Delicatese a la Nina

Langosi, sausage gravy made with home made breakfast sausage and scrambled eggs. This friends is where Eastern European sensibility meets American pragmatism and deliciousness. We call it Romerican Breakfast. The family agrees it is very, very good! Langos from Ardeal, Romania. You cannot get more American than sausage gravy.

January 24th, 1859 is a very significant date in Romanian history. Known as the little union (mica unire) the event is the precursor to the formation of the modern Romanian state in 1918. What better way to celebrate it than with a sweet, old desert, a staple of the Romanian cuisine with influences from the neigbouring countries. We give you Alvita made from the amazing recipe we found in the Dulce Romanie book! I grew up eating this street desert and know many of my friends, kids of the 1980s Romania did the same.

Thanks to our friend, Alina Simpetru who promoted this book Dulce Romanie, O istorie deserturilor de la noi (Sweet Romania. A history of Romania desserts) which contains 80 amazing recipes and their history, today Nina and I not only own the book but also made Profiterol in our kitchen in Chaska, Minnesota, on the Mississipi Valley. I used to eat this amazing dessert when I was a child, growing up in Arad, Romania, on the Mures Valley. Today, I got transported back in time, about 35 years bavk when my parents would take us to Cofetaria Libelula on summer days to enjoy a refreshing profiterol. Thank you Alina Simpetru for suggesting the book, thank you Cosmin Dragomir and Adriana Sohodoleanu for an incredibly researched book that highlights the richness of the Romanian cuisine with all of its influences.

May 2023 be the year we become a little bit more adventurous, a tad bit more accepting and an inch more compassionate while keeping it all real. Here is to a new year filled with lots of culinary adventures!

Wishing everyone a Christmas filled with light, joy, health and peace! For us today is a much needed day of rest after having spent the last week and a half baking over 160 pounds of sweets, 50 cozonaci and a lot of savory delicatese in addition to traditional Romanian Christmas food.

We were beyond honored to be able to cater again this year for the HORA Christmas Party. From appetizers to cabbage and grape leaves rolls, to polenta, mashed potatoes, chicken, pork and fish to an array of sweet deserts, we tried to give folks a taste of Mures Valley cuisine and of Western Romanian culinary ingenuity while recreating the atmosphere of a home away from home. The best part of the day was the amazing company we found ourselves in. Thank you HORA and the Romanian community in Minnesota for keeping centuries old traditions alive!!

La multi ani tuturor celor care poarta numele de Nicoleta, Nicolae, Niki, Miklos. This cake is for you all! Tort diplomat cu crema de oua, frisca si portocale. Diplomat white cake with orange, egg Custard and cream filling. This is a perfect cake for winter when the aroma or oranges and kiwi fills the room as we are making it.

Food is about sharing and spending meaningful time with the ones we love. Food is about people and moments. To all our friends, followers and wonderful foodies out there, have a blessed and happy ! The entire Delicatese a la Nina family contributed to this year's dinner table, from making food to setting up the table as we got ready to enjoy it all.

The best cake after the amandina cake is this homemade pumpkin cake with pumpkin and cream cheese frosting that Nina made for our own George/Ghita/Ghita Americanu who today turned 73.

This is the exact moment in time that I get transported to with every bite of piersica/ peach cookie or a slice of amandine cake. This. Exact. Moment. I was 9. My brother was 7 and we were celebrating one of our birthdays on the beautiful deck from our first one bedroom apartment on Sebesului Strret number 13.

We had a lot of celebrations for the past three months. We marked each one of them with a nicely decorated cake that has Delicatese a la Nina 's unique signature. Here are some pics of the decadent delights. Warning: they are super good!! :)

There is no true winter without pogacele and hot tuica (Romanian plum wiskey), at least once during the cold, snowy days. Yesterday, we made fresh pogacele. These are biscuits with pork rinds and lard. If you go past the gluten, you can see the protein filled delights. :) When in Romania, these chicarrons biscuits are made around Christmas time when we would normally slaughter a pig as well.
Here, in the town across the ocean we found the best lard and fresh pork ribds/jumari at the Chaska Market in downtown Chaska. They are called chicarrons and the store owners make them fresh every Saturday. The making of pogacele is truly a collaborations between communities. :)

With the holidays approaching, Delicatese a la Nina is starting to take orders for Christmas Baskets.
The ones pictured below are what we offer. These ones are donations to Team Empower Women and their auction tomorrow.
Each baskets contains:
1 sweet bread with walnuts (cozonac cu nuca);
1 sweet bread with chocolate (cozonac cu ciocolata);
1 puppy seed roll (baigli);
1 bag of assorted sweets: 6 piersici unplute cu crema de ciocolata, 10 nuci cu crema ciocolata, 10 cornulete Kent, 10 turta dulce Nasta)
1 jar of veggies spread (zacusca)
1 complimentary bottle of Romanian cabernet
1 basket and 1 printed Romanian pattern table runner
The total value is $125 that you can get for $100. Pm me for orders.

