Happy Birthday Latvia

Ann says
OK so it’s a little late. November 18th is Latvian Independence day, so to speak. It was the first independence day, the one before the Soviet occupation, and it’s the one Latvia celebrates due to the illegal and therefore illegitimate nature of the Soviet occupation. History aside, I hadn’t made any Latvian food in [...]

Beef Barley Soup

Abe says
There comes a time in one’s life, or at least over the course of the seasons, yearly, that nothing else will do except a bowl of hearty, satisfying soup. Technically these soups are wintry, like the wintry mixes that will occasionally plague regional transit back east, but these days this time comes in the [...]

While you were away, or, Beef Tenderloin with Parsley Sauce and Kalamata Tapenade

Abe says
Ann was off in Latvia-land, which is actually something more like the annual Latvian convention here in the States. She had forbidden me from making the ricotta gelato in her absence that I was planning on testing and potentially having ready upon her arrival, and so I had to occupy myself with alternative food [...]