From Scratchistan

Cold Yogurt Soup

2010-08-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

The movers come in an hour to pack up our house for the big move back to Door County. We are down to pretty bare bones when it comes to the kitchen, so making this easy soup is a snap, especially on a hot summer day.

Firstly, find everything and anything green in your fridge! I had green onions, cucumbers and tons of fresh herbs. And some radishes for color and bite.

I used 500 grams of kefir, which I hear has found a market in the U.S.

A handful of radishes.

And an equal handful each of the herbs. I'm going to miss the cheap abundant herbs in this part of the world, I know that already.

And two cucumbers.

This is ridiculously easy. Pour the kefir (or yogurt plus water) into a large bowl.

Finely chop several scallions, here I chopped a small bunch.

I chopped about 2 tablespoons of fresh mint. Mint is my new favorite herb. I've really only recently taken it from the obvious cocktail to anything with vegetables.

Since this is an herb soup don't skimp on the herbs! Add a ton of parsley.

Dill.

Cilantro. Or is this the parsley? Or chinese celery come to think of it? I always need to scratch-n-sniff to tell the difference.

Radishes, finely diced.

Peeled, seeded and finely chopped cucumbers.

And for a little kick, very finely diced hot chili pepper.

Mix all the ingredients well and then taste. Add salt and pepper as needed. If I had sumac on hand I would have added it, but I didn't so I didn't.

Very refreshing. Very healthy. Very tasty. Check, check, check.

From Dushanbe to Sturgeon Bay: The Big Move!

2010-08-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

We're moving home! We've lived abroad for the last 10 1/2 of 13 years and are going to give it another whirl. We are excited and sad at the same time. Excited to reconnect with family and old friends, but sad to leave our latest home and our Dushanbe family.

I knew this time would come, eventually, but I didn't think it would come this soon. Two years is nothing, after all. Or, better put, two years have passed too damn fast. I feel like Dushanbe is still becoming my home, that there's a lot that I have yet to learn about it.

To say that it's been a whirlwind lately - of activity and emotions - is an understatement. It's sort of akin to being on a 24/7 rollercoaster. One minute my arms are high over my head and I'm screaming with delight and the next minute my arms are clutching my stomach and I'm ready to barf.

In a sweet gesture of support, my husband bought me this. Anti-stress soap.

The joke wasn't lost on me and the brief chuckle I enjoyed managed to lighten the moment, for a little bit at least. And then I continued my trajectory to the lipyoshka. C'mon people, empty promises versus carbs. Which would you turn to?

Bread makes everything better, doesn't it?

Bright Lights Chard Quiche From Scratch

2010-07-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a good friend's house for brunch. I had half of Martha Stewart's pate brisee in the fridge so I knew a quiche was the way to go. But I didn't want the heavy bacon/ cheese/ ham/ potato/ prosciutto/ more cheese kind. Rest assured, I know that there is a time and a place for that kind of quiche, but the rainbow chard "Bright Lights" in my garden has been very, very good to me and I wanted to make a quiche that showcased this beautiful dark leafy green, allowing it to be the center of attention. I adapted this recipe from Martha's website.

Despite being in the fridge, the dough quickly became too soft to roll out. Rather, my kitchen was too much of a hostile environment for the dough. It must've been about 400 degrees in my kitchen. So after a few attempts at rolling the sticky mess, I resorted to pressing it into the pie plate. I'm sure I broke someone's cardinal rule about pie dough pressing, but it worked for me! The only thing I'd do differently is build the sides higher so the shell could hold more liquid.

I blind baked the pie by cutting out a round of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the dough and filled the pie with about a pound of dried kidney beans and baked at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. After removing the parchment paper and the beans, I continued baking the crust for 5 minutes until lightly golden.

While the crust cools, move on to the filling, which couldn't be any easier. Five eggs.

One cup heavy cream and one cup of milk.

Three tablespoons of flour.

Whizz one egg and the 3 tablespoons of flour until a paste is formed. Ignore the bit of eggshell.

See? It disappears!

Add the final four eggs and whizz.

Drop in one teaspoon of salt.

Add the cup of cream and cup of milk while the processor is running.

Add about a teaspoon of dried thyme. Or really any other herb you like.

And some freshly ground pepper.

Whizz one last time, and you have the liquid part of the quiche filling.

Once the pie shell has cooled, it's time to put the last bits together. I used about 1/4 cup of cheddar. Not much cheese at all.

Chop the stems off the chard and use them for something else. I chopped them finely and sauteed them with some olive oil and garlic and then put them into an omelette this morning.

Pass a knife through the chard leaves, making wide ribbons. Pack that chard and cheese into the pie shell, alternating as you go.

Once you think you have enough chard, go ahead and pack another handful or two right in there. I basically halved all of the other ingredients in Martha's recipe, but I didn't cut back on the chard at all.

Then pour your liquid over the greens.

And tamp down the chard to make sure it's covered with the liquid. Then pop it in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes at 375, then reduce the heat and bake for about 45 - 50 minutes at 350.

The final result.

Isn't this gorgeous? But wait. Once you cut into it, the show really begins.

Just look at the ribbons of chard! Doesn't this look like the veins in blue cheese? Seriously. Isn't this incredible looking? And it tastes just as good as it looks! Not to mention you get your daily fill of dark green leafies!

Enjoy!

Relief in Varzob

2010-07-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Summer in Dushanbe is not for the faint hearted. Typically there's not a stitch of rain for months on end and it's dry and dusty. We made plans last week to head into the mountains --which make up about 95% of the terrain in Tajikistan-- to catch some relief at one of the resorts along the river just outside of the city.

We waited on our front stoop for our friends to arrive so we could caravan because I'm a freak when I'm driving outside the city for the first time by myself. Just a tad paranoid.

My girls were ready to hit the road! As an aside, why is it so hard to get both of my girls to smile at the same time in a photo?

Or keep their eyes open? I need to learn the tricks of photoshop.

Here I am following L on a road that was thankfully NOT graced with road police. L has diplomatic plates and I don't. Let's just say I've trained the girls well when we get pulled over by the road police. They roll down their windows, greet the police with their Tajik as salamu alaykum and big grins. Works every single time. Not so much when I'm alone in the car and do it.

It's a short twenty minute drive outside of Dushanbe, following the winding river north.

Past the lake.

And more winding river.

And picturesque villages along the winding river.

Past the little village of Shaftmijgon.

Until we reached the final destination, our little hideaway in the mountains.

Even outfitted with a kiddy pool!

After hours of swimming fun, and by fun I mean fighting over the floaty devices, it became clear that someone wanted to go home.

Seriously, Mom. Before I lose it.

Watermelon Sorbet from Scratch

2010-06-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

I came up with this quick and easy sorbet when we lived in Azerbaijan. It's the perfect way to make use of the abundant watermelon this time of year and satisfy your sweet tooth without breaking the calorie bank. All you need is a work horse food processor, watermelon and banana and some time.

So, get yourself to the market and buy yourself a melon or two. In our case, we aren't talking about the nearest Whole Foods or Stop-n-Shop. We talking one of the open air fruit and veg bazaars. Heaven!

This is ridiculously easy. Split the melon in half.

Scoop the flesh into chunks. I used a melon baller, but a spoon or a measuring tablespoon works just fine. I picked out the seeds if they were easy to get at but didn't worry about most of them.

Line up the watermelon chunks on a jelly roll pan -- or something with a lip to catch the juice -- and put it into the freezer until fully frozen. At this point you can then toss the individual frozen chunks into a ziplock bag or a tupperware and grab a handful at any point. This is an important step if you don't want one huge mass of frozen watermelon!

Make sure you catch the juice as you go through this step. Pure watermelon juice. Perfection.

Pour over some ice and you've got yourself an agua fresca, a deliciously refreshing byproduct!

This sorbet is meant to be eaten right away. So, once the melon is frozen and you are ready for your sorbet, measure out about 2 cups of frozen melon and half a banana for one serving.

Put the frozen melon into the food processor.

