Around the World in 10 Dishes

We decided as a family to go around the world this summer-- from our kitchen. Each of us got to pick two countries we'd like to visit, and we're planning to make food from that area for our family night throughout the summer.

This week was Sarah's turn. She picked the Philippines (props to Grandma and Grandpa Mortimer!), so we made chicken adobo and fried bananas. The chicken was really good so I'll put the recipe on Sara's recipe site (check the sidebar). All the kids ate it willingly.

Unfortunately Jared was the only one to appreciate the bananas. He and I made a trip over to the local asian market to pick up lumpia wrappers for them. We were very out of our element, and had a hard time getting anyone to understand what we were looking for. But then a nice gentlemen helped us, and encouraged us to try a Jackfruit, another thing we'd never had. It wasn't too bad, it tasted like super sticky cantaloupe and looked kind of like oversized squash blossoms. Anyway, while we were eating our deep-fried, honey coated, lumpia-wrapped bananas (don't they sound like they should've been yummy?), Jared said, "This reminds me of the time Uncle Tom paid me $1 to eat a grasshopper. Crunchy on the outside and slimy in the middle." Well, that was it for me. I'm not sure what distubed me more- that eating the banana actually reminded me of that, or that Jared was willing to do that for so small a sum.

Maybe I'll enjoy next week's tour of Italy more.