Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Easter Brunch au Parie



Easter Brunch au Parie
Our sin on Easter Sunday was complete submission into gastronomic pleasure. Oursin, the French word for sea urchin, appointed our Parisian Easter brunch. A creamy pale-pink spread, Tarama au corail d’oursin, was displayed on a fluffy ½ dollar sized blenny. Blended with two types of smoked fish eggs, bread crumbs, lemon juice and spices, the sea urchin’s finely, fishy, flavor was followed by a slightly salty lilt from the caviar. This heavenly communion-like wafer put me to my knees in prayer for a second one.



 

Corail du oursin was one of the heavenly delights Daniele Pichon gleaned from FISH SHOP located in Marche d’Aligre, one of the oldest markets in Paris. Adroitly navigating through the throngs of foodies and booths ladened with fruits and veggies,Daniele was on a mission to ensure that my love for seafood, in particular oysters, was fully realized.



Dessert................

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Fish from Neringa, Lithuania


Neringa lies on the Baltic Sea and is part of the Curonian Spit which is shared between Lithuania and Russia. It's natural beauty, unique ecology, and historical villages has earned this Baltic jewel a UNESCO world heritage site. To the west of Neringa lies the Baltic Sea and to its east is the fresh water Curonian Lagoon. Delicacies harvested from these waters are favorites for the many visitors who come year round. Pictured is one of my dinners: a smoked skumbre (mackerel), a popular Lithuanian pilsner Volfas Engelman, beet and pea salad, along with an arugula salad and homemade bread. YUMMY!!!
The catch-of-the-day was harvested from a hole in the icy Curonian Lagoon and delivered to the fish shops where they are smoked or sold fresh. Within the bucket is stinta (smelt) or commonly called cucumber fish because its smell is similar to freshly cut cucumbers. Pictured is it fresh, smoked, and fried. Its taste is very mild and melts in your mouth.







Thursday, February 3, 2011

His Daily Bread


Baking black rye bread is Egidijus's passion. He wants only the best food for his family and it took him a year of research and experimentation to make the ideal rye bread. In the course of 5 days under a heated environment, he makes his own yeast from rye flour and water. He understands the properties of his yeast. Rye flour is difficult to raise and takes 6 hours in a 40 degree C, compared to wheat flour which takes only 1+ hours to rise. Next, he kneads in honey and a little salt into the dough and than puts the dough into bread tins for several hours to allow to rise again. Baking time is 40 minutes. This bread is splendid!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Kugelis



Kugelis is a Lithuanian traditional dish made with potatoes. Common ingredients include onions, eggs, and meats, either beef, chicken, or pork. Berta and Adrea (pictured) prepared enough kugelis to serve of 6-8 persons. They pealed and pureed 30 medium sized potatoes and added 1 finely chopped onion, 1 egg, a 1/4 cup of boiled milk, 3 spoonfuls of flour, and salt and pepper. After removing the fat from the chicken, it was cut into bit size pieces and stirred into the potato mix. Next, the mix was put into a pan and baked for an hour and a half at 200-250 degrees. We only had a deep pot to bake it in, so it took longer than normal to cook the kugelis. A 3" pan it best where you have more surface area where a nice brown crust can form. Serve kugelis with sour cream or apple sauce. Beer is a nice beverage to embellish this hearty winter meal.



Friday, December 31, 2010

Kūčios in Vilnius





In Lithuania, kūčios is a traditional pagan dinner held on Christmas Eve. It consists of 12 meatless foods, mainly fruits, nuts, fish, and cold dishes. Small croton-like biscuits are commonly served called kūčiukai.
Pictured is kūčios at Daiva's home.

Please refer to Wikipedia for an in depth explanation about the rituals, foods, and history of kūčios.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kūčios

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tadas Lomanas - Raw Foodest



How would you fare solely on a raw diet from nature’s yield? Does munching on leaves, shoots, stems, roots and bark from forbs and trees sound appetizing to you? Or maybe wild grains and grasses, fungi, fruits, nuts and berries are more appealing? For Tadas Lomanas, this type of diet of nature ‘in the raw’ is his food of choice. Tadas is best described as a pioneer of raw wild foods, a minimalist, poet, musician, naturalist, permaculturist or maybe even an ascetic. His passion is to fuse and harmonize with nature by living intimately within it. Tadas finds much delight from his extremely austere lifestyle and from his process in obtaining a body-mind transformation. By observation and experimentation, he is figuring out the effects of various wild raw foods upon his mental, physical, and spiritual self.

Primarily due to a digestive problem, Tadas turned to vegetarianism at the age of 19. He graduated from the Lithuanian Military Academy and during his 5 years of military service, he began to read and self-reflect. He read publications about raw foods, but also consumed the series of books written by Vladimir Megre, The Ringing Cedars of Russia (Megre’s works are known worldwide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Megre). Megre’s books focus on the philosophies of a mystical woman name Anastasia. Her ideologies were based in the power of nature, ecology, and the development of back-to-the-land communities or eco-villages that included a good measure of conservative family values.