And whizz it for a good two or three minutes (depending on your machine) until it's broken down into fine chunks, almost like light pink ice crystals.

Now add half of a room temperature banana, in chunks.

Process on high, scraping the sides as needed, for about another 2 or 3 minutes.

Keep this up until the melon-banana mixture becomes like soft serve ice cream. Don't be tempted to over process it and melt the watermelon too much. It's a fine line! Not really, but the goal is a frozen treat and not a liquid drink.

Once the right consistency, put it into your serving dish/bowl and consume.

And there you go, the perfect mid-summer treat to cool yourself down.

Choban Salad with Chickpeas from Scratch

2010-06-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

The tomato and cucumber salad is ubiquitous is these parts. Most every table - whether it be at a restaurant or a friend's house, will offer a variation of the choban salad, or shepard's salad. And many times, it's not even required to be in salad form. Whole cukes and tomatoes with a few sprigs of herbs often suffices.

With it being tomato and cucumber season, I had everything on hand to make my own version of choban salat, with a mediterranean twist by adding a bit of feta and chickpeas. It makes for a super healthy lunch on days when it's way too hot to think about turning on the oven.

Here's what I had on hand: a bunch of chinese celery (which admittedly I thought was parsley at first), chickpeas (that I cooked in large batches and froze in two cup quantities), a lemon, a green pepper, two cukes, one tomato, feta and olive oil.

First things first. Dice the tomato.

Lop off the top of the pepper and gut it with your fine knife skills.

Cut into slices and then dice.

Peel and slice your cucumbers. Or keep the skin on if you prefer. I didn't bother to scrape the seeds out. But if you aren't lazy like me, slice the cucumber in half and take a spoon and scoop out the seeds.

Dice.

I decided to add the one lonely scallion that was in my fridge.

Dice that, too.

Place all that chopped goodness into a bowl.

This is what I think is known as chinese celery. Smells and tastes like celery but it has slim stalks and tons of foliage, the opposite of it's western counterpart. Any herb really could be used here.

For the simple dressing, slice one meyer lemon in half.

Juice it.

And following the old rule of thumb for a vinaigrette, add twice as much olive oil. This is a 3:1 ratio of olive oil to lemon juice. You can take this in a million directions....

....but I just added a touch of salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Shake, shake, shake until nice and creamy. This makes a lot of dressing, much more than you'll need for this salad so use it throughout the week.

Pour it on your salad ingredients.

And toss gently.

Serve it up with a few cubes of feta and that's lunch.

And as a bonus meal, I turned this into a gazpacho like soup later in the week. I pureed a few cups of the salad in my food processor until chunky and then added about a 1 or 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar and about two cups of spicy tomato juice.

It was a refreshing melding of gazpacho and hummus! And another way to avoid the stove on a 100 degree day.

Asian Plum Sauce from Scratch

2010-06-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

It's never good news when a cherished food item you've hauled back in your suitcase goes moldy. This past week we were forced to toss our oyster sauce. While I never found a suitable recipe to make it from scratch (as Tajikistan is nearly a double land-locked country, it's not a surprise we don't have fresh oysters!), I did discover a recipe for another must-have asian condiment. Plum sauce.

And as luck would have it, I had everything on hand, including the almost-over-the-edge plums. I was inspired by the Asian Plum Sauce recipe in the fabulous The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard. I stole this book from my sister the moment it arrived on her doorstep. But I did the right thing and bought a replacement on Amazon asap for her. Following is my slight adaptation.

From the top left going clockwise, you'll need brown sugar (mine came from Kabul -- but that's a story meant for a separate post), plums, golden raisins, cider vinegar, freshly grated ginger, garlic, cayenne, cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, soy sauce, salt, and onion.

I chopped a pound of fresh plums. In my case, they are red plums. You can see they were very, very ripe.

Toss the chopped plums into a sauce pan.

Add 1 cup of packed brown sugar.

Next, pour in 2/3 cup of cider vinegar. If you live in this part of the woods, make sure it's NOT the locally produced 70% cider vinegar!!! Unless, of course, you want to pickle your insides.

And 1 tsp of salt.

At this point, mix well and place the sauce pan over high heat and boil gently, for about 3 minutes.

After boiling for three minutes, add the rest of your ingredients: 1 cup of chopped onion, 2 minced cloves of garlic, a little less than 1/4 cup of golden raisins, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1/8 tsp each of cayenne, ground cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and 1/4 tsp grated fresh ginger.

Boil for about 45 minutes, uncovered, until thickened, about 40 minutes.

I preferred to have the sauce a bit smoother, so once it was slightly cooled, I placed it into my food processor.

And whizzed for about half a minute.

And, viola! Asian Plum Sauce from Scratch. Now Now all I need to do is find me some roasted duck and chinese pancakes...

Going Local: Raspberry Blue Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette from Scratch

2010-06-07T02:11:00.000-07:00

There's so much hope in a packet of seeds, especially on the darkest of winter days. The summer sun was a distant memory as I sat bundled up in extra layers in my Tajik house which was frequently without heat, electricity or water. On really bad days, we were without all three, but this year those days were very few and far between. Planning my garden, surrounded by my packets of seeds was a firm reminder that Tajik winters really are quite short-lived and generally pretty mild.

When it comes to gardening, I'm a novice, learning a bit more year after year. What I've learned is that I love growing mixed lettuces! They are so forgiving and as long as you are good about harvesting (which I am self-admittedly not), the cut-and-come-again varieties will last you for a good couple of months. I started this batch in a big galvanized tin about three months ago.

I trimmed back this bunch today and having popped my head in the fridge to see what was lurking, I came up with this delicious summer salad.

For this deceptively simple salad, I tossed a handful of ripe raspberries, a bit of crumbled blue cheese, about four chopped walnuts and tons of black pepper.

A simple balsamic vinaigrette finished it off.

Or, should I say, I finished it off?

Going Local: Pad Thai from Scratch

2010-05-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I was looking for one of those make ahead dishes that can be served later that day or even the next day by simply reheating on the stove top. We've been having work done on the house we live in for the last month, so I've been relying on these dishes to get me through the times I don't have access to my kitchen.

I decided on this pad thai recipe primarily because I had all the ingredients and because it's the short-cut version of pad thai. In fact, if you substitute soy sauce for the fish sauce, it's a Going Local recipe, meaning you can find everything here in Dushanbe. More traditional recipes will call for tamarind paste, coconut palm sugar, shallot and/or banana flower. If you have banana flower, I say use it! But if not, this version is perfect for the home cook based in Dushanbe, or Sturgeon Bay, for that matter!

Here's what you need. The bean sprouts and the tofu can be bought from "the Chinese Ladies at the Green Bazaar". I froze lime juice from fresh limes I bought in the Green Bazaar last year. The brown sugar can be made this way -- use local molasses if you don't have any from the US. The rice noodles were bought most likely at Tim or Paikar. The rest of the ingredients -- cilantro, green onion, onion, eggs, garlic can be bought almost anywhere in town.

First up, the noodles. I reconstituted in hot water per the recipe's directions but these noodles need more heat. I recommend that you follow the directions on the back for cooking.

I ended up having to cook them in boiling water for about 4 minutes on the stove top after about an hour of soaking.

Once cooked, set the noodles aside then move on to the sauce:

3 tablespoons of ketchup.

3 tablespoons of fish sauce. You can substitute soy sauce if you don't have fish sauce.

I added a hunk of frozen lime juice I had buried in my freezer. I called it 2 tablespoons.

And 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.

And that's your sauce. Put it aside.

Next are the scrambled eggs. I decreased the amount of oil in the recipe and put only about 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil into my non-stick wok.

Beat the three eggs, then place into the hot oil over medium high. Scramble the eggs until slightly firm. Don't over cook. Slide them out onto a plate and set them aside.

Add another tablespoon of oil into the wok and bring that up to temperature. Add the onion,

and the garlic and saute for a few minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.

Then add your protein of choice, tofu in this case. Cook the tofu for about 2 minutes.

