Remembering Mesrop

My Grandparents
Mesrop & Arusyag Ohanessian

Today is April 24th. That date doesn't mean much to a lot of people, but to an Armenian it means everything. My paternal grandfather, Mesrop Ohanessian, was a young man living in Van, Turkey when on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turks rounded up and began executing Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, beginning their systematic killing of up to one and a half million Armenians.

Even though there are numerous eye witness reports from the period and the term genocide was coined after researching accounts of the massacres of Armenians, the Turkish government continues to deny genocide ever took place. Armenians are still persecuted in Turkey, and to refer to what the Ottoman Turks did to the Armenians as genocide is an offense punishable with jail time.

After my grandfather's entire family was annihilated, he relocated to Iraq where he started a new life and a new family. We're not certain of exactly when he was born, but we're pretty sure he was at least 105 when he died. He rose above his past to become a respected local businessman. He owned the Piccadilly Bakery in Baghdad and was affectionately referred to as Caketchy (cake maker) Mesrop. He was grateful for what he had, and at the end of each day, he would send his children out to deliver bread and other items to those in the community who were less fortunate.

My Uncles & Aunts
Sarkis, Ishkhan, Arshalouys, Angel

Dad didn't come along until later!
Varant Ohanessian

My grandfather was already around 20 years old in 1915. However, you'd never know what he'd been through by looking at or even talking with him. I often wonder how he managed to carry around all those horrific memories for so long. He was a wise man with all kinds of interesting food and health advice. He was also one of the most patient people I've ever met. I never saw him lose his temper or even raise his voice in anger. He was the ideal Hairig (grandfather).

It's easy, especially on this day, to become fixated on all the negative stuff around us, but every April 24th, I try to take a little time to remember Hairig. Maybe I inherited his optimism, but he makes me feel as though I can overcome just about anything.

I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia. ~William Saroyan

Curried Vegetables & Bulgur

Audrey asked me for the recipe to a curried vegetable dish I made a few days ago. Since I don't really measure ingredients much, I'm going to do my best to document the curry sauce. It's actually a very easy one pot dish!

I've also included a recipe for bulgur pilaf, which I almost exclusively use these days instead of rice. Whole grain, high fiber bulgur is simple to prepare and very nutritious with a higher fiber and protein than white rice.

Potatoes, onion, red peppers, and string beans are among my favorite vegetables for this dish.
This batch includes asparagus, portobello & shitiaki mushrooms, and corn.

Enhancing a prepared curry paste makes the process so simple. I have made my own curry base and you can too. It will require picking up ingredients many people don't normally have in their pantry, such as turmeric and tamarind. Getting a good pre-made base is less time consuming and cost effective. I like many of the various Patak's curry pastes. I have also included a list of additional spices to help supplement a pre-made base. Feel free to add as much or as little based on your preferences.

Curried Vegetables

Ingredients:
4 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Medium Russet Potatoes (peeled & cubed)
1 Large Onion (sliced)
1 Cup Green Beans (chopped into 2" pieces)
1 Cup Asparagus (chopped into 2" pieces)
1 Medium Bell Pepper (cut into strips)
1 Cup Mushrooms (sliced)
1 Cup Corn (fresh or canned)
1 6 Oz. Can Tomato Paste
2 Tbs Patak's Vindaloo Curry Paste (Hot)

Additional Seasoning to add to taste:
Salt, Pepper, Aleppo Pepper, Garlic Powder, Ginger Powder, Curry Powder
Ground Cumin, Gharam Masala, Ground Cardimom, Ground Coriander

1. Heat olive oil in large pan big enough to hold all the vegetables and sauce. Sauté potatoes until they begin to brown. Add onions and continue to cook until onions begin to soften.

2. Stir in tomato paste, adding a little water if mixture becomes too dry. Stir in curry paste. Potatoes should be almost but not fully cooked at this point.

3. Continue to add vegetables, starting with those that take longer to cook. The ingredient list above is in the order I added my vegetables. Add water as necessary to keep the vegetables moving but the mixture should not be too saucy at this point.

