Travel the World from A to Z

So I have come up with this thing of traveling around the world!

No silly, not really! I'm doing it with food!   I'm making new food from different countries.   So here's a list of all the countries so you can see how many I have to explore. The ones with links I've already done. You can click the link to see the blog post on our family food blog.

Afghanistan 
Albania 
Algeria 
Andorra 
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina 
Armenia 
Australia 
Austria 
Azerbaijan 
Bahamas 
Bahrain 
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus 
Belgium 
Belize
Benin 
Bhutan 
Bolivia 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana 
Brazil 
Brunei 
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso 
Burma 
Burundi
Cambodia 
Cameroon 
Canada 
Cape Verde 
Central African Republic
Chad 
Chile 
China 
Colombia 
Comoros 
Congo, Democratic Republic of the (Congo-Kinshasa) 
Congo, Republic of the (Congo-Brazzaville)
Costa Rica 
Côte d'Ivoire 
Croatia 
Cuba 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Djibouti 
Dominica 
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador 
Egypt 
El Salvador 
Equatorial Guinea 
Eritrea 
Estonia 
Ethiopia 
Fiji 
Finland 
France 
Gabon 
The Gambia 
Georgia
Germany 
Ghana 
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guatemala 
Guinea 
Guinea-Bissau 
Guyana 
Haiti 
Honduras 
Hungary 
Iceland 
India 
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland 
Israel 
Italy
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan 
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya 
Kiribati 
Korea, North
Kuwait 
Kyrgyzstan 
Laos 
Latvia 
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia 
Libya 
Liechtenstein 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Macedonia 
Madagascar 
Malawi 
Malaysia
Maldives 
Mali 
Malta 
Marshall Islands 
Mauritania 
Mauritius 
Mexico 
Micronesia, Federated States of
Moldova 
Monaco 
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco 
Mozambique 
Namibia 
Nauru 
Nepal 
Netherlands 
New Zealand
Nicaragua 
Niger 
Nigeria 
Norway 
Oman 
Pakistan 
Palau 
Panama 
Papua New Guinea 
Paraguay 
Peru 
Philippines 
Poland 
Portugal 
Qatar 
Romania
Russia 
Rwanda 
Saint Kitts and Nevis 
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa 
San Marino 
São Tomé and Príncipe 
Saudi Arabia 
Senegal 
Serbia 
Seychelles 
Sierra Leone 
Singapore 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Solomon Islands
Somalia 
South Africa
Spain 
Sri Lanka
Sudan 
Suriname 
Swaziland 
Sweden 
Switzerland 
Syria 
Tajikistan 
Tanzania 
Thailand 
Timor-Leste → East Timor
Togo 
Tonga 
Trinidad and Tobago 
Tunisia 
Turkey 
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda 
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States 
Uruguay 
Uzbekistan 
Vanuatu 
Vatican City 
Venezuela 
Vietnam 
Yemen 
Zambia 
Zimbabwe

Sweet Start On Silver Project

Hey guys.  Sorry I haven't been on in a while, but while you have been waiting I have been doing a project  called the Silver Project.

Now, I know you're wondering what's a Silver Project.  Have you ever heard of Girl Scouts?  I am a Girl Scout/Foodie/Gymnast.

Gymnastics rock!

I hope you don't mind if I give you a little background on Girl Scouts and my family. My grandmother, Nana, was a Girl Scout when she was little.  When she was a Girl Scout they didn't have awards like the Bronze or Silver or Gold (the Gold is just like the Boy Scout Eagle Scout, except harder!!).  If they did she probably would have earned all of them.  My great grandmother (we called her G.G.) was her troop leader. This is my GG....

GG and PopPop

My mom carried on the tradition of being a Girl Scout, but unfortunately she quit before middle school. My oldest sister started girl scouts when she was in 1st grade.  She and my mom started the first troop at her school in Florida.  But my sister also quit before middle school.

Now it's my turn to be a Girl Scout. I started when I was in kindergarten with my mom as the leader.   So far I have gone through the stages of being a Daisy,  Brownie, Junior, and now a Cadette. 

My Cadette troop sorting supplies for tornado victims

When I was Junior we earned our Bronze Award by doing a project called Caroling for Cats and Canines.  We sang Christmas carols for people who donated pet supplies.  We collected three cars full to give to the Humane Society.  Now that I am a Cadette I am working on my Silver Award.

I got to thinking: what should I do for my Silver Project?   I thought about the things I love, like cooking and gymnastics.  Gymnastics would be kinda hard to do a project on so I'm focusing on cooking.

Then I thought: what do I most like to make?  And it came to me. CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!!   I love the show called Cake Boss so much that I went on an excursion with my grandparents to go to Carlos Bakery, where it's filmed.

Me and Buddy Valastro (cardboard cutout)

Carlos bakery!!

Lisa and I at Carlos!!! (Lisa is Buddy's sister!!!)

But just visiting a bakery or baking some cupcakes isn't enough for a Silver Project.  So I decided to add some more concepts besides just making cupcakes. Today I brainstormed for ideas.  To get some help I asked my mom and dad what they would do, and they told me what they thought and then I got to thinking.... cupcakes aren't very healthy.

So, lets add a healthy component.  I decided to create a project that will teach younger girl scouts (3rd - 5th grades) how to cook healthy versions of cupcakes.   I have made a  PowerPoint of all of the things I need to do for my Silver Project.  I had to set goals for what I want to accomplish:

• teach the kids the importance of healthy eating
• how to cook
• how to adjust recipes
• how to subsitute ingredents

They would earn a badge for participating.

I also made a To Do list, a preparation list, a research list, and a slide to count how many hours I have worked so far.   It is important to get the foundation of your Silver Project before you actually start doing it. Also, make sure to count your hours because in order to get your Silver Project you have to have 50 hours worth of work.  So far I have 2 hour and 5 minutes.  I know that's not a lot, but I'll eventually get there.

The reason I am blogging about this is because I want to inspire other girls to cook and take on hard projects.  Now, if you follow the steps that I do then you will probably have success, but if you try to cut corners I can't help you.  I hope you will follow me through the next couple of months while I  talk about my process and other key components of this project.