Then add your ketchup sauce.

And two cups out of the three of bean sprouts to the stir fry.

And the chopped green onions. (Pretend they are chopped. I deleted that photo accidentally).

And the cooked noodles and 1/4 cup of water. Cook the mixture until the liquid has almost all evaporated.

Add your scrambled eggs back into the mixture, making sure they are broken up into little chunks.

Toss in the coarsely chopped cilantro, about 1/4 - 1/2 cup.

Cook until everything is heated through. Add the last cup of the bean sprouts and toss. Then it's ready to serve - either on a family-sized plate or in individual bowls.

Either way, garnish with coarsely chopped peanuts and dig in!

And while I was relegated to the top chan (the raised tea bed) while the "masters" replastered and repainted the earthquake cracks last week, I enjoyed my leftovers.

And paired with a cold diet coke on a hot day with a dollap of sriracha hot sauce, I dare say it was even better the next day.

Going Local: Tomato Soup From Scratch

2010-04-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Ok. So maybe tomato soup is more of a fall food. When the leaves start turning and there's a chill in the air. For us here in The Dush, we are into the low 80s during the day. So why tomato soup? 1) I love tomatoes! and 2) You should see how many canned and jarred tomatoes I have in my pantry. I must have had some irrational fear of a tomato shortage going into the winter season last year. Not only did I hord store bought jarred tomatoes whenever I found them, I also preserved a ton of them last September.

This is my quick and dirty version of tomato soup. The ratio of tomato to onion to garlic is variable and is determined by what I have on hand and how garlickly I think I can go with the soup and still have my five year olds eat it.

Which leads me to the third reason I make this soup. 3) My girls LOVE it.

Grab a couple of garlic cloves.

Smash them with the flat side of your knife with your palm. Do NOT cut yourself. Again, there's no reason for any of us to be testing the Tajik medical system. Some things are better left to the imagination.

With the flat side of the blade, sharp edge away from you, bash the cloves with your fist and occassionally sweep the sharp edge at about a 20 degree angle across the crushed cloves. Ignore this step if that doesn't make sense. You're just trying to flatten the cloves so you can more easily mince them.

Once flattened, mince finely.

Then grab an onion or two and dice them.

Grab your olive oil and put a few glugs into the bottom of a good sized pot. Perhaps one or two tablespoons worth.

Saute the onion for about five minutes, then add your minced garlic, sauteing for another five minutes or so.

Add your jarred tomatoes.

Plain jarred tomatoes are not always available in these parts (see Hording above). Don't confuse them with the much more readily available pickled tomatoes. Although, if you dumped the brine it might not be that bad....

These tomatoes had their skin on so once in the pot I easily slipped the skins off with my fingers.

Fill your jar up about 3/4 of the way with vegetable stock - or chicken stock, or beef stock or even water.

Then add to the tomatoes.

Simmer over medium heat for at least 15 minutes, but longer if you wish.

Then it's time to whip out your handy stick blender.

Notice the orange hue? It's made so many tomato soups that it's permanently stained. I like that.

Immerse your immersion blender directly into the pot and carefully puree it until it's smooth. Eat now or save for later. It's even better the second day!

Pair it with a grilled cheese, and all's right in the world again.

Rhubarb Strawberry Tart From Scratch

2010-04-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

Rhubarb grows wild 'round these parts. And its currently in season. Vowing to be more adventuresome and take full advantage of seasonal fruits and vegetables this year, I bought myself a big bunch.

I confess that last year I bought it, never got around to using it and it went straight into the compost pile. But not this year. This year I set my mind to making a rhubarb strawberry tart, which I adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe.

The night before I made the tart, I sprinkled sugar over the cut up rhubarb and let it hang out in the fridge overnight.

When it was time to make the tart, I generously buttered my tart pan with the removable bottom.

And gave it a dusting of flour.

I was ill prepared and didn't have any room temperature butter, so I grated the butter with a cheese grater.

Not bothering to get out the hand mixer or use my food processor, I mixed the butter and the sugar by hand.

The recipe called for a vanilla bean, which I didn't have. But I did have this cool vanilla bean paste I've been wanting to use.

It can also be used as a substitute for vanilla extract. Very cool.

See the specks?

The batter came together very quickly.

I thawed some frozen strawberries from last season, which took the place of the blackberries. I did my best to squeeze the liquid from them so the tart wouldn't be soggy.

Once the batter was distributed evenly in the pan, the rhubarb and strawberries were strewn on top.

And then, once in the oven, I realized I forgot the last sprinkling of sugar. With care not to singe the hair on my arms, I dusted a layer of sugar over the fruit. Or is rhubarb a vegetable?

The recipe said to cook for 60 minutes, and I'm thankful I glanced at the tart at 50 minutes because it was already on the very brown side. Which actually was a nice counterpart to the vanilla ice cream.

Next go around with rhubarb? Perhaps something savory, like a chutney or a sauce for meat.

Eggless Oatmeal Muffins From Scratch

2010-04-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

This post is less about my eternal quest for delicious wholesome snacks for my girls and more about a revelation I had when I found out I was out of eggs midway through the making of a batch of oatmeal muffins.

In fact, like many things I make in the kitchen, I didn't take any pictures of the process of making these simple oatmeal muffins. My girls were due home in less than an hour, and is usually the case, I was simply trying to knock these out before they turned into little cranky snack-less monsters.

Half way through making these I discovered that the sole egg that I thought was in the fridge was actually not there. I have a friend who can't eat eggs right now because her six month old baby is allergic and I recall reading about egg substitutes in baking. I knew flax seeds were a replacement, but I hadn't tried this before. Well, before this batch of muffins, that is.

I discovered that if you grind 1 tablespoon of flax seeds in a coffee grinder and then add 3 tablespoons of water, the gelatinous-y goop that results in a perfectly good substitute for one egg. Not to mention a big boost of omega-3s!

Both girls gobbled these up (one even asking for a second) and thusly avoided any sort of witching hour today. In my book, that's reason to celebrate. And to make sure I make these again in the very near future!

Oatmeal Muffins

adapted from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook

yield: 12 muffins

1 1/3 cups of flour

3/4 cups of oats

1/3 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons of water

3/4 cups of milk

1/4 cup cooking oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. Create a well in the center for the wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix the flax seeds mixture, milk and oil. Quickly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix sparingly -- until the batter just comes together. If you over mix you'll end up with some nice hockey pucks.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Rooibos Mint Sun Tea From Scratch

2010-04-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

Continuing the beverage theme, I made a big batch of sun tea this weekend. It was very reminiscent of high school for some reason.

First I layered a few pieces of muslin.

Then I found some South African rooibos teabags in the pantry. I measured out about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the rooibos.

And then about 1/2 tablespoon of darjeeling tea. This is just what I had on hand. You can go any which way with this.

And then I added an equal portion of dried mint (2 tablespoons) onto the muslin clothe. I love mint! Fresh, dried, doesn't matter. In my tea, in my mojito, in my mint chip ice cream, in my salads. Delish.

Next I tied the tea and mint up with some string, forming a make shift steeping bag.

Then I cleaned out the largest glass container I have.

And poured about 12 cups of water in it.

And tossed in the tea and mint combo. Looks like a gross science experiment doesn't it? Think fetal pig. Or not. Maybe that's why this tea reminds me of high school...

Bring your tea outside into direct sun for a few hours to steep.

After about an hour, this is what it looked like.

And after about three hours, it was done!

The mint adds such a nice kick. Next time I'll try fresh mint and see if I can't get the minty background even brighter.

Put it in the fridge and serve over ice so it's nice and cold. Then grab a book and find your hammock and enjoy a quiet Sunday afternoon. Then tell me what a quiet afternoon reading a book in a hammock drinking fresh sun tea feels like so I can live vicariously through you!

