Foodie reading: Anya von Bremzen, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking

It was a long time since I've read an interesting food memoir and blame me - not the scarcity of publications - for this situation. Luckily, my reading return was in full style, as Anya Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking resonated greatly with my own although peculiar, culinary experiences. 

Living in a totalitarian regime means that food and history and political evolutions are always going together. The modest opening of the regime may mean a dramatic change on the menu, as more ingredients become available thanks to the Party's gratitude, for instance. Being born in such a system gives you a certain ability to seize the right moment and eventually, improve the recipe. Thus, it is hard to say how much history and how much food you can find in this well-writen memoir. Biographical details and cooking skills are going together and the result is an extensive journey through the Soviet life - and kitchens. From tsarist Russia to Putin's nouveau riche, Anya von Bremzen covers with a journalistic attention all the details. You can feel the longing and imagine the smells going out of the kitchen in this Proustian Russian translation - and adaptation. 

Although enjoyed the story telling from the first part, the travel and writing part dedicated to the discovery of various regional cuisines of what used to be once Soviet Union was very appealing for me.

Fortunately, the book also has a couple of recipes at the end and I am curious to try some of them too - Cornbread for Khrushchev, anyone ?

Fishing for creative ideas in London

Travel is on the top of my interests from an early age, but part of my nomadic experiences is also to observe and learn some new crafts and about new interior design simple decorations. As the last week I visited London for a day, I accidentally discovered some cute things that could not leave without taking a picture of.

First is that nice candles support, either as an elephant (photo above) or as cute fish. Made of metal and painted in different colours, with a special candle support inside you can use them in the garden, to hang out on a tree, for a romantic dinner outside or for a special mysterious late night party or only for decorations. You can also hang it in the balcony. The metal structure is safe so you don't have to worry if the candles are burning after you are sleeping. They look simple and can suit including children parties or almost any kind of special events.

I am very much in love with letters and frequently I also work for fun some as birthday collage suprises for children. Those silver ones are simple, big, and very chic. It shows that you can do so many things with letters and just a simple material, all you need is to look for something special and put your creativity at work.

Pattern design: suggestions from masters

Trying to get the best of my Pesach chol hamoed free time, while keeping up with my motto of learning something new every day I tried to day to use the opportunity offered by skillshare to learn for free about surface design and creating patterns. The video classes by Jenna Frye are very easy, illustrative and very useful. The program yo need for the practice is Illustrator, from the Adobe Family. The course is rather an introduction into the topic, with some good examples to practice but if really interested in improving the knowledge, more skills and practice is needed.

As for now, I decided to move on and improve my visual knowledge about the topic, and did some research about some of the masters of patterns used as examples during the class. 

Cath Kidston

Cath Kidson brings into your home, at your table or on your body the charm of the British countryside. Her website offers regularly various discounts and the diversity of her motifs, built around a smooth base of mild colours brings peace to the eyes. Her products can be also ordered online and delivered in specific countries all over the world, including outside Europe.

Joel Dewberry

Joel Dewberry is another example of praising simplicity and classical beauty. His elegant collections cover clothes, interior design, upholstery, wallpapers. 

Flower: Eucalyptus Bazaar

Johannes Itten

We are entering the hall of art, as Itten is an expressionist painter, close to the Bauhaus movement, which developed an elaborated theory of colours. 

M.C.Escher

One of my favourite artists by far, Escher is the master of creating special effects through repetition. He combines architectural elements, with stylish fragments of nature and the inspiration of the Italian art and architecture.

Convexe and concave

Black lentils: the healthy side and an easy recipe

I am very clumsy with lentils and till the last year I hardly had too many encouters with them. I loved to admire their colour and texture but hardly had any idea how to prepare them and not memory of taste hence, the impossibility to imagine how the tastes can match. However, courageous as I am, I tried little by little to expand my senses, and dared to cook simple lentils recipes, usually added with some olive oil and sour cream or yoghurt. 

