It’s Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday / Carnaval! Hope you are having a festive time, or at least enjoying some festive treats. We’ve written about many Fat Tuesday goodies in the past including the inimitable Chicago doughnut staple, the Paczki. Like the Polish Paczki, the Portuguese malasada is a filled doughnut without a hole, eaten as a last indulgence before Lent. The malasada first came to Hawaii with Portuguese immigrants in the late 19th century, and has since become immensely popular in Hawaii as well as in Madeira and the Azores. Due to the treat’s popularity, Shrove Tuesday in Hawaii is informally known as “Malasada day” and at the iconic Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu (933 Kapahulu Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816) you can even get plush Malasada toys alongside the coveted pastries. Traditionally, Malasadas were not filled, but today in Hawaii you can get fun fillings like Coconut (Haupia), Chocolate and Passion Fruit. Saveur even has a recipe for Leonard’s signature Malasadas.
Malasada at Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu by Albert Lynn
East Timor is one of the world’s youngest counties, established only in 2002. However, it is already sending its first athlete to the winter Olympics, skier Yohan Goutt-Goncalves. Seafood is key in the national diet in this island nation, and culinary influence from Portugal and Indonesia is strongly felt. The national dish of East Timor is Ikan Pepes / Pepes Ikan (Ikan means ‘fish’ and pepes is the cooking technique), fish steamed with chili sauce in a banana leaf. Sounds pretty good! Here are two recipes for Ikan Pepes from 
Malta, a Mediterranean island nation. has one competitor in their debut Olympics, skier Elise Pellegrin. Malta’s cuisine is influenced by France, Spain, Italy and even England. The national dish of the country is Stuffat Tal-Fenek, a stewed rabbit dish in a red wine an tomato sauce. Apparently rabbit is hugely popular in Malta, and a dinner where rabbit is consumed is called a fenkata. 
This year, Winter Olympics newcomer Togo has two athletes competing in Sochi, skiiers Alessia Afi Dipol and Mathilde-Amivi Petitjean. We were also super interested to learn that there was a 
Zimbabwe is competing in the Winter Olympics for the first time in Sochi, with Alpine skiier Luke Steyn, and we are excited to learn more about the country’s national dish and cuisine. The national dish of Zimbabwe is widely considered to 
Second in our series on winter Olympic newcomer cuisines is Paraguay. The athlete representing Paraguay is an American citizen of Paraguayan heritage, 
The first in our Winter Olympics newcomer series is Tonga. The sole athlete from Tonga is certainly making waves at their first Winter Olympics, the luger, born Fuahea Semi , now
What did you think of the Opening Ceremony? With the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics officially under way, we are in full Russian food mode. We are not experts in Russian food, but we have trying to learn more about the country’s different regional and local specialties. We’ve done a little research in preparation for a Russian dinner party in honor of the Sochi Olympics, to get a little beyond 
Happy Lunar New Year! In China, today is the start of the year of the horse, and it’s time for delicious, celebratory treats as well. We’ve always loved the pretty Chinese cakes made in traditional wooden molds, like mooncakes. But the 
One of the things you have to do before you leave Brazil is eat at a kilo restaurant. One of the quintessential Brazilian dining experiences, we long for places in the United States where you can get great food by the pound. While you can find kilo restaurants on nearly every street corner in Brazil, our absolute favorite kilo restaurant is the vegetarian-friendly Ramma in Salvador. 
The street food in Istanbul is amazing, and there is a whole lot more than Döner on offer. Though of course the ubiquitous cone of meat is available, we found some options for street food that were completely unique. 
King cake is commonly eaten on Epiphany, January 6th, and whoever finds the trinket (la fève) in the cake (sometimes ceramic, or sometimes edible, like a fava bean) is king/queen for a day. However, it is fashionable in Paris to serve it long after that, and perhaps this tradition holds in Chicago as well, since we still saw it on offer in Mid-January. The French Galette des Rois is made with puff pastry and filled with almond cream. David Lebovitz has a 
We were in Miami for a friend’s wedding and we had a fabulous time taking in the local cuisine. One thing L especially loved was the coffee culture in Miami, where delicious espresso was found on every corner. Our Miami-native friend Fredo assured us that Miami’s coffee culture was the greatest in the US, so we were pretty excited to get drinking. Fredo was definitely right, people in Miami are truly passionate about coffee, and we got a ton of suggestions for where to get the best coffee from our Miami-local friends. However, no matter where you go, there are a few major types of Cuban coffee that you will commonly find offered:
I recently learned about the 
A recent episode of one of our favorite podcasts, 
Boxing Day
Eating The World 