Chai Latte Concentrate and Crumpets

2010-04-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

The other day my friend A was telling me about this amazing product called chai latte concentrate, which allows you to bring Starbucks pretty much into your home. But then the story turned sad because she told me about how she drank it all up in about two seconds flat and obviously couldn't buy any more in Dushanbe.

After educating myself on what's in a chai latte, I found this recipe from A Crafty Lass. This reminds me of the tea that my Indian friend Madhu used to make when we lived in Baku. In fact, it's really no different.

We made two double batches, one caffeinated and with honey (for the new mom) and one with decaf tea and no honey (for the older mom).

Here's A's pre-honey.

And, now, with the glob of honey. The honey is from Khujand, a city in the north of Tajikistan. I was told it was special mountain honey. It sure was special. The moment it started melting on the stove at least half a dozen wasps flew into the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.

After a fair amount of running wildly around the kitchen with a fly swatter, the concentrate with the honey heated up and looked like this.

And here's my unleaded varietal.

While the two pots simmered, Little L managed to catch a bit of shut eye on the floor in the adjacent room. Don't you just want to eat her up?

After the spices simmered for a bit, we added our respective tea bags, and then continued simmering. Once all the simmering was done, we strained each pot.

And were left with liquid gold.

We then heated some milk and made ourselves a cuppa. We both agreed that we preferred more concentrate and less milk. In fact, when I went back to make my umpteenth cup of the day, I actually added another tea bag. Next time, I'll double the amount of tea bags.

To enjoy with our chai latte, I decided to make a batch of crumpets. A's off eggs because the baby is allergic to them and her partner is British. Crumpets fit the bill perfectly - a sort of cross between a pancake and an english muffin.

They are easy enough to make, but I strongly suggest you do not let the batter rise longer than the recommended hour. If you decide to do so, please do so at your own risk. The clean up was a bitch.

Like pancakes and english muffins, crumpets are dry cooked in a pre-heated pan. I don't have english muffin rings (or empty tuna cans, as one website suggested) but I did have these cute fluted molds.

I put the rings in the pan and then filled with the batter. Once the bubbles appeared on the top, I tried to gently disengage the crumpet from the cute mold, which was harder than one would think, despite generously greasing the rings. Next time I'll go for the tuna can method.

True crumpets are not flipped, but the top wasn't cooking through and I didn't want the bottoms to burn, so I flipped them as you would a pancake or an english muffin. This significantly reduces the nooks and crannies of the traditional crumpet.

I untraditionally cut the crumpets in half in order to access the nooks and crannies. I mean, what would a crumpet be with out a goodly portion of melting butter in those nooks and crannies?

After patiently waiting for all the parts to come together, we sat down and enjoyed our almost-proper tea and crumpets.

Seed Containers from Scratch

2010-03-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

It's time. Time to mow the lawn for the first time this year. Time to amend the soil in the garden. Time to plant outdoor cool weather crops. And time to start seeds indoors. One of my favorite times of the year!

We've been collecting empty toilet paper rolls for a while now because we wanted to try an experiment.

We wanted to try to make containers for starts. So we grabbed one roll.

And cut it in half. Then cut four equidistant slits about 3/4" deep in each roll.

Then we pushed the first tab in, rotated the roll a quarter turn, pushed the second tab in so that it overlapped the first tab.

Repeated. When we got to the last tab, we tucked it under the first one, as if closing a big cardboard box.

When done correctly, it should look like this.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Repeat ad infinitum. Or at least until you've gone through all your TP rolls, as we did. Thank goodness for little helpers.

I then filled each container with good potting soil

and then got my seeds ready.

I planted summer vegetables this day - one week ago today --cherry and pear tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. I have a nagging feeling I've planted too early. But then again, the weather forecast for this upcoming week actually has us hitting 87 degrees on Wednesday. Time will tell.

Once the seeds were neatly tucked into their new home, I placed five or six containers on a small seed starting tray from last year. Then I wrapped them in plastic bags, hoping to create a greenhouse effect.

I put the clusters of seeds on larger trays to help move them around as needed.

Then I put the trays in front of a heater. Which I really wasn't very good about turning on.

One week later, here's what I've learned. Mold. In this cool, damp and enclosed environment, my toilet papers sprouted mold, not seedlings.

So this morning, one week later, I took the seedlings out of the plastic bags, wiped off the mold, spread them out on each tray, placed them on the heater and gave them a little positive talk. If I keep the heater on low and make sure the seedlings don't dry out, I should have some seedlings popping up this week.

At least I'm hoping they will.

Going Local: Orzo Salad with Fragrant Sesame Dressing

2010-03-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

This asian pasta salad was first introduced to me by one of my best friends in the entire universe, Karen. I had this salad the weekend I visited her in her (then) home in Connecticut back in 2001. We had just moved back to the US after 3 1/2 years in Turkmenistan and we were homeless, crashing at Paul's parent's place in Rockville, MD. I took the train up to see Karen, excited to spend time with her and her family and to catch up.

I was also excited to wear my engagement ring, which had sat in a safety deposit box, uninsured, for the duration of our time living overseas. And considering I only got to wear it for about a year and half before we moved to Turkmenistan, it was happily resting in its rightful place; next to my wedding band, second finger from the left on my left hand.

I remember well the train ride home. I remember the conversation I had with the man next to me about free trade coffee, and how he thought it was a bunch of bunk. He worked for a coffee lobbing organization in DC. He was bunk.

I remember grabbing a diet coke and a salad at Union Station in DC before taking the Metro up to Rockville. And I remember the strange sinking feeling I had in the pit of my stomach as I dumped the contents of my tray into the garbage bin, as if I was throwing something important away. It wasn't until I got into my in-laws apartment an hour later that I realized the prongs of my engagement ring were empty. I'm not sure if it fell into that garbage bin or not, but I remember how I traced my footsteps for hours in the dark with a flashlight, trying to find that stone.

I remember the orzo salad I had at Karen's during that long weekend. And considering that I still get a rock in my stomach and want to throw up talking about that engagement ring, the band with the now-empty prongs which I still have, the fact that I still remember how I ooohed and aaahed over that salad is a testament to how good it was. It's a miracle I didn't erase that weekend from my memory bank altogether. Oh, yes, and about that ring. It was still uninsured.

So, now I share this salad with you. May you never have negative thoughts associated with it!

After boiling a pound of orzo (or any small pasta, like orechiette (small ears), which can be purchased at many of the local grocery stores) and rinsing it in cold water to stop cooking, add some matchstick-sized carrots and raisins.

These raisins, are HUGE, although it's hard to tell in the photo.

Then add in sesame seeds. Alternatively you could add pine nuts. But I've never seen pine nuts in Dushanbe. Have you?

Next chop up some green onion.

And some parsley.

Place all your ingredients into the biggest bowl you have. This makes enough to feed a pro football team. This bowl is about as big as the circumference of my arms when creating a circle in front of me like a ballerina. Nevermind if you can't picture that.

Mix it up.

Now onto the dressing: rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, a bit of sugar and salt, mandarin orange rind, ginger, soy sauce, garlic and crushed red pepper. It's all good.

Mix this well once your salad ingredients are ready.

Then pour it over your salad and mix well.

Serve it either cold or at room temperature. It keeps well in the fridge for several days. And it's perfect for picnics since it doesn't have any mayo in it.

Orzo Salad with Fragrant Sesame Dressing (adapted from Southern Living, if my memory serves me correctly. I've cut down substantially on the oils in this version).

Yield: Enough for a pro football team

1 lb orzo (or other small pasta), uncooked

1 t sesame oil

4 carrots, cut into thin strips

2 cups raisins

1 cup sunflower seeds, toasted (but I didn't bother toasting)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup sliced green onions

Prep: Cook orzo in boiling salted water about 8 minutes until tender, but al dente. Drain. Rinse with cold water. Drain. Combine oil and orzo. Toss all ingredients into a large bowl.

Dressing:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 T sesame oil

1 T salt

1 T sugar

2 T grated mandarin rind

1 t pepper

1 t minced fresh ginger

1 t soy sauce

1/2 t minced garlic

1/4 t dried crushed red pepper

Mix well in a separate bowl. When thoroughly combined, pour over pasta salad and throughly combine.

