Initially, I was just going to repost an older recipe, along with a nostalgic essay I did on stuffed peppers called Pepperfest.  When I checked the aforementioned post, I realized that the recipe has changed considerably and it might be worth sharing separately.  Not to mention, the pictures turned out quite alright.

Don’t you just love it when certain things come together in time and space to make your life easier?  Better yet, don’t you just love it when certain seemingly negative things coincide in time and space, and when combined yield a resolutely positive outcome? Well I do, indeed.  And here is why. Enter the seemingly […]

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 […]

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 […]