Romanian Expat Living in Chicago
This bread involves heaps of dried cranberry (9 ounces to be precise), that paired with walnuts, scream “Christmas”, and tastes pretty darn close to Panettone (texture & taste) which we usually associate with this time .
So, what happens if you like to cook, you like writing songs and like video-production? You might start singing about recipes and post them in a videosong. Which just happened with me. It’s a practical song that you can actually cook! Crepes Recipe is the debut song from a collection of videosongs I plan to post in an album called “Kitchen Tunes”.
You know that fall is approaching when you start baking. Lately the temperature in Chicago was more baking-friendly so I thought it was time for another BBA Challenge dust-off here with a delicious Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche.
This is a protein-intense bread, surely because of the cheese overdrive content but worth making it again… annually. No, really I would make it more often but it requires attention and time. I really liked the asiago cheese in it because it gives an assertive taste, but you can simply substitute it for any other cheese from that same family (like Parmesan or Pecorino Romano).
Here is another of those “oh my, it’s 5.00 pm, and I have no clue what to cook for dinner” meals. Considering of course that you already have a boned chicken, grainy Dijon mustard and of course the new POM pomegranate cranberry juice, you can craft a dinner to remember.
Since 1991, there’s an annual festival in Chicago called Taste of Romania, on the vacant plot found at the intersection of California and Addison avenues (proximity of Lincoln Park), organized by a restaurant called “Little Bucharest“, with a Balkan cuisine (more than Romanian). This year’s Taste of Romania takes place on September 13 – 14.
A funny little restaurant with a Serb owner, I would not call it “authentic” at all, but worth one visit. I’ve been there in 1996 when I dated my wife, to experience the Romanian diaspora culture a but again, not impressed. The menu is 6000 miles away from what actually defines Romanian cuisine.
Chicago’s Taste of Romania fest is a different story. If you are hungry for some as-close-as-you-can-get authentic Romanian Cuisine, then you might consider going after all.
Beside the fact that the event features two days of pig, oxen, lamb grilling on a spit, the traditional feet-stomped grape juice (you can’t get more authentic than that!), the stuffed pickled cabbage called sarmale (or sarma as known in Turkish), and of course Mamaliga, the organizers ship in loads of East-European dancers (Romanian, Greek, Serb and Polish), loud singers, that will have you jump up dancing the hora, or at least tapping your feet to contain your excitement.
Overall, if you happen to be in Chicago, I would recommend Taste Of Romania fest even if only for one day. You will get a hint of what is the Romanian cuisine or culture. Even if it is heavily Americanized.
This is how the true mamaliga is made! Really all you need is a fire, a pot, tripod and… romanian folk music to make delicious mamaliga! Enjoy! Duration : 0:0:52
The Mamaliga blog is dedicated to my latest passion – cooking – Romanian cuisine with tangential subjects like culture, Romanian diaspora, music, cooking videos, recipes and such. Hope you’ll find it interesting!
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