ENJOY!

Market Report: Sultani Kabir

2010-03-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

Today was an especially great day. Not only was there abundant sunshine, it was actually warmer outside than it was inside. I finally got to swing all the windows open for this first time this year. The birds were chirping like mad and even I had an extra spring in my step.

And today a friend and I went the Sultani Kabir outdoor market in search of a shopping high and hidden treasure. Sultani Kabir is our Target. It's part hardware store, part kitchenware store, part car part store. Upon first glance, it seems as if there's nothing to buy unless you need to fix a leaky toilet or caulk some grout. Let's just say, there are no antique suzani to be found here.

Here's a happy vendor. Happy because he probably just charged me double the going rate.

And here's the super space age cell phone shop.

Some things I bought were super practical. Like these wire mesh garbage cans.

And this white enamel tea kettle.

And these baskets. I'm forever thinking I can get the girls to keep their things tidy. These baskets are the solution. I'm sure of it.

And then there were the kitchen finds. Like these two smallish bread pans.

And these really sweet miniature gravy boats. I bought four thinking it would be fun for each person to have his/her own mini gravy boat full of ketchup for their fries. Remember, I have to five year olds. Fun is a relative term.

Continuing the mini theme, I bought these super small glass bowls. They're nice to hold all your spices and, well, small cooking ingredients so that when you cook you can pretend to be on the Food Network. Because I'm organized like that. Really, I am.

And I bought these darling little juice glasses for the girls, not for mommy's wine. I paid 25 somoni for six glasses (about a buck a piece), only to have my girlfriend by the same glasses two stalls down for 12 somoni for six. Not darling. And if you can find the crack in one of the glasses below, you'll agree that I got the short end of the stick. Caveat emptor.

And these tin plates were a must have at a buck a piece. I thought they'd be great for camping. Because, you know, we camp like that. Nevermind we don't have a tent. But when we do go camping, I'll have enough plates for ten. Because I'm prepared like that.

And the one purchase that really made me feel like I was shopping at Pottery Barn - except for the fact that I was at Sultani Kabir in Dushanbe - were these flour/sugar/tea jars.

I love the lids.

One thing Sultani Kabir has over Target? The sense of satisfaction after a successful hunt.

Yes, Virginia! There is a Tajik Postal System

2010-02-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

I've been lamenting the fact that a trial run LLBean order wasn't successful. The order shipped December 9 and, according to their website, it would get here between 2-4 weeks. I held out hope that the girls' bunny and lamb slippers would arrive in time to make it under the tree for Christmas. Hope springs eternal, as they say.

Nearly 10 weeks after the order shipped, I had to face the brutal truth - that the order wasn't going to make its way to me. The Freeport-Dushanbe pilot test failed. I got onto Bean's Live Chat (which is brilliant if you live overseas) and shared the sad story with the kind customer service rep. Everyone agreed that ten weeks was way too long and we concluded that the package was MIA and that some customs agent was wearing my cute flannel PJ bottoms with the matching green fleece and bunny slippers. Order was cancelled. Credit card credited.

And then, the very next day this arrived.

The Sturgeon Bay-Dushanbe magazine express however, was successful!

Inside are my secret indulgences. Well, not so secret maybe. But definitely a treat when living in these parts.

I ordered several annual magazine subscriptions last October and had them sent to my sister's house and she graciously offered to ship them to me once per month using this USPS flat rate service. Like the LLBean order, this was a risk. Hey, what can I say? I'm a risk taker that way.

It only took five short weeks for these to make it to me.

And now I can read about this.

And this.

And this, too.

And this, because we can always search for ways to make life simple, even though we know that it never will be!

While still riding the high of the successful magazine subscription test, this happened.

My husband came home from work. He'd been on a business trip over night, which explained the suitcase. But what's that in his other hand?

What's that familiar pine green writing?

Our LLBean package after 10.5 weeks had arrived!

My fleece.

Paul's fleece.

But most importantly, these!

Never mind it was well below freezing a few weeks ago and it's now 48 degrees at 7.15 in the morning.

I got back on LLBean's Live Chat and let them know that the packaged arrived, but that we sort of missed winter and that the chances that the bunny slippers are going to fit this time next year were a bit slim.

And, true to their word, they credited the shipping and the cost of the bunny slippers. Well done, LLBean.

Multi-grain Hot Cereal from Scratch

2010-02-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

It's getting warmer now. I think we've turned the corner from winter into spring. So if I don't post this now, I will forever hold my peace and never get to share how I made my own multi-grain hot cereal that got me through winter.

Frankly, if I were in the U.S. I'd go out and buy me some Bob's Mill 10-grain Hot Cereal. But since that's not going to happen, I decided to gather up the grains I already had in the house and make my own.

Cornmeal, 1 cup.

Oatmeal, 1 cup.

Bulgar, 1 cup.

Millet, 1/2 cup.

Flax seeds, 1/2 cup.

I ground each grain separately in a coffee grinder and then mixed them together until I got this, Julie's five-grain hot cereal!

It's very simple to make. For one serving, put 1/4 cup of the mix into a pan.

then add 1 cup of water.

Put the mixture on high heat and let it come to a rolling boil for about 3 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it sit for about five minutes or so until all the water is absorbed. The mixture will now be porridge-like.

From here you can go many directions. You can add in some pumpkin puree and cinnamon.

Or, as in this case, add some chopped nuts and craisins.

Or with 1/2 cup of frozen fresh raspberries, as I am doing right now.

Which ever way you take it, it'll not only fuel you through your morning routine, but boost your fiber intake for the day.

Yum. So so good. And good for you, to boot!

Suzani and Our 'Hood

2010-02-19T22:53:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, on a cold and snowy day, my oldest daughter and I ventured outside to a friends' house, three blocks away. Armed with snow boots, scarves and my camera, we headed to A's house where a treasure trove awaited us.

We walked down our street.

At the first intersection sits this house. I've always found it suspicious. It's not a nice, new house, of which there are many in your neighborhood. But yet it's heavily fortified with barbed wire and has a questionable amount of communication gear sprouting out of the roof. And sometimes I see UN cars parked there.... just sayin'.

This is looking back on our street.

Our neighborhood is a mix of old and new. Old houses that have seen better days.

And newer ones.

And hideous I-wanna-be-Cinderella's-castle ones.

We turned the corner for the last two blocks to A's house.

We walked until we saw the telltale sign indicating that we were at the right house. The big nest-like good luck sign. No, it's not a bee hive. It's some sort of dried plant...or herb....or, um, something... But no matter, because it's good luck. Sort of like an upside down horse shoe.

Once inside the door, we walked into the traditional central court yard.

Once through the front door, our shopping trip was about to begin.

My friend A had arranged for a local seller of suzani to bring a large collection of suzani and other Tajik treasures to her home. Suzan means needle in Tajik and suzani are the traditionally embroidered quilts of Central Asia.

I took a suzani embroidery class for about two months -- before I dropped out -- and let me tell you, it takes patience, skill and a strong back.

Traditionally a design was hand drawn on a large piece of cloth and then cut into several long strips, which were then divided amongst several women in the house. Each woman would complete her section and then all sections were stitched together. This resulted in some wonky bits that make truly make these so endearing.

These two pieces align quite well.

And here, you can see the seam.

Suzani were all the rage a few years ago in the U.S. Lots of recovered chairs and ottomans. More chairs. And hung in various parts of the home. But here, in this part of the world, they've always graced walls, filled young women's hope chests and represented family as they are passed down from generation to generation.

So a dozen or so of us gathered at the ever-so-gracious A's house on a Saturday morning to sift through Tajik treasures, and drink her REAL coffee and eat her baked goods. Did I say she was gracious??

Here's a sampling of what was offered.

And here's what I came home with. Surprisingly, only one suzani. I was told by the seller that its meant to cover a stack of korpucha, which are futon-like mats that cover the floor or a topchan. But it reminds me a prayer rug, with its arrow-like motif on only one side. I'll have to investigate further....

