Global Grub's Blog: Adventures in Cooking

Take your BBQ to the next level with Kalbi, a popular Korean dish (Kalbi or Galbi means “rib” in Korean). The marinade is a balance between sweet and savory, and kinda tastes like teriyaki but waaay better. While Kalbi traditionally equates to fine dining, you may have had the fun experience of grilling it yourself at a Korean restaurant where the grill is a part of the table (um, I need one of those tables for my house!).

If you’ve never had it, you’re missing out...

Meatloaf… love it or hate it? My hubs is not a fan, so I never make it, or so he thinks! I’ve actually evolved my mom’s “oldie but goodie” meatloaf recipe into our go-to slide recipe. If you love burgers, meatloaf or anything mini (like me), then you need to make these pronto! And they’re fun to eat! They’re small, so you can eat a couple, stick to your diet or save room for the sides.

The patties are bursting with flavor...

Do you remember the days when blogs didn't exist? It's crazy to think about how many creative and inspiring people didn't have an easy outlet to share with the world. Almost as crazy as me going anywhere without my phone and maps app! We've come a long way, people! 

I'm constantly inspired by the plethora of delicious food blogs that encourage me to cook something new, something different. The writing, the photos, the recipes... all so beautifully and tastefully done. Food blogs help push my cooking boundaries, feeding my passion for cooking, eating and Global Grub. But there's so many out there and one only has so much time! So, I compiled a list of my faves that I hope you'll check out. Here's to you and cooking (and/or drinking) something new! 

Cheers, Carley

My Top 10 Food Blogs (in no particular order):

"You know, if you want to get something done, give it to a busy mom." This is a quote from the recent article, "Kevin O'Leary of 'Shark Tank' invests in 27 companies and says the only ones making money have female CEOs." I'm obsessed with Shark Tank and this article makes me smile ear-to-ear. I'm certainly proud of my self proclaimed title, "Mompreneur." But the truth is, the struggle to fit in being a mom and business owner is real...

The best day of our "eat our way through Europe" trip was when we rolled up our sleeves and made homemade Italian food in an authentic Florentine kitchen. If you ever go to Florence, please take this private cooking class, Let's Cook with Jacopo (it has all 5-star reviews for a reason).

In the meantime, bring Italy to you with this gnocchi recipe straight from Jacopo's kitchen. If pasta and potatoes had a baby, it would definitely be gnocchi! Follow my easy-to-follow adapted cooking instructions and let the tender pillows melt in your mouth. 

As you can see, we literally couldn't wait to try our homemade gnocchi, hence this half eaten platter of tender pillows in this photo. 

Gnocchi Ingredients

• 1 kg potatoes (2.2 Ibs potatoes, such as russet potatoes)

With over 20 countries under my belt (half of which I credit to Semester at Sea; that's what really ignited my international interest), Europe had somehow escaped me and was calling my name. Plus I was in need of some inspiration for a new Global Grub kit... sounds like a good excuse to go, right? And with that, our mission was set: eat our way through Europe, with our 1-year-old in tow (that's a whole different story that you can read about here). With travel days factored in, we only had 8 days to complete our mission. 

First stop: Barcelona. I wish everyone adopted the idea of tapas, small plates so you can have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. One of our best meals of the trip was at Restaurant Rene, a little gem with nostalgic decor in the Eixample area. We ordered too many tapas to list, but here's what stood out the most: the melt-in-your-mouth trumpet mushroom croquette, Catalan cheese plate including the "best burrata I've ever had" and last but not least, seafood paella of course...