Germany is one of our favorite countries. I've been fortunate to visit there a few times and I simply like it more and more with each trip. Most of the time I've spent there has been in the former East Germany, which still has many remnants of its former communist days, such as the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall or Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin. One of many favorite memories was simply standing next to Checkpoint Charlie as it lightly rained, watching the cars drive by without any need to stop or show their papers, all while the tourists snapped pictures. Needless to say, it seems that a united Germany is better than a divided one, and so we want to share in the celebration with all Germans of the 20th anniversary of their unity.
Sadly, German cuisine is hard for us to really work with here in the Middle East. There's a lot of pork involved, which is unavailable to us here, and due to our son's allergies we can't do much with dairy or eggs. There were several new things I wanted to try, but we ended up making currywurst like we always do.
Our Currywurst
Currywurst is a very popular and very tasty street food, largely available in Berlin. The concept is simple, take some sausage (a very nice all-beef hot dog would work in our case), smother it in curry ketchup, then sprinkle it with curry powder, finally eat it with bread on the side, and possibly french fries or vegetables. Usually to make the curry ketchup I'll mix some curry powder, paprika, and chili powder in white vinegar, then mix that with Heinz ketchup. It usually turns okay, though maybe a little grainy. I was excited to find this recipe for homemade curry ketchup. Maybe the whole thing needed more salt, but it was quite bland. It might also be because I'm not the biggest fan of apple cider vinegar. I opted to call the experiment a bust and just use regular ketchup and sprinkle curry powder on top. It may not be exactly like what I ate in Berlin, but it was still a very good guilty pleasure.
Congratulations on twenty years of unity, Germany. Here's to many more!
Throughout the world today is known as the International Day of Non-Violence. In many parts of India, however, it's simply known as Gandhi's birthday. We decided to celebrate his birth by putting together a meal typical of the region surrounding Mumbai, where he was born.
Saoji Chicken Curry, Garnished with diced red chilis
I found a recipe for Saoji curry using chicken, a common dish from the region. Now before anyone says anything, yes, I know that Gandhi didn't eat meat. I'm not sure how we would have felt about us celebrating his birth by eating chicken. I'm not sure he would have cared. If it's any consolation we did accompany our meal with a vegan mango lassi, using tofu instead of any dairy products.
Vegan Mango Lassi
The recipe calls for a plethora of spices which all make up garam masala. Instead of buying all the ingredients separately, you can probably buy garam masala prepackaged or as a powder. We already had some garam masala powder in the house, so we just used that, even though it's not supposed to be as strong and flavorful. It didn't seem to matter much since it still turned out really amazingly good. We've mostly just made Indian curry in the past from prepackaged pastes. This was surprisingly easy to make and much tastier and cheaper than curry from a jar. We thoroughly recommend it. If you're adventurous you could even experiment with different meats, like lamb, or make it a true vegan meal with either lentils or tofu.
Ever since I heard about chicken rice in Singapore I've been looking for an excuse to make it. I found this very easy to follow recipe with giant pictures. We more or less followed it, except I used a different recipe for hot sauce which is as follows:
Mix together 2 to 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice, 5 tbsp finely chopped fresh red chilies, 5 cloves garlic, chopped, 3 tbsp finely chopped ginger, 1 tsp fine salt, 1/2 cup boiling hot chicken soup
Aside from not realizing that a lot of water was going to come out when I tried to cut the chicken up this went really well. I must confess this dish was really amazingly good. Easily one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. Truly, if this is the kind of thing kids get to eat all the time in Singapore then they don't just need one day to celebrate.
Rick Steves has actually been to San Marino, so he explains it all better than I ever could:
What I like to think about is what the word "freedom" would mean to a Sanmarinese. I feel like sometimes we Americans feel like we have a monopoly on freedom and that all other places are oppressive socialist dystopias. Obviously that's an exaggeration. In reality, I imagine most countries have their own take on the concept with slightly different nuances. That isn't to say that San Marino remaining free and independent for nearly 1700s years, avoiding both conquest and assimilation, would make its definition in some way better. Just different.
Pasta e Ceci (Pasta and Chickpeas)
Sanmarinese cuisine is apparently very similar to the surrounding Emilia-Romagna, but that's fine since I'm always looking for lesser-known Italian recipes, especially ones that don't involve tomato sauces. I found this one on NPR's website from Jamie Oliver. I followed the recipe as best I could, but something must have been lost in the adaptation because there was nowhere near enough soup to actually cook the pasta in once I reached that point. I added about two more cups of stock in and that seemed to be enough. I turned out really tasty. I think it's a fantastic dish to welcome autumn, for those of you who live in places where you'll actually get to experience it.
The Tashkent Globe in Independence Square. Literally putting Uzbekistan on the map.
Uzbekistan. What do we know about it? It's in Central Asia and its capital is Tashkent. That's about it. If we're going to celebrate its independence, we had better learn a little bit more than that, to wit, from whom did they claim their independence and what does said independence mean?