Birthday cake made by Nina for a very special 14 year old! The cream is homemade chocolate with rhum flavor, eggs, butter and sugar and a touch of coffee. It is called suhaida cream. The batter is cocoa.

Similar to Dias de Los Mu***os but different yet in that it is only one day long, Luminatia is the day of the year when in Banat and Transylvania regions of Romania people celebrate and commemorate the ones who have departed by going to the Cemetery and ligting a candle for them. In our Delicatese family, we celebrated and remembered the ones who have departed by making some apple cake, Pumpkin cake and berry and Walnut cake. The apple cake was my grandmother Loala's favorite to eat and bake. When I eat these deserts, I think of the amazing people in my life whose photos I carried with me across the ocean. Today, and every day, we are remembering and honoring our ancestors.

This weekend's delicatese was all about puff pastry, whipped cream, vanilla and cream puffs and crapes with strawberry jam. Sooooo good!!!

Inara is not on FB but she read all the bday wishes and thanks everyone for thinking of her!!!!
We celebrated in good, old fashion Delicatese a la Nina style with
- oreo, chocolate, vanilla cake
- salam.de biscuiti
- covrigei or beer pretzels
Check out the pics!!

On October 27th, 2005 the world got to meet and welcome the awesomely cool, incredibly kind, inquisitive, artistic, social justice focused person that Inara Maria Zayic was going to be one and is today. Inara is one of three strong women in the trio of women that make Delicatese a la Nina . Inara is the brain behind all tech related tasks of our little baking business. She is a very proud half Romanian, half American teenager. Her activity and engagement with the Romanian community in Minnesota earned them an award this month!!! Happy bday/la multi, multi ani fericiti my love!!!!

October 17th was a big day for the amazing, wonderful, strong woman and human being that Nina is. She became a US citizen. This country I have been calling home for the past 17 years is so, so lucky to have her!! If you know or met Nina you know that she is not only an incredible baker and cook but she is, above all, the most incredible grandmother, a role model for motherhood, a woman who defines unconditional love, a brave, strong, determined, hardworking, resilient human being. She challenges herself on a daily basis, is not affraid to try something new and will always finish anything she starts. She is a caregiver by nature, a retired librarian, a lover of life, people snd knowledge. She is my role model, my rock, my inspiration!! Here is to you, Nina iubito!!!
We celebrated the major event with a taste of the culinary "competition", a delicious dinner at Moscow on the Hill.

What an amazing afternoon celebrating with friends!!!

We will be volunteering on Sunday at this awesome event!! Delicates a la Nina is preparing savarine and cremsnit for the bake sale that will benefit the church community. Hope to see you there, friends!!
WHEN: 9/25/2022 from 1pm to 4pm
WHERE: 350 5th Ave North, South St Paul.

Folks, we are at the Tadte of Romania Festival today from 12 to 8pm. St Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church in St Paul. Amandine, Savarine, Krantz. And of course HORA dance and live music.

Have been busy these last few days canning veggies and prepping for winter. Here are some pics of the savory delicatese we made that will come in super handy this winter. Zacusca, pickled veggie meddley, plum and apple jam. We fire roasted the veggies for zacusca (an amazing red peppers, eggplants, onion and tomatoes dip) which really gives it a smockey taste. Just delicious!!

Last day of Chaska Farmers Market for 2022. So grateful to the SW Chamber of Commerce, the amazing Autumn and the City of Chaska fir their support of local, small businesses. Thank you to all our customers who tried delicatese thus summer! Here is what we have prepared for you today!

Nina really enjoyed making these swans. It was a birthday gift for a couple of really awesome people.

After a full day of farmers market and a meeting in the evening I got to enjoy Enki Brewery's own Foxy Haze. It is a session ale with a mild hoppy finish. Perfect for end of day chillaxing.

At Victoria Farmer's Market, Enki Brewery location! Come enjoy a beer and get a savory pretzel with it!