in the kitchen: potatoes

Posted by on Jan 2, 2010 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

The piata is full of root vegetables right now — beets, parsnips, celery root, and the ubiquitous potato. Like good Romanian-wannabes, we bought a 10 kg (over 22#) bag of potatoes (for less than $3) last week and hauled it back to our place.  My goal is to find interesting ways to cook these potatoes […]

in the kitchen: Our first Romanian Thanksgiving

Posted by on Nov 23, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

Thanksgiving is important to me. My family doesn’t have any real iron-clad traditions surrounding the day, but we do have family recipes that we pull out for the occasion.  And I have great memories of being in the kitchen with my grandparents, my mom, my family pulling together a Herbert family feast. Being so far […]

in the kitchen: my mom’s granola

Posted by on Nov 3, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

Veronica’s Mom’s Granola (granola mamei Veronicai) DRY INGREDIENTS 3 cups uncooked old fashioned oatmeal (fulgi de ovaz); not quick cooking! 1 cup untoasted wheat germ (t?râ?e de grâu is wheat bran; haven’t found wheat germ in Romania) 1 cup unsweetened coconut (nuc? de cocos) (optional, if omitted, add 1 additional cup of oatmeal) 2 Tbsp. […]

in the kitchen: happenings

Posted by on Oct 26, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

So a few updates on happenings in our Romanian Kitchen… Apple Butter:  I tried this recipe with mixed results.  Of course, I didn’t have frozen apple concentrate or apple brandy, so I substituted apple juice.  It ended up soupier than we wanted, but that became a mixed blessing.  After putting it through a strainer, we […]

in the kitchen: canning & baking & sharing

Posted by on Oct 12, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

On Saturday, I was quite domestic. I canned salsa (made from Gretel’s recipe). Handed one can off to Melody when she visited on Sunday. I made cookies and brownies. (Cookie recipe is OK; Brownie recipe is quite tasty.) Then I shared the goodies and played cards with the kids from the bloc. Good eats, good […]

in the kitchen: tex-mex night

Posted by on Oct 2, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

Earlier this week, I made salsa using Gretel’s recipe (1 kilo of tomatoes, 1 onion, 4 ardei uite, herbs) on the off chance that our packages would come from home.  They did! (More on that later!) And enclosed were seasoning packets for tacos, burritos, fajitas, etc (Thanks to BOTH our moms!).  That sealed the deal […]

in the kitchen: updates

Posted by on Sep 23, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

The ginger ale pictured below tasted like butt.  Fortunately, our darling friend Jenny has a sister who makes a ginger ale syrup that is very tasty and easy to make and hits the spot.  Mixed with some mineral water, it’s fizzy goodness in a cup.  Ginger ale crisis averted. I have been at work so […]

in the kitchen: crossing fingers & toes

Posted by on Sep 13, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

So this was my post-church project — making Ginger Ale.  It’ll take about 3 days to see if I was successful and if we have a carbonated beverage.  But I’m crossing my fingers and my toes.

in the kitchen: GHIMBIR

Posted by on Sep 8, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

Melody-lui messaged me this morning to confirm that she has found GHIMBIR (ginger root)  in Suceava.  Hallelujah!  I’ve been missing ginger ale something fierce and with the price of soda here (5 RON or almost $2 for a 2 liter), we could save a pretty penny making our own ginger ale.  So, homemade ginger ale, […]

in the kitchen: homemade pizza

Posted by on Sep 6, 2009 in in the kitchen, pc-romania, veronica | No Comments

The highlight of this week’s kitchen successes was tonight’s homemade pizza.  I highly suggest THIS recipe for an easy, quick pizza dough.  Don’t be scared by the yeast; it was surprisingly easy.  I changed a few things.  I did knead the dough for a few minutes, add garlic powder and some Italian seasonings, and let […]