If you can’t bring the girl to Armenia

September 17, 2014 by Beth Shepherd

…bring Armenian food to the girl.

Seattle is a long way from Armenia but, in early fall, my heart is there. I long for a warm evening, a sidewalk cafe, and a slice of lahmajun with a glass of tahn on the side. So on a warm night in late September, we laid out an assortment of small plates on our deck. I freely admit it’s not the real Armenian deal. Pita took the place of lavash, Loukanika (Thank you Olympic Provisions!) stood in for sujuk, and none of my favorites–like Spas (yogurt soup), kufteh (stuffed meat balls) or lahmajun (pizza)–graced our table.

But in the spirit of Armenia, we dined. I closed my eyes and–for a moment–tried to imagine we had just returned from an evening stroll, where we walked up the to the top of the Cascade, and gazed down upon all of Yerevan with Mt. Ararat looming on the horizon, instead of sitting beside the Cascade Mountains under the shadow of Mt. Rainier.

Take the road less traveled, Beth

A nice pairing

January 9, 2014 by Beth Shepherd

The pairing of food and wine is a complex and highly inexact science. It is fraught with outmoded rules and a propensity for generalizations.

Sid Goldstein, The Wine Lover’s Cookbook

“Venison with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy,” would pair nicely with the wine in your glass, said the winery owner’s wife, looking Big Papa right in the eye.

“And with your wine, pizza,” is what she said to me.

Pizza?! I definitely hoped for more venison and less pizza in my life, in a metaphorical sense. It was January 9, 2005 and I was on my first date with Big Papa. Seattle lay under a dusting of snow, and the air was chilly, but inside the Bainbridge Island Winery we were toasty and warm as we stood side by side and sipped. We had successfully navigated a ferry ride to the island (successful in the sense that we liked each other enough not to end up on opposite sides of the boat), and had commenced to part two of our date: wine tasting.

Big Papa and I found each other on an online dating site and, for our first date, I asked him to think of something more creative than going out for coffee (the gold standard for first dates with online suitors). He said “ferry ride” and I said “great idea.” I suggested Bainbridge Island as our destination and wine tasting as our island adventure. We were two people who had never met, taking a ferry to an island across Puget Sound, to drink wine and then ride the ferry back to the city, easily a 3-4 hour date as opposed to a 30 minute coffee chat. What could possibly go wrong?

As it turned out, nothing went wrong. Our first date was awesome. We left the winery and drove to Faye Bainbridge State Park, where we sat at a picnic table near the water as the sky grew dark (I must mention again how cold it was). I brought out the cheese, crackers and chocolates I’d carried along with me in my backpack. We quickly found out that the chocolates (and some of the cheese) were frozen when Big Papa tried to cut a chocolate truffle in half and it sailed off into the evening sky. I’m not sure how much time passed as we sat there together, sharing stories and getting to know one another, but I do remember that my fingers were numb from the cold by the time we decided to head back to the car.

In a flash of brilliance (and attempt to be the female equivalent of gallant), I grabbed the fleece “emergency blanket” stored in the trunk of my car (which, by the way, I still have) to throw over our legs on the drive back to the ferry. And throw it I did. As Big Papa got into the front passenger seat, I tossed the blanket (which is tightly wrapped into a fabric envelope, like a pillow) in his direction.

“OW!”

“Are you okay?”

“You hit me in the face.”

“Oh wow. Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“You nailed my cheek.”

I started to laugh. I couldn’t help myself, the hilarity of it all (though I will say I breathed a silent sigh of relief the moment he started to laugh too). We were having a good time together, inadvertent attempts to cause my date bodily harm notwithstanding.

On the ferry back to Seattle, he suggested we continue our date and go out to dinner. We headed to Coastal Kitchen. After dinner, wine, and dessert–eight hours after I’d picked Big Papa up and said hello for the first time–I dropped him off at his house and headed home to my apartment.

Since that first date, nine years ago, we’ve continued to taste wine–and share adventures–together: in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Walla Walla wine region in Washington State, in New York, Pennsylvania, California, Canada, Mexico, France, and Armenia. Wine at restaurants, tasting bars, wineries and–most of all–at home, where we enjoy wine collected from our travels.

And you know what? The two of us are still a nice pairing.

Take the road less traveled, Beth

The heart of food

December 18, 2013 by Beth Shepherd

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.

