tastily touring: a visit to bahrain with a muhammara recipe

Bahrain, or the Kingdom of Bahrain, its official name is a rather small island state in the Persian Gulf, just north of Qatar. Bahrain is an archipelago of 36 islands located off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. The four main islands are joined by causeways. In Arabic, bahrayn is the dual form of bahr (“sea”), so al-Bahrayn means “the Two Seas”.The official language is Arabic, but English is very widely spoken and is the principal language of commerce. According to the US Department of State Bahrain is one of the most densely populated countries in the world; about 89% of the population lives in the two principal cities of Manama and Al Muharraq. Approximately 66% of the indigenous population is originally from the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. When looking up the culture at Bahrain Tourism it was very interesting to note that after clicking on the tab “About Bahrain”... Read the Rest →

 

worldly wednesdays: a visit to azerbaijan with a kutaby recipe (stuffed pancakes)

The maps I gazed at during geography class, before the collapse of the Soviet Union looked a lot different than the ones my children use. The USSR was such a huge part of how I viewed the world. The map of my childhood is no longer. Once part of the Soviet Union the Baltic States consider themselves to have resumed their pre–World War II sovereignty upon their separation from the Soviet Union. And, now there are at least 15 post soviet states in the world. These are 15 independent states that seceded from the USSR and they are known at the FSU (Former Soviet Union) or NIS (Newly Independent States. One of those countries is Azerbaijan and like Armenia (which is a post soviet country) they are located in the Caucasus. The Caucasus Mountains give the name to the region known as the Caucasus. The mountain range between the Black... Read the Rest →