The best of lentils were the black ones tasted for two years in a row at my breakfast in Tel Aviv a couple of months ago: simple cold black lentils, with olive oils and sour cream, plus a lazy Jerusalem artichoke. Once returned back home, I longed for recrating if not the same sunny experience near Gordon beach, at least the beautiful taste. 

I bought from an Allnatura shop some black lentils called Beluga, inspired by their physical ressemblance with the caviar. They are small, black and round and need some extra time - around 15 minutes of boiling - till they are ready. Originally from South Asia, the black lentils have a mild eartly flavor, a soft texture and are high-fiber and protein rich. They contain: potassium, Vitamin B1, copper, manganese and phosphorus. Compared to other types of lentils - till now, I only tried the orange red ones and this is true - the experts say, the black ones remain intact after boiling. They are good served  both cold and hot.

For the preparation of the lentils, I went through the following steps:

- Cleaned the beans in cold water for a couple of minutes. Although the product was bought from a respectable bio shop, still doing some safety cleaning is a good idea.

- Once in and boiling, the water is getting black. The first time was thinking at some very artificial colours that maybe were added, but ended up believing the experienced black lentils experts and assumed that in fact there are some natural colours instead.

- I boiled for around 15-20 minutes, but it can last for around 30-40 minutes, without any risk. 

For the recipe:

- 1 cup of hard boiled black lentils

- 7 small cherry tomatoes, halved

- 1 middle size onion, finelly chopped

After the first 15 minutes of boiling, I added the other ingredients and some extra pinch of kosher salt. 

I regularly simmer doing boiling and if needed, added some extra water.

Once the water got out, I put to rest in a bowl, and also added some 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds, plus some fresh sour cream.

The preparation time is of around 40 minutes. 

This recipe serves two and it can be tasted either as a side dish, maybe with some meat or some fried veggies, or like a healthy individual dish in the morning or in the evening.

Foodie movie review: Julie&Julia

When I am not langurously waiting for the spring and eventually summer, I am fighting to keep my writing mood at a good level. Although I did not keep too much the pace with my blogging schedule, at least I assume that I am voraciously preparing for new professional writing challenges. Especially in the field of food writing when I was pretty lazy lately.

Julie&Julia I wanted to watch for a long time. When I first watched the short add in a movie theatre, I instantly added Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking on my 'To read' list on Goodreads, but in the following years I forgot both about the book and the movie. Till this Sunday when I finally got into the right mood for the movie (I hope I will not need the same impressive amount of years till will catch up with the book). 

It is an easy, not badly played movie, a contemporary commedy about the final success of an unhappy cubicle worker, Julie, that made her way through the 524 recipes of Julia Child's first book within 365 days. The blogging struggle of Julie - I wonder why it seems she never makes photos for her Salon.com blog - interwins with fragments from the life of Child, from the beginning of her life in Europe as a US diplomat's wife during the Cold War, till her return and the beginning of her cooking career in the States. Child wanted to bring the French cooking to the American kitchen, while Julie wanted to push forward her efforts of becoming a writer, an alternative to her unbearable professional life, besides cooking delicious dishes to forget about working in a cubicle. Although the two of them will never meet, they both succeed because were able to follow with obstination their hobbies. Both fight more or less diplomatically with family or political pressures, various insecurities or the terrible standards of the famous French Cordon Bleu cooking school. 

Especially for those trying to juggle with many professional and personal hats, this movie is an encouragement to go fast forward and keep following your passions. Doesn't matter where you are now, depends how do you see yourself in the near future and how you plan to reach your goals!

A new homemade bread recipe on the table

True is that for too many reasons, in the last months, I did not cook or bake as much as I wanted to. Being productive in the kitchen for me means that I am completely at peace and balanced and able to focus only on the ingredients I have in the front of me and the tasty ideas tempting me in my brain. Instead, I was more focused on other non-foodie projects and some family issues that had to deal as soon as possible. But as I should also eat from time to time, little by litttle, the hunger won over the lack of interest for anything food. 

