Blog Archive: October 2015
How To Prepare Traditional Uzbek Plov (Lamb and Rice Pilaf)
In this post you will learn how to prepare a traditional Uzbek plov (lamb and rice pilaf. It might sound as a complicated food to prepare, but in fact if you have the right ingredients and right tools (cooking pot) there is nothing complicated in it.
There are three main ingredients to get that tasty plov done - lamb meat, rice and quince. Since I'm living in Republic of Georgia, it's easy to find all the ingredients here, on the other hand, it might be tricky to get the correct ingredients in other parts of World. For a seasoning there is one must have - a cumin, but unfortunately a seasoning lady I usually buy spices from in Tbilisi, sold me the…
How To Carve a Pumpkin and Make Stunning Halloween Photos
In this post you will learn how to carve a pumpkin and prepare it for a good photography. Let's call this digital photography school tutorial - a pumpkin photo session.
Tools you will need: a pumpkin, sharp knife, a marker, candles a DSLR camera and a tripod (for photography)
For a pumpkin I visited local Tbilisi market and bought one for 2 GEL (~0.6$)
Let's start with carving that pumpkin:
Use a marker to draw up lines on the pumpkin
You can use some trafaret or you can just draw by hand. I prefer doing it by hand (although have never tried using a trafaret yet)
Cutting of the top
Start with cutting of the top of your pumpkin, so you can scoop out the flesh…
Georgian Parliament Building (Kutaisi)
That day finally come and I have finally photographed the legendary Georgian Parliament building in Kutaisi. After picking up my mom at Kutaisi International Airport and before heading towards to Tbilisi, we made a short excursions around Kutaisi and villages near Kutaisi.
It took me just a few seconds to capture this amazing landscape of futuristic parliament building.
The Georgian Parliament Building in Kutaisi has been the home of the Parliament of Georgia since its inauguration on May 26, 2012, replacing the Parliament building at 8 Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.
Georgian Parliament building in Kutaisi
I have been dreaming…
Sorrel Soup With Hard-Boiled Eggs (Photo Recipe)
Today we will prepare one of mine all times favorite soup - Sorrel soup.
The idea for this blog post come out of my 365 days photo project, when everyday I'm taking some picture in Manual mode and publish it to my Flickr account. Since the strong jury didn't enjoyed my entry photo with sliced onion for day 13 I was literally taken to the kitchen and all I has to do - just to photograph. One image speaks thousands words! Enjoy!
Ingredients: Sorrels, carrots, smoked meat, potatoes, dills, parsley, some onion and some seasoning.
Start with grated carrots:
Grated carrot
Chop that meat
Dills and parley
Sliced potatoes
Now bring all the above ingredients to some…
Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint
It took us some time to figure out what do next with our recently inherited rural house which was not in her best shape. After I started my fight with grass, (Lawn moving with scythe and Lawn moving with trimmer) I decided it's time to free up some space inside the house, so we actually have some room to stay for night, for example. Since our major tasks for this summer was actually to change that leaky roof, we were not ready to invest any serious money in building a perfect room, so I bought the cheapest water based paint, some brushes and started to paint.
We decided we will go for a white color, we will make one room completely white (except floor), so at least we have…
Diana Krall Concert Review in Tbilisi (Georgia)
Diana Krall performed in Tbilisi in frames of Tbilisi Jazz Festival and her own Wallflower World Tour on October 23, 2015.
We visited this show at Tbilisi Philharmonic hall (Previous time I was here was a concert of a Russian band Aquarium and Boris Grebenshchikov 2014).
During this show some older songs from Diana Krall repertoire, like Fly me to the moon were performed and of course some new ones. But speaking of me, I most probably enjoyed the most song California Dreamin'. Amazing show, great animated visuals on screen.
The show was set to start at 20:00
Stage is ready for Diana Krall at Tbilisi Jazz Festival 2015
As it happens in such events, show didn…
Boiled Potatoes With Ground Meat Sauce Recipe
Welcome everyone to just another food blogger post series - today we will prepare a very simple recipe - Boiled potatoes with ground meat sauce.
