Introducing Sweet Trigonella

Blue fenu­greek is a culi­nary herb native to the Alps in Cen­tral and West­ern Europe, and the Cau­casus on the border between Asia and Europe; it is little known outside these regions.
Being a basic spice for many Georgian dishes it's called "Utskho Suneli" - this  means "foreign spice" in Georgian. Nevertheless, the spice is used throughout the country, but not beyond its borders, thus contributing strongly to the national character of Georgian food.

For the last few years I struggle to grow sweet fenugreek in my herb garden and only this year I have achieved a visible success.
Here is a summary of my experience:

-  it does best in well drained rich soil
-  doesn't like full sun spots and feels better in a partial shade. Especially in the afternoon
-  I regularly apply fungicide (Neem Oil spray gives a very good result)

Blue fenugreek seeds are unavailable outside Georgia, and thus have to be replaced. Regular fenugreek seeds are to strong and bitter; they should be mixed with dried fenugreek or blue fenugreek leaves to give an acceptable substitute.

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Kupati - Georgian spicy sausages in pictures

Here is a generic  recipe which may vary from region to region or even family to family.

Georgian Sausage (Kupati)
-------------------------
1 pound pork butt
1/2 pound hard fatback (or salt pork, blanched for 15 minutes and chilled)
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon dried summer savory
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup tkemali sauce

Grind together medium-fine the pork butt, fatback, and garlic. Thoroughly
work in the spices with your hands, then stir in the tkemali sauce. 
Optionally (and to be authentic) stuff the mixture into casings to make 
sausages about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Tie the casings at 8-inch 
intervals, tying off each link twice so that they can be cut apart. 
Separate the links and shape into horseshoes or coils. Or simply shape 
into patties. Either grill or fry the kupati in a skillet. Serves 4.

From: The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the 
      Republic of Georgia by Darra Goldstein.

 I use the next basic spaces: onion, garlic, salt, dried barberