Travel Through Your Kitchen

Since we can't physically travel this summer, we can do it another way -  through our kitchens. We can easily make dishes form different parts of the US and the world. It's a fun way to expand our palates and our repertoires.

Luckily there are cookbooks that can help us on our culinary journey.Try Priya Krishna's Indian-ish Recipes and Antics From  A Modern American Family. You can sip spicy chai drinks while enjoying dal or pulao.  The great Marcella Hazan left a phenomenal legacy in her Essentials Of Italian Cooking : A Cookbook.  You'll feel like you're at Lago Maggiore as you recreate her polenta and squab. Finish with a homemade Italian ice or granita as you play bocce in the backyard. If you're yearning  for bouillabaisse, there are several excellent Provencal cookbooks that you can upload to your Kindle.Enjoy the dishes of romantic Provence under backyard fairy lights. Want a week in Mexico, then buy Oaxaca: Home Cooking From The Heart Of Mexico by Bricia Lopez. This has hearty dishes of the home kitchen sort that can easily be recreated in yours. Author Kelly Kwok has The Asian Slow Cooker; Exotic Favorites For Your Crockpot. where you can make classic Chinese dishes while you sunbathe or garden.

If you had planned on an American road trip, not to worry. You can still make the same fried chicken you'd have in the South. It can even be made healthier by using your air fryer. You can fry okra and green tomatoes too. Wash down with sweet tea or mint juleps. Finish with a peach pie and homemade pralines. There are some excellent cookbooks such as Sweetie Pie's Cookbook Soulful Southern Recipes from My Family To Yours. So many head to New England for the beaches and seafood. You can easily get already steamed seafood at any local seafood restaurant or do the steaming yourself. Serve with cups of melted butter and lemon wedges.Of course there is the Jersey shore, and the famed boardwalks that dot many a coastal town. The Jersey  shore is known for its pizza and you can easily recreate it with dough already made and a good homemade sauce. Of course there's sausage and peppers. This is an easy saute piled on Italian bread. Mix it up with some red and yellow peppers. Finish with cotton candy  which you can buy the machine at Five Below and the sugars off of Amazon.

Turn your kitchen into a road trip. There's so many different cuisines you can try and pretend you're at the place where they originated. It's a fun staycation.