Producing with Nostalgia for 4 Generations!

I poured my self a cup of Turkish tea & served a slice of Raspberry Tart to go with it…

Trying to remember my connection to the author of this weeks post  my friend MIREY KARASO…

I probably noticed her 1970’s to 80’s in Buyukada… My childhood summer heaven…

Because she and her sister were the token red heads of our Island…it was impossible to miss them.

Then in the late 80’s I noticed her work as friends and family used her products, high design- wedding candy’s from La Bonbonniere (her new company).

Then we ran into each other in Dallas Texas at a Special Events Convention in early 2000’s…

And we chatted about being creative & producing events…in two different continents.

In 2010 Mirey sent her daughter Lara to NYC & CT, to become my intern & right hand for a while…

And in 2011 she has produced an amazing country wedding for my beloved cousin Elvan in Kemer Country, Istanbul…

So if you do not believe in coincidences… you will see that the parallels of our lives… keep crossing time to time...

Here is a story & recipe from Mirey of our shared cultures, rituals, passions, careers,  & meals:

Let’s read together….

“Moshiko… ( A Sepharadic way of saying my Little Moshe)

I am always excited about traditions…I believe they create miracles. Celebrations are special occasions where traditions are repeated since ages...
Fortunately I am an event designer for nearly 30 years in Istanbul. and I help celebrate these traditions...
Once an astrologer told me that I was also an event organizer in one of my past lives, in England... and had a very colorful life.
The truth is,when and if I come back,in my next life, I only want to be just a guest in other events...
This profession which I had just started as a joke, made my life...

I grew up with it, & it grew up with me...we shared so many nice moments with so many lovely people...We celebrated, traveled, loved, ate and certainly prayed while being grateful.

I also had the occasion of integrating different traditions from myriad backgrounds, as Turkey is a very cosmopolite country.
Food also is lovely here... Turkish cuisine mixed with my Sephardic routes, makes for really special hybrid.
Once I was invited to become a contestant to a "food festival" with a personal & special recipe.

The first thing I had in mind was to cook my great- grandmothers Sephardic recipe ...
“El Tapada de Berencena” (The Eggplant Tart).
The jury wanted me to repeat the food tasting three times as they loved this amazing taste.
When I was a little girl, I liked to watch my mom cooking...and I remember the way she hold the dough, how she made this delicious tart in an artistic way with the beautiful smell.
We used to go swimming every weekend in Prince Island (Buyukada) with our boat, at least 15 of us cramped in the wooden boat… led by Captain Maurice.

My mothers Tapada was a must have tradition for those joyful days....
To think that this is a recipe that my great -grandmother use to cook in Thessaloniki with her prostela (onluk), then my mom has cooked it in Istanbul city center later, and today I am cooking it in the country side for my family and friends... is HISTORY in making for me…
No doubt one day my Daughter will cook this for her 4^th generation table…

I hope you also share in my rituals, try this in your kitchen …..and serve it to your loved ones…

A quick warning …If you make this you might faint while its cooking in oven...the smell ... is that GREAT”

Here is the recipe...
Eat, enjoy,love and be grateful....

{Tapada de Berencena}  {The Eggplant Tart}.

1 cup canola oil

half a glass of water

1 tsp salt

2 tablespoons grated Kaser (Turkish Cheese similar to Parmesan)

As much flour as it takes…

Filling:

4 pieces of roasted eggplant

200 grams of grated Kaser

Boil the oil, water, salt, (5 minutes)

Take it of the stove and add Kaser and then flour.

Knead it into a  soft dough.

Divided into two and put in the fridge to rest.

Sprinkle a little grated Kaser bottom of tart pan.

Open up ½ of the dough mixture really thinly…

Make sure you roll the edges of the dough to cover sides of the pan.

Sprinkle the dough with more Kaser ..  This makes the dough really crunchy once cooked.

Once the bottom of the shell is ready pour the the eggplant and the  Kaser mixture in.

Again, put the remaining dough over the top as the cover ... The upper dough is now reversed on a plastic cover…and replced back….

The top then will be cut with a sharp knife,  to create diamond-design.

A little water is poured into your palms and sprinkled over the dough... more Kaser is sprinkled over top.

And then is baked in the oven.

Cook until brown on topat 350 degrees for approximately one hour.

Bon Appetite”

Check Mirey out at:

Www.labonbonniere.com.tr

Following the scent of Lahmajun?

My friend Vasken Kalayjian is a renaissance man... the advertiser, the brand specialist, the father, the artist, the spiritual thinker, the lover, and the romantic... Throughout the years at times we were in the same yoga class, lived on the same street, exchanged ideas in the same branding brainstorming meetings and also broke bread at the same dinner table...

Until I asked him for this post I had no idea we also had another shared passion... We were both once young kids begging our mothers for more LAHMAJUN!...

( my mom use to hate Lahmacun but she was kind enough to take me to the specialty store Kahraman Maras in Nisantasi, and waited outside while I had mine....because the place stunk of onions, garlic, spices... YUMMM!!!)

Read this from his pen...

"Lahmajun-seeking has been a great entry for me into many Middle Eastern cultures. In conversing with local people, I’ve been provided insight into the little-known delicacies -- Lahmajun in particular."

A cab driver in Dubai told me about a great little restaurant hidden from the fancy glittering skyscrapers where I could find authentic Lahmajun. He informed me that the chef happened to be from Aleppo, where I believe the world’s best Middle Eastern cuisine, perfected over 10,000 years, is found.

An Egyptian doorman in Stockholm told me where to find the best Lebanese restaurant in town where they also make great Lahmajun. (Trust me; it was a lifesaver after 3 days of salmon and white fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)

My adventurous spirit to travel to new places, learn and grow through interesting encounters with people is something my soul yearns for in this life. I do love food and consider myself a “foodie”.

A few years ago, I planned a historical journey with my two gorgeous daughters, Lara and Sevan. Together, we visited Turkey, Syria, and Armenia. My goal was to go beyond the typical tourist trip to allow my daughters to experience each authentic culture to its fullest extent.

Istanbul is one of my top ten favorite cities in the world. Both the classic Turkish and Ottoman cuisines are so tasty and familiar to my Armenian taste buds.

Of the many excellent restaurants we tried in Istanbul, we thought Istanbul’s most exquisite and romantic fine dining experience was at Tuğra Restaurant, located on the first floor of the original Çırağan Palace where we stayed. (Thank you, Moshe, for recommending it!) The feast began with the wonderful ambience: rich Ottoman décor, live classical Turkish music and the ever-stirring backdrop of the Bosphorus. We were offered a table on Tuğra’s summer terrace, lit by the moon, a candle, and the Bosphorus Bridge, but it was a little chilly and noisy out there with a wedding party below so we opted to go back indoors. With specialties like Lamb Külbastı and Testi Kebab, Tuğra’s modern classic menu with obscure classic Turkish and Ottoman cuisine will take you back to the glorious eras of the Sultans. The traditional candy stick trolley "Macun" and my other favorite sweets were dream come true. The girls had an excellent bottle of wine, but I am so conditioned to drink Arak (Turks call it “Raki”) with this type of food.

Lahmacun, (Turkish pronunciation: [lahmaˈdʒun]) or lahmajoun (Armenian - Lahmadjun lahmaǰun), from Arabic: لحم بعجين‎, lahm bi'ajīn, "meat with dough", is an item of prepared food thought to have originated in the early Syrian cuisine of the Levant. It consists of a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat (most commonly beef and lamb mixed with spices). Lahmajun is often served sprinkled with lemon juice and wrapped around vegetables, including pickles, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, and parsley or cilantro.

On our second round of Istanbul, we wanted to expand our restaurant experience and tried less fancy places one of them was: Hamdi Restaurant near Galata Bridge on the Europe side. I judge casual Turkish restaurants by their Lahmajun, and it was excellent. They served it with all the traditional toppings including smoked eggplant.