It's just that time of the year when I found myself more in kitchen just eager to cook something, and after a visit to the local market I decided I want to prepare something simple, tasty and something I could photograph for my digital photography school project. As I believe a successful food blogger should take sharable and pinable pictures (share them now!)
This is one of the simplest foods I can actually name - I was like a 5 or something when my grandmother taught me how to prepare sauces, and I really love sauces.…
First Barbecue Festival in Our Newly Inherited House
While there is a good reason to visit a barbecue festival in Armenia, in this post I will provide some details on the first barbecue festival (OK, it's actually a party) we held in our recently inherited country house, where some serious home remodeling tasks are performed.
Throwing up a barbecue party is a must have to fully enjoy all the good works and intentions you are doing while performing such a routine tasks, like fighting a grass (and I had fight with it all Summer along), figuring out how to change that leaky roof, or doing some paint job. This was a special party, there were not many people invited (just 3 and a dog) but it got us amazing feeling of happiness. Hey…
Lawn Mowing with a Trimmer
Right, this post is like and extended version for my previous post in home remodeling series on lawn mowing with a scythe. After a tough fight with grass using old school tools like scythe it was enough for me. And I mean it - no more scythe for me.
Having a house in rural Latvia teaches a very important lesson, you have to own a trimmer, or it will be a very costly for you to fight the grass. Since some serious trimmers cost a lot and we hadn't actually planed to spend a money on it, we found an owner who could rent us out his trimmer for a six pack of beer.
Author of this blog captured in action fighting grass with a trimmer
Gosh, what an experience - during my first trimmering…
Borjomi Mineral Water Park in Georgia
Borjomi mineral park which is located in town on Borjomi, some 120 km from nations capital Tbilisi, is a lovely place to enjoy a lazy day, preferable for slow walking and enjoying beautiful aroma coming from pine cons.
This park (and Borjomi town) has been on my most favorite destination list in Georgia for many years already (well, I first visited this place in 2011). This park was in our Borjomi hiking route, during our recent hiking tour organized by Georgia Expat Photographer Club. If you are a solo traveler or group of indies - here is a tip how to get to Borjomi for cheap - Tbilisi - Borjomi Transfer by Marshrutka (Minibus)
As a rule of thumb there is some small…
Lawn Mowing with a Scythe
Welcome to the second post in home remodeling series, today I will write about thing called - lawn mowing (I prefer using word grass) with a tool called scythe. It has been a while before my first post about our new property - a house, a really bad managed house we inherited. The thing why it took us so long is - it took us some 2 months to decide - will we seriously do anything with this house or probably let's just leave as it is and come back to Georgia or any other destination in the World?
After 2 months of intensive thinking, arriving on site (our house) everyday, drinking coffee on it's so called porch - we finally get a grip and decided - yes, let's do this, let's build our dream…
How To Make Nadugi - Traditional Georgian Snack (Fresh Cheese With Mint)
When I first arrived to Georgia back in 2011, I was immediately taken to one of the lovely Tbilisi restaurants. Since I had no clue what so ever special of Georgian Cuisine I asked my friend could he suggest me some common and typical Georgian food? We ordered Ojakhuri and Nadugi.
When I first seen Nadugi I thought its form looks like cone of ice cream, and then my associative thinking turned on and I thought - strange they eat potatoes / meat stew together with ice cream? Then I tried that little snack and in next second I just felt in love with that small Georgian snack Nadugi.
Now I know - Nadugi is nothing related to ice cream - it's actually some…
Deer Park "Rudiņi" in Latvia
Lovely things happened on June's late evening, we most probably traveled back from Riga to our wolf's lair and noticed a strange construction - The Bridge to nowhere, after I took few photos back there, we continued our drive and suddenly second surprise - deers, a lot of deers.
Now being back to Tbilisi I feel a bit awkward for two reasons - first I'm not 100% that this place actually is called Rudiņi deer park (In Latvian - Rudiņu briežu parks), second - I didn't had that telephoto lens I do have now.
Deer park in Latvia
A runaway deer
Now - a telephoto zoom would probably done amazing close shots of wildlife in this situation, but unfortunately i didn't have such…
Bridge To Nowhere (Latvia)
It was a late June evening and we most probably returned from Riga to our wolf's lair when suddenly we noticed very interesting object - The Bridge To Nowhere.
