SERBIAN SALAD

After trying this recipe I've gotten convinced that salted cucumbers are easy going company for nearly every ingredient! This time they make an unbelievable combination with fresh apples and bananas!!
I don't remember that I have tasted such salad in Serbia but my cookbook states that it's a Serbian recipe..so let's take it for trust:)

I am preparing this light mouth-watering salad for a third day now and I'm really able to eat the whole Bowl if I am not stopped:)

The recipe is very simple: just cut into small pieces and mix together fresh sweet apples (red or yellow), some bananas and salted cucumbers. Then season with mayonnaise and...voila, it's ready!

I only wouldn't put here pickled cucumbers with spices, that have usually a sweet taste. Homemade salted cucumbers are exactly what's needed for this salad. If you don't find it in a supermarket you may always buy them from any marketplace where farm products are sold.

If you still keep thinking it sounds crazy:) you may try to make a very small portion just to carry out a tasting of what it is like... and I am sure you will be surprised!

BAKU JAZZ

Thus happened that I was always rather far from Jazz, but last year I was invited to a concert of Shahin Novraslı - a 32, Jazz pianist from Azerbaycan.

I didn't know about him before and expected to have just a lovely musical evening. But then came a suprpise! I was so much astonished with his mastery and it led me up just into another level of perception of the music itself.

The video below probably doesn't show all his virtuosity at its maximum as I had pleasure to witness it, but anyway that is a great number from him - it starts quite moderately and gradually comes like a mountain river rolling down...

The winner of the 43rd Montreux International Jazz Festival 2009 was again from Azerbaijan - a 20 years of age, Isfar Sarabski, which performance impressed me much too. The video on You Tube showing his winning number is not embeddable so I can't post it here in its full format, but you may enjoy it clicking this link Novruz /Spring, a composition of his own - it's really worth watching!

And talking about Azerbaycani Jazz is impossible without paying a tribute to VAGIF MUSTAFA-ZADE (1940-1979) - a Legendary Genious Jazz-Man, incredibly talented pianist, versatile musician and the inventor of a special Azerbaycani style of Jazz called Jazz-Mugham - a fusion of classical Jazz and traditional Azerbaycani music.

Following the link you can enjoy a great composition Fantaziya performed by Vagif Mustafa-zade.
And below are 2 of my most favorite numbers (though really everything by him is my favorite) - the first one is called Baku Geceleri/Nights in Baku

And here's a mind-blowing and very deep composition "Samarkand Ornamentation" - a co-work of Vagif Mustafa-zade and Hajibaba Huseinov (vocal). I love how the music varies here guiding you into another world...

TRIBUTE TO THE SUN

I've made these images in Photoshop as a tribute to my favorite perfume SUN by Jil Sander!Though I always use oil based perfumes that are pure natural and characterized by mild enveloping aromas in comparison with "hard" alcohol perfumes, but SUN is the only exclusion out of the rule!Here I tried to convey what this perfume symbolizes for me.

And what if Heat, Burning-hot Sands, Shining Sunflowers and of course the Sun would be having their own aroma?? Jil Sander perfectly managed to put ALL this in a small bottle!

FINE ARTS

These beautiful paintings created by an Azerbaijani painter Ali Shamsiyev! Just have no words to describe what kind of uplifting feelings they evoke in me...enchanting light and so soothing ambient of a sweet melancholy! It seems as if you are about to step inside to recreating harmony in such a peaceful scenery...


I was also inspiried with this lovely poetry that seems to be a nice variant to accompany these incredible creations.

Autumn

The past will always inspire melancholy

The trail of a falling star

That never arrives

The trace that remains on a stone when touched

Scents of times past

O, winds

Autumn

There it remains, the past

As if reflected on water

Like a stone, impossible toStore time in your palm

Melancholy is good

Whenever my absent-minded eyes drift into a dream

Melancholy is good

Author: Mustafa Atapay
Translated by: Tozan Alkan

TURKISH GARLIC PASTE

I've been making this paste for about 3 years already and it perfectly goes to every maccaroni/pasta dishes or we also put it on small pieces of bread with a slice of butter. Garlic is a must to maintain a healthy immunity!

Ingredients:

50 g garlic

150 g walnuts

150 g wheat bread (only crumb)

50 g vegetable oil

salt to taste

Method of preparation:1. Mash garlic with salt and crushed walnuts.2. Soak the bread in water for some seconds, squash and mix with garlic and walnuts.3. Beat up the mass with spoon, gradually adding oil.

MOROCCAN EVENING TEA & Co.

Having a morocan tea-time may be much more easier than you might have ever thought! I am going to share a very fast and yummi variant of having a relaxed moroccan evening tea-time.

