And my journey begins.........

Hello, out there!

I am the X-pat Chef and Welcome to my kitchen!

The idea of this blog started a couple months ago when I decided I wanted to try all cuisines from each country of the world. To my dismay, the first on my list was Algeria, and I couldn't find a restaurant that served this type of Cuisine in the Bay Area, even with a population of 7 million people. Moroccan was close, but still not what I was looking for. I wanted to eat what the Algiers ate. I wanted to experience the delectable cravings they yearned for, like the home-cooked meals their mom's used to make. So, instead of eating out, I've decided to eat in and cook it myself in my 3' x 5' kitchen (yes, it is tiny). Plus, by cooking each and every cuisine, I'll become the go-to-guy for future "themed" pot lucks.

The topic of my blog is to find out what makes food, "comfort food" around the world. I was born in Brasil, grew up in sunny California, and raised eating Taiwanese-Chinese-Japanese food. So, my idea of comfort food is a conglomeration of milanesa, sticky rice, sushi and a cup of tropical passion latte. I'm sure each and every individual has a different idea of what they crave or think of as comfort food. But what makes it comfort food?-- could it just be that warm fuzzy feeling we always get? or the starchy yummi-ness that fills our stomachs?

To start, I am using Google's search engine to research recipes from each and every country on a weekly basis. My goal is to find authentic food catered to that country, but also finding the ones that are the most popular based on specific crops grown in that region. I'll also attempt to ask friends or go to restaurants that cook these dishes to get some pointers or ideas. Each week, I will be attempting to cook a different cuisine. Choosing the country is based on a lottery system. I made tabs for each country and placed it in a cylinder. After each cuisine, I will randomly pull from it and see where it next takes me.

Enough small talk and logistics. I'm ready to cook and eat. The next few years I'll be traveling the world in my kitchen. There are about 192 countries in this world, and so my journey begins here....