When I think of vegetables, I  think of a side dish or a salad. The vegetable could certainly play an important part of the main dish, but usually in a form of a wrap or a container for delicious stuffing, or a backdrop to fragrant meat.  To put it into an American way of thinking — vegetables are […]

“The tale is not true, but there’s a hint in it, a lesson for fine lads” –Alexander Pushkin Russian literary genius was right — a million times right. Fairy tales are not entirely true, but they do carry seeds of wisdom for all of us to pick up on.  And those of us who read very carefully, may even […]

Today there is going to be no nostalgic excursions. I threw this stew quickly together for dinner the other day, and it turned out very well. It’s got a somewhat soupy consistency because I didn’t brown the meat, I sweated it together with onions, just like my mom taught me. Then I added a few […]

This is the way my mom always cooked rabbit.  Rabbit was served for New Year almost every year, alongside Salade Olivier, Carp in Tomato Sauce, Beet Salad With Prunes, Green Apple & Celeriac Salad, etc. My family (not me) has very rocky relationship with rabbit as food, so if you are anything like them, I […]

I usually am not a fan of dishes when one thing is passed off as another one — veggie burgers, mock crab meat, tofu — that’s just not my cup of  tea.  I say, if you are going to eat a burger, for Pete’s sake, just eat the dang real meat.  But sometimes, curiosity just […]

First let’s get the formal intros out of the way — Chicken Tapaka is a simple dish from Republic of Georgia, a nice hospitable country in the heart of Caucasus Mountains.  It’s called tapaka after a skillet tapa, in which it’s prepared. Tapa is a close relative of our cast iron skillet with an addition of a very […]

I remember when those long titles were popular They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? or How to Win Friends and Influence People or How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying… You get the point, don’t you? Today is my turn for a short post with one of those long titles.