Creasta cocoşului/ Cock's comb

Creasta cocoşului sau moţul curcanului (Celosia cristata, Amaranthaceae) (red crested cock's comb)
"Celosia - popular cunoscută şi sub denumirea de Creasta cocosului este o floare impresionantă ale cărei flori sunt atât de viu colorate încăt par a fi artificiale. Înfloreşte din mai până în octombrie şi se poate admira tot mai des în multe dintre curţile românilor din toate regiunile ţării. Culorile florii - ce variază de la purpuriu, roşu şi galben, sunt catifelate, fiind o pată de culoare extraordinară în orice grădină.
Numele de creasta-cocoşului i s-a atribuit frumoasei flori graţie aspectului său ciudat, încreţit, care aminteste de creasta semeata a unui cocoş. În prezent există două specii de Celosia, cristata şi plumosa. Prima are forma unui evantai, iar florile sunt plăcute la atingere, datorită texturii catifelate. Plumosa, în schimb, este viu colorată şi are forma unei flăcări, fiind la rândul ei foarte pufoasă. După cum menţionam mai sus, nuanţele florilor sunt variate, iar, în funcţie de lumina pe care o primesc, acestea devin tot mai vii." Despre Celosia Cristata - Info

"Celosia cristata [Celosia in Greek means burning] is a member of the genus Celosia, and is commonly known as cockscomb, since the flower looks like the head on a rooster. It is called Chi Kuan in China."

Alte flori în grădină: tufe de trandafiri, gladiole, regina nopţii

 

Stuffed bell peppers / Recipe of "Ardei umpluţi"

                                          So.. this is the summer?!   I'm so confused: where is the sunny summer? what about... this unusual stormy weather?
 Some info about storm.

In the end of the post... let me tell you something about a homemade dish called "ardei umpluţi" (stuffed bell peppers)! It is specific to summer when the bell peppers and the tomatoes are the special ingredients.                                   

Heavy rain or the stormy weather looks like a "european monsoon"?

Photos: personal archive 

(Stormy weather in july and recipe of stuffed bell peppers - read below);

Click for enlarged views.

                 

             About "european monsoon", I must tell you that I found out an answer (some details)  relating to the changing weather (especially rainy stormy days) on wikipedia:

"The European Monsoon (more commonly known as the Return of the Westerlies) is the result of a resurgence of westerly winds from the Atlantic, where they become loaded with wind and rain.These Westerly winds are a common phenomenon during the European winter, but they ease as spring approaches in late March and through April and May. The winds pick up again in June, which is why this phenomenon is also referred to as "the return of the westerlies".
The rain usually arrives in two waves, at the beginning of June and again in mid to late June. The European monsoon is not a monsoon in the traditional sense in that it doesn't meet all the requirements to be classified as such."

Well, this sort of  the storm who came just like.. "out of blue"... succeeded to make us feel somehow.... so annoyed...

                     ...So, in order to change the mood, I'm pleased to share some things about a special dish, a homemade one...
                                            Ardei umpluţi/ Stuffed bell peppers!

(some info about Romanian cuisine)

                                                       the recipe is easy:

                   Stuffed bell peppers with rice, seasoned meat and  parsley 

(cooked in a large pot).

Ingredients:

10-12 green bell peppers;

250 ml. tomatos sauce;

150 ml. vegetable oil;

green chilli peppers; ground black pepper;

salt;

Seasoning - according to taste!

For the stuffing:

8 tomatos;

4 onions - sliced and well cooked in vegetable oil;

300 gr. rice (well cooked, also, and mixed with the onions);

400 gr. meat (by preferance: ground meat - chiken, beaf, pork);

ground black pepper;

salt;

parsley or according to taste: some other spicy ingredients.

After bell peppers are washed and scooped, in the cavity add the mixture of rice, spicy meat and onion. Use a slice of tomato in the top. Next - add the tomato sauce and salt, pepper or chilli. At the end of cooking - add the parsley.