Since the 19th century, Uzbeks were under Russian rule. With the formation of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan became the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. On September 1, 1991, with the decline of the Soviet Union, the republic was able to declare itself an independent democracy. As was often the case though with former communist nations, the individuals running the country didn't change, only their political affiliations. In the case of Uzbekistan, this means that former party leader Islam Karimov became the first (and for that matter, only) Uzbek president.
I'll admit, at this point everything is going to be pretty biased, largely because it's hard in the Western world to find President Karimov's side of the story. Virtually every human rights watchdog--Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the US State Department, and many others--have defined President Karimov's government as an authoritarian state with limited civil rights. Indeed, it seems that gruesome torture and repression are every day events. It's a muslim nation, and those critical of the government are often labeled "Islamic extremists", and jailed or put to death by firing squad. As a consequence of repressive economic policies, nearly half of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day. You'd think the Uzbek people would vote Karimov out of office, but as is universally the case with authoritarian regimes, he easily wins elections with 80% or 90% of the vote. Even though the the Uzbek constitution specifically sets term limits for the president, the courts keep allowing him to run. Even those who run against him have admitted they only have done so to make the elections appear legitimate, and as a rule begin their speeches talking about how awesome Karimov is. Ultimately, they even vote for the guy.
Now I can't help but go on a little rant here, since there are many in the media and on Facebook and Twitter who slander American president Obama as a dictator. It's one thing if you vehemently disagree with his policies, or even personally hate him. I just don't see the comparison. First of all, his approval rating is way too low. If he were a dictator, he would make you like him. Karimov's government is extremely repressive of the media in Uzbekistan. In the US, the most popular cable news station is Fox News, which isn't shy about its opposition to Obama. If he really were a dictator, Glenn Beck wouldn't be claiming on his program that the president had people trying to kill him. There would be a quick and fancy show trial followed by his execution, not a devoted TV, book, and radio following that earns him tens of millions of dollars a year. Sarah Palin would begin every speech by saying how good Barack Obama is for the country, and rank him among some of the greatest presidents we've ever had. And for those of you who tweet that he's a dictator, you would disappear in the middle of the night and never be heard from again. Ultimately, you may think he's doing a lousy job as president--that's something we can debate--but we should all be able to agree that if he's trying to be a dictator, he could learn a lot more from the pros.
World Heritage Site "The Registran" in Samarkand
Sadly, it seems that the Uzbek people are independent from Russian rule, but they are still not free. So today we instead will celebrate the Uzbek culture, their many beautiful ancient mosques and madrasahs, and above all, their food.
Our version of Plov
For dinner, we chose to make the Uzbek classic, plov. I found this good recipe (and by good, I mean it has giant pictures). I improvised a bit, namely I used pre-ground spices and ground mutton instead of lamb (which, admittedly, was mostly out of laziness). I'm sure a real Uzbek would scoff at our attempt, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The garlic bit was particularly tasty. Ultimately, our version comes off as a really fancy Rice-a-roni, so even if you're not willing to try this, you should at the very least add shredded carrots to all future boxed San Francisco treats you make.
I've noticed as of late there are a large number of politicians and media pundits who decry anything they disagree with to be socialism. Progressive leaders moving toward universal health coverage and other government social programs are put into the same category as Stalin, Marx, and Lenin. Ironically, these same would-be Joseph McCarthys generally are also against trade unions--just the same as, well, actual 20th century communists. Let me be perfectly clear so as not to equivocate: If you are against trade unions you have more in common with communists than someone who is for them.
In fact, trade unions were hugely instrumental in the fall of European communism. At the forefront was the world's most famous union, Solidarność, better known in English as Solidarity. Led by the charismatic electrician Lech Wałęsa, workers at the Lenin shipyard in Gdańsk had been striking for months, waiting for the government to give into their demands for equality, religious freedom, and workers' rights. In August of 1980, the government eventually had to give into their demands, signing the August Agreement which gave the union influence over the corrupt government. The union became hugely popular, at one point a quarter of the population were members.
Cover of Polish punk rock group Big Cyc's album "Don't Trust Electricians" with a picture of Wałęsa
Throughout the 80s the government did their best to bring the union down, through repression and martial law. On the second anniversary of the agreement on August 31, 1982 anti-government demonstrations turned violent and three were killed in the town of Lubin. But ultimately, the government was nothing without the workers and they were forced to negotiate with the union, opening the way to semi-free elections in 1989 and Wałęsa as president.
To celebrate the freedom and rights of workers everywhere, we decided to go with one of my favorite Polish dishes--pierogies. Since our son is allergic to eggs we found a vegan recipe for the dough (found here). It worked out very well, my only advice is to help firmly seal the pierogi when you close them, you might want to lightly coat the edges with oil. For the filling we mashed up a potato with sautéed onions and boiled cabbage. We then added some soy-based cream cheese for some and shredded cheese to the others.
