I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE BEST MOLDOVAN SONGS OF 2019 (2019).

I read this book about Moldova and realized that I didn’t know a thing about the country.  So while looking up Moldovan music, I found this collection on YouTube.

I’m sure it’s quite subjective, but it’s a start for hearing some Moldovan pop songs.  There’s a bit of diversity here.  Most of these songs are dancey.  Many of them are in English (apparently Moldovan singers sing in English, Russian or Ukranian, typically).

I’ve noted songs that are in English, with a very brief description of any songs that aren’t straight up dance songs.  I’ve also put in bold my favorite tracks.

• 01. Vanotek – Back To You [eng]
• 02. Irina Rimes – Cosmos
• 03. Misha Miller – What Mama Said [eng]
• 04. Valeria Stoica – Get Back [eng] (slower, almost folky singer songwriter)
• 05. Dan Balan – Hold On Love [eng]
• 06. The Motans – August
• 07. Hans Green – Run Uma [eng]
• 08. Iova – Hit The Gas [eng] (interesting sounds and melody)
• 09. Dan Balan – Numa Numa 2 (dance with steel drums)
• 10. Blacklist ft. Carla’s Dreams – Tequila (rap)
• 11. Nicoleta Nuca – N-am Pierdut Nimic (pop singer)
• 12. Mark Stam – Doar Noi (power ballad)
• 13. Tosh – Simplu (slow ballad)
• 14. Mihail – Who You Loved [folky, gravelly voice]
• 15. The Motans – Versus
• 16. Nicoleta Nuca – Nu Sunt (diva)
• 17. Mark Stam – Vina Mea (power ballad)
• 18. Ionel Istrati – Wake Me Up [eng] (poppy with a big drop)
• 19. Carla’s Dreams – Sub Pielea Mea (this band is very popular, featuring a masked singer who raps and other things)
• 20. Natalia Gordienko – Drunk (Pyanaia) (diva–I can;t tell from the video if she is happy or in anguish)
• 21. Infected Rain – Black Gold {heavy metal) [A growling female singer with heavy chords and lots of synth]
• 22. Lia Taburcean – La Nunta Asta (folk/polka) [This song is a lot of fun]
• 23. Andrew Rayel ft. Emma Hewitt – My Reflection (dance banger)
• 24. Carla’s Dreams ft. INNA – Te Rog [Not as heavy as the other Carla’s Dream songs]
• 25. The Motans ft. Delia – Weekend (folk dance)
• 26. Misha Miller ft. Alex Parker – Fix Your Heart (eng)
• 27. Valeria Stoica – Empty Air (eng) [Folky dancey singer songwriter]
• 28. Irina Rimes – My Favorite Man [interesting vocal manipulations in a dance song].

[READ: August 20, 2020] Be Our Guest.  Discover Moldova!

I saw this book at work and decided to check it out since I know nothing about Moldova.  I didn’t realize that it was primarily a cookbook.  There’s also some cultural information, but you would check it out for the traditional Moldovan dishes as prepared by Nata Albot and her mother.  It was originally published in 2018 as Hai la masă, puișor! and translated by Doina Cioca.

Nata Albot is a blogger, TV producer, journalist and a media manager from Moldova. She has had several popular shows on radio and televisions in Moldova since she was 16 years old. She graduated from the Law School of Moldova State University. She produced the TV series “Aventura Americană” about Moldovan students spending their summers working and traveling in the United States. In 2013 she moved from Chișinău to Montreal.

This is her second cookbook.

It features

• Salads
• Breakfast
• Snacks
• Vegetables
• Mains Course
• Meat
• Pastries
• Winter Preserves
• Dessert

Albot is big into fresh vegetables (radishes, cucumbers, peppers) in her salads, but is not above throwing in some beef heart.  While most of the recipes were interesting and a few sounded fantastic, some of them were…questionable.  Like Soured Milk.  For this drink, you boil milk, add sour cream, cover and let sit for 2 to 3 days.  The picture is even more revolting than the description.

But other breakfasts like Omelette with croutons and Cinnamon apple rounds, sounded great.  And I would rather like to try the simple but tasty sounding Spicy cheese balls.

I’d also like to try the zucchini pancakes, although this, like many recipes includes kefir in the recipe–but no explanation on how to make it (I assume it was in the first book).

Some of the main courses sound wonderful like Split pea soup with smoked pork ribs.

Meat is (pretty obviously) a big deal in Moldova.  There’s a recipe for Lentil soup which has a note at the end: if the vegetarian version of the soup is not to your choice, try browning some smoked bacon and saute an onion in its fat.

Indeed, meat is essential to her family.  Her grandfather hated chickens so he raised pigs and cows.  He made Saltison, a homemade sausage with “a gelatinous consistency made with offal.”  Hmm.

For Kharcho soup the first instruction is to “wash the meat and leave it in cold water for over an hour to remove the blood and eliminate the smell.”   There is also a recipe for Cighiri in which you use all of the meat: the offal and caul fat.  (I imagine it’s delicious).

There’s two dishes that are described as “lazy.” There’s Lazy Găluşte which is pork and rice and a Lazy Apple Tart which sounds easy and yummy.

And even though her grandfather didn’t like chickens, there is a Chicken Roulade and Bătute made with chicken.

The pastries look amazing.  Indeed, there’s an early section devoted to the many kinds of bread available in Moldova–and the half a dozen different kinds at every wedding!

Many of the pastries are multilayered and require a lot of time.  Although Twisted Plăcintă with cheese and leek sounds delicious as does Plăcinte with potato filling.  I’m also taken with the “No. 6 Tart” which uses 6 eggs, 6 T sour cream, 6 T mayonnaise, and 6 T flour.

The preserves section seems questionable, but presumably everything has worked out for hundreds of years.  Like Borş acru which is a fermented liquid used for “souring soup.”  It reminds me of sourdough in that it has a kind of starter (from fermented wheat bran) and is constantly added to.

Moldovan food relies a lot on clay pots and bowls which I’m rather interested in.

The desserts are mostly simple.  Galetes, donuts, and plachie (a kind of rice pudding).  Every country has a kind of fried dough.  In Moldova its called Prăjiţei.  And what could be simpler than baked apples? (filling them with blackcurrant jam!).  There’s even a Moldovan “cannoli” called Wafer tubes with custard.

More complicated are the Walnut Cake (wow that looks good) which you bake and then set aside for 6 hours and then refrigerate for 24 hours!  The Chocolate cake at the end of the book sounds delicious and is made with three layers as well as 10 egg whites in the batter and 10 more egg whites in the filling.

The book also has small features about various vacation spots:

• La Gura Cuptorului Guesthouse
• Casa Părintească Museum
• Asconi Winery
• Meşter Faur Bungalows
• The Gypsy King of Moldova
• Etcetera Winery
• Kara Gani Winery
• Butuceni Eco-Resort
• Castel Mimi

Most of them sound very nice.  Although I was amused at the section on camping which says that you won’t get modern camping facilities: a WC, shower, sewerage, electricity, paved roads or security.  But the view was really beautiful.

The photos in the book are all beautiful.  Big props to Cristina Perciuleac for making this book look so lovely.

Maybe a trip to Moldova is in the cards?