The bridge reminds of the intended construction of Tukums-Kuldīga railroad, which was started already during the first independence of the Republic of Latvia in 1930-ties. However, in the minds of the people, it is instilled as a German wartime commemorative site, because the German rule during the 1940-ties tried to continue and complete it, but they did not succeed. The bridge has remained intact in the middle of a meadow up until the modern day. Read more: Bridge to Nowhere
Bridge to nowhere
P 121 asphalt road…
Open Air Sulphur Water Swimming Pools in Borjomi
Georgia will never end surprise you (at least me), so did happened during our recent hiking/trekking tour in lovely parts of Borjomi - Kharaguli National park. After a visit of Saint George Church in Daba we headed back to Borjomi Mineral Water park (You can find a Borjomi Cable car here) and we decided to take some shortcut. Huge was my surprise when I noticed following scenery:Open air swimming pools in BorjomiI couldn't believe what I was seeing, it looked like some oasis in the middle of dessert - completely new (Ok, as I learnt latter it's actually renovated old) clean and super exciting place located just on Borjomi hiking trails.Borjomula riverIt's just amazing what a…
Skrunda Open-Air Stage and Park
I just love Skrunda, like I have dedicated a lot of posts to this lovely small Latvian town in Western Latvia. So today is no exception - meet another tourist attraction in this marvelous town - Open air stage and park. You will just love this place.
Skrunda park with an open-air stage and the viewing platform. The park is developed on top of the Skrunda castle mound and features four public art objects made by wood carver Ģirts Burvis – seats of the first Couronian kings Ērmanis Pilāts, Jākobs Sigitars, Veisens and Santiķis. The sculptures were dedicated to the 750th anniversary of Skrunda being mentioned in historical sources. A scenic view over the River Venta opens from the viewing…
Saint George Church and Monastery (Borjomi/Georgia)
I was not familiar with the name of this place, until during a recent hiking trip in Georgia and latter at home using Google Maps I learned this place is known as Saint George Church.
The name I used to knew it - was something like this - there is that lovely women monastery up there in Borjomi. And I'm still preferring this name of describing this place instead of Saint George Church.
The Sadgeri St. George Church is the XV century monument. It is located in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, in the village of Sadgeri in Borjomi municipality, on the high bank of the river.
Tourist sign indication direction to this monastery complex
I still haven't…
One Day Trip To Armenia (Lori Province)
Just shortly after our return to Georgia, in the first weekend we just couldn't sit back home and do nothing, we were eager for some travels. So we found this lovely offer on Facebook - short one day trip to Armenia for 40 GEL (it's about $17.00) and here we were heading to Armenia. Since this was not our first trip to neighboring republic we already felt pretty confident about all the border crossings, money exchanges e.t.c.
I must admit I had no clue where we are actually heading to, and that's actually the way I prefer to travel, not much planning, just basic information. I call it a true travel spirit. As it later turned out our tour guide was prepared better, and we…
Skrunda Manor and Hotel
Skrunda Manor is an attractive final destination in the culturally historical region of Kurzeme (Courland) in Latvia. What's use to been a manor house now is turned into a boutique hotel in Western Latvia. I know for sure they have restaurant on site and after midnight you can get a take away coffee at reception (well, don't forget about tips to the receptionist).
I visited this place at the start of June 2015, since I was a little bit in rush, I didn't photographed lovely interior they have on site, and I feel some regrets about it now.
Playground at Skrunda manor
Skrunda manor
Skrunda Manor built in classicism style with design similarities with Mežotne Palace was reconstructed in…
Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nīkrāce (Latvia)
It was hard for me to decide should I put this place as a tourist attraction or as a military heritage, I opted for the second one. You see, things related to WW2, especially like Brethren Cemeteries is hard to call tourist attractions, right?
So, here is another one interesting place in Latvia, region of Courland you should visit some day - a memorial dedicated to fatalities of WW2. Some locals call this place just as a Mother (Latvian: Māmuļa) because of the sculpture in the middle of this ensemble.
Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nikrace
Author of this sculpture: Līvija Rezevska
Brethren Cemetery ensemble in Nikrace
According to sources, around 3000 war fatalities…