– Ludwig van Beethoven

Food and love. For me the two go hand in hand. And, no, this isn’t a post about romantic moonlit dinners.

With many of my close friendships and family members, I have a clear memory of a dish, a drink, a meal or a restaurant that comes to mind whenever I think of them. There’s my friend Alice and Thanksgiving (oh that mouth-watering turkey), my college housemates and artichokes (what a big deal they made about me being “an artichoke virgin”), my Aunt Sue and her amazing paella (the woodsy Cape Cod backdrop didn’t hurt either), my father with his pickles and kraut, Big Papa and Shepherd’s Pie (looking forward to setting off the smoke alarm for the eighth year running). And then there’s Dee and Moosewood’s Mushroom Barley Soup.

There is so much wrapped up in that savory bowl of soup. Memories from my college days and my first taste of independence, a time in food history when being a “vegetarian” was still considered trendy, even revolutionary (Moosewood Cookbook really broke new ground), and how the loss of those most close to us remains deeply embedded in our hearts (the last time Dee cooked Mushroom Barley Soup for Big Papa and me was the last time I saw her).

Holidays hold especially keen food memories for most of us: the almond-spritz cookies we made with our mom at Christmas, Easter egg chocolates hiding under backyard bushes, a recipe for eggnog or crown roast that distinguishes your family from any other. We are indeed what we eat…and who we eat it with.

So this Friday, December 20, I’ll be filling my belly with Mushroom Barley Soup. And filling my heart with love for my friend, who passed away five years ago on that day.

Mushroom Barley Soup from the Moosewood Cookbook

Serves 8

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley
3 tablespoons butter
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
4 tablespoons dry sherry
6-1/2 cups stock or water
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
fresh ground black pepper

Preparation
Cook barley in 1-1/2 cups of the stock or water in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until barley is tender (20-30 minutes). Add remaining stock or water, tamari and sherry.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet. Add the onions and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add mushrooms, and salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is very tender (about 10-12 minutes).

Add the sauté with all its liquid to the cooked barley. Add fresh ground black pepper to taste and simmer, partially covered, for another 20 minutes. Serve with a slice of hearty bread.

Take the road less traveled, Beth

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Ten ideas for exploring cultural heritage in adoptive families

November 11, 2011 by Beth Shepherd

Exploring heritage is important for all adoptive families, not just those who adopt internationally. Whether a Caucasian family adopts an African-American child domestically or a family of Western European descent adopts a child from Eastern Europe, chances are that your adopted child will have different cultural roots. Exploring heritage is one way to learn about the country and culture where your child was born, and is also an opportunity for your child to gain a deeper sense of his identity.

There are so many meaningful (and fun!) ways to explore heritage. Language, religion, food, holidays and celebrations, clothing, music, literature and the arts, travel: there is so much to learn about. I have heard of a number of ways that adoptive families explore, and embrace, the culture of their adopted child. Here are ten:

Celebrate a new holiday: In my opinion, there’s always room for another reason to celebrate. A blog I follow by a mom with two adopted daughters from India writes about their Diwali celebrations with immense pride and joy. Several families I know with children from China make it a point to attend Chinese New Year celebrations every year.
Make a dinner with food from your child’s heritage: Whether it’s black-eyed peas and collard greens, mango lassi, or pelmeni, cooking is a fun (and tasty) way to incorporate your child’s heritage into daily life.
Learn a language: Take classes, buy a dvd or find native speakers in your community. I know a few families who have taken language classes together which means you can practice with each other.
Travel to the country (or region in the U.S.) of your child’s birth! Whether your child was born in another part of the United States, or in another country, go there! There is no better way to get a sense of history, architecture, food, language and people.
Decorate with culture: Display maps of the country your child was born in, or purchase dolls in traditional dress.
Attend a cultural festival or program: Every year at the Seattle Center, there are many different cultural festivals: Asian, Irish, Iranian, Croatia, Mexico and West Africa to name a few. Festivals like these are a fantastic chance to sample food, listen to music, watch dance and learn about another cultural heritage.
Sing a song or play a tune: As a college exchange student, I lived in Amsterdam for six months. My Dutch host grandmother taught me a children’s song and said, “You may forget everything else, but you’ll remember the song.” I can still this song thirty years later! Or, if you’re not musical, buy a CD.
Join an adoptive family group that shares the cultural background of your child: In our area, I’ve met several local families who are members of FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, Including Neighboring Countries), which is a national organization. My sister, and her daughter who was adopted from China, attended family gatherings sponsored by her adoption agency. They are a great opportunity for kids to interact with other adopted kids who share the same cultural heritage.
Read bedtime stories that are folk tales common to the region or country, OR make a book about your child’s country: I’ve seen some wonderful books of Mayan folk tales, Russian folk tales and folk tales from just about every country on the globe. Or create your own book with pictures of the flag from your adopted child’s country, animals, maps, costumes and photographs.
As adopted children grow, there are increasingly more opportunities for them to investigate their birth heritage on their own, from the internet to heritage camps to travel in the country of their birth to enrolling in service organizations like the Peace Corps.

