Kitchen Epiphanies

Peruvian Causa – Colorful and spicy mashed potato starters with chicken or shrimp

Leave a Comment / Chicken, Dining & Travel, Peru, Salads, Savory Dishes, Seafood, Starter / Slava

l never thought of eating cold mashed potatoes flavored with various citrus juices and hot peppers as a salad or appetizer until I discovered la causa rellena (literally translated as “the stuffed cause”) in Cusco, Peru’s imperial city high in the Andes Mountains. Until I traveled in Peru, I was dismissive of leftover mashed potatoes. I […]

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Greek Rag Pie – Patsavouropita

Leave a Comment / Cheese, Desserts, Greece, Savory Dishes, Tarts and Pies / Slava

I was inspired to bake this Greek Rag Pie after I saw Nigella Lawson prepare a similar pie on a late-night rerun of the BBC‘s show Simply Nigella. She named it Old Rag Pie and said it was the Greek bakers’ way of using leftover phyllo scraps. I don’t know why Nigella named the recipe

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Spicy Rice Cakes with Pork and Vegetables

Leave a Comment / Korea, Meats, Pork, Savory Dishes, Vegetables / Slava

This Spicy Rice Cakes with Pork and Vegetables stir fry resulted from an exploratory shopping trip. I love experimenting with new ingredients, especially from different ethnic cuisines. I refuse to get into a food rut, recycling the same menus repeatedly and I am fortunate that Weldon enjoys trying out new tastes. To get new meal

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Success Cake – Norwegian Suksessterte

Leave a Comment / Cakes, Custards, Desserts, Norway, Scandinavia / Slava

It’s the middle of March and it’s snowing for the fifth time this month. The piles of snow will linger long after spring starts a few days from now. As I watched the white flurries outside the window this morning, I recalled that Scandinavians go to great lengths to keep spirits up in the waning

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Cornish Hens Tabaka – a Classic Georgian treat

Leave a Comment / Chicken, Republic of Georgia, Savory Dishes / Slava

Cornish Hens Tabaka are a traditional dish indigenous to the Republic of Georgia, a country of nine million inhabitants in the Caucasus Mountains. Its Georgian name originates from “tapha,” the cast iron pan with a weighted, screw-tightened lid used to prepare this succulent dish. It is sometimes also called Tabaka, Tapaka, Chicken Tabaka, Chicken Tabak,

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Morocco – A Travelers’ Sampler II — Food

Leave a Comment / Breads, Desserts, Dining & Travel, Morocco, Salads, Savory Dishes, Seafood, Soups, Vegetables / Slava

Food binds geographically and linguistically diverse Morocco together. Moroccan cooking reflects the influence of indigenous peoples, traders, invaders, immigrants and colonizers, each of whom, over centuries, played a role in the development of local culture and dietary habits with new ingredients and cooking techniques that remain influential today. Today’s Moroccan cuisine is a blend of Berber,

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Morocco – A Travelers’ Sampler I — Sights

Rediscovering Holiday Walnut Cookies

Leave a Comment / Cookies, Bars & Brownies, Desserts, Ukraine / Slava

The old proverb that one man’s trash is another’s treasure applies to kitchen tools and holiday cookies, too. Several years ago, on one of my occasional wanderings through a Kyiv flea market, I spotted an unusual artifact amid a jumble of old kitchen utensils spread out on a blanket on the ground. What attracted my

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Turkey, Ham & Pork Sausage Pie

Leave a Comment / Meats, Savory Dishes, Tarts and Pies / Slava

This Turkey, Ham & Pork Sausage Pie is another solution for holiday leftovers. At our house, even a small turkey or ham often produces too much delicious meat which, while enjoyed the first time served, is hard to serve for more than one additional meal. Turkey and ham sandwiches, assorted creamy casseroles and soups are

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German Apple Cake – Gedeckter Apfelkuchen

Leave a Comment / Cakes, Desserts, Fruit Desserts / Slava

This German Apple Cake – Gedeckter Apfelkuchen was on my to-bake list for years from the time I was a law student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I did not cook or bake much while studying. With 700 pages of weekly reading of treatises and case law, there was little time for culinary endeavors

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