Pille

Here's what you'll find at one Easter table in faraway Estonia: * pasha/pashka (a must-have. We'll probably have two different ones, as both myself and my bf are keen to show off their own version ) * kulitcha (have never made it before, but keen to try. Has anyone got the best recipe? Ludja? Alinka?) * small curd cheese and orange buns * the Greek Easter bread tsoureki, as I've made it for two years already and I really love it (it uses mastic and mechlepe, which make it really special) * soft-boiled quail's eggs with whitefish roe * lots of eggs: some dyed with onion skins, some with beetroot juice. These will mostly end up either in a egg salad or stuffed eggs in the days after the festivities.. (luckily, there won't be (m)any chocolate eggs, however, as these are not popular here - I still haven't spotted any prominent displays of chocolate eggs in the supermarkets yet, for instance) * something fishy - possibly kedgeree, as I miss British food a little We're still discussing some other dishes to make, but basically the whole meal is focused on eggs and curd cheese and sweet pastries.

These look gorgeous, Alinka! I've made hatchapuri a few times (see here), but I used suluguni cheese. I can easily get brynza here, so will try that next time. I've been taking it easy recently, so most of the meals have been very simple vegetarian affairs. Here's a warm salad of buckwheat and mushrooms from last week: And here is a super-easy yet tasty carrot side dish, cumin-scented carrot oven chips from last night: Oh, and we made blue cabbage rolls. That was fun

What an interesting thread - I've never had or even heard of buckwheat tea before!! Here in Estonia, buckwheat porridge is a popular side dish or a dish on its own. Althought traditionally made with roasted buckwheat groats, then nowadays you can buy pre-cooked buckwheat flakes, which make a nice and quick alternative to the more traditional (i.e. groats) porridge, especially for breakfast. I came up with a warm salad of buckwheat groats and mushrooms last week, which I'll be making again soon

Thank you for the recommendation, fortedei - I will report back after the trip

I'm going to Breuil-Cervinia this Saturday for a week with my boyfriend, and we're hoping to explore local restaurants after day on the slopes. We both like our food, you see Hence the question - has anyone been to restaurants in the area recently and can recommend some good places to visit? The recommendations below have been very helpful, but they are from almost four years ago, so I'm wondering if there are any new must-visit places or places that were good back in 2003, but best avoided now. When 'googling' Maison Di Fillippo, for example, the search returned several negative comments suggesting it is not as good as it used to be and is best avoided? Is that indeed the case? We're happy to travel a bit for a good meal, i.e. the restaurant doesn't have to be Breuil-Cervinia - anywhere in Val d'Aosta will do. Any advice would be much appreciated! Pille

I wanted to make Boeuf Bourguignon as well, and finally found a link to Bourdain's recipe here. Absolutely delicious! As I write on my blog, then I simmered it in the oven for about 3 hours in total (2.5 hours on the first night, then kept it in the cold garage overnight and re-heated for half an hour in the oven before serving) and it was melt-in-your-mouth and lip-smackingly good indeed The browned meat: The finished dish just before serving: On the plate, meat falling apart:

Alanamoana - thanks for letting me know about cloudberries in Newfoundland! C. sapidus - after seeing your lemon vanilla pistachio shortbread, I found the recipe from Epicurious and made them, too. Delicious! Thanks for the inspiration! Apronstrings - that pistachio praline strudel looks wonderful! I made a typical Danish Christmas dessert, risalamande, few days ago. It's a rice pudding enriched with whipped cream and chopped/flaked almonds, and served with warm cherry compote: There's one whole almond hidden inside - whoever finds it, gets a small marzipan gift

Julia - it's similar to halloumi texture-wise, yes, but bread cheese is not salty at all, rather mild-tasting. I don't think halloumi would be a good substitute, as even by soaking it'd remain too salty. However, there's a US-based producer/supplier, called Carr Valley Cheese Ltd, and they have bread cheese or leipäjuusto.

Wonderful desserts, Patrick and others! I made some grilled breadcheese (also known as squeaky Finnish cheese) with home-made cloudberry compote and lime-mascarpone cream last Friday. Simple, lovely, squeaky and very Nordic (recipe here)

I had a really enjoyable & fun meal at Madeleines Madteater in late November. It's a three-hour eating show (fixed menu, several courses, light&music, 1.200dkk pp, alcohol included) that is themed "Den 7'ende sans" (seventh sense?). You get something crisp, something bitter, something salty, something soft, something sour, something strong and something sweet. Some really interesting flavour combinations there (pigeon in liquorice sauce and black pepper paste; duck liver in crispy coating with pumpkin, etc). The experience lasts for 3 hours and you're supposed to book in advance. Anyone else been there yet?

I'll be making piparkoogid, or Estonian Christmas peppercookies again (using this recipe), and then many other cookies, as there should be at least seven different types of cookies or cakes on the table

Lots of great ideas using pomegranates, Khoresht-E-Fesenjan sounds especially delicious! I made a dish using chickpeas, pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds from Sam & Sam Clark's MORO last week. Recipe here.

I sent in a booking request on October 13th, and got a no-reply very similar to the one fauxtarga got this afternoon. Oh well, better luck next year..

Quite a few in Edinburgh, but one item that you should not miss is Stornoway black pudding. I don't really like British style blood sausages that much, but this is an excellent product. ← Haven't tried the Stornoway black pudding yet, sadly, but my favourite haggis is MacSween of Edinburgh, widely available in supermarkets and delis.