ANISE TEA Serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 cups boiling water
2 tsp. whole anise seeds
2 cups medium-strength tea

Put the anise seeds in boiling water 10 minutes. Strain and add anise water to the 2 cups hot tea. Serve at once.QUICK BERBER CREPES

Ingredients:5 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter

Mix eggs and milk together thoroughly. Whisk in flour until fully absorbed and lumps are mostly gone. Over medium heat, melt butter in a skillet or crepe pan. Ladle in 1/2 cup of the batter. Turn heat to low and let cook. Flip when golden, and cook the other side until golden. Makes about 12 crepes.

And below is a recipe that I've found in the net later on after I had made an apricot/goosberries confiture for my crepes. I think I should try this variant next time.

ORANGE-RASIN SAUCE for PANCAKES or Crepes (3 cups.)

Ingredients:
2 cups orange juice
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup orange-blossom water (optional; available in Middle Eastern markets)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup regular raisins
1/2 cup golden raisins

Method of cooking:
Combine orange juice, sugar, and orange-blossom water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add butter and raisins, and simmer until reduced by half, stirring occasionally - about 10 minutes. While hot, pour over pancakes or crepes and serve.

CHICKEN SHORBA

This is a very rich and thick shorba (soup) with chicken and macaroni! I made it for supper and accomponied only by some fresh tomatoes and a bit of roti (bread). It's really very nourishing dish, so even after some physical work you will be quite satisfied! Sooo..let's start.

Ingredients:
400 g chicken
300 g macaroni
5 tb s. vegetable oil
3-4 onionssalt and blackpepper to taste

Method of cooking:
Cut onions into small pieces and put them in a pot, add vegetable oil, salt and chicken a la carte.
Pour 2 litres of water, bring it to a boil and cook for 50 min.
Add black pepper and macaroni, then cook it, stiring, for 15 min more.!

Magic tip
For not to "cry" when you cut onions, just take some water in your mouth and you will not shed a single tear! Or of you don't have water at hand just blow out your cheeks (as if there was a water inside). I don't know how but it works!

BE GREEN

We call this vegetable dish "BE GREEN" because every basic ingredient is of green color:)


*I did not indicate the quantity of ingredients, because I also put everything by eye - just to fit 2 portions.

For 2 persons you will need:Cabbage (1/4 or less of the head - or look at the pic below)
Green marrow
1-2 Fresh Green Peppers
Leek
2 eggs
Vegetable oil (corn, sunflower)
*adding a cauliflower will make this dish more nourishing.

Spices:
Tarragon
A bit of Ginger
Sesam seeds
Dried Basil
Dried Parsley
A but of Caraway seeds
Thyme
Black Pepper
Salt

Method of Cooking:
1. Cut separately (don't mix together)
cabbage, marrow, green pepper and leek.
2. Put some vegetable oil into a big deep frying pan, add some water (I use mineral) and braise marrow till it becomes softer.

3. Now add cabbage and braise for about 5 minutes more.
4. Add leek and green pepper, (don't forget adding some water for the vegetables to be braised and not fried)

5. Now start adding spices, one by one (except thyme and caraway seeds)
6. Whisk eggs with thyme
and caraway seeds to get their more intense aroma.

7. Pour beaten eggs onto prepared vegetables and leave for 2-3 min on a low heat (now leave the pan uncovered)

Useful tip:
You may put ready-for use spices, such as Chunky Chat Masala or Samber Masala.

DESERT LAKE IN THE MORNING LIGHT

...exactly these thoughts come to my mind when I look at this picture. At first glance this work is simple but makes my fantasy go much more beyond the picturised here! First of all I love the Light as if coming and descending from nowhere, the soft pastel colors and sunny reflection on the water, the silhouettes of awakening mountains, the sandy coast with thin trees stretching their palms to the rising sun!!

I am surprised of how much can be shown just with a few touches of pencil or brush. This place is evoking in my mind an image of a desert and I don't know why but also...cotton fields. I think they must be somewhere there, behind the mountains...:)

ZUCCHINI CUPCAKES

Now it's time for cupcakes! The cupcakes shown on the photo are my first try and my goal was to choose an easy to make recipe requiring easy to find ingredients but still it had to be unusual in some way!That's why zucchini came to be the best choice as a basic ingredient.Everybody who tasted these cupcakes was sure I put apples there!

Ingredients:
Grated bitter chocolate
Eggs - 3
Cane-sugar - 3\4 cup
Vegetable oil – 3\4 cup
Flour - 2 cups
Salt - 1\2 tea spoon
Zucchini (cut) – 2 cups
Orange nectar or juice – 80 g
Almond – 3\4 cup
Ginger in powder – to taste

Method of preparation:
Preheat the oven to 175 C.
Mix eggs with cane-sugar in a large bowl for 10 minutes. Add oil, grated chocolate, orange nectar.
(Don’t forget to save some quantity for the grit).
Mix flour and salt in a small bowl, add it to the blend in a large bowl. And finally add zucchini and almonds.
Place the mixture into the molds and bake for 20 minutes.
Check the readiness by spitting it with a toothpick – it should come out dry and clean.
Leave the cupcakes to get cool for a while, and then sprinkle with a grated chocolate!