As I usually make my own bread, I wanted this time something special, and eventually looking much more like a high-end product of patisserie. After browsing a lot of recipes from books in different languages, I decided over one miking corn and white flour and relatively easy to achieve. 

First, I started by mixing for 2 minutes 100 gr. corn flour with 400 ml. warm water. Meanwhile, I dissolved 20 gr. yeast in one glass of warm water. Added 1 kg. white flour over the corn flour mixture, plus the yeast. For taste, I also added 1/4 tablespoon kitchen salt. I added the white flour little by little, while kneading it with a big wooden palette till it turns into a dough. You can also use a mixer - which does things faster, but I am still very much into hand kneading.
After the dough is ready, I let it to raise for 2 hours, covered by a clean cloth. 

After that, I kneaded it by hand again, with the hand previously wet with oil (this is a tip shared by one of my baking friends on Facebook, while I was looking for the recipe and it worked out perfectly and left my hands perfectly cleaned; as a tip, olive oil does better to the skin than any hand cream) and kneaded it again for 3-5 minutes. When necessary, add more flour, for an easier kneading.

When everything is ready, I painted the bread with the content of 2 yolks. I spread some za'atar and sesame seeds for the artistic impression.  

Baked for 40 minutes in the oven at 120C. At the end of the process, it not only looks good, but also tastes great, what I really appreciated, the crust was both delicate and with a good taste. (If you want a stronger crust, you may need to bake probably 60 minutes).

Compared to the local bread variants on the market, this corn bread is original, delicious and tempts you to eat it all at once. In terms of baking lessons learned, I was more than happy with the results, as for the first time in a long time, my dough both looked and tasted almost perfect!

Bon Appétit!

Interior design inspiration in Dresden: Vivere Shop

Visiting various interior design shops is usually part of my daily travel schedule. Although not as often as I would like to, I succeed to discover a lot of interesting ideas and inspiration that although I will not put into practise, at least will bring a little bit of colour into my life. During my one-day trip to Dresden, I had a (too) short stop at the Vivere shop, on Wilsdruffer Street no. 9. It is situated on the ground level of a communist-looking block of houses, but once I spotted the asymmetrical chairs at the entrance, the grey feeling dissipated instantly, being replaced by the joy of life in all colours. 

The style of most of the pieces of furniture, not necessarily organized according to any criteria, is very modern, with simple objects, that match the need for simplicity and space constraints of the modern world. 

One or two piece can be enough to create cosy ambiances. Given the prices - around 40 Eur. for a flower-like pillow - the budget might be limited, but the live in Dresden, at least for now, it's cheap enough to afford some savings for interior design decorations.

Some ideas are very simple, and as usual, the concerns for not taking too much space are one of the main feature of the objects presented in the shop.  

The pillows were one of my favourite. The materials used are relatively simple, but the design can change the perspective on the whole room!

 The old-looking clock can be easily integrated in different kinds of design contexts.

 The same about the funny hangers, that can be primarily used for the children room, but not only.

 With the omnipresent owls, at a more than affordable price.

This support for forks and knives, available for around 400 Eur. can be a good idea for a crowded kitchen. Especially if you have in mind the usual small kitchens that you might find in the average German apartments. 

Some parts of the shop - which is expanded on two levels - are offering samples of room corners. At least this corner reminded me of some old style former communist Germany interiors. The leather shaped chairs added to the wooden simple table, look very serious. 

But there are also some modern settings too. Some of the lamps are made of simple materials, but their price can go to around 1,200 EUR.

And if there is hard to make a choice, asking one of the specialists of the shop. Not an outstanding example of friendly customer service, but you can make your way through the many options offered by Vivere.

With choices for all tastes and budgets, Vivere is a good option to keep in mind if looking for some interesting interior design solutions for your Dresden home.