4. Once the vegetables are almost cooked, add enough water create a thick sauce that almost covers the vegetables. Cover and continue to cook until vegetables are cooked to your liking.

Curried vegetables and bulgur served with a chopped salad and potato roll.
FYI, Armenian stores/bakeries generally have vegan option (like this potato roll) for lent.

Bulgur Pilaf

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Orzo Pasta
1 Cup Bulgur
2-1/4 Cups Water
Salt to Taste

1. Sauté orzo in non-stick pot on medium heat until it nicely browned but not burned.

2. Stir in bulgur, add water, increase heat to high until water boils.

3. Once water boils, stir one last time, reduce heat to low, cover pot, and cook for about 15 minutes.

4. Turn heat off and fluff bulgur before serving.

Other items can be added to the bulgur instead of the orzo, like sautéed onions or garbanzo beans. Butter can be used instead of oil, and the water can be substituted with broth.

Another Zachary's Run

We just got into Berkeley last night and headed straight to Zachary's to pick up two pizzas for dinner. Too bad (or maybe it's actually a good thing for my waistline) we don't have a Zachary's closer to home. It's basically crust, cheese and toppings, more crust, and finally tomato sauce and pesto.

Andrew ordered a pepperoni pizza with pesto, and I had my regular spinach, mushroom, pesto on a whole wheat crust. Each one of our large pizzas weight at lease 5-7 pounds, and I've estimated one slice to be almost 500 calories. Totally worth it!

Since we both ordered pesto (which is swirled on top), they look similar from the outside. This ones all mine!

Had to get a picture of the inside.

Got to go! Breakfast is ready... a slice of leftover pizza, of course. We're definitely taking a half baked with us when we leave. This is too good not to share with friends and family at home.

Best Sticky Buns in Toluca Lake

I think I can say that. Toluca Lake is fairly small, so the chance of finding someone with better sticky buns is probably very slim... unless they happen to be using Susan's recipe, too!

Our friends Dan and Micheal had never been to Palm Thai nor had they ever tasted my sticky buns. All that changed last night.

Assembled, covered, and refrigerated buns before heading out to dinner.

Baked them after we came back from dinner. Longest 15 minutes ever!

The dough proofs faster when not refrigerated but yields a gooier texture.

That's not necessarily a bad thing!

I've altered altered the recipe slightly by including brown sugar in addition to the regular sugar, doubling the cinnamon, and drizzling the top with butter before baking. Enjoy!

Susan's Sticky Buns Recipe...
http://www.ineedamom.com/stickybuns.html

Eat Your Green

Burning 1,000 calories or so on a 6.4 mile hike made me pretty hungry, so I treated myself to a half grilled cheese sandwich on cranberry walnut bread and half a Greek salad from The Oaks Gourmet Market in Hollywood. The cranberries added color and unique flavor. The vibrant veggies in the salad were dressed with olive oil and a touch of Greek honey.

After a somewhat decadent lunch, we decided to do a simple dinner. We paired some pesto Andrew made a few days ago with Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Gnocchi. The vegetable side was broccoli that had been in the refrigerator since Wednesday and needed to be eaten.

It wasn't until I started assembling that I realized it was green on green!

Hoping the avocados we got today will be ripe soon. A chopped salad with lots of colorful vegetables and homemade croutons can be so satisfyingly delicious.

It's Been a Colorful Couple of Days

Our effort to eating more vegetables is going very well. Now, it's time to up the amount of fruit we consume. That's going to be tougher. I buy fruit and it just goes bad before we get a chance to eat it, like that pineapple currently rotting in our kitchen.

Organic green beans sautéed with onion and bell pepper added much needed veggies to one of my favorite quick meals, Trader Joe's tuna curry. Under all that is a hearty scoop of bulgur, which is as quick and easy as white rice yet more nutritious than brown rice. Give it a try!

We bought some sweet potatoes the other day and then almost forgot about them. Here they are paired with Chik'n patty, spinach, rice cheese, and pesto panino. That red stuff is Aleppo pepper, which goes on practically everything in this house.

