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Odihnește-te în pace, bunica

{Rest in peace, grandma}

At the end of April, my family lost a very special woman, one of two who inspired this blog and cookbook, my paternal grandmother. Her recipes fill these virtual and paper pages, her memory fills our hearts, and her legacy continues through us. It’s a bittersweet experience, knowing that someone you love dearly is no longer in the pain and discomfort that comes with old age and illness. But that can’t overcome the sorrow of losing yet another root to our family tree, a generation that has come and gone. I can only hope I asked enough questions, learned enough through her, and can manifest her in my day-to-day.

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Biscuiți Șprițați {Sprinkled Cookies}

Biscuiți Șprițați (pronounced bee-s-choo-eats sh-preet-z-atz), also referred to as omidă (pronounced oh-mee-dah), which stands for caterpillar because of its shape, are buttery cookies that are just perfect for your holiday festivities, and can be decorated to your liking, like with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar, or dipped in fudgy chocolate!

Traditionally these cookies rely on a meat grinder and special attachment to form their funky shape (similar to the churro attachment that can be purchased here), however, these can also be cut by hand. The shape won’t affect how these taste (which is delicious, by the way).

↓ Recipe below ↓

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Softcover Cookbooks Now Available!

I’m happy to share the release of softcover versions of my cookbook From Dill to Dracula available now for $21.99 at your favorite online retailer and, of course, right here!

Hardcover and eBooks (on sale for $7.99!). With the holidays just around the corner, there’s no better time to stock up on gifts for your loved ones. I bet they’ve never read a Romanian cookbook like this!

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Note: The sooner you order for the holidays, the better. The COVID delays will only lengthen once we enter peek holiday-buying, and I’d hate for your order to arrive late. This goes for all retailers, not just if purchasing off my website. Thank you for understanding!

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Ciorbă de Lobodă {Wolf Soup}

I was sitting out in my backyard with my mom when she looked over to our untamed planter box (we have a newborn aka our garden has sort of fallen by the wayside) and pointed out a weed that she said her grandmother, my great-grandmother, used to make a soup out of, and they’d call it Ciorbă de Lobodă (pronounced chore-bah day low-bow-dah). Naturally, I had to look up what this weed was (and taste it, but that’s beside the point…). Turns out, it goes by many names, like Lamb’s Quarters or Wild Spinach. Sure enough, tasting it, it did sort of resemble spinach!

So, instead of ripping it out, I decided to hang onto it, harvest it, and make some summer soup!

↓ Recipe below ↓

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Mujdei De Usturoi {Garlic Sauce}

Here’s a recipe that will surely keep Dracula and his minions at bay! Is there such a thing as too much garlic? (I’d argue a resounding no.) Mujdei De Usturoi (pronounced moo-sh-day day oose-to-roy) can be used as a dipping sauce for chips, crackers or french fries, or you can use it as an accompaniment to your favorite protein or vegetable.

… Or as a defense against the dangerous strigoi (that’s vampire)…

↓ Recipe below ↓

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Napolitane cu Caramel și Nuci {Wafers with Caramel and Nuts}

Welcome to the second recipe in my Cousin’s Cookies Collection (if you’re new to From Dill to Dracula, check out recipe number one of four: Heather’s Cookies)!

These were never called Napolitane cu Caramel și Nuci (pronounced nah-pole-e-tahn-eh coo car-a-mel she noo-chee), or Wafers and Cocoa. Instead, these were lovingly called Ashley’s Cookies. Yes, I had my very own cookies. And, of course, they were my favorite of the three.

(Again, this is more cake-like than cookie-like, but who am I to question my grandmother?

I’m not. And I won’t.)

But these cookies… man! Because wafers are such a delicate (and thin) carrier, they quite literally melt into your mouth. There’s also a graininess to the filling that’s so nostalgic and comforting—it’s very different from popular fillings which tend to be smooth. Not this one. Smooth disappears. Being able to feel the filling gives it prominence. And deliciousness.

So much deliciousness.
(And, yes, I know that’s not a word you’re supposed to use when describing a recipe, but I can’t help it!)

If you’re just tagging along, don’t forget to visit the rest of my Cousin Cookie Collection:

Tortul de Ciocolată din România {Romanian Chocolate Layer Cake}

↓ Recipe below ↓

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Traveling Through Romania, Part 1: Bucharest

Note: Here’s another article I meant to post in 2019 but, as you can see, life interrupted and I’m posting it now. Better late than never, right? But please keep this in mind when you see the year referenced. This is pre-COVID, after all…

This year meant a lot to me. 2019. Next month will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of Nicolae Ceaucescu, and his communist regime, in Romania. It may seem like a silly thing to want to celebrate (maybe honor is the more accurate word), but in researching for my Romanian-set novel, written exactly at that moment thirty years ago, I learned about and connected with this pivotal moment in Romania’s history. That’s why I wrangled together my husband and younger sister to join me on a trip—our first!—to visit the land our ancestors came from, and remember how far communism caused the country to fall, but how far they’ve come since then.

This past August, we traveled from Bucharest to Timisoara, and so many magical towns and villages in between. It’s a trip that’s not only affordable (the lei is pretty weak when compared to the US Dollar or Euro), but still remains a hidden gem of Europe. I can’t assure you that won’t be the case for long. In a few parts, I’ll be sharing our specific trip—one I highly recommend, even if you were to copy+paste it into your plans—and all the places we visited.

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