Instead of pictures, though, I'll post a little story for you, which is where I got the title of this post. The weather is turning colder here, and I decided to make some chili for dinner. However, at the
grocery store, I just couldn't find cumin, which is a spice I like to add in my chili. I did find chili powder, so I decided to make it anyway. But then I was at a different grocery store today and found a spice called chimen in Romanian. Most of the other spices' names are similar to the English names (piper, oregan, rozmarin, tim, etc.), so I thought this must be cumin! I joyfully bought it and this evening put a large amount of it in my chili. I noticed when I added it that it smelled kind of strange, but I thought maybe it had just been a long time since I'd smelled cumin and I must've forgotten what it smelled like. However, when we sat down to eat it, Justin took a whiff and said "This chili smells... different." Then he took a taste of it and said "Did you put RYE in this chili?!" (Side note: We do NOT like rye bread, and that is a very popular bread here, so we always have to be on our guard when purchasing bread. So the fact that my chili tasted like rye to Justin was NOT a good thing.) I said "No, but I think that the cumin I put in it wasn't really cumin." So I pulled out my Rom
anian dictionary and looked up chimen, and lo and behold, it's caraway (a spice commonly found in rye bread)! Why in the world would all the other spices have similar names to the English, and this one is just there to trick me?! So I'll definitely leave the caraway out of my next batch of chili... Ah, adventures in Moldova!
5 comments:
When I first saw the title to this post, I thought it was a Romanian phrase like you've done in the past. Only while reading the post, did I realize that the title was in ENGLISH!!! Don't overlook the obvious!
I'm so glad that you guys are online at home now. That will make your lives easier, and also communication with us! :)
It's good to hear from Joni again! You are so adventurous with your cooking! I would have definitely tried the "cumin" before dumping it in. I'm just chicken, though. You go girl!
Well, sis, it looks like this time your method would've been right! The sad part is that I DID smell and taste the chimen before I put it in the chili, and I thought it tasted strange, but don't think I've ever tasted plain cumin before, so I didn't know that it wasn't right. I've definitely never bought caraway before, so I didn't recognize the taste or smell! I guess what I should've done was have JUSTIN smell it before I put it in, because he recognized it right away... I'll do that with the next unknown spice I buy. :)
For the record, I ate 2 helpings and then ate the leftovers the next day, too. Joni's such a good cook, even with the rye taste the chili was pretty good.
hilarious story... reminds me of the first time i had coffee with my host family in denmark. i grabbed the "kaernemaelk" and poured it in. i noticed it looked a little weird and there were strange swirls. my host mother frantically ran in and screaming "NO NO NO NO!" Turns out it was buttermilk. close call.
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