Brandy is dandy

December 8, 2009 by Beth Shepherd

My copy of ‘The Cuisine of Armenia’ by Sonia Uvezian arrived in the mail today (thank you Amazon.com). If it weren’t for the fact that the Urban Cabin’s kitchen is still mid-remodel, I’d be diving right in to cook Armenian vittles for Big Papa and I. Unfortunately, I am without a stove for the moment, not to mention that the fridge is in the bedroom and the counter tops, what little remain, are caked with 100-year old dust.

Glancing through the recipes, there’s nary one I wouldn’t try (ok, well maybe not the ‘Tongue Salad’). One of the reasons I’m tickled to be adopting from Armenia is the food!

I first heard about Ms. Uvezian through her book, The Book of Yogurt. While I do not own this book (yet), I am a huge yogurt devotee. All her books receive rave reviews and several reviewers say ‘The Cuisine of Armenia’ is a “classic.”

With the advent of the internet, I’m buying fewer and fewer cookbooks. Recipes are at my fingertips online. That said I wanted one compilation of Armenian recipes I could wade through. Uvezian’s book is also sprinkled with tidbits on Armenian history as it relates to food and recipes. I love to read about food history and learn more about the cultural roots for the food we’ll eat.

If I can’t cook much these days, I certainly can read. So I nestled next to Maggie the cat and took my time perusing the many temptations awaiting me in the 487 page cookbook.

At times I think I reading about food and cooking is as tantalizing as making the dish itself. The joy is in the imagining. Some days I’ll find myself searching for sweet treats and others I’ll scour my sources for hearty stews.

Today, the recipe that jumped out and said, “Make me! Make me!” was the recipe for Armenian Cherry Brandy. It could be the biting chill to the air or possibly stores filled to the brim with red this and that, but suddenly some tummy-warming burgundy-colored brandy, home made no less, sounds like just the ticket.

Armenian brandy is world-renowned for its excellence. Winston Churchill was so impressed with Armenian brandy given to him by Stalin that he asked for several cases of it to be sent to him each year.

When I was a kid, my father made cherry brandy. I have fond memories of him letting my sister and I enjoy the wrinkled drunken cherries that we found sitting at the bottom of the jar. The brandy recipe in ‘The Cuisine of Armenia’ calls for cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It just sounds so darn festive.

Of course, fresh cherries are quite seasonal and out of the question mid-December, so I’m contemplating using a combo of frozen and dried cherries or substituting with another fruit altogether. Pomegranate, in particular comes to mind. Aside from pomegranate being the national fruit of Armenia, it also has a lovely festive red color.

Here’s the recipe for Armenian Cherry Brandy. Tweak as desired (as my fridge magnet reads: “She didn’t always follow the recipe”):

Armenian Cherry Brandy

Sour cherries
Sugar
Brandy
Whole cloves
Cinnamon sticks
Whole nutmeg

Wash, stem and pit the sour cherries. Place equal amounts of the cherries and sugar in alternate layers in a heavy, enameled saucepan, ending with a layer of sugar on top. Let stand 12 hours or overnight. The following day, bring the mixture slowly to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Drain off the cherry juice and measure (reserve the cherries).

To each cup of cherry juice, add ½ cup brandy. To 8 cups of the cherry-brandy mixture, add 1-1/2 teaspoons whole cloves, 1 small cinnamon stick, 1 whole nutmeg, and ½ cup of the cherries. Pour into sterilized bottles and seal and store in a cool place. The brandy will be ready in one month. Serve chilled.

Check out the WanderFood Wednesday series for more great food postings!