By Elizabeth Naumczyk.
A Romanian Coffee Morning was hosted by the Ambassador of Romania to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, HE Mrs Ireny Comaroschi, for members of the International Women’s Contact The Hague. The event was held on Friday 13 November, 2015 between 10:00-12:00 at the Embassy of Romania, in The Hague.
The event was introduced by the Ambassador who first paid homage to the victims of the Bucharest nightclub fire of October, 30 and the reason for the flowers and candles outside the Embassy. She then explained that today’s coffee morning included a demonstration in the art of preparing sour dough bread, Romanian sweets as well as soap. It shows how Romanian women think about and are connected to food and soap. They put their soul into what they make and we can do likewise to connect more to the people in our lives.
For a picture album on the Romanian Coffee event, please click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/albums/72157660420224469
Mrs Lavinia Tănase showed us how to make sour dough bread using preferably spelt and biological flour.
The sourdough starter, flour and water are the key and the recipe requires five steps of kneading, stretching and folding before it is baked. According to Lavinia, this is the soul of bread and the simplicity of life. Different ingredients can be added to the bread such as flaxseeds, cheese, pesto, dried garlic or tomatoes, kalamata olives only, beetroot with two green onions.
Mrs Ioana Voiculescu explained how to make sugar free Raw Vegan Raspberry and White Chocolate Cake. Using honey is optional. Raw means not cooked above 42 degrees. Vegan is without milk, is gluten free, lentils free and not related to animals.
Her recipe includes a crushed nut and raisin base, with a topping of raw food-grade cacao butter cooked at the correct temperature with raw dried raspberry power added. The cake can be decorated with dried coconut, lavender (fresh or dried), rose petals, dried chicory flower (using only the dried petals) dried strawberries and cacao nibs and so on.
Additionally, Mrs Patricia Radu, showed the cold process of making organic soap which involved a simple chemical reaction between caustic soda, water and fats. Once the process of saponification is over (up to 48 hours), the fats together with the caustic soda disappear. The advantage of making your own soap is that you can use plant-based oils, such as olive oil, cocoa oil, soya oil, as opposed to high animal fats and petroleum. Also no perfumes, flavours or synthetic dyes are being used in the preparation. The entire drying process takes up to 4 weeks before you can start using it.
The event was a success with the Embassy residence packed with women who enjoyed tasting the different sour dough breads with dips of grilled eggplant (Salata de Vinete) and another called Zacuscă (a grilled red pepper and eggplant spread). Gifts could also be purchased of sweets and soap. Recipes were on hand to take home.
A Romanian Coffee Morning was hosted by the Ambassador of Romania to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Mrs. Ireny Comaroschi, for members of the International Women’s Contact The Hague. The event was held on Friday 13 November, 2015 between 10:00 – 12:00 at the Embassy of Romania, in The Hague.
