Shall We Eat Out, Or In?

Cooking hasn't always been one of my favorite things to do. But I love to eat home cooked food, and sometimes I see the cooking part of it more as a chore than a delight, something that has to be done if I want to eat good food. Living in a foreign country pushes me to two extremes, depending on my mood.

One, I never want to adventure out to a Croatian restaurant where I won't be able to read the menu, the waiter may not speak English well enough to translate the menu, therefore I will end up eating some mystery dish that may taste good enough, but leave me questioning what exactly it was! I can't seem to fully enjoy something unless I have some idea what it is... So we stay home and I cook up something in my kitchen that night. I know every ingredient, I can make the things we like, and the baby can play and/or eat happily wherever she wants. We have found that so many Croatians have taken on the habit of smoking, and they foul up the air everywhere we go, leaving us with dazzling headaches and clothing that reeks of smoke.

Or Two, I decide to go on a cooking strike, and no matter what the consequences, we ARE going out to eat! This has sometimes gone well, like when we stopped to have a kebab on Zagreb's main square after looking at the Christmas markets there.

Kebab, literally "rotating meat" in Turkish, is sliced lamb which is slowly roasted on a vertical rotating spit. It is similar to gyros. Kebab is most popularly served in pita bread, with tomatoes, lettuce (they call it salad here), and two sauces to choose from. One is a creamy herb sauce, the other a spicy red sauce. We ate ours while standing at a tall table outside the tiny cafe and gave Clara bites while she sat in her stroller. Kebabs are European fast food and they are quite delicious! (Kebabs are not to be confused with shish-kebabs - two very different things!)

A favorite pasttime of mine is to look through cookbooks while I eat breakfast or lunch. Swedish Homecooking is one of my favorites!



After living there for 18 months, we came to love the simple Swedish way of life. Their food is interesting to say the least, and we usually wouldn't touch the thousand varieties of pate or pickled herring. We did however love the fried Baltic herring, especially when it was situated next to a mound of mashed potatoes! We also loved their Cinnamon Buns which are topped with pearl sugar instead of slathered with frosting as we do in America, though I can certainly wolf down a frosting covered cinnamon roll just as easily! Their cinnamon rolls sometimes were made with the cardamom spice, which at first I didn't like, but now I think it is wonderful!

As I looked through this cookbook, I came across a recipe for Baked Macaroni. This recipe, very simple and easy to make, is the Swedish variation of macaroni and cheese and my whole family, but especially Clara, loves this dish. Every time I take this casserole out of the oven, it looks exactly like the picture in the cookbook! THAT is a rare happening, indeed!

Baked Macaroni

1 2/3 cups plain macaroni
6 cups water
1/2 lb. ham steak
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup grated cheese
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt (1/2 tsp. for boiling macaroni, 1/2 tsp. for dish)
black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook macaroni according to package directions, using the 1/2 tsp. salt in the water. Cube ham and brown lightly in the butter. Mix together the cooked macaroni with the ham. Transfer to buttered oven proof dish. Beat egg and milk and pour over macaroni mixture. Add salt and pepper. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake until pudding is set and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

We enjoyed this with a green salad the other night. This is Comfort Food at its best - simple, yet delicious!