Our Pierogies
After boiling the dumplings till they floated to the top we did our best to fry them. It didn't work out too well at first, but we eventually got the hang of it. I think we were using too little oil and it wasn't hot enough. Once we added more oil and got it good and hot everything worked out perfectly. We had it with some turkey kielbasa and peas on the side. I suppose it tasted like freedom, albeit greasy high-calorie freedom.
Summer break is over and we're back home with our own kitchen. Check out this week for the following posts:
Tuesday - We'll be making pierogies using a vegan recipe for the dough to celebrate Poland's Day of Solidarity and Freedom
Wednesday - We'll be making the rice and lamb dish plov for Uzbekistan's Independence Day
Friday - We'll celebrate micro state San Marino's birthday by making a simple dish of pasta and chickpeas for the Feast of San Marino and the Republic.
Keep an eye out for these and all future posts that I find the time and energy to write!
I think we all know that Ireland had a potato famine, but probably don't know that many details about it. Allow me to try and quickly fill you in. During the 1600s and 1700s Ireland was controlled by Great Britain, who exacted very cruel penal codes against the Catholic population (you couldn't own land, vote, hold office, live within five miles of an incorporated town, get an education, enter a profession, etc). By the 1800s most of these restrictions were lifted, but the people were still impoverished. Though they could finally own land, most of it was already spoken for. The British had taken all the best land to raise beef and most of the rest was most of the rest was taken by absentee landowners who lived in England. The poor Irish farmers would work the land and send nearly all the profits to Britain. In return, the landowner would let them use the poorest bit of land to raise food for themselves, and the only thing that could grow on it with any efficiency was potatoes.
Famine Memorial in Dublin
Potatoes, apparently, are subject to a handful of diseases that can ruin the crop, and every ten or fifteen years one would come in. In the 1840s a brand new potato disease, referred to as blight, began to sweep across Europe, but the policies that had been set in place made it hit Ireland the hardest. Quickly, potato crops across the country were destroyed. The irony, of course, was that the country was still full of resources. The people, in fact, would continue to work the land all day, producing all sorts of food, only to send it on ships bound for England. This is what led John Mitchel to pen the phrase "The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine."
Emigrants Leave Ireland by Henry Doyle
So began the Irish diaspora. Those who could began emigrating to other parts of the empire (Canada, Scotland, or Australia) or to the United States. By the early 1850s the Irish represented a large demographic in most major North American cities--about 1/4 of the populations of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and over 50% of the population of Toronto. This emigration was compounded by tenants being evicted when they couldn't pay the rent. Did I mention there was also a cholera outbreak around this time? Canada set up an immigration station on Grosse-Île on the Saint Lawrence River. It was here over 6,000 would-be immigrants died and are buried. The memorial that was set up in their memory in the early 1900s reads in English, French, and Gaelic, though the Gaelic is apparently the most bitter. It reads:
Children of the Gael died in their thousands on this island having fled from the laws of the foreign tyrants and an artificial famine in the years 1847-48. God's loyal blessing upon them. Let this monument be a token to their name and honour from the Gaels of America. God Save Ireland.
After learning a bit of the history we put on some traditional Irish music (might I recommend the Chieftans, or the Dubliners rendition of Skibbereen below?)
I'm not Irish, but my wife is 1/8, so we looked a bit into her genealogy and found her great-great-great grandfather Michael Lamb, who was born in Clara, Ireland and who lived at the time of the famine. We don't have any record besides his name, but it was good to imagine and wonder.
Coddle
Our celebration of course culminated with dinner, and so I prepared some classic Irish comfort food, Coddle. It's easy to make too. The recipe I found just calls for sausage, ham or rashers (which is bacon from the back of the pig, but we just used the halal turkey bacon we can get here), onions, and a lot of potatoes. It turned out really well, though it probably would have been better if I hadn't cut the potatoes so small. As a result I think I slightly overcooked it. But that's a testament to how good this dish is--you can totally mess it up and it will still be delicious.
Let's thank the good Lord that we have something as simple as potatoes to eat regularly. God bless Ireland, or as Google Translate tells me, Dia beannaigh Éire!
Sorry it's been a while. We all got sick for a few weeks and had been living off of chicken nuggets. Then I was out of town visiting Lebanon, but now it seems like we're in position to get back into the swing of things. So I took a look at the calender to see what days were left in the week and noticed that Israelis would be commemorating when they were able to retake the divided city of Jerusalem on June 7, 1967. In a sense it's pretty noteworthy, since only a few days earlier I had been touring around Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon, and was definitely thinking about Israel's military might from when they bombed the whole country in 2006. I don't want to get political or take sides in the whole mess, but needless to say I can't condone the actions of either side. It's reached a point where I see all the belligerents as the bad guys, regardless of which flag they're fighting under. It also doesn't help my image of Israel when they continue to build settlements in occupied territories, shooting a "what are you going to do about it?" attitude at the international community.