This large cross stitched piece. Not sure where it was used, but I have the sister piece, so should I ever get around to it, I'd like to get both framed.

And these two men's coats. I love them! I have NO idea what I'll do with them, but I love their colors. They remind me of grosgrain ribbons. They make a fine winter robe, I'll tell you.

We paid for our goods, which were nicely packaged.

Gave our thanks and headed home. As we turned headed out the door, guess what came out of A's neighbor's door?

This gorgeous creature.

A buzkashi horse. Buzkashi is the ancient horsemen's game known as "goat catching". And its still played in Tajikistan seasonally. And Buzkashi season is getting underway. Separate posts on that are required.

Tajikistan; a mix of old and new.

Going Local: Whole Wheat Tortillas From Scratch

2010-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Aren't we all looking to increase the fiber in our diets? I've been experimenting with some ingredients that I've found in the local supermarkets lately. Some have worked well, some have not.

If you are looking to clear your system out, then you want to buy this and make bran muffins out them. Look closely at the red part in the upper left hand corner. Extrude sticks. Truth in advertising.

Honestly, I was surprised that my daughters loved these muffins. And let's just say they moved things along just nicely.

But this is about tortillas. Whole wheat tortillas. Which in general is not that exciting, but for me it's a revolution. Or perhaps a revelation. Because in these parts, whole wheat flour wasn't procurable. That is, until now.

At least for now. As with most things that appear in the stores in Dushanbe, you never know if you are going to find it again so you buy what you can without wiping out all the supplies. There's etiquette involved in this; you can buy in bulk but you are required to spread the word to fellow expats. I'm talking along the lines of issuing an APB. Shouting from the mountain tops. Posting of your find on your little blog.

This is the best recipe I've found for homemade tortillas. Homesick Texan's recipe is here which calls for regular white flour. After searching a bit more, I found this whole wheat version at Chez Annie's that modifies Homesick Texan's version. I even took their suggestion to use flax seed oil in place of regular oil, because I had it on hand. AND even bought it here at Tim Magazine (one of the better grocery stores in town)!

Mix 5 ounces of white flour with 5 ounces of whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Heat 3/4 cups of milk. Not boiling, but quite warm. Add two teaspoons of oil then add this to the dry ingredients. Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients then plop it out onto your kneading surface.

Knead it well then put into a bowl, cover with saran wrap and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.

When you are ready, form the dough into a log with your hands.

Cut it into eight equal portions.

Roll each section into a dough ball. And let them rest, covered with a kitchen towel, for another small chunk of time, at least 10 minutes. Relaxing the dough will make rolling them out easier.

Once nice and relaxed, grab a dough ball and smoosh it out with your fingers to a flat disk. Alternatively you could use a tortilla press to get you started. I did this in the beginning and then once I got the feel for it, I ditched the extra step.

...and begin rolling out your dough. With each swipe of your rolling pin, turn the disk a quarter turn and roll again. This allows you to get a nice even circle and not an oblong oval or a square or mickey mouse ears. All of which I'm expert at creating!

I like mine pretty thin.

Once you get the thickness you like in a tortilla, toss it into a preheated pan. When the little bubbles form, flip it and toast the other side.

While your first tortilla is cooking on the stove top, roll out the second one. And so on and so on. Once they are all cooked, grate some cheese and make yourself a quesadilla for lunch.

Enjoy!

Going Local: Basic Stuffed Shells from Scratch

2010-02-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

When cooking dinner for two children - both of which are five years old - its hard NOT to err on the side of being bland. I almost want to take the road most travelled. To go with the grain. To not be the nail that sticks up. To shoot for the lowest common denominator. After all, I want the kids to eat what I'm making. Not just because its healthy, but because there ain't no fish sticks in the freezer for back up.

So for me, that means oregano is out! Basil, buh-bye! See ya later, cilantro!

However, I will say that they are becoming less and less discerning as time goes on and its true to keep putting new things in front of them. Last night they ate black bean burgers - one without a struggle at all and the other with a bit of coercing (in the form of a lot of ketchup).

In the spirit of making a kid-friendly dish, today's dish is very basic and can be tweaked, modified, riffed upon as you see fit. You can play with the pasta shapes, the spices, the cheese, add meat or leave it bare bones as this one is.

For basic stuffed shells you need tomato sauce (I made mine from tomatoes that I canned last summer), tvorog which is a locally made cottage cheese, an egg, pasta shells and mozzarella, which I forgot to include in the photo below.

I picked up these tubes somewhere at some point at some grocery store. They were curious because they weren't in real packaging. So either they are locally made or were repackaged. Either way I thought they were screaming out to be stuffed.

This is tvorog, a locally made cottage cheese. Here I mixed about 15 ounces with one egg and some salt. You could doctor this up any which way you see fit. You could add finely chopped mushrooms, parsley, mozzarella cheese, sun dried tomatoes. Just take a look in your fridge and pantry.

Next spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.

Now the fun part. Stuff the tvorog/cottage cheese/ricotta filling into a ziploc bag and snip one corner.

You've just made yourself a piping bag with which to fill each of the pasta tubes.

As you fill them, arrange them any which way you want in your sauced dish.

Then cover generously with more sauce. Because the noodles aren't cooked, they'll absorb a good amount of the liquid. If you precook your noodles, then you don't need as much sauce. Unless of course you like your baked shells saucy. To each her own!

Generously cover with grated mozzarella.

Now you can either cover this with saran wrap and then foil and freeze it for an easy mid-week meal or you can pop it in the oven as you are on your way out the door for a date with your husband and let the babysitter serve it to the kids. I chose the latter!

Going Local: Polenta Pizza with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions from Scratch

2010-01-31T02:38:00.000-08:00

I've decided to make a recipe once a week that's made from only locally purchased ingredients. No imported goodies, no outsourced delicacies, no suitcase surprises. Every ingredient must have been purchased in Tajikistan; however, it can be imported from elsewhere. I'm calling this category "Going Local". It will push me to use ingredients that I might not readily use otherwise, or at least in inventive and new (to me!) ways.

So, welcome to the first Going Local post!

I went to a fun girls' night out on Friday night. Mixed drinks (very yummy mixed drinks!) were provided and the food was potluck. Wanting to bring something finger food-y, I recalled a polenta pizza I made just about a year ago. We had just arrived to Dushanbe and were living in a temporary apartment with our eight suitcases and little more.

Which is a testament to how easy this is to make! Everything is locally purchased and its a breeze to make.

You need cornmeal, blue cheese, onions, salt and olive oil.

If you aren't familiar with cornmeal, this is what it looks like close-up.

I measured about 3/4 cup of cornmeal and 3 cups of water in a heavy bottomed pan.

Bring it a boil over high heat, and once it begins to bubble stir like mad for about 5 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the dried bits of ground corn are plump. Once thickened like so, add about 50 grams of crumbled blue cheese, a good pinch of salt and stir to combine.

Spray or lightly coat a pizza pan with oil.

And plop the gooey cheesy mess right in the middle.

Spread the polenta evenly in the pan.

Pop the tray into a 350 degree (177 C) oven for about 20 minutes, until the polenta brightens to a deep gold color and starts to pull away from the edges slightly.

While the polenta is cooking in the oven, thinly slice about 2 cups of onions.

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil on med high heat in a saute pan and add your onions. To caramelize them, toss the pan to coat the onions in the oil, but then be patient. Let them sit for a good five minutes or even longer before you move them around. If they are browning too quickly, then turn the heat down. Do this for about 45 minutes until they look like this.

Scatter the caramelized onions on the baked polenta. Then take another 50 grams of crumbled blue cheese add that to the top.

Put the pizza back into your 350 oven for about 10 or 15 minutes, or until the blue cheese is oozy and gooey. Let it cool slightly then cut into wedges. Its great both hot and room temp. Easy, delicious AND local.

Happy cooking!

