No matter the light that entered my family’s house, no matter which of my father’s houses that the light entered; if a holiday morning, a quiet Sunday, a winter’s chill, or after one of my mother’s European midday meals– My family’s Croatian link was Sljivovica. …
Have you heard of Hobnobs? They are made by McVities and are one of the most delectable oaty biscuits (cookies) in my culinary collection of British and Irish delights. Sometimes I find them in stores; sometimes I don’t. One such day, I was thinking of …
Spring/Winter Winter is supposedly long behind us (though you wouldn’t know it by looking out of the rain pelted quarantine windows into the whipping winds of 49 degrees), but I’m still citrus obsessed. It’s really quite simple: 1) Quarantine means your food shopping is limited. …
This classic Croatian sweet yeast bread is made with a homemade almond filling and swirled into a roulade shape. The end result is something in between a babka and a pound cake—moist from the addition of sour cream–bursting with sweet almond and topped with white …
Anniversary in Quarantine I talk about my Croatian father a lot on this blog. Though it is my mother who influenced my obsessive nature, my recipe collecting, my inability to cook anything less than a full pot size meal, and my drive towards baking, my …
Quarantine Blondies Hands down, this was one of the simplest and yet most elegant and flavorful example of the oh-so-popular elevating of flavors and textures. I’ve been obsessed with blondies since childhood…I knew them as pan cookies, bar cookies, or sheet cookies, the taste of …
Lazy Irish Afternoon There is something delicate and extraordinary about an Irish pub in the afternoon hours. Depending on whether you find yourself in a bustling Dublin pub, like the many I frequented while living there in the late 90’s, to a languid Galway pub …
The perfect Irish secret, this Kerry Apple Cake is light, fluffy, moist beyond belief, and filled with the ideal dice of autumn apples. No cinnamon needed, other than a sugar & spice top crust that creates a burst of cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar upon an …
Her griddlecakes done to a golden-brown hue and queen Ann’s pudding of delightful creaminess had won golden opinions from all because she had a lucky hand also for lighting a fire, dredge in the fine self-raising flour and always stir in the same directions, then …
A Companion Essay to Cevapcici Feast Day By Maryana Lucia Vestic Cevapcici recipes found here Outskirts The crumbling facade of the apartment block stood idle under the pale Bosnian morning. No shadows existed, whether made by the Igman mountain, the remaining scorched birch trees, or …