But back in 1967, it seemed things were different. Up to that point Jordan had been occupying the Eastern half of Jerusalem, and had made a point of desecrating Jewish synagogues and sites. Jerusalem was supposed to be an international city where Muslims, Jews, and Christians enjoyed equal rights. Then the neighboring Arab nations invaded. It's much easier for me to see Israel as victims at this time (certainly much more so than when they're shooting cluster bombs into urban areas). Finally in 1967, the Israeli Defense Forces were able to retake the city. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said the following:
This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we extend, also at this hour—and with added emphasis at this hour—our hand in peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full religious freedom and rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake of other peoples' holy places, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there together with others, in unity.
That's something I can get behind. That's the Jerusalem I hope to visit some day--one without the security checkpoints and armed soldiers, one where respect for the rights of others is the rule.
Israeli Salad
So on the topic of food, it's tricky to make distinctly Israeli food, since the country's only existed for about 60 years and is comprised largely of immigrants. So we bought some pita bread, hummus, tabbouleh, an assortment of vegetables, and some chicken kofta at the store and ate it with some homemade Israeli salad (which is, to be pedantic, Palestinian in origin). It's simply finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, with a dressing made of olive oil, salt and pepper, and lemon juice. It can be eaten on the side, or put into the pita as a dressing for the sandwich.
After blessing the food in Hebrew with one of the prayers I remembered from taking 3 years of the language in college, we enjoyed our bountiful feast. I got on grooveshark and put on the song "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold), which is a song I had learned before while studying Hebrew, and which was written on the occasion of the 1967 war. You can see the English lyrics to it at this website, along with a catchy MIDI version of the song.
I know it's late, but we've all been sick the past week so I've fallen behind on writing. On Thursday, April 15 we celebrated Jackie Robinson Day along with all of Major League Baseball. I must say, this is the kind of day that celebrates everything great about America, notably baseball and racial equality. I know, I know, we've still got a way to go to real equality, but I think we've still come a long way since Jackie first took the field in a Dodgers uniform back in 1947.
Patties baking in the oven
So what could be more American than to celebrate by eating hamburgers? We used a version of a recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious. Most of her recipes involve sneaking vegetable purees into regular dishes. I can't reprint the recipe here (for copyright reasons, obviously), but I can say we deviated from her recipe by using about 50% ground beef and 50% sweet potato puree. It is very delicious. I really recommend for everyone, but especially people who aren't really big fans of hamburgers and beef. We made this recipe with some friends a few months back who don't eat a lot of beef and they loved it.
Jalapeño Humor
You'll also notice that we put cucumbers on the burgers. This is something they do back in Hungary. I'm still a fan of pickles, but I got to admit, cucumbers are very good on a burger. We also had onion rings on the side, which we just bought frozen in a bag.
Just missing some Cracker Jacks
We tried to catch some baseball, but you know it's hard since we're about 10 hours ahead of the US. We followed some of the Red Sox game online (pity, they lost) and then the next day got to watch the Angels on a replay. It was neat to see all the players wearing the number 42 in honor of Jackie, but it still would have been better had they shown a Dodgers game.
There are too few days set apart to celebrate language, so even if it's for a language with only 4 million speakers, it's noteworthy. The Georgian language is one the average person probably knows little about. Georgian isn't related to either of its neighbors (Azerbaijani is Altaic, and related to Turkish, whereas Armenian is Indo-European), and is only related to the much lesser known languages of Svans, Mingrelians, and Laz. It's also a language with a long history--dating back to at least the 2nd century. The language has its own alphabet, and is well known for its insanely long consonant clusters (for example გვფრცქვნი transliterated as gvprckvni, which would mean "You peel us"). The language also derives many of its words from roots. For example, the root kart could be used to form the words Kartveli (a Georgian person), Kartuli (Georgian language), and Sakartvelo (what Georgians call their nation). Ultimately, the language has a long literary history as well.
Chakhokhbili (Chicken with herbs) with Mtsvane Lobios Salati (Green Bean Salad)
Georgia also has an excellent though little known culinary history. The Caucasus region is blessed with a variety of vegetables, fruits, and spices. I found a ton of recipes on this website, and had a hard time choosing among them. It'd been a while since we'd had chicken, so I went with the simple chicken and herbs recipe. I wasn't able to get all the spices so I improvised a bit and added some thyme. I made the green bean salad just by steaming green beans, and making a vinaigrette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You'll notice mashed potatoes on the plate, which was actually a Dutch recipe (with onions, garlic, and cabbage mashed in). I know it doesn't fit in, but I felt the meal needed some starch, and it's how I like to make to make my mashed potatoes. It was a very enjoyable meal and the chicken tasted amazing. We hope to be able to try more of the Georgian recipes off the site above in the future.
This looks like more fun than watching a ball drop at midnight
Today was New Year's Day in Thailand (and a lot of other Southeast Asian countries as well). Thais usually celebrate by sprinkling water on others (or using super soakers, whatever works). Some may also make New Year's resolutions like in America.