Weekend Market Report

2010-01-20T18:24:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I introduced a new friend to the second hand market near the train station. It always feels good to share treasured hunting ground with a like-minded hunter!

I love the images of this boxed bulk soap we spotted in the wholesale market where we parked. In fact, I think I could decorate a room around this color scheme.

Is it a coincidence that my favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip?

Chocolate and caramel. My mind never strays far away from food.

And here are some of the faces of the market. They are hard worn and beautiful.

This man begged me to take his picture and then proceeded to find me later on when he asked me, in Russian, with much hand gesturing, to do something. I think he wants me to print the picture for him or give him my camera. Not sure which.

The find of the day. My new friend and I saw it at the same time and I walked away with it. I'm not sure if she's my friend anymore, although she does speak to me still. It's a large well-used cotton runner. It cost $4.58. Yes, less than five dollars.

Don't you think it works perfectly with the dining chairs my sister recovered for me when she was here visiting?

I bought this little cut crystal tray for a buck or two.

It holds my salt & pepper shakers and dirty olive oil bottle very nicely, don't you think?

And I couldn't pass up this darling little glass bowl. I love the decorative stars on the bottom. Its printed with 60 K on the bottom, which means 60 kopek from Soviet times. I love that!

And adding to my growing collection of very heavy cast iron molds, I couldn't pass this up.

Thanks for watching the Weekend Market Report. Until next time, happy hunting!

Lipyoshka and Ham & Cheese Pockets from Scratch

2010-01-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce you to my nemesis. My arch enemy. My love. My weakness. To us, its heaven. Its lovely. Its delicious. Its even beautiful with its flowery center. But because it goes straight to your hips and its impossible to stop eating it, its the devil in disguise. Its evil.

Its all so confusing, isn't it?

For those of you that do not live in Tajikistan, let me introduce you to lipyoshka (as its known in Russian) or non (as its called in Tajik). Its a traditional bread made in a hot tandir oven. I'll do a post soon on how its made, sold and revered.

This implement is used to make the decorative flower in the center. I believe it allows the round bread to cook evenly without an undercooked center.

In our household, it is an after school tradition to buy one or two lipyoshka on the way home for an afternoon snack. The only way it makes its way home untouched is if its finger-burning hot straight out of the oven. In that case, its delicately tossed back and forth from one hand to the next until I can toss it onto the passenger seat next to me.

Its a communal bread, meant to be broken by hand. Let Sparkly Girl #1 show you how its done! [Please ignore the wonky frames in the background. They've been like that since 1998].

And consumed.

This day I bought one lipyoshka and one "testa", or dough. Uncooked lipyoshka.

The promise that this bag holds for me on a busy day is endless. When dinnertime is fast approaching and not a thing is prepared, this is my Go-To ingredient. Many a pizza has been made with this dough.

Once heaved onto your work surface, knead it a few times into a smooth ball and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Now you can take this in a multitude of directions. Think monkey bread. Think dinner rolls. Think foccacia. Think bread sticks.

After a quick assessment of the contents of a near-empty fridge, I decided to take the ham-and-cheese hot pocket route. I thinly sliced some mozzarella and some fine looking ham.

I divided the dough into four pieces and formed those into dough balls.

Then I rolled each dough ball into a sort of circle, about 6 - 8 inches in diameter.

Then I stacked some ham and cheese in the center.

I folded the narrow sides in, like a burrito.

Then brought the sides in and pinched tightly to seal.

I placed the stuffed dough balls seam side down on a non-stick silpat mat covered cookie sheet and hunted for a warm spot in our cold house. The plug in radiator works just fine.

Cover them with a kitchen towel and let them rise again. This took about 30 minutes. Look, I think that's a female hot pocket on the left.

Then I tossed them into a 350 oven for about 20 minutes until they looked like this.

The girls devoured them. Sparkly Girl #2 ate one for lunch the next day as well and upon consuming the first one she immediately asked for another.

Not bad for a last minute kids' dinner!

Meyer Lemon Pistachio Biscotti from Scratch

2010-01-06T03:57:00.001-08:00

There are many great things about living in Central Asia, and Tajikistan specifically. High on that list are seasonal ingredients, and right now meyer lemons are doing their thing. To live in this part of the world is to appreciate the seasonality of fruits and vegetables and to take advantage of them when they are available. I'm having fun learning new ways of preserving produce to enjoy beyond the season. And ways of cooking with ingredients that are at the height of their ripeness.

Meyer lemons are a hybrid of a lemon and a mandarin, the latter also being plentiful this time of year. They have beautiful smooth skin and a sweetness to them unlike their sour counterpart. Having both meyer lemons and shelled pistachios on hand, I adapted this recipe from epicurious.com for Lemon Pistachio Biscotti.

The main players. Flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, lemons, vanilla, pistachios.

After mixing the dry ingredients, add the pistachios.

Mix to combine.

Now grab the lemons and finely grate the peel. If you don't have a microplane, you must buy one right now.

Don't grab an old soviet juicer and use it for the first time ever and not put it over a bowl to juice your first lemon half. Not that I would do that, of course.

Mix the wet ingredients along with the grated lemon peel.

Add that to the dry ingredients.

Now the fun part. Flour the work surface.

Divide the wet dough into two portions, equally sized.

The recipe said to roll these into logs and then pat them slightly to flatten. It was way too wet to do that. I sort of patted them into the shape I thought they should be in directly onto parchment covered cookie sheets.

I baked these quite a bit longer than required. Could be that my oven is off and my dough was wetter than normal. Or because it was Wednesday.

Look at the pistachios popping out. Aren't they gorgeous?

Biscotti are twice baked biscuits, or cookies. Once cooked and cooled completely, the "logs" are sliced thinly and baked again.

Half of them I drizzled (glopped) with some melted white chocolate.

Perfect for dipping in your morning coffee.

Warning! Make sure your shelled pistachios are actually shelled. I had a crunchy surprise this morning. No need to crack a tooth and make a trip to the local dentist.

Second Hand Market Redux

2010-01-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

We headed back to the second hand market on Saturday morning in search of goodies again. Our first visit was not only fun, but fruitful!

This informal weekend flea market consumes a few small roads near the train station. But before you get there you walk through the bulk candy and nut market.

After the nuts and sweets, we walked over the train tracks where we could look down upon the vendors.

Everything is being hawked. From old clothing and boots

to a stove that has seen better days

to decorative Soviet trays

to old blue wooden window encasements

to newer Chinese imports.

Even spicy korean salads are sold, just in case you get a hankering,

but I don't think the donkey was up for sale. Although I didn't ask...

After a good hour of perusing the aisles, these were my finds for the day.

A cool old rattan basket sans latch.

Some old glass door knobs. I'll make use of them somewhere, some time.

This cool small laboratory-looking glass vessel. I love all things glass.

Two somoni (45 cents) for a dusty canister of old buttons for my neice, Samantha, who fashions cool jewelry from old buttons.

Aside: Sam's also graduating this May with a degree in social work and is interested in working with disadvantaged children. She's looking for an internship this summer in Dushanbe. Contact me if you are interested or have leads so I can gush over her accomplishments and get her resume to you.

Back to our regular scheduled programming. Buttons.

I forgot to buy ice cube trays while in the US in October. I love the huge ice cubes this tray makes. Beats the 99 cent plastic gadget from Target.

Look at the design that went into this lever. No wonder the Soviets were the first to launch a human into space.

This was a cool find. An old road map atlas book from the USSR. Just in case you wanted to drive your Volga from Dushanbe to Novosibirsk.

Our current and former stomping grounds. Tajikistan.

On the east side of the Caspian, Turkmenistan

and on the other side of the Caspian, Azerbaijan.

The warm 60 degree temps inspired me to buy these cute pots. I'm smart enough to know that this is the calm before the storm. Winter will come. Electricity regimes will follow. It will be cold.

