Peach Cake

This French recipe for peach cake is easy to make. It uses two types of flour, wheat and semolina. Here is the recipe:

can of slice peaches, drained
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons semolina flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grease a baking dish and place the peaches in the bottom.
Mix the flours and sugar in a bowl.
Gradually stir in the eggs.
Add the milk and vanilla extract.
Mix to form a smooth batter.
Pour over the peaches and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 50 minutes.

If desired, you can serve this with cream or ice cream. Canned peaches can be substituted with fresh peaches.

Finnish Loanwords of Swedish Origin

Though Finnish and Swedish aren't related languages, Finnish has many loanwords of Swedish origin. This isn't surprising if we consider that most of Finland was part of the kingdom of Sweden from the twelfth to nineteenth centuries. I'll provide a list of Finnish words which entered the language from Swedish. The Finnish word is on the left and the Swedish word on the right:

hissi hiss (elevator)
hummeri hummer (lobster)
juusto ost (cheese)
kaneli kanel (cinnamon)
kaniini kanin (rabbit)
katu gata (street)
kinkku skinka (ham)
koulu skola (school)
kruunu krona (crown)
kurkku gurka (cucumber)
lasi glas (glass)
meijeri mejeri (dairy)
nappi knapp (button)
parsa sparris (asparagus)
peili spegel (mirror)
ranta strand (beach)
ritari ridare (knight)
sinappi senap (mustard)
sokeri socker (sugar)
tuoli stol (chair)

All the Finnish words ends with a vowel. In contrast, only seven of the Swedish words do. It's very common for Finnish words to end in a vowel. With the exception of kruunu (crown), none of the Finnish words begin with a consonant cluster. The Finnish words conform to the phonotactics of the Finnish language. Though they're of Swedish origin, many look quite different from their Swedish counterparts.

Kvas

Kvas is a Russian drink that is also popular in other countries of eastern Europe. It's easy to make and very refreshing. It's similar to beer but has a very low alcohol content. Here is the recipe:

12 cups of water
2 slices of dark rye bread
raisins
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tablespoon yeast

Fill a pot with water and boil.
Toast the slices of bread until they are very dark, but do not burn.
When the water starts to boil, remove from the heat.
Add the bread and a few raisins to the pot and cover for at least 8 hours.
Carefully remove the toasted bread and discard.
In a bowl mix the sugar and the yeast and add to the pot.
Stir the yeast and sugar.
Cover the pot and leave for 6 hours.
Take out the raisins.
With a strainer pour the liquid into bottles and leave overnight.

The drink will be ready the next day. Enjoy!

Interdental Fricative

The interdental fricative is a relatively rare sound in the languages of the world. Most languages lack the sound. In English it is represented by the letters th. The English interdental fricative can be voiced as in the or voiceless as in through. 

Languages besides English which have the voiced interdental fricative include Albanian, Catalan, Danish, Greek, Icelandic, Spanish and Welsh. However, the Danish and Icelandic fricatives are classified as alveolar. The Danish fricative is unique because it is also velarized.

The voiceless interdental fricative is less common than the voiced counterpart. It's found in Burmese, Greek and Icelandic. The Icelandic pronunciation is alveolar. In Spanish it's only found in the dialect spoken in Spain and in Arabic it's only found in a few dialects such as the one spoken in Iraq.

The interdental fricative is a marked consonant. English is rare among the languages of the world because it has both the voiced and voiceless counterparts. This is also true for European Spanish, Greek and Icelandic. The place of articulation of the consonant can also be dental or alveolar.

Rice

Rice is the staple food of over half of the world's population. It was introduced to Europe from western Asia and to the Americas from Europe. Here are the top ten countries in rice production:

1) China
2) India
3) Indonesia
4) Bangladesh
5) Vietnam
6) Thailand
7) Myanmar
8) Philippines
9) Brazil
10) Japan

Most of the world's rice production is in Asia. Of the top ten countries, only one, Brazil, isn't from Asia. Brazil places ninth on the list. China accounts for approximately 20% of all world rice production. India is close behind. In contrast, Japan, the last country on the last, accounts for approximately 1%.

Macaroni Casserole

The macaroni casserole is very popular in northern Europe. This is a classic Swedish recipe with ham and onion. Here is the recipe:

2 cups macaroni
1 onion
1 cup sliced ham
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Warm the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the package.
Chop the onion and ham.
Fry the onion and ham in the butter.
Beat the egg and milk together and add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Put the onion, ham and macaroni in a baking dish.
Pour the egg mixture over the macaroni.
Bake for 30 minutes or until ready.

This is a very simple and tasty dish. Variations include cheese and substitute bacon or sausage instead of ham.

Spanish Potatoes

This potato dish, known as patatas a la importancia in Spanish, consists of potatoes in an onion and carrot sauce. Here is the recipe:

3 potatoes
salt
3 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups onion and carrot sauce

Peel the potatoes and combine with water to cover.
Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Decrease the heat to low and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes.
Drain and cool completely.
Cut crosswise into thin slices.
Season the slices with salt.
Spread the flour in a shallow dish.
Coat the slices with flour on both sides.
In a small bowl beat the eggs.
In a pan heat the olive oil over high heat.
Dip the slices into the beaten egg.
Arrange in a single layer in the hot oil.
Decrease the heat to medium and fry, turning once for 1 minute on each side.
Transfer to paper towels to drain.
Repeat with the remaining slices.
Layer the potatoes in a pan and cover with the sauce.
Reheat over medium heat until ready.

Here is the onion and carrot sauce:

2/3 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups water
1/2 cup dry sherry or dry white wine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Heat the olive oil over high heat.
Add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the carrots and flour.
Mix well and cook for 10 more minutes.
Add the water, sherry and salt.
Mix well and cook for 10 more minutes or until sauce thickens.
Remove from the heat and let cool.
Transfer to a blender.
Blend until smooth.

This dish takes time to prepare but is well-worth the effort. Enjoy!