With all that said, we probably should have done something a bit more special today, but you know, it gets exhausting trying to celebrate a different holiday you know very little about every day of the week (though I did go out for a jog, which was one of my many neglected resolutions from January). So I just put together a Yellow Thai Curry from a packet. I've done this several times before and it usually turns out really well. You sauté the curry paste in oil then add coconut milk. Then you throw in whatever vegetables you have lying around (so as long as it has potatoes. Yellow curry simply must have potatoes!) Serve with rice and then you've got a delicious meal.
I'd usually make it with just vegetables or throw in some chicken. This time I decided to be all vegetarian and do it with tofu. Now it should be said that I've had some very good tofu in the past, but I've never really cooked with it myself. Apparently, you need to think of tofu like a sponge. It usually comes soaking in a yucky tasting water, so you've got to get all the moisture out and marinate it in what you want it to taste like. Sadly, I didn't do this and it ended up tasting too much like the yucky water. It was still eatable, but it would have been better without it. Sigh, hopefully I'll do better this coming new year.
On April 12, 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space. Now that the Cold War has completely cooled down, everyone around the world can commemorate this amazing achievement in human history. While most choose to hold a party or watch sci-fi movies, we decided to try to make щи, which may only be two simple letters in Russian, but becomes a whopping five letters when transliterated to English as shchi).
We more or less followed the recipe found here. We didn't have any mushrooms, so I substituted it with chopped up hot dogs (which wasn't as bad as you'd think). I don't think we had enough sauerkraut to make this work as the soup turned out very pleasant, but not as bitter as it probably needed to be. Still, with a little bit of sour cream added toward the end, it made for a very nice soup.
In the United States, we know surprisingly little about our American neighbors, despite being actively involved all over both North and South America. Most Americans probably don't know that our nation burnt Toronto (then called York) to the ground, or that we had captured Mexico City in the Mexican-American war. Surely, even fewer Americans have heard of William Walker--yet I bet most people in Nicaragua and Costa Rica have. Walker was a filibuster, an individual who illegally engages in foreign wars. He also a Southern and slave-holder before the US civil war. After a number of stratagems, he found himself president of Nicaragua and was eying Costa Rica to build his own private slave empire in Central America.
Yeah, I don't remember hearing about that one in history class. But then again, I didn't go to school in Costa Rica. The Costa Ricans advanced northward to defend their nation. As the traditional story goes, a young drummer from the town of Alajuela volunteered to complete a suicide mission on the condition that someone look after his mother. This boy, Juan Santamaria, succeeded, but was killed in the process. Today, he's celebrated as a national hero and even gets his own day.
Amazing Costa Rican Breakfast
So to commemorate we put together a meal centering around gallo pinto--a mix of rice, beans, and various vegetables (see the recipe here). It was very tasty, but you may want to make sure to add enough salt and some hot sauce. We had eggs and toast on the side, and completed the meal with a green salad. I could eat this sort of thing every day of the week: delicious, cheap, and nutritious.
Flag of the Roma, with a wheel symbolizing their migratory nature
Is there a people more despised in the world than the Romani? Probably not. When I lived in Europe I heard plenty of Anti-Semitic and Antiziganistic comments. Since this is a peaceful place, I won’t repeat any of them here (they ranged from ignorantly nonsensical to arguments in favor of ethnic cleansing). Nevertheless, I would occasionally meet someone who stand up to defend the Jews and denounce their enemies as jealous racists. A few minutes later though, the same people would also mock the Romani (who are perhaps better known by the arguably derogatory term “Gypsy.”)
Distribution of the Romani people in Europe, with the largest wheels representing a larger population
I for one have always felt that racism can be fairly hypocritical. The same people who will say vile things against Mexicans in the US probably really like going out for tacos and fajitas. Others who hate black people may thoroughly enjoy hip hop music. So, is this any way to thank them? The Romani have also contributed greatly to music, culture, and fashion in the Western world. Yet in too many countries radical right-wing, neo-nazi hate groups claim that they’re the source of all the nation’s problems. I find it hard to believe that a group that’s been left so destitute and helpless by the community and governments that many survive by digging through garbage could really be considered so a large threat, but these are the times we live in. These days, middle-class people enjoying a high quality of life are being made to feel like victims, while the real victims are made out to be enemies of the state.
So on this day we want to show solidarity with the Romani people, as well as the groups that work to improve their lives (see Amnesty International’s piece here and US Sec. of State Clinton’s comments here). We also want to celebrate Romani culture from a food perspective, which is easier said than done. Linguistic evidence has shown that the Romani people originated in India, and migrated west to Europe and various parts of the Americas (Texas, for instance, has a decent sized Romani population). Wherever they are, they tend to take on aspects of the surrounding culture, so what a Romani eats in Germany is different from one in say Bulgaria). Several Hungarian dishes claim to be cigány or gypsy in origin, including one of my favorites—cigánypecsénye. Unfortunately though, this dish requires a lot of pork, which I can’t get in the Middle East. So we opted for cigány csirkés lecsó, with the recipe here in Hungarian.Basically I just made up lecsó, which is similar to French ratatouille, and is made of fried onion, yellow bell peppers, and tomatoes. Since it's Hungarian, feel free to add a little bit of paprika as well. I basically cooked all this in the crock pot with the chicken for a few hours.
