BIRTHDAY CAKE

Yesterday, I baked my mom a birthday cake, though her birthday isn't until tomorrow.  I'd been reading through the blogs and websites I check every day, and found a recipe for an amazing looking cake, so I decided to try it.  Why not?
It was a messy experience, and the frosting didn't quite work out, but it tasted and smelled delicious. I don't think I've ever made a dessert so delicious- so, of course we had to eat it at 3:00 in the afternoon instead of at night on my mom's actual birthday.

I don't have cake pans... so pie tins were my only option...

my great grandmother's mixer has a tendency to get completely filled with whatever I'm mixing

cake + frosting layer +cake = one giant oreo?

the shape was a little off, but this was AMAZING cake

Belarus: Apple Pie

The Dish: Apple Pie, just not pie shaped... See the original recipe here.
The Country: The capital is Minsk, and a popular drink in Belarus is Russian wheat vodka.

AAAAPPPLLLESSS

Ingredients:
4 apples (green or red, I used one green and three red)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of all purpose flour
2 eggs
cinnamon

doesn't that look appetizing? ......

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350°
Cut the apples into half inch thick slices.
Mix the flour, sugar, and eggs.
Grease a 9x12 (or somewhere around that size) pan, and lay the apples evenly across the bottom.  Sprinkle them with cinnamon.
Cover the apples in the flour/sugar/ egg mixture.
Bake for 50 minutes- 1 hour, depending on your oven.

THE FINAL PRODUCT... it looks kind of messy, but I'm still learning. :D

Notes: I think I should have used more cinnamon than I did- the flavor was relatively unpronounced.  I wouldn't call it bland, but it wasn't a WOW moment.
While it was baking, my dad, mom, and I watched a history channel video about Florence's Medici family in the 1400s. I wonder what kind of food they ate.... ?
Rating:  2

Bangladesh: Begun Bhaja

The Dish: Fried eggplant. See original recipe here.
The Country: The People's Republic of Bangladesh is right next to India, so the majority of their foods are similar.

chopped eggplant

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large eggplant
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

frying eggplant

Procedure:
Wash the eggplant, then cut it into thin slices.
Heat a frying pan and add the oil.  Place the eggplant slices in the oil.
Add turmeric powder and salt.
Fry for about seven minutes, or until the pieces are light brown.
Eat.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Notes: It was slightly gooey, and the texture was like I was eating a slug, but the flavor was fine. I added a bit too much salt, so I would advise going light on the salt, and maybe heavier on the turmeric powder.
Sorry I haven't cooked in a while, I was in my school's production of Grease and the rehearsals were quite late.
Rating: 2.25

Barbados: Sweet Bread

The Dish: Bread with raisins and coconut.  See original recipe here.
The Country: With a population of about 300,000, this island nation is the home of Rihanna.

the ingredients

Ingredients:
1/2 a stick of butter
3.5 cups of flour
Shredded coconut
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Seedless raisins
1 cup of sugar (hello, clogged arteries)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup of milk

the dough

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Melt the butter.
Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together.  Add the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
Separately, mix the sugar with however many raisins you would like.  Add in a handful of shredded coconut. 
Take about 2/3 of the sugar/coconut/ raisin mix and add it to the flour mix.  Leave the rest of it to the side somewhere where your dog wont try and eat it. (My dog is a crazy scavenger who likes to eat whatever he finds, so I have to leave my weird cooking concoctions at the back of the counter or he'll have a feast of coconut shreddings and raisins.)
Add this new mixture to a greased baking tin.  Bake for 45 minutes- 1 hour, depending on the efficiency of your oven.
Sprinkle with some of the remaining sugar/raisin/coconut mix.
Cool.
Eat.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Notes: "Wicked," my brother's response, not to the bread, but to the fact that Barbados is where Rihanna is from.  I think he liked the bread too, but he's a big Rihanna fan, so you never know.
Rating: 3