Seasoning - according to taste!

All the (very well garnished) bell peppers are cooked in a pot .
(time of cooking:1 h 30 min).

nb. For a vegetarian style recipe: can it be used seasoned rice or a mixture of champignons, onions and rice according to taste!

Home-made presentation:

Also you can read about a very interesting post relating to the stuffed dishes here

About Stuffed bell peppers on Wikipedia

Excerpts:

"In The Balkans and Central Europe"

Punjena paprika (Croatian and Serbian for "stuffed peppers"), Speca të mbushur (Albanian), Filovana paprika (Bosnian), Faszerowana papryka (Polish), Polnjena paprika (Slovenian), Полнети пиперки (Polneti piperki) (Macedonian), Plněná paprika (Czech), Plnená Paprika (Slovak), Töltött paprika (Hungarian), Gefüllte Paprika (German) or Pulnena piperka/Pulnena chuska (Bulgarian) is a Central and Southeast European dish consisting of peppers filled with minced meat and rice. Most popular in the Zagorje and Vojvodina regions, it is influenced by Hungarian cuisine. The meat, usually ground beef, is mixed with herbs, spices and rice. In Bulgaria, stuffed peppers are usually eaten with yogurt. Another variety of stuffed peppers in Bulgaria is made with mixed white cheese and eggs instead of meat and rice as stuffing.

Ardei umpluţi

Ardei umpluţi (Romanian pronunciation: [arˈdej umˈplut͡sʲ]) is Romanian for "stuffed peppers". This dish is usually prepared with bell peppers stuffed with ground meat (usually pork), rice, onion, and other vegetables and spices and then boiled in a sauce made from cream, tomatoes, and spices."

Happy cooking!

Info data about weather, cooking: wikipedia, internet

Deja cu gândul la… "Cuptor" în iulie!

              It's July! ...it is said that the name of the month comes from Julius - the name of the Roman general Julius Caesar :  “It was named by the Roman Senate in honor of the Roman general, Julius Caesar, it being the month of his birth. Prior to that, it was called Quintilis.”

              I'm not so sure if that those rainy days are really gone for good until october as it can be seen at the forecast weather.... And I believe that much more than just a little bit of sunny moments shall really be in this summer!!

            After all...it's july, the month of "Cuptor"... in freely translation: the warmest month of the summer when it can be consider it to be as hot as a hot oven (Cuptor) or near by... LOL

             Soon every one of us will have to face to the long summer days of warmth beyond to normal degrees of... cooking some hot dishes...
but even in this aspect I dare to believe that some of us will continue to happy - happy cook...

              So... let's have a look at what we can indulge ourselves with...
                             
                                          - What about a summery dish of ...

                          ... chicken borscht with lovage, chilli and broad egg noodles!!

or... some dishes cooked in a really very hot oven... as long as I'm writing about the hot temperature of the month of july ... Cuptor!!

                                 Chicken stew with olives

                                 Pork chops with assorted summer salad

                               Crème brûlée / a sweet dessert  

                         Soon details about these homemade recipes in the next posts.

           Also I found out that there is an english expression to describe the hottest days of july or august: "the dog days of summer"...

actually to have the whole picture I must say that I've read an article about how to stay productive "during the inevitable summer slow-down", article full of advices for entrepreneurs and business owners, but for sure that they can be shared of everybody who's interested ...

so: you can read the article here

          Finally have a productive, nice & sunny summer and always have fun while cooking!
                                      Happy cooking, indeed!

• Nota bene. Despre luna:                                    Iulie*

“Numele lunii iulie este de origine latină. La început, această lună se chema quintilis, adică “a cincea” (numărătoarea începea din martie). După moartea lui Caius Iulius Caesar, luna a fost numită Iulius, în onoarea transformatorului statului roman.”

                                        

                           (*Articol publicat de academician Alexandru Graur în “Tempo”, 5.VII. 1939)