Tadas incorporated much of Megre’s ideas into his austere lifestyle. He escaped the noise and stress from city living and bought 8 hectares of fields and forests, upon which sits a rustic cottage, small pond, garden, and apiary. Located 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Vilnius near the village of Giedraiciai, here is where Tadas has submerged himself for the last 3 years. Although during his first year he went back and forth from the city and succumbed to his weakness for sweets, Tadas began a regime of eating mostly fruits, herbs, honey, and nuts.

Each year he pushes his limits. Tadas makes various concoctions of ‘herb cocktails’ (observe ‘herb cocktail” in the making on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeAJsD6s9w ), with ingredients, to name a few, from sorrel, plantain, dandelion, ferns, nettles, yarrow, St. Johns wort, maple leaves, bent grasses, and apples. He believes plant cellulose absorbs and removes toxins, and restores intestinal micro flora. Not only has his physical health improved, but Tadas states that his emotional health has been heighted to a more stable and amplified good mood.

Tadas’s harmony with nature has been a spiritual experience. He believes that God is in nature, so to respect and live harmoniously with the laws of nature is to be part of God’s graces.

In the warmer months, Tadas lives in a tent, bathes in his pond, and harvests wild foods. He has cultivated a small apiary, juvenile walnut forest, and a small garden, although his gardening style is unconventional; he scatters seeds and nothing more, leaving the plants to survive on their own.

Now it is mid-December, with evening lows dipping to 8 degrees F and outside the ground is covered with snow. Experimenting with human-hibernation, Tadas does not heat his cottage, although he affords himself the amenities of electricity for light, to charge his mobile phone, and to power his computer. He sleeps most of the day and rarely goes outside, only on occasion to harvest some pine needles or tree buds. During the winter, he never drinks any liquids, only water with honey, which he claims is once a month. His food intake for this particular day was 10 apples and a head of cabbage, plus the dried pumpkin, apricots, dates, and hazelnuts we shared during my interview. A friend had brought Tadas supplies from Vilnius, which included carrots, apples, raw peanuts, walnuts, cabbage, persimmons, and bananas. Understanding that he is still connected to the technological system, Tadas sees each year as one step closer to his goal of completely detaching from it. The motto to think globally and act locally, which he gleaned during his attendance at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, is what Tadas believes everyone must responsibly do to the best of their abilities. Tadas Lamanas is a stellar representative of one who treads tenderly on the earth while living robustly as an example for others to consider.

Tadas Lomanas can be found at: http://toltikkontaktai.blogas.lt/





Thursday, December 2, 2010

Yalta Restaruant



Food justice is when communities exercise their right to grow, sell, and eat healthy food such that the food is fresh, nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate. At the heart of food justice is respect and regard for the land, animals and people who grow food sustainably.

Julia Smiskal is a food justice advocate and she operates and co-owns the Yalta Restaurant. Located in Vilnius, the Yalta is what Julia calls “a sustainable food restaurant” where “nature decides the menu” (only local, seasonal, foods are used and bought direct from local farmers).

Growing up in rural Lithuania, Julia recognizes how large-scale farming is destroying village economy and autonomy. “My conviction is that small farmers can provide us with all the food we need.” 90% of farmers in Lithuania are small-scale, with the average size of approximately 3-4 hectares, yet the government and large agri-businesses perceives them as a primitive, inefficient form of agriculture. Throughout her life, Julia has eaten from her parent’s small farm. “This is the kind of food I eat therefore this is what I prepare for my customers.” After studying social development in Bordeaux, Julia found her niche in food preparation. “I love it. For me to be in the kitchen, to have a restaurant, is very concrete. My hands give a result everyday.”

Woven into the management of the Yalta are social, economical, and ecological constructs. The Yalta supports ecologically responsible farmers and acts as a conduit for restaurant patrons, in which many are seeking quality food. Furthermore, neighboring denizens of the Zverynas district can find a social community-based space where art, music, and film abound. The ambiance inside this 100 year-old historically-registered house is welcoming, where the furniture is recycled, the water is free and served from the tap. In addition, next to the restaurant sits a large greenhouse which provides the Yalta’s summer kitchen with veggies such as lettuce, spinach, chard, carrots, and several types of herbs.

Patrons can peruse a notebook which provides information about the dozen or so farmers who are responsible for the food they are eating. At the local farmers’ market, Julia purchased for the upcoming week: bread, apples, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, potatoes, beef, chicken and butter. Seasonal foods are prepared according to traditional recipes. “Traditionally, during Lithuanian summers, very little meat was consumed maybe small portions of smoked meats. Summer heat could spoil fresh meats. Vegetables, greens and cold soups were ideal for long hours working in the fields.”

For early December, the Yalta was serving fried fish from local lakes, pumpkin soup, beet root salad, and apple pie. Uninviting was the snow and bitter wind outside but inside the Yalta, there radiates a warmth and aroma found only in those kitchens and dining spaces where care and love reside.