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Drawing a Combination?

After learning about Irish and Armenian cultures and being inspired by them for separate works, I tried combining the two into a fusion-style drawing. Taking the petals (and overall flower shape) of the forget-me-not and trying my hand at writing in Armenian, I combined them with the Irish or Celtic cross and Triquetra, or Trinity, knot. 

I think it turned out well, and I can’t wait to see what other inspiration I can use to draw from, or where my exploration of cultures will take me next!

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A Rabbit Hole of a Journey

Back in about 2013, one of my friends and I were scrolling through YouTube when we found a Korean pop song. On the first listen we were hooked, and ever since it’s been a downward spiral, in a good way of course! I’ve started listening to more genres of Korean music, and I have even started collecting some albums. 

Lately it even feels like I listen to more international music than anything released in America. If anyone has any song recommendations, I’d love to hear them (got to warn you though, I’ve listened to a lot!)

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Guilty Pleasure Food

Dinner tonight was absolutely amazing! 10/10 would recommend!

One of my favorite Hungarian dishes passed down through my family has and will always be my great grandmother’s Chicken Paprikash, or Paprikás Csirke. It’s sad that my grandfather wasn’t able to teach my his family’s recipe, but learning to make the recipes my mom grew up with is equally as satisfying!

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A Bunch of Crazy talented and Quirky Lads!

This Irish based group has been a part of my life since I was a young kid, or more precisely their music has. They’ve experienced some member changes over the years, and even lost one of the original members (R.I.P George), but their music remains as strong as ever! Not only do they sing songs that originated from Celtic countries, and sometimes even in the Irish language itself, but they also do covers from other songs around the world and put their own Celtic Thunder twist on them.

Finally getting to see these lads in concert for their Legacy tour was a dream come true and nothing short of amazing! For anyone who hasn’t heard of them, definitely go check them out. I recommend starting with their versions of “”Red Rose Cafe”, “Mull of Kintyre”, “Maid of Culmore”, and their classic-end-every-show song “Ireland’s Call”!

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Hokkaido Ramen First Try

For the first time the other day, a friend and I decided to try out a new Japanese/Korean fusion restaurant near us. It was really hard to pick something off the menu because we have heard of many of the dishes before, and really wanted to try them all!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this place, and I can’t wait to go back!

In the end we got:

Gyu-Don = Thin sliced beef, carrots, and onion over rice w/ dashi sauce 5/5.

Yaki Gyoza = Steamed pork dumplings 5/5.

Bibimbap = Rice and seasoned vegetables w/ bulgogi, and topped with an egg; served with red pepper paste 4.5/5.

Korean fried dumplings = Fried beef dumplings 4/5.

Kimchi - 3.5/5. (I’m not the biggest fan of spicy foods, but it was still really good.

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Exploring new Options

While delving into the food, music, and background of other cultures, I also have made a point to try new foods or new ingredients I haven’t cooked with or tried before. I know many of the posts I’ve made so far talk about food, but I am just fascinated with trying new things. 

More recently a new grocery store called “G-MART” opened near me and I decided to go check it out. The picture above are some of the dishes I was able to create using some of the new ingredients I bought like: Opo squash, Daikon radish, Korean pears, dragon fruit, chive and tapioca wheat pies, and vermicelli rice noodles. This place is definitely a 10 out of 10! Truly able to create some delicious dishes! I will continue to go back and try more new things.

For anyone interested, I’ll list some of the smoothie recipes I made so you can try them for yourselves:

1. Dragon fruit & Strawberry:

- 1 chopped red dragon fruit

- 1 cup sliced strawberries

- 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

- 1/3 cup spinach

- 1/2 cup cold water and 4 ice cubes

2. Pear & Kiwi:

- 1 chopped Korean pear

- 3-4 sliced kiwis

- 1 tablespoon lime juice

- 1/3 cup water and 5 ice cubes

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Some Irish Language Inspired Doodles!

Arguably, I have grown closest to exploring my Irish (or overall Celtic) roots. A little while ago, I found out about Ogham, which was used to write in the early Irish language. Just like from a previous post, I got inspired to include some Ogham into some mini drawings. Some of the words pictured here include:

beatha = life

sláinte = health

sonas = happiness

grá = love

If anyone is interested in learning more about or viewing other artists’ creations with ogham, check out Oghamart! There’s a lot of good stuff there!

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A Hungarian Family Tradition

Growing up, I remember always having these two types of cookies at Christmas time. It wasn’t until more recently after that I learned they were types of Hungarian cookies and that my late-grandfather had saved recipes from his family on how to make them! The one’s pictured on the left (My family always calls them Hungarian Stars) are my first attempt at making them. They’re good, but definitely not as good as my mother’s or grandfather’s!

The ones on the right, I’ve learned, my family calls “Kolaches” 

Who else has a favorite dish or recipe they grew up with? I’d love new recommendations!

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My Go-to Armenian Favorites!

(Top Picture)

1. Yalanchi Dolma - Vegetarian stuffed edible grape leaves with a mixture of spices and rice.

2. Su Boreg - A layered pastry filled with cheese, spinach, and sometimes other herbs.

(Bottom picture)

3. Brindz Pilaf - A mixture of rice and vermicelli noodles in chicken stock, butter and black pepper. (My friend’s grandmother makes the best version of this!)

Over the last couple years, my friend has introduced me to many different dishes and, pastries, and drinks, but these still remain some of my favorites. The first picture here is actually from this past New Year’s where my friend got food catered by a local business, and it was definitely a 10/10!!

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The Start of a Journey

A few years back, I drew this mandala-style doodle for a friend of mine on her birthday. Since she is Armenian, I based it around the colors of the Armenian flag and a few symbols she taught me about like the “Forget Me Not” flower. Ever since I have wanted to learn more about her culture. You could say this drawing marked the start of my journey!