From the beginnings of Islam, there have been three types of mosques: Djuma mosques, which are intended for the large crowds that come to Friday services, Namazga country mosques (musalla idgoh), which are used by the male population of both the city and the surrounding countryside to celebrate the two Muslim holidays Qurban and Ramazan,…
Author: Brane
Salted Chestnut Puree
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus Castanea, in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.The unrelated horse chestnuts (genus Aesculus) are not true chestnuts, but are named for producing nuts of similar appearance that…
With Alamut on Alamut
“I wrote for a modern audience, and yet! I had the feeling that I was simultaneously writing for an audience that will live fifty years from now, and almost also for an audience that lived fifty years ago.” – Vladimir Bartol about his novel Alamut Alamut is a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in…
Quince (and Pear) Jam
The quince (/ˈkwɪns/; Cydonia oblonga) is the sole member of the genus Cydonia in the Malinae subtribe (which also contains apples and pears, among other fruits) of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yellow pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear. Ripe quince fruits are hard, tart,…
Ayurvedic Fennel Soup
Let’s cook some soup today. Fennel one. With some Indian spices to make it look Ayurvedic.What is fennel anyway?Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely…
When the Day Comes
When the day comesafter the night of dyingeverything seems so differentand yetlooking for traces of blood,and the smell of burnt meat,the scratches of bullets on the walls of my room.My trembling heart in your hands.Hide it in your eyes,lock it up in your chest.Can’t you hear them coming from the dark depthsto take everything from…
How to Open a Bottle of Wine
Of course, we are talking about those real bottles of wine that are still closed with a cork stopper. Unfortunately, many bottles today are closed with a metal cap. Some with plastic fake cork. And wine in a tetrapak is also available… without comment.So to open classic bottles we need a corkscrew.The Cambridge Dictionary records…
Having Capuccino in New York
New York in the Gay Eighteen Nineties had almost everything, except for a place where an opera lover, after a night of Verdi or Puccini, could relax, play a Neapolitan card game called “Scopa” and drink a cup or two of espresso.The story behind the opening of the oldest paticceria in the U.S. in 1892…
Narrow-leaved and Broad-leaved Plantain
We know two types of plantain, broad-leaved and narrow-leaved. Both are useful for similar purposes, except that the broad-leaved one is more effective in healing wounds, while the narrow-leaved one is most often used to relieve colds. Both species are characterized by leaves with visible longitudinal veins, but they differ noticeably mainly in the shape…
Samarkand Bread
One hot July in 2015, on the way from Andijan to Tashkent, I came across a roadside bread stand.What a wealth of smell, shape, taste…Samarkand non or “Samarkand bread” is a traditional bread from Uzbekistan. It is a very popular bread that accompanies the numerous dishes of the traditional Uzbek cuisine.It differs in its sizes,…