole sauce): a dish he’d had in Mexico City …
L: Libya: 27.7.20 – Me again! For my L Dinner I decided to stay in Africa, but move north into the Magreb, to Libya. I’d remembered having an amazing fish cutlet dish in a spicy sauce at Ruthie’s home – a recipe I believe she got from her Tripolitean mother-in-law . Tripoli used to have …
5 July 2020: It’s Dorottya’s turn, and we’re back in Africa! Britain is still in this wierd Corona-virus limbo, but we are pushing on. Dorottya, her boyfriend Andreas, Lianne, Bernhard, and yours truly (two more friends of Dorottya’s were supposed to come, but bailed). We had lots of beer, but were short on icing-sugar (no, …
It’s now 6.6.20, almost 3 months since our last International Dinner. During April & May we, and the rest of the UK, were under Lockdown, hunkering down in our respective homes with our families. It was… interesting. Lonely, for sure, but it also gave us time & headspace to explore other pursuits. Dorottya & Lianne, …