The recipe said to eat it with bread, but we wanted something a bit more filling so we went with pasta. Here's to hoping for a better, more equal world for everyone.
Tartan Day is a Scottish holiday the same way Orange Chicken is authentic Chinese food. In short, it's not. If we want to be pedantic it's really just a North American take on things. Tartan Day was first held as a one-off event in New York City 1982 and then was picked up again in the mid-eighties by members of the Scottish diaspora in Canada. Since then it's grown in popularity throughout North America, and in other parts of the world as well. In recent years, in fact, it's even been picked up in Scotland, largely as a way to promote tourism (though pictures of the countryside alone should do the trick).
Black Watch Tartan
So, what exactly is a tartan then? Well, it's the criss-crossing multicolor design you'll see on kilts (or on Scotch Tape for that matter). Different designs can represent different regions or clans, though some are universal and can be worn by anyone (like the Black Watch, seen above). If you want to have a bit of fun and get into the spirit, why not try this webpage that lets you design your own.
The holiday was chosen to commemorate the end of the 1747 Act of Proscription, which basically had made it illegal to wear anything with a tartan pattern (I'm sure it was enforced by the original fashion police). Today though, the day is much more about celebrating Scottish heritage. And though I don't have as much as a wee dram of Scottish blood in me, I decided to get together as authentic of a Scottish dinner as possible (especially since we had some guests over).
Probably the first Scottish dish that comes to mind would be haggis, but that sounded a bit too complicated for the amount time we had. So I put to together the far simpler dish, mince and tatties (which is ground beef and potatoes). A really easy recipe can be found here. Instead of adding extra gravy, I just put 3 tsps of cornstarch in (since I figured gravy, plus beef stock, plus the meat itself was a bit of overkill). I also added peas. I just diced the potatoes and boiled them to tender, then sprinkled them with rosemary.
All that was leftover from the evening
The mince and tatties alone was pretty tasty, but the real highlight of the night was making Scotland's most famous desert: fried candy bars. Though Mars bars are apparently more authentic, we had some Snickers bars handy. You need to make sure they are frozen for at least a couple of hours before, so that they don't melt in the oil. Then make up some pancake batter (which must include eggs, so that it sticks properly to the candy bar) and completely soak the bar in the batter. At this point, you want to deep fry it for around 30-50 seconds. We don't own a deep fryer, so we just put a bunch of oil into a small pot and it worked fine. The oil does need to be hot enough though, otherwise the whole thing will fall apart.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the episode of Samantha Brown where she goes to Edinburgh and commenting about how gorgeous it is there (again, seriously, have you seen any pictures?) If you can't go, at the very least get on grooveshark and search for some bagpipe music.
We were fortunate enough to visit friends in Hong Kong at this time last year, completely unaware that our trip coincided with the Qingming Festival. Though translated in several different ways, one of the most common renderings of Qingming into English is "Tomb Sweeping Day." It is a day to think about your ancestors and those who have passed away, to pay respect to them, to maintain their tomb, and to offer what gifts you can to them. These gifts most often come in the form of joss paper (also referred to as "ghost money"), which is burnt as an offering so that the deceased have good possessions and money in the afterlife.
Illustration of Burning Gifts and Joss Paper
Traffic was pretty heavy as a lot of people were going out to the local cemeteries. We visited the Man Mo Temple in downtown Victoria during the Qingming Festival and there were many people there burning joss paper and incense. It was quite a beautiful (not to mention aromatic) ceremony. Though we ourselves are not Buddhist, this is still a good day to reflect on those who have come before us and are now gone, and also to look forward to day when we can hopefully be reunited (if your religious beliefs allow for such a thing). At the very least, today was a great day to try making Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup.
Wonton Noodle Soup in the Pot
We more or less followed this recipe. We can't buy pork here so I substituted beef for the filling and used one mutton and one chicken bullion cube for the stock. Otherwise, this is a pretty easy recipe to follow, and it tastes like the real deal. It's also always fun when you get to construct part of your food (in this case wontons, but the same goes for any dumplings, empanadas, or ravioli). Though I must admit, I think I overloaded a few of the wontons and they bust open in the stew. Ultimately though, I have to say that it was incredibly rewarding to make something that I'd only been able to have in restaurants before.
The next best thing to being in Hong Kong
Here's hoping for a joyful day, for both the quick and the dead.
