Global Cuisine

Puerto Rican Chocolate and Coffee Flancocho

I am finally getting around to posting (hopefully keeping it updated weekly) a page on the blog about the meals that my husband, DJ, cooks for our family every Sunday.  This tradition started almost a year ago when DJ cooked a meal for me for our anniversary.  Now, to give you some background information, my husband does NOT cook.  Well, at least he didn't a year ago.  His cooking consisted of oatmeal pancakes and anything on the gas grill outside.  That was the extent of it.  He decided to surprise me for our anniversary and cooked me all of my favorite foods.  Now, to be honest, I was a bit skeptical and a bit disappointed that we didn't go out for dinner.  With 6 kids, we don't get out much and an anniversary was a great excuse to get out of the house!

To make a long story short, his dinner was fabulous and he actually thought it was fun to cook for me for a change.  The following week he decided that he would try cooking for all of us on Sunday since he didn't have a lot going on.  He chose to cook something from Spain because we have been planning a trip there for awhile.  It was a huge success so he decided to make it a tradition.  I told a friend of mine about the idea and she took it a step further and suggested that I turn it into a homeschooling project and the kids would have to research the country that he was cooking for.  They would do a play, song, or give information on that country after dinner.

The kids have had a blast with this and my oldest daughter writes plays or musicals quite a bit.  They also dress up as close as they can to the traditional clothing from that country.  I will try to include pictures of their clothing, but it might prove to be a bit difficult since I do not include their faces.  I will also be posting pictures of the dishes he makes.  Music also makes an appearance at the dinner table and the kids love to learn new songs in different languages.  Their favorite is a Portuguese song called, Roda, Roda, Roda, (Caranguejo peixe e).  They did this song for Brazil.

DJ chose the first country, but then each week a different child chooses the country they want.  For the ones who can't read, we spin the globe and they point to a country.  We have ended up with some very, let's just say, interesting cuisines for our boring palates.  This has really helped to expand our children's tastes buds and try new things.  Ok, let's be honest, it has helped expand their mama's tastes buds as well!  I am quite the picky eater sometimes.

Here is a list of the countries that we have already done.  There were quite a few weeks when we had visitors or were away for some time so the meals did not happen every Sunday.

Spain, Italy, Angola, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sudan, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Libya, Singapore (not a repeat), India, Belize, France, Guatemala, Japan, Lebanon, Turkey, Switzerland, Egypt, and Vietnam.

The picture above is from our last Sunday's meal from Puerto Rico.  The dessert was super yummy.  I was very impressed with my husband's ability to make a flan!  Next week: Venezuela!  Stay tuned.