Algeria

 Next up was Algeria!  It is a large country (10th largest in the world) that has green areas along the Mediterranean Sea and other parts in the middle of the Sahara Desert.  It has been influenced by so many different civilizations, from the Romans to the Ottoman Empire to French colonial rule.  The main spoken language is Algerian Arabic.

Video List

• Geography Now! Algeria
• Geography More! Algeria
• A Super Quick History of Algeria - These brief history videos are super informative, quick, and surprisingly comprehensive.  (As a heads-up, there are a few pieces of art featured that show nude female slaves.)

I spent a lot of time trying to find a restaurant that would be able to give us a taste of something close to Algerian cuisine.  I thought we might be able to try the harira or tajine at a local Moroccan place, but the reviews were spotty, so we decided to sit this one out.  Amazon turned up nothing food-wise from Algeria (although there are a number of cookbooks).  Instead I have a few links below to some food lists, and if you have any recipes, dishes, or restaurants in the San Antonio area to recommend, I'd love to know!

Food Info

• Top 10 Algerian Traditional Foods - This video can be watched at 1.5 speed just fine, as there is no talking.  There are good pictures, but no information about what is in each dish or how to pronounce it, so this is more a starting list of dishes to look up.
• Traditional Foods of Algeria - This video has good background information and shows various Algerian dishes actually being made.  However, the narrator sounds like it is a digital text reader narrating, so I am not certain that the pronunciations of the dishes are correct.
• Algerian Food: 14 Traditional and Popular Dishes to Try - This article has great descriptions of the dishes, their ingredients, and when/where they are eaten.
• 12 Classic Foods in Algeria - This article is doesn't give as much history or context for each dish, but it does provide a detailed description of what it tastes like, which is especially nice when you can't try them yourself!

Albania

Now that we are back on track with our alphabetical exploration, our next stop was Albania!  It was fun to learn about this country and recognize some similarities from our study of North Macedonia.  Located along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, Albania's geography has meant a long and storied geopolitical history as well as rich biodiversity.  Today, it is an active participant in the international scene and is a member of NATO.

Video List

• Geography Now! Albania
• Geography More! Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria - fun extra info on three countries, and one we will revisit when we cover Algeria next
• Amazing Places to Visit in Albania - beautiful footage of many different sites in Albania
• 10 Things to Know Before You Visit Albania
• Top 10 Traditional Food of Albania - the AI narrator of this video bugged my kids, and it makes the pronunciation of the Albania words suspect, but the list and pictures of the foods is solid
• Amazing Albanian Food - a travel vlog that shows some yummy food, although I don't know why the cameraman has to keep pushing the camera into the food

For our foray into Albanian food, I scoured the interwebs looking for an Albanian restaurant in the area.  I thought I found a food truck called Albanian Kuizine not that far away, but it looks like they went under some time in 2020.  Interestingly enough, word on the street (ie - Facebook) is that there are a number of Albanian-owned restaurants in the San Antonio area, but that they tend to be pizza places and serve what we would consider to be typically Italian food.  This makes sense since their neighbor to the west (just over the sea but not that far away) is Italy.  However, we wanted to try more traditionally Albanian dishes, so we decided to find some recipes online and make some ourselves.

First decided to go with fërgesë, a roasted peppers, tomato, and cheese dish that is usually served as a side but can also be a main course if meat is added.  The traditional meat that is used is liver, which would have been a hard sell to the rest of the family, so we went with the vegetarian side dish option.

The second dish we decided to make was byrek, which is essentially a pastry pie that can have various fillings.  Since it was going to be our main dish, we opted for a pretty standard beef and potato filling.

The first challenge I ran into was that our local grocery store was out of pre-made phyllo pastry, which is the kind of pastry that byrek calls for.  I thought about substituting puff pastry (which was readily available), but then looked up a recipe for phyllo and realized how drastically different the pastries were.  For example, puff pastry is all about the butter for its layers and flakiness, but there is no butter at all in phyllo, and it the layers in phyllo are incredibly thin.  So I sighed, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work making phyllo pastry for the first time!

The ingredients for both the byrek and the fërgesë had to be simmered for awhile to cook off the excess liquid, so it meant our house smelled super yummy!

(Bottom left is the meat and potato filling for the byrek, top right are the roasted peppers and tomatoes for the fërgesë)

I was super pleased with the final results!  The fërgesë was super tasty and really nice on crackers.  It was actually reminiscent of the ajvar that we ate for our study of North Macedonia and would make an awesome dip for hosting.

The byrek was a smash hit with the family.  I was thrilled that my first attempt at phyllo resulted in a crispy and flaky pastry, and the filling was delicious.  The kids have asked me if I can make it again, which is good because the recipes I used made two whole pies, so we have another one for tomorrow!

Czechia (Czech Republic)

Our neighbors surprised us again with some fun snacks from Czechia left over from their Universal Yums box!  When I studied Czechia as a child, it was still part of Czechoslovakia, so it was fun to get to learn about what has happened since then and focus on the Czech culture.  Full of castles and old traditions, it sounds like a country we would love to visit!

Video List

• Geography Now! Czech Republic (Czechia)
• Flag Friday! Czech Republic (Czechia)
  
• 14 Must-Try Foods & Drinks in Prague
  
• The Breakup of Czechoslovakia (Velvet Revolution) - short 4 minute animated video with a good timeline of events leading up to, part of, and the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution
  
• Czech Republic - 10 Interesting Facts - narrator is a little bland, but the facts are actually interesting
  
• Interesting Cultural Facts & Traditions of the Czech Republic - we lost interest in the middle of the last speaker's stories, but overall was enjoyable to watch
  
• A Super Quick History of the Czech Republic
  
• Top 10 Places to Visit in the Czech Republic
  
• Wolters World - 10 Shocks of Visiting the Czech Republic - nothing super shocking, but good information, and we like Wolters World videos
  
• 10 Things Not to Do in Czech Republic - not our favorite video, but I left it in because it is useful if you are actually going to travel there soon, and it mentions the wooden marionettes, which we encountered at our Czech restaurant later on
• Do You Feel Like a Typical Czech? - this was a video we watched to give us a taste of what the language Czech sounds like
  

There were some fun and unusual (to us) flavor combinations in the Czechia snacks we received from our friends.  Our kids enjoyed the apple cinnamon gummy straws:

On the other hand, my favorite was the spicy mustard chips!

Coming home from an activity, we stumbled across Sasha's European Market and HAD to go in and check it out!  While it mostly carries Russian goods, they did have some sparkling water from Czechia that we purchased to go along with all of our snacks.

We were also lucky enough to find an authentic Czech restaurant!  A quick Google search turned up Little Gretel, which we had always thought was just a German restaurant.  Reading this article from the San Antonio magazine set us straight, and we were super excited to go! 

We ordered the Svickova (beef with bread dumplings - on the far left), spaetzle (center left), Bohemian herb roasted duck (top middle), Jaeger Schnitzel (bottom center), Czech potato salad (center right), and Bavarian meatloaf (far right).  It was all really delicious, and the kids even enjoyed the cabbage.

For dessert, we ordered Czech kolaches in all of the offered varieties: farmer's cheese and fruit, poppyseed, and plum jelly.  We divvied them up so that we each got to try every flavor.  We decided that we would be very happy eating in Czechia!