After a long time, let’s talk about the cuisine again.For example, about Hokkaido pumpkin soup.Hokkaido pumpkin also “Hokkaido” (Japanese: “Uchiki kuri” katakana: ウチキクリ), (scientific name Cucurbita maxima var. maxima Red Kuri) descriptive: “Japanese pumpkin”, is a cultivated subspecies of giant pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) belonging to the family pumpkin.Hokkaido pumpkins can be eaten raw, cooked in…
Category: food
Coffee at Partizani
In April 2009, I traveled around Albania with a group of photography enthusiasts.Albania, then a land of poverty, bunkers, young people and Mercedes cars. Mercedes cars? You could see Mercedes on every corner. When you ask how this is possible, given the financial situation of most Albanians, they answer that Mercedes is a status symbol….
New York, Krizolog and Sushi
I was in New York for the first time way back in February of 1977. At that time, New York was considered a city of crime, mafia, pornography and more. Harlem was not recommended for whites to enter. Times Square was not yet at the crossroads of the world. My friends, the locals, were shaking…
Calendula Tincture
Calendula officinalis, the pot marigold, common marigold, ruddles, Mary’s gold or Scotch marigold, is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is probably native to southern Europe, although its long history of cultivation makes its precise origin unknown, and it may possibly be of garden origin. It is also widely naturalized farther north…
How to Mash Potatoes and Why
Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a side dish to meat or vegetables. Roughly mashed potatoes are sometimes called smashed potatoes. Dehydrated instant…
Sneak Peak into the French Cuisine
So that it won’t just be my grandmother’s Austro-Hungarian cuisine, let’s try French cuisine this time.Do you know why the French eat snails? – Because they don’t like fast food.The French, and some others, swear that French cuisine is the best in the world. Maybe yes or maybe not. To the average non-French person, for…
Kaiserschmarren or Emperor’s Mess
OK, promises, promises.A little more about the Kaiserschmarren.The name Kaiserschmarren is a compound of the words Kaiser (emperor) and Schmarren (a scrambled or shredded dish). Schmarren is also a colloquialism used in Austrian and Bavarian to mean trifle, mishmash, mess, rubbish, or nonsense. The word “Schmarren” is related to scharren (to scrape) and schmieren (to…
Buying Pistachios at the Market in Yazd
The pistachio (Pistacia vera), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from an area that includes Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food.The name pistachio is from late Middle English pistace, from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian…
Kebab in Iran
Kebab, kebob, kabob…According to tradition, the dish was invented by medieval soldiers who used their swords to grill meat over open-field fires. Kebab, also spelled kebob or kabob, dish of Middle Eastern or Central Asian origin that typically combines small pieces of meat such as lamb or beef with vegetables on a skewer and is…
Coffee Grinder
Because last time we had coffee.I can’t imagine what they used to grind coffee a hundred years ago at Hafiz Mustafa 1864. They probably had a bigger machine, after all, they are a coffee shop, not an afternoon siesta at the neighbor’s.This grinder has always been in my family. I found it long forgotten on…