After spending all of maybe ten dollars on the above purchases, we ventured to a new Italian Gelateria in town. That's right! Here in Dushanbe. It was my first time going, and Paul's fifteenth. If you know Paul, you know he loves all ice creams, with gelato being particularly high on the list of frozen scoops.

It's not much to look at. In fact, you'd drive right by it if you didn't know what waited on the other side of the door.

The minty green paint does nothing for neither one's complexion nor the food being served.

But aesthetics and pasta aside, we were here for this. And really only this.

The gelato.

It was cold. See? Brrrrrrrr.

And despite the brain freeze - ouch! -

it was delicious.

All in all, a perfect Saturday morning in the Dush.

Peppermint Patties from Scratch

2009-12-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

When it comes to baking for the holidays, I love all things minty. Oh, yeah. And chocolately. I always make sure that high quality peppermint extract is in my arsenal of required pantry items.

I actually didn't do much cookie baking this year, but this one was a winner. Remember York Peppermint Patties? These from thekichn.com are a pretty good contender in the ring of mints.

Here's what you need. Powdered sugar, chocolate, cream, mint and vanilla extracts, a bit of shortening (not in photo) and butter.

You'll want to cover your cookie sheet with a silpat or some parchment paper. The dipping part gets pretty messy until you get your rhythm down.

Mix everything but the chocolate in a food processor.

Until it becomes a big white lump.

Next break the big lump down into many small lumps, about 1 teaspoon in size. I did some tablespoon-sized lumps also, but each little mint packs a big sugar punch. I'd keep them on the small size next time.

After trying to flatten the little balls with the bottom of a glass and then the palms of my hands, my tried and true technique was to flatten each ball with my fingers and then rotate 90 degrees and flatten again, creating a sort of cross hatched print. Place the mint patties into the fridge for while you melt the chocolate.

Lots of chocolate! Chop up a bunch of it, like so.

Then put the chocolate into a double boiler, which is simply a smallish pot full of boiling water on the stove top upon which you place a bowl, in this case a glass bowl. Add the shortening.

Stir until melted.

Now the fun -- or challenging-- part. Using forks, spoons, chopsticks or any other implement in your kitchen, dip the patties and drain the excess chocolate off. Carefully place them on the parchment paper. Once completed, put the tray into the fridge to harden off.

Once completely cool, store the mints in a tupperware making sure to layer with more parchment paper to prevent sticking.

Nothing says Christmas like a peppermint patty from scratch.

Inventive Sledding

2009-12-19T20:46:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we took advantage of a crisp clear day in search of snow for sledding. In a caravan of two cars full of parents and kids and high levels of anticipation, we headed to the mountains. This outing had been several weeks in the making. Between waiting for good weather, procuring and building sleds, and sourcing chains for the tires, it took a few weekends before this became reality.

Our intentions were to make it to a defunct ski slope about an hour outside of Dushanbe. But we found ourselves in a small picturesque village just beyond the town of Takob, when the fishtailing started to take place.

We weren't the only ones with some troubles. At this point, a micro truck and a small hatchback were struggling to get up a pretty insignificant hill. The other half of our two-car caravan had already traversed said hill without any problems.

The truck just couldn't get the traction it needed. Cars were starting to back up. At a standstill, Paul got out to join the others to see how they could help.

At this point, we were still gung ho and decided to put on the tire chains. With frozen fingers, we quickly realized the chains were too small. Paul wanted to push on, despite the fishtailing our car had already proved it could do -- and very well.

I, on the other hand, was not so gung ho. If there was an opposite of gung ho, that's what I was. My mind quickly starting to formulate an argument for sledding right here, in this very village, across from an old abandoned factory built in 1944.

And without a ski slope in sight.

There actually was a pretty steep side street that seemed to have tire tracks, and what appeared to be sled tracks. After a bit of negotiation, whereby I was happy and relieved, Paul was grumpy and dejected, and the kids were ecstatic to be out of the car, we parked and unpacked our gear.

And the kids quickly got into snow mode.

The other car we were with had a hard time negotiating the roads ahead and made their way back to where we were. At this point, we noticed some local sledders making their way down the side road.

After checking each other out for a while, we realized it was time to get our game on. It was Team Tajikistan vs. Team America on the slopes of a small hill, in a small village, with some small (and not so small) kids.

Introducing Team America, in no particular order.

The A Girl. She's small but packs a huge punch.

Sparkly Girl #1

Sparkly Girl #2, cheering her team on. Or surrendering from the get go. It's a bit unclear.

The D-man. Don't let the cute smile fool you. He's a ferocious competitor.

The Beej. Warming up with push-ups.

And now Team America's captains.

Captain Kronendome.

Cap'n Pippy John Stocking.

And Paul "The Dog" Hambone.

Now, introducing the competition. Give a big hand for Team Tajikistan!!!!

The Dark Man, dressed all in black.

Mr. GQ.

The lynchpin of the team, Sistah Sled.

LNG. Little No Gloves. Tough as nails.

Now, let's check out each team's sledding apparatus.

Team Tajikistan had finely-honed, well-tested, cutting-edge aerodynamic sleds. Take a look at this uni-ski.

Team America took to the slopes with their waxed plastic baby bathtubs. They weren't on their home turf and seem a bit disoriented.

While Team Tajikistan employed the more traditional sled,

Team USA pulled out their hidden weapon: the special toboggan crafted from the finest flooring linoleum.

Immediately after the starting flare was fired, the course was packed. Both teams started out strong.

Team Tajikistan were a fine display of team work.

It soon became clear that the Tajik team was serious. They scored extra points choosing to sled down unchartered territory. First on the sled.

And then on the uni-ski.

Team Tajikistan were ahead by the third heat.

Team America struggled.

They seemed a bit tired.

And a bit distracted.

In the final round, it was no holds barred. It was almost a dead heat until Team Tajikistan pulled ahead.

Team America wasn't going to go down without a fight. The Dog gave it all he's got. Until he biffed it. Notice the Tajik team member's grin as the American coach gets a mouthful of snow.

Hanging his head in shame, his team mates come to their rescue to offer support and a helping hand.

The thrill of victory.

And the agony of defeat.

The crowd dispersed, satisifed that they got their monies worth. Team America headed home and immediately planned their comeback.

Pine Wreath from Scratch

2009-12-09T22:42:00.001-08:00

Not having access to a Michael's or a TJMaxx, I got to (read: was forced to) explore the non-artistic side of me today. The girls are at that age where they love, love, love to stare at the white blinking lights on the fake tiny Charlie Brown tree we bought here last year. In an effort to make the house more festive, I decided to tackle making a pine wreath.

Trust me when I tell you that I've never made a wreath before, so this was an experiment for me. And if I can do it, so can you, should you be so inclined.

First I bent a wire hanger until it resembled a circle of sorts, making sure to keep the hook intact. That'll come in handy later when it's time to hang it-- that is if it makes it that far.

Next I ventured into the snowy yard and clipped a big bunch of pine branches.

Not knowing what I was doing, I sorted them by size, figuring that there must be some scientific approach to wreath making.

I dug through our pantry and found some floral tape I bought before we moved here. I didn't know why I bought it at the time since I've never wrapped a flower stem in my life. But I will say that I felt pretty accomplished when I not only found it, but found a good use for it.

I began to take the smaller branches and bundle them together, with the darker green side facing up. These branches were pretty fan-like so I laid them flat, trying to space them so that there weren't any gaps. When I felt like I had a significant bunch, I wrapped the stems in the floral tape.

Then I trimmed the stem bottoms to equal lengths and used more floral tape to attach to the hanger.

Thin gauged wire would have worked better to keep it more secure, but I did come across another solution: twisties! After I attached a bunch with the tape, I then used a twisty to make it even more secure. This is the back side.

Keep repeating this process until you've completed the entire circle, and if you are lucky enough like me, you'll have one of these!

And the best thing, when Sparkly Girl #2 came home from school, it was the first thing she noticed. She gasped, "Oh, Mommy, look! It's so beautiful!". Then she turned to me and asked, "What is it?".

"It's Christmas in Dushanbe", I replied.