Apparently I hadn’t had enough dumpling making after the pelmeni/vareniki day, so I jumped straight into making some Georgian dumplings, called Khinkali. To accompany this, we made some Khachapuri, a Georgian bread dish full of cheese and topped with an egg and butter. This was a heavy meal, and the cooking process did not exactly go to plan. But I’m out here sharing my successes and my failures, so let’s get to it. I tried Khinkali for the first time at a Georgian restaurant in St. Petersburg . These are like a huge version of soup dumplings. They are intimidating the first time. They’re big and the process of eating…
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Pelmeni – Russian meat dumplings
As the shelter-in-place draws on and on, I am going through waves of excessive energy and the urge to stay busy and make things, followed by periods of near paralysis, glued to a video game for a few days or a week. I think I enjoy both, and each is kind of a re-charge from the other. The past 2 weeks have been a huge up-swing in energy and making things. While this week is much more sedate, which allows me time to actually sit and sift through a million photos and write about things. I’m not usually prone to such differences in mood, but I think the news and…
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Croquemouche – Birthday Baking
It is 2020 and we are still under shelter-in-place orders, so for my birthday, I celebrated #atHomeTogether. I wanted to plan a relaxing, luxurious day for myself, but also have some fun and not be bored. This resulted in what I called my “Birthday Obstacle Course”. I sectioned my back yard into activity stations, with a lounging area to play Animal Crossing, a refreshment area stocked with an array of charcuterie and accoutrements, a table with a hand-sewing project to work on, and through it all, I kept open a Zoom chat wherein pretty much anyone I know could drop in at any time and have a chat. It was…
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Let’s talk Tartiflette
Last year, I was lucky enough to spend the month of November as a temporary resident of Luxembourg. I had a marvelous time, enjoyed tons of interesting food and experiences, but the thing I enjoyed most was discovering raclette. Apparently, this is a winter-time treat enjoyed throughout this region of Europe and, because I love cheese more than a normal amount, this delicious meal of pure, melted cheese served with sliced meats, boiled potatoes, and steamed veggies, was amazing. But today, we are not here to talk about raclette. It seems that, in my haste to eat raclette everywhere I found it last year, I might have missed out on…