Thank you for a great idea, Jason! I made it the other night with tiny modifications and it was really delicious! We ate it with some fresh vanilla custard

Thank you for the recipe, Alinka, looks delicious! I don't think my friend Galina includes carrots & bell peppers (she's my local ikra source here in Edinburgh), so I'll try your version soon.

I'm gasping here, all embarrased Honey cake is popular in Estonia, too, and it usually has 5 layers of dough. I've only made it once, and cheated big time by only using 4 layers. And now I see that you've made one with 9 layers!?!? Shame on me... Napoleon is also popular back home, so we've "stolen" lots of your cakes in Estonia, Alinka PS I wholeheartedly second Catherine Nash's suggestion

Thank you, S_Sevilla & Pontormo - I'll try to make a proper schiacciata next time!

Aaaahh - kohuke They are a popular treat for kids back home. I'm slightly older than that, but still treat myself to couple every time I'm in Estonia They come in several varieties nowadays (check this English-language list from just one Estonian producer), my favourite is the plain one and the one with cranberry jam. And there's even a Wikipedia entry for them!

I shared a flat with a lovely Turkish Kurdish couple for 3,5 months last year, and they must have been from that village 100 miles down the road, as the food was usually rather spicy My friend Fatma used dried mint quite a lot, as well as the Turkish chilli paste, and occasionally some sumac to add a some sourness. But yes, otherwise salt & pepper ruled. She got me addicted to the yogurt soup (made with mint), spicy Kurdish potato mash as well as kisir (spicy bulghur salad). She also used LOTS of flat leaf parsley when cooking. PS The oven-baked börek look extremely tasty!!!

Don't worry, C. sapidus. I was taught Russian for 11 years (note that "I was taught" and not that "I learned" ) and although I recognised the 'products' and 'drinks' straight away, the best I could do with the front sign was 'milky rivers' as well. And that doesn't make any sense, does it? On the other hand, there's an expression in my native language that translates "milky rivers and porridge mountains" implying the land of plenty and riches - maybe we're not supposed to read the kiosk sign too seriously? (Just to apologise for my poor Russian - I was taught it in 1980s, and since 1990s I have lived mostly in places where I have had no contact with Russian (Denmark & Scotland), so my Russian has been pushed to the meagre 5th place on my language repertoire)

Such a great blog, Alinka! Yes, they are called “Eskimo.” It’s rich vanilla ice cream on a stick, covered in chocolate. We have these here in Prague, too. They're highly addictive. These were one of the very few ice creams available when I grew up - very, very rich & tasty Haven't seen them in Estonia for ages, though there are many other delicious ice creams available, so I don't get much chance to miss Eskimo-bars Crab apples!? Gooseberries? Sulk... I had gooseberries (not too tart, luckily) at home in July, but haven't seen them anywhere in Edinburgh. My last bet is the farmers market this Saturday, but if I cannot find them, I must satisfy my gooseberry pie craving in some other way Kefir and buttermilk are wonderful. Sour milk products is one of the things I'm looking forward to when I move back home in a few months. Who needs all those expensive tiny Actimel etc drinks, when you can get all the friendly bacteria by drinking natural sour milk products? During the last few years, Estonian shops have started selling various flavoured sour milk products, e.g. raspberry kefir or blueberry one. Very tasty. Have you got these in Moscow? Aaaah - lavash, kharcho, khachapuri, chakhohbili - all make me drool! Food from the food in general, and Georgian food in particular, is very popular back home in Estonia, too. I used to have a Georgian neighbough who made some great dishes from her homeland, and invited me to eat every now and then. I recently bought Darra Goldstein's "Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia", and I'm looking forward to cooking from it when I go back home. I can't get Sulugun cheese here in Scotland, and khachapuri wouldn't be the same without it! And you're right about the generous use of herbs in Georgia. I made chicken chakhohbili few months ago, and used coriander/cilantro, tarragon, basil, dill & parsley. The shopkeeper gave me a very weird look, to say the least Thanks again for the wonderful blog, I'm really enjoying this..

I agree with Ling, Nishla's nectarine & almond cake looks delicious! As does Ling's own cake obviously. I baked a raspberry focaccia last weekend (at least that what the recipe called it. I don't know if a focaccia can be sweet rather than savoury. Anyone? ). I got the recipe from a Finnish Pirkka-magazine, available in English here on my blog. I really loved it, and will make it again soon, though probably a slightly flatter version, so it'd be more focaccia-like I served it with some Cornish Organic Brie cheese.

Hi Alinka, very much looking forward to reading your foodblog! Though I've been to St Petersburg several times, I've never been to Moscow, so it's interesting to hear about your food-related stories from that city. Although the cuisines are different, there are still plenty of common elements in Estonian & Russian food, so I expect to read about some familiar dishes. How exciting!!! I like your breakfast, curd cheese/tvorog is very popular back home, too. I also had wild strawberries in Estonia a fortnight ago - I picked them myself in the forst - and miss them already! It would be interesting to read about the wide choice of wild mushrooms & berries available on a daily basis to Muscovites. There are so many Russian dishes I would like to read about - solyanka, kulebjaka, strogonov, ikra, etc etc, but I guess I must wait until your follow-up blog next year Also, congratulations on the baby news!

Great semolina pudding, Lumas - the jam looks super-delicious! More semolina action: Whipped semolina mousse (I used fresh raspberrry jam as the base for the pudding this time), served simply with cold milk: