Tasty Turkey – Visions of Hatay
Thanks to a wonderful event called Mediterranean Culinary Days (admirably organized by Adnan Sahin, the president of the Anatolian Folk Cuisine Association), I spent three days in Antakya (Antioch), a city in the province of Hatay, in Anatolia. There, the wind blows with abandon, sweeping this busy, cacaphonic spot free of dust. With a bustling center that […]
Two Tacoma Hot Spots
I was just in Tacoma, Washington, the forgotten city south of Seattle, for a quick trip. As I meandered through the lovely old neighborhoods, I asked myself why everyone isn’t clamoring to live in this jewel of a city. The views of Commencement Bay and Mount Rainier are incredible, the neighborhoods and downtown vintagely beautiful, […]
Create a Cheese Tray for Easter
The cheese course is one of the crowning glories of French cuisine. It arrives at the end of the meal, before dessert, because cheese contains enzymes that help with digestion. It’s that simple! Putting together a wonderful cheese platter is simple too. Think “less is more”, quality over quantity. Four cheeses is a great number, […]
Farm-o-mat
I was driving down a familiar country road on Friday, after a visit to one of the high schools my daughter is considering. I say familiar, because I drove my son down that road daily during his high school years, reveling (yes, reveling), in the small, stone villages, the brick farmhouses, the expanses of waving […]
A Hearty Winter Dish
Here’s a great winter dish that you can whip up in no time. It’s a cross between tartiflette – which is made with reblochon and comes from the Savoy, a mountainous departement in the southeast of France – and raclette, which is made with potatoes smothered in raclette and served with cured meats, cornichons and […]
Pura – Bosnian Polenta
Yesterday I learned how to make a dish called pura, the Bosnian version of polenta, with its own delicious twist. Zora Pentic was my “teacher.” Zora belongs to a rural women’s group dedicated to keeping the old food ways, and part of my job while here was to offer a cooking demonstration to this group. […]
Making Pita in the hills above Sarajevo
A personal dream came true today as I watched Zijada, a Bosniak cook at the mountain chalet Ruralna Kuca, make and roll out the paper-thin dough that makes a Bosnian pita, or pie, so very special. The dough isn’t like any sort of French pastry. There is no fat in it, except the sunflower oil […]
