2014 Olympics: Iceland

Today's Olympics honoree is Iceland. Gail made an Icelandic dish she found on Food.com: Andreas Viestad's chicken with saffron and cinnamon. The cinnamon flavors were mild, but given that roast chicken is such a favorite of mine, this dish was a wonderful melding of international and familiar flavors. The drippings made a great sauce for the potatoes.

I poured Garún Nr. 19, an Icelandic stout from Borg Brugghús. I'm not sure I've poured a darker stout. I thought it tasted like a beer version of coffee ice cream, very rich and creamy.

2014 Olympics: Russia

The Winter Olympics have started, and as we usually do, we are celebrating with international food and drink. Tonight we made perogies and I had a shot of vodka to honor Russia, the host nation. Gail and I are struck each time we do this that the international foods with staying power typically have simple ingredients and are unusually satisfying. They are the comfort foods of other nations. The other thing that strikes us is the amount of work per bite that it takes to make many of these dishes.

These perogies are a seasoned mashed potato wrapped in a pasta-like dough. The dumplings are boiled and served in a sauce of onions and butter. They are very simple and delicious.