Alucha

Alucha is another very popular fruit in Georgia. 

This fruit is very sour, usually people eat it with a little bit of salt. It looks very similar to tkemali, but as I was told, alucha is more full and round.

You can eat it fresh, make kompot or even tkemali.

:)

Mushmala

For the first time I've seen this fruit during our trip to Gonio fortress. Tengo just showed me a big tree with small, yellow fruits and told me to taste it. Fresh and young mushmala has rather thick skin and sour taste, spelled one is less tasty (in my opinion it has no taste - it's not sweet, not sour, not anything). I believe mushmala would be great to make jam from it. Maybe I will try... next spring :D

Ice coffee

Ice coffee is a great treat for summer. It's sweet, fresh, cold and gives energy. To make it you just need 3 minutes!

What you need:

3 vanilla ice creams (can be also chocolate ones)

4 instant coffees (best ones are 3in1)

water

How to make it:

Put coffees and ice creams in blender and pour 4 cups of water (around 400 ml). Mix it nicely. Add some water if needed.

Pour ice coffee in glasses, add 1 ice cube per glass and decorate with foam.

Pancakes with apples and cinnamon

One cloudy morning in Oz I made pancakes with apples and cinnamon for Tengo, joking that after eating them he will ask me to stay with him forever. And *POOF*, after drinking hot cocoa and tasting apple pancakes he asked me exactly this question. And to make them everyday for breakfast. That's the power of polish placuszki z jabłkami!

Yes, this recipe is 100% polish. So why I call them "pancakes"? Simply, there is no proper word in English :P

What you need:
260 g of flour
2 eggs
200 ml of yoghurt
200 g of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
6 small and sour apples
cinnamon

How to make them:

 Grate apples and mix them with sugar and cinnamon. Add eggs, yoghurt, flour and baking powder and mix it well. Put them with spoon on pan. Fry them on small fire till they have nice, brownish colour.

They are very tasty with yoghurt.
Smacznego!
:)

Easter in Georgia - red eggs

About Red Eggs I heard around 2 weeks before Easter. Everyone was talking that they're delicious and that one can't stop eating them but noone wanted to tell me what exactly they are and they are made. Finally, I got to know WHAT they are - casual eggs boiled for 15-20 minutes in beetroot broth.

Red eggs are a symbol of torture and can't be forgotten on Easter table. Traditionally, they should be eaten with sweet cake - Paska. Very original combination for me but tastes good :)

How to make it:

1. Prepare beetroot broth - boil mashed beetroot with brown onion's skins on Great Friday. Let it stand overnight outside. Next day morning you can start "painting" eggs.

2. Place eggs inside hot red broth and boil them for 15-20 minutes. "Mix" eggs from time to time so they will have nice and intensive colour on all shell.

3. If you want to have some fun, place herb (we had parsley) on egg shell and wrap it nicely in tights. As a result you will have a herbal pattern.

Georgian alphabet

Exactly 1 year ago I heard Armenian joke about Georgian alphabet:

"Georgians were very jealous about beautiful Armenian alphabet so they came to Mesrop Mashtots (creator of Armenian alphabet).

- Please Mr Mesrop Mashtots, create some beautiful alphabet for us to.

Mesrop stopped eating his spaghetti, took plate and threw all pasta behind him.

- Here you go, this will be your alphabet."

Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee is a perfect drink for coffeeholics who likes sugar. This small cup of dark liquid will give you a big kick of energy :) You need just a coffee, sugar and metal coffee pot.

1. Mix coffee and sugar in metal coffee pot, taking 1 tea spoon of coffee per cup. You can add as much sugar as you please but for us 1,5 tea spoon per cup is enough.

2. Pour water into coffee pot and mix.

3. Boil coffee and pour it in cups.

Serve with chocolate if you have a sweet tooth ;)