I am a bread snob. Why? Because I grew up in a country where you can survive on bread alone for months at a time, and not get sick of it.  Because our local bread store had freshly baked, still steamy and hot bread delivered twice a day.  Because our bread varieties were many, flavors […]

If you’ve been following me on Facebook, you probably already know that I am currently on a pickling/fermentation streak.  That means that all of those gorgeous Italian swing-top jars I’ve been buying compulsively are finally finding their life’s purpose these days. Yet another reason to pat myself on a shoulder — we are trying to only […]

My husband and I are huge fans of Fogo De Chao — a Brazilian steak house.  Among many, many, oh so many reasons we love it so much is their world class salad bar.  Meh, you may say, who cares for leafy goodness when there are cute guys in gaucho costumes carrying amazingly tender juice-dripping […]

I remember in the hungry Perestroyka years, when general populace was going back to its hunting and gathering roots due to raging food shortages, one of our country’s beloved stand up comedians performed this monologue about the proverbial Iron Curtain.  The premise of it was that soviet people had experienced the pleasantries of the free […]

There are some nights when you just want something quiet and homey for dinner. Nothing fancy or particularly elaborate, and nothing that requires your constant presence in the kitchen.  Tonight is the night.  Easy does it, and turns out easy it perfectly acceptable on a Friday night after a busy week. This dinner makes me […]

In my country this was a condiment.  There were two reasons for that — price and spiciness.  When shopping at a farmer’s market, I used to walk along the aisle of pickled vegetables, rows upon rows of pickled cabbage, marinated tomatoes, “soaked” apples,  stuffed eggplant… And at the end of that aisle, atop of the […]

There is really not much to it.  You take colorful bell peppers at the peak of their ripeness.  You line them up on a baking tray and broil them until blistered and lightly charred.  Then you let them cool.  The magic begins right after the peppers are cooled off.  The scorched skin readily peels right […]