Lahmajun is prominently made and sold in Armenia, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey, where there are restaurants that specialize in it, and many countries with sizeable Near and Middle Eastern communities, where it is sometimes labeled as Turkish Pizza or Armenian Pizza.

As a little boy growing up in Aleppo, my mother would prepare the topping, the meat and spice mixture, and have me bring it to the baker who would make it into Lahmajun. I had very clear instructions to keep my eye on the baker so he did not keep some of the mixture for himself and not to eat any myself on the way back. Telling a little boy not to eat hot, delicious Lahmajun after hours of waiting was torture, so I often succumbed. My mother would always know from my breath, but I was her baby so I got away with it."

I have visited some of the best Lahmajun bakeries in Glendale, CA where there is a sizable Armenian population. In the New York Metro area, here are my recommendations for a few places with excellent Lahmajun: Ali Baba, 206 East 34th Street New York NY 10016 T: 212-683-9206 and Saray Turkish Restaurant: 770 Campbell Avenue, West Haven, CT 06516 T: 203-9370707

You can also buy them frozen, but always use a toaster oven, not a microwave, to reheat them. Many Middle Eastern stores carry two popular brands here in this area: the Assadourian brand, (Assadourian, Inc Middle East Lahmajun 355 Anderson Avenue, Fairview, New Jersey T: (201) 941-5662) which is the more Aleppo-style and authentic, and the Kupelian brand, (Kupelian Foods Inc. 146 Bergen Tpke, Ridgefield Park, NJ T: (201) 440-8055) which is less flavorful and skimpy with toppings.

Zoe = Life { are we paying attention? }

This weeks post is not about a meal yet it is about friends, conversations and feeding our souls...
I love this story submitted by my friend very talented photographer & writer Doreen Birdsell...
She knows me well enough that this was going to read as a very {a-la-mo} experience... 
It is about all the signs we are receiving every day... But do we pay attention?
I hope you like reading it as much as I have:

      "One day while sweeping outside my Inn in Provincetown I noticed a dog tag and collar lying on the ground.  I was really busy with already too much to do and decided to sweep around it knowing that somebody else would come along, pick it up, and know better than me, what to do with it.  Owning an Inn has enough of its own interruptions.

        The next day I went outside, again with broom in hand to make a quick sweep so I could get on with the much more important things that were on my list for the day.  As I turned to walk back into the house I noticed that someone had put the dog collar on the picket fence where I could no longer avoid coming in contact with it. I couldn’t believe it.

The dark blue, leathery collar was worn and shred. Only about a two-thirds piece of it remained intact but the tags were still legible. One was a dog license and the other, an I.D. tag, with a name inscribed, Zoe, and a local phone number.  I had no time for this but neither could I leave it on the fence; so now it would find its way to my desk for two days until I did something about it. That dog collar had become an uninvited, unwanted item on my already too long to-do list, but the nagging sensation that I should call the number on the tag was greater than the time it would take to finally do it. 

I dialed the local phone number and got a voice message. “Great,” I thought, “I’ll leave a message that I found this collar and be done with it.”

          A couple more days went by. The dog tag and collar had now become like an ornament on my desk.  In the quiet of late evening during that welcome undisturbed time of catching up, the occasional wandering thought would lead my eye to that collar to wonder about who it might have belonged to and how it got to me.

In the flurry of a busy morning and constant calls I was snapped into the moment when I answered a call from a man who said,

“Someone left a message about a dog collar that was found?”

“Oh, yes…that was me who called…I’m one of the owners of the Inn at Cook Street and it was dropped in front of our house,” I said.

“I live in California now but still have my local number in Provincetown. I just heard your message when I called in…I can’t believe you found Zoe’s collar in front of your inn. I threw it into the sea at the Moors with her ashes two years ago after she died. She loved the Moors,” he said.

“Two years ago?!?” I asked….”The Moors?”  That’s two miles away… How’d it get here in front of the Inn?

“I don’t know…maybe seagulls?” he asked, trying to make sense of it. “I’m so glad you found it and that you called me – I think it’s a message from Zoe…that she wants me to know she’s alright.  I still think of her, a lot. I miss her.”

