Coffees around the world

Before I was a coffee junkie, I had never imagined that there would be an abundant ways of expressing the love of coffee with addictions such as adding cheese, egg, lemons or coal to my delicious cup of Joe. The most adventurous thing for me, was to try a new coffee that magically appeared on the shelves of my nearest grocery store. Gradually, I moved on to the exotic world of beans from Africa, Italy, Colombia and many more that were available to me through the higher end of coffee shops. Little did I know, that soon I would be traveling my way through certain parts of the world through a small cup. Here I have found a few very interesting ways of spicing up the way I wake up. (There are MANY more recipes out there but here are a few that I've immensely enjoyed).

1. Kaffeost (Finland)

This is a highly unusual way of preparing coffee in America but it is a typical and normal way of drinking it in northern Sweden and Finland and among the Sami people of Lapland. This requires some cheese called leipäjuusto , also called “bread cheese” or Finnish squeaky cheese.

Scotch faves

 I can't help myself. In my defense, I did say that I was a bit obsessed with scottish food. Can't wait to try these recipes out.

Scotch Eggs

3 medium eggs

1 onion

250g (1 cup) portabello mushrooms

30g (1 oz) panko breadcrumbs

salt and pepper

Boil 2 eggs for about 5 mins. or until they are soft in the middle. Take them out and let them cool. Add the onion and mushrooms together in a pan and fry in a bit of oil. Transfer to a bowl when cooked and let them cool down. Add the remaining egg to the mushrooms and mix together. Roll the boiled eggs in plain flour, then coat each one with the mushroom mixture. Roll them in a bit of flour and breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a pan and fry them until gold and crispy. Cut them in half and serve.

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

My love and interest for international destinations and food has grown over the last couple of years and now it has sort of taken on a small obsession. I keep running back and forth between YouTube and Instagram to see all of the magical goodness other countries have to offer through people that have actually traveled to those gorgeous countries. Recently, I've been constantly thinking about Scotland and its beautiful landscape.

Having the need to try new things has brought me to this post which is an excellent recipe for the traditional savory dish called Haggis accompanied with neeps and tatties. The original and more traditional version has sheep's pluck - its heart, liver and lungs traditionally encased in the animal's stomach casing. It is associated with Burns Night which is celebrated on January 25 and dedicated to Robert Burns. There is an order for the celebration which consists of Piping the guests (playing Scottish music), a welcoming speech with a Selkirk Grace, then the food begins with an opening soup, then an Address to a Haggis poem, main course and a toast to Mr. Burns. With all that said, I've transitioned to vegetarianism for almost two years now, so that means I won't be tasting the original recipe. However, I have come across this version which sound absolutely delicious. I will be trying it out soon.

Here is a vegetarian recipe for the famous Haggis from KeefsCooks.

Vegan Pot Pie

Can you believe there is NO meat in this? I am baffled, surprised and drooling. Credit goes to The Buddhist Chef for making this recipe. Delicious!

Scottish Full Breakfast

Scottish breakfasts looks so hardy and sturdy as if it could literary be your one meal for the entire day because its a huge plate. The average person would not eat this every morning but it would definitely be very tempting. The traditional Scottish full breakfast would include grilled tomatoes, a boiled egg, baked beans, potato scone (tatties scones), mushrooms, back bacon , black pudding (pork blood, with pork fat or beef suet, and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats or barley groats, and spices), link sausage, buttered toast, and some add oatcakes. For vegetarians, we would have to substitute half the plate with vegan friendly "meats", like the recipes below.