Tonight we decided to get out of the house and try a new place, Summer Canteen in Toluca Lake. These Leaf Wrapped Savory Nibbles appetizer with tamarind caramel was a great treat. It reminded me that I should probably make something using the tamarind in the pantry.

 

For dinner, I had the Green Curry of Greens and Tofu. Extra spicy, of course, which just means it had some flavor. The unhulled brown rice was a delicious and nutritious addition! Andrew enjoyed his Beef Panang Curry but wished for rarer meat (which is not uncommon for him). Our server brought us some Thai Iced Tea crème brûlée on the house. What a great idea! I have my eye on the Burmese Tea Leaf Salad for our next visit.

No Need for Roses

Give me a colorful pile of veggies over a bouquet of flowers any day, especially Valentine's Day!

Sautéing the Broccoli, Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts

with a little Szechwan Pepper Salt and Aleppo Pepper.

Wrapped some Spinach, Tomato, Bell Peppers, Veggie Patties,

Cheese, and Pesto in Lavash and grilled it on the Panini Press.

It was all so satisfying and filling. Andrew cut up some strawberries and cantaloupe for us to enjoy for dessert.

A Look Back

I feel like I'm just waking up from a six month nap. It was so easy to allow myself to get lazy and do practically nothing. I'm still not sure how I got away with doing so little for so long, but I think I'm finally paying the price. It would be nice to go back to a time not so long ago when sitting around doing nothing all day was possible. Maybe reminiscing about China will help...

Our Kunming hosts were looking out for me and insisted my soup be made with plain hot water. The restaurant's owners, however, were confused by the request and kept coming by to make sure I was happy with my meal. It was delicious! Loved the chrysanthemum petals.

This long lost cousin of Zuzu's belonged to our horseback riding guide. He had very similar mannerisms to our beloved Tibbie.

Drifting through Lijiang after horseback riding.

One of my favorite pictures from the entire trip! The higher the elevation, the smaller the horses.

The Potala Palace, the the main residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled Tibet, is now mainly a museum and tourist destination. I feel fortunate to have been able to visit such a historic place.

Emma, out Lhasa expert, made sure we each had offerings of flowers. The man behind me in line said flowers are the Buddha's favorite gift. Thinking about that still makes me smile.

This is one of my most memorable moments of the trip. Words cannot even describe what it was like to look out at this glacier while the wind whipped through the prayer flags above our heads.

At the temple in Gyantse, Tibet with the smell of the roasting tsampa coming from the oven below. From this vantage point, we could see several different weather systems around us.

We all get back in our little green bus and start going down the road when Adrien realizes he can't find his glasses. The driver immediately pulls over and asks the men to get out and direct traffic as he expertly turns the van around on a road with two huge ditches on either side and not much wider than our vehicle is long. We go back to our last stop, men again help with traffic, driver again turns bus around, and we all get out to look for the glasses. After several minutes, we hear Bill yell, "Adrien!" We look up to see him holding up the glasses that were on the floor of the bus the whole time.

This little businessman completely forgot his lines as soon as he saw the hair on Andrew's arm. I pointed out that it was like a monkey. From that moment on, the kid just followed Andrew around trying to get his attention by calling out, "Monkey! Monkey!"

We were told there are no traffic cops in China. They do have these these plastic cops posted every so often as a reminder to obey the rules. We also went through speed stops where paperwork was timestamped so we couldn't get through the next speed stop until after a certain amount of time had elapsed without facing a fine.

 Street food in Chengdu. Our hosts were eager for us to try the local delicacies, so Andrew sampled the squid feet dipped in chili peppers. Think Chinese calamari with a kick.

Telefreeking to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. The ride alone was worth the price of admission.

It's a tourist destination but still pretty cool.

 Hong Kong skyline near the Avenue of the Stars on Kowloon right before the oh so cheesy light show.

It turns out there aren't a lot of vegetarians in China and serving rice at banquets honoring your guests is not done, so I had very little food (let alone anything nutritious) for the couple of weeks in mainland China and Tibet. So, it took a few weeks for body to recognize that it could come out of starvation mode. Even with that, I would not change a thing. It was the adventure of a lifetime!