Time was suspended in the silence between us. There were so many messages for me in that experience.  How often do I push away something that’s not on my timetable because I think I’m just too busy?  Time after time what I need to know is right in front of me, and when will I get that so often the way I experience God comes after resistance and surrender?

When I hung up the phone I looked up the definition of the word Zoe. It’s a Greek word that means, “Life.” 

I still have that collar as a reminder of the lessons learned, and one day I look forward to meeting Zoe to thank her for her message."

Zoe Definition

 zoe { dzo-ay’} 
Strong's Lexicon: Greek Origin
-Life
- the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate
- every living soul
-Life
- of the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through Him
- life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, and to last for ever.

All you can eat?

What can one say about Mr.Woog (Dan)... to watch him coach, to know him, to read him, to follow his blog (06880), to see his selfless activism... is to love HIM.
So let me leave you to the Master's hands...




"Moshe’s wonderful blog is filled with orgasmic descriptions of delectable dishes. There are stories of appetizers, entrees, desserts. I read about bok choy that “weeps a bit of water.” Emotions flow freely, for sure.
 
Everyone adds his or her favorite recipe.

Moshe asked me to do the same.

I have many talents. I write, I coach soccer, I walk to the planet Zork with my eyes closed.

But cooking is not one of my talents.

Still, in an effort to engage in this great conversation – and, perhaps, be asked to dine by people who can actually cook – I’ll share my favorite food story.

It’s a list of the top five places in and around Westport to score free samples.

First – that is, in fifth place – is Whole Foods. The selection is natural and organic, which of course makes me feel all kinds of virtuous about wandering around eating, but it’s skimpy. It’s like a highly regarded New York restaurant that brings you two sprigs of parsley, with some exotic sauce, and charges 24.95 (without, of course, the dollar sign).

Everyone goes “oooooh, marvelous,” but you’re thinking “WTF?” You really have to dig to find samples at Whole Foods, but when you do they are good. Just not real filling.

Balducci’s is in fourth place, a drop from years past. In earlier incarnations – Hay Day, and something else that lasted about 6 minutes – the place was filled with samples. Fruit slices, cheeses, entrees and sides right out of the oven, plus tons o’ pastries. Now they’ve throttled back, so like Whole Foods, you’ve got to be a hunter/gatherer rather than a scarfer.

Fresh Market takes third place. I’ve had some fantastic half-sandwiches there – roast beef, pulled pork, great stuff. Yeah, it’s weird eating it out of a plastic urine specimen cup, but you can’t beat the price. Fresh Market also offers cookies and cheese platters, while every so often – random Saturdays and holidays – they turn the place into a banquet. Carving stations, steam tables, all manned by very friendly staff urging you to eat. One more Fresh Market note: There are samples at the checkout counter, but they’re hidden in little cardboard boxes you have to open. Don’t be shy!

In second place is Garelick & Herbs. Specializing in chips and dips, brownies and cookies – and lots of them -- this upscale gourmet store gets bonus points for compactness. No need to wander aimlessly looking for free food; it’s all right there, between the counter and the register.

In first place – no surprise – is Stew Leonard’s. The sign calls it the “Worlds Largest Dairy Store” (yeah, they write it without the apostrophe), but it could also be the Worlds Largest Free Food Emporium. From the entrance (cookies, other pastries, and for some reason, usually spinach pie), through the winding aisles past rice cakes, pomegranate juice, and on and on and on, Stew’s is sample heaven. More often than not, there’s even something like jelly beans at the customer service counter after checkout.

But that’s your normal, weekday, early morning and evening free fare at Stew’s. Saturday and Sunday afternoons make those offerings look like Oliver’s gruel. Weekends are when vendors pour in, handing out their wares in a free Norwalk version of an Arab souk. The latest yogurt bars, salsa dips and ice cream flavors – they’re all there. And more.

Saturdays and Sundays are also the days Stew’s sets out cheeses, salads – even shrimp – as samples. You can eat an entire meal at Stew’s.

And I often have."