I've never been to Lithuania, but I get the feeling I'd like it there. Take for example Vilnius' Užupis neighborhood. Imagine the people basking in freedom for the first time after the fall of the Soviet Union. They look around their neighborhood and see a now unsightly statue of Vladimir Lenin. What should they replace it with? Perhaps a statue of a national hero? Or how about one of the nation's poets? Oh, I know. Let's replace it with a statue honoring American avant-garde musician Frank Zappa. Strange as it sounds, this is precisely what they did.
Frank Zappa Statue
As if that wasn't strange enough, in 1996 the neighborhood decided that it had had enough of being a part of Lithuania and declared itself an independent republic, based on artistic ideals. They drafted their own constitution, created their own set of flags, and enlisted a 12-man army. The short constitution is definitely worth a read, as it lists several peculiar and idiosyncratic freedoms (e.g. a dog has a right to be a dog, everyone has the right not to be distinguished and famous). In a sense, the light-hearted tongue-in-check constitution is refreshing, since in America more and more vitriol seems to be spread on all sides about how our constitution should be interpreted.
Of course, it's hard to say exactly how seriously we should take all of this, since the people of Užupis intentionally selected April Fool's Day to be their Independence Day. As such it could be one of the greatest pranks ever pulled--just strange enough to be true and impossible to discredit, so that it can be repeated every year.
At the very least, what can be said of Užupis is that even if the people aren't really a sovereign nation and pay taxes to the Lithuanian government, their declaration of independence can nonetheless be seen as a declaration of community. They're still a united neighborhood and a strong community, which is something admirable and lacking in most neighborhoods in the United States, especially as attitudes shift from serving the good of society to placating the good of the community.
Ultimately Baked Cepelinai with Apple Sauce
With that said, perhaps the real practical joke was the recipe I attempted to make in vain, since it did not work at all. I found this recipe for Cepelinai (the name actually means Zeppelin), which are meat-filled potato dumplings on Wikipedia. Perhaps I needed to squeeze more of the water out of the grated raw potatoes, but when I attempted to boil these they simply did not hold together, and I ended up with a gross potato soup with meat floating around. I even tried adding a little flour to them, but it didn't work. If anyone knows how to hold these things together, please let me know. I ended up baking them in the oven, which worked fine, but dried them out. They still tasted fine, but weren't the moist dumplings I had hoped for.
Let me close with a few lines from the constitution of Užupis as I put on some Zappa.
Everyone is capable of independence.
Everyone is responsible for his freedom.
Everyone has the right to cry.
Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
No-one has the right to make another person guilty.
Spiritual Baptist in Trinidad (taken by johnhanscom on Flickr)
Christianity has had its schisms. And beyond the obvious Catholic/Orthodox break, the Avignon Papacy, and the Protestant reformation, we can really break all Christians down into two groups: the somber, reverent Christian, and those who like to make some noise. It was only a matter of time before the somber ones would complain about the noise, and ask them to turn down all the racket.
This is what happened in 1917 in Trinidad and Tobago, with the Spiritual Baptists (who were pejoratively called "Shakers" since they would shake while overtaken by the Holy Spirit). Spiritual Baptism is a syncretic religion which was started in Trinidad, and which combines Christianity with elements of African religions. In 1917, the government passed the Shouters Prohibition Ordinance (read the complete text here, it's not too long), claiming that the reason was because they simply made too much noise and disturbed the peace. Certainly though, another big reason was that the religion had its roots in African traditions, and at the time everything from Africa was looked down upon. The movement was also growing in numbers, and other religious groups didn't like having their numbers siphoned off.
But even still, this prohibition is fairly surprising since Trindiad and Tobago is an incredibly diverse nation. The Spanish, French and later the English all left their imperial stamp on native populations. Black Africans were brought in as slaves and later Indians were brought in to work as indentured servants. As such, Christians make up only about 47% of the population, Hindus 22%, and Muslims about 6%.
After years of struggling for their religious freedom, the prohibition was finally repealed in 1951. Like most Caribbean nations, Trinidad and Tobago has a very high emigration rate, and so the religion has spread out wherever Trinidadians have, throughout the Caribbean, the Americas, and Europe. In 1996, the government of Trinidad and Tobago granted the Spiritual Baptists their own public holiday, in memorial of their struggles for freedom. And I say, today is simply a good day to celebrate freedom of religion for all faiths and creeds, especially if you're going to celebrate with some authentic Trinidadian street food.
Our doubles sandwich
It is a little bit discouraging to know that whenever you're having a meal, chances are someone else is eating better than you are. And chances are that someone is in the Caribbean. From Jamaican Jerk Chicken, to barbecue pork and mofongo in Puerto Rico, this region of the world has a monopoly on fantastic food. Trinidad and Tobago is no exception, so we decided to prepare one of their most famous street foods: the East Indian-inspired doubles sandwich, which consists of two slices of bara (a fried bread), and a curried chickpea filling, often dressed with cucumbers, mango chutney, and hot sauce.
Open sandwich
We more or less followed this recipe from Epicurious.com, only I had to go meet some people so we didn't really have time to let the dough rise. So it didn't turn out exactly like it should have. We also didn't have any mango chutney, but they were nevertheless very good. If you like curry or Indian food, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. The filling is quick to make and requires few ingredients. You'll just need to leave yourself a little bit more time for the dough to rise than I did. We're going to try experimenting with a way to bake the bread instead of frying it, just so we can be a little bit healthier.
Very tasty, and a little messy
For more information about Spiritual Baptists, check out this article from the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago.
Is there any group more vilified these days than youth? Though we used to say "the children are our future", it seems nowadays all we hear about is how morally corrupt, untrustworthy, and lazy the youth of today are (and I have a feeling this goes deeper than because they skate around the mall in heelys). News reports and talk shows constantly ask what can be done about today's immoral youth. Rarely is it mentioned that in going to war in Afghanistan, we attacked a country where 43% of the population is under the age of 14, or that 40% of the population of Iraq is under the age of 15 (let alone that a decade of US-backed UN sanctions before this had led to the deaths of half a million Iraqi youth and children). Or even closer to home, no one talks about how the United States has the highest poverty rate for minors in the industrialized world at 21.9%.
So when I found out that in both Chile and Taiwan days which celebrated youth would be held, I got excited. Finally, there were some countries that wanted to celebrate everything good and praiseworthy about youth. I decided to take the Chilean route, since I figured it would be easier to make completos than stinky tofu. Imagine my partial dismay then, when reading into it more I discovered that Chile's Day of the Youth Combatant was not only not an official holiday, but also a day celebrated with acts of vandalism, civil disorder, and anarchy which in turn disrupts the infrastructure of all major Chilean cities (and to be sure, at least some of them are going to be sporting heelys).
Well let's get a little bit of history first before being too judgmental. From 1973 to 1990 Chile was a military dictatorship ruled by Augusto Pinochet. Two young combatants and revolutionaries of this time, Rafael and Eduardo Vergara Toledo, were assassinated by the government on March 29, 1985. Since the end of the Pinochet regime and a return to sanity, the day has been commemorated with increasingly violent protests, pillaging, and acts of vandalism.
Sorry Chilean Youth, but the earthquake vandalized this building first
Maybe I am getting old, but I find the spirit of the day more agreeable than the actions. It is hard for me to condone mob violence meant for a man who's been out of power for twenty years. But then again, it's not my country, and I'm not the one who lost a compatriot. Of course, we'll have to see how "celebrations" go this year, since thousands of Chileans are still suffering as a result of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake last February. An article in the Santiago-based newspaper La Tercera published this article (which is in Spanish, but you can always use Google Translate) today titled Los verdaderos jóvenes combatientes son los miles de voluntarios que han ayudado a reconstruir (The true youth combatants are the thousands of volunteers that have helped with reconstruction). The article quotes several local leaders asking that the commemorations for the day be civil and peaceful. The vice-president of a national youth organization has said, "The nation requires unity at this time, and so we call on those who want to commemorate this date, to do so remembering those Chileans who are still suffering." Let's all hope the day plays out peacefully.
Ensalada Chilena and a Completo
On to the topic of hot dogs then: they're great. If you don't like them, perhaps it's because your mom always bought the cheap ones and boiled them. But if you've had the real deal, it's heavenly. I'm a fan of Chicago-style hot dogs myself, where they virtually build a salad on the thing, although Gray's Papaya in Manhattan is probably the best all around dog I've ever had. Chile is also known for their style of hot dog, called a completo (meaning "complete"). The key to dressing a completo is in the following ingredients: avocado, diced tomatoes, and mayonnaise (and if you want to be truly South American, there should be more mayonnaise than meat). Sauerkraut, Ketchup, Mayonnaise, and ají chili sauce are all optional.
The final product topped with sauerkraut and hot sauce
We had the whole thing with a side of Ensalada Chilena, but I've really got to rave about the completos. A chili dog is good, but really quite a heavy meal. Something about the avocado and mayonnaise makes this a much lighter, refreshing affair. It might be just the thing for a springtime afternoon, and I'm sure it would go down just as well at a summer barbecue.
We live in a world where negatively abounds, where politicians and news anchors increasingly use fear-mongering to maintain the status quo. In a world that seems ever darker, we choose to find a reason to celebrate. We live in a world where despite globalization and neoliberal economic policies, our cultures seem more separated than ever, and fear and apathy keep us from learning what others have to offer. In a world that seems ever segregated and paranoid, we choose to celebrate other cultures and points of view. And especially since this is all about food, in a world where bland chain restaurants dot city streets, and where people will only eat what's familiar, we choose to be open-minded. We choose to try something new.
My son and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate
Our Currywurst
Cover of Polish punk rock group Big Cyc's album "Don't Trust Electricians" with a picture of Wałęsa
Emigrants Leave Ireland by Henry Doyle
Illustration of Burning Gifts and Joss Paper
Wonton Noodle Soup in the Pot
