Wednesday Weekend Wind-Up: 7 Continents Later

There was supposed to be this big blizzard coming our way last Friday that had everyone spooked, but we barely saw any snow. It got pretty windy though, so I was content with our decision to stay in with Chipotle and a bottle of wine.  Saturday we ventured out to Jungle Jim's and discovered that Jeni's was finally back in stock!!  Ohmageez, this is probably our favorite ice cream ever, but they've been off shelves for too long after a voluntary recall due to a possible Listeria presence. Their scoop shops in Columbus had reopened, and you better believe we stopped there every time we were up north, but it has taken longer for them to bring their pints back to grocery store shelves. We came home with Salty Caramel and Buttercup Pumpkin with Amaretti Cookies Ice Cream. I love their salty caramel ice cream - it has this almost burnt caramel taste to it that is so unique and delicious.

We had stopped at Jungle Jim's for a purpose and that was to pick up all the ingredients for our 7 Continents Celebration. Last weekend made one year since we had completed our goal of traveling around the world, so we decided to put together a small meal based on all the cuisines and cultures we've experienced.

From left to right, top to bottom:
1) North America: Barbecue chips cuz' Murica.
2) Australia: Pavlova, Australian dessert with a meringue base, topped with fresh cream and fruit.  Inadvertently ended up burning the meringue a little when we forget it was still sitting in the oven and we turned it on again for another recipe, but it was still pretty tasty.
3) Africa - Egypt: Egyptian Feta Salad. Leaned a bit Greek with the feta, but we've definitely learned how similar Egypt and Greece are.
4) Europe - Greece: Greek Scalloped Potatoes with Feta Cheese. We had a similar dish our first night in Athens, and Francisco loved it, so he wanted to attempt to recreate it.
5) Asia - Japan & China: Sake & Fortune Cookies. Two items for Asia; both store bought...so I suppose that's fair.
6) South America - Chile: Chilean-style Fried Cheese Empanadas.
7) Antarctica: Um, ice?

Everything came out really good. My fave was the pavlova followed by the homemade empanadas. It was actually a lot of fun to make all this food and reflect on how one year ago we were freezing our buns off in Antarctica, having the adventure of a lifetime!