Day 5: Cream Puffs

Because...

Well...

Look at 'em!

Day 4: Crumpets

What do you get when you combine an English muffin and a pancake?

You get a crumpet.

Warm, soft, slightly gummy and full of nooks, crumpets are one of the best bready breakfast items out there. I like mine lightly buttered with honey or apricot marmalade.

Day 3: Tom Kha Gai

Thai cuisine is a hotbed of soupy dishes. Curry and broth bases are the most common, but Tom Kha Gai is one fairly recognizable Thai soup which warrants a good spoonful from anyone who doubts the capabilities of coconut milk as a soup base. Trust me; it works.

Sweet, creamy coconut milk is the perfect canvas for other various seasonings. Lemongrass is often the second strongest flavor after the coconut itself, and it brings a gently acidic touch to what can be quite a rich soup. Freshly sliced chilies or chili oil add a bit of welcome heat.

Tom Kha Gai typically has chicken, but tofu or shrimp can work wonderfully in its place.

Day 2: Peach Cobbler

One particular memory of mine that involves peach cobbler takes place on a summer afternoon, circa 2003. After having played kickball in the streets, all eight of the neighborhood children convened in my dining room for a snack, fresh out of the oven and made by my mother. I recall the cobbler being completely consumed within half an hour.

Sliced, orange peaches, baked under an old-timey biscuit crust. The recipe I'm used to involves buttermilk and a significant amount of cinnamon, but the one below is definitely sufficient.

Peach cobbler, a simple country delight, is one of the many desserts which bring back fond memories of my childhood. Though I didn't grow up anywhere near orchards and fields of black-eyed susans, I acknowledge that the origins of peach cobbler certainly involve rural, Southern farmhouses and generous grandmothers.

Day 1: Thod Man Pla

Thai spicy fish cakes! They're generally served with some sort of cucumber relish. In Thailand I believe they're made of knifefish, but here they're usually cod or halibut. I believe pla krai means knifefish, so on my list I should have just written Thod man pla (sometimes just spelled tod man pla).

Fish, green beans, egg, cilantro, flour and brown sugar ground up and shaped into flat latke-shaped patties, which are then deep fried.

So not gross! If you've ever had any kind of fish patty, the only real difference between these and normal/Western ones (tuna, cod, salmon, etc.) is that these are fried. They're nice and crispy on the outside (the flour both binds it and makes a nice batter, as you can see), but the inside is soft and savory.

In American fish sticks, the fish underneath the breading is generally processed, ground up, and shaped into rectangular patties. Though, if you're in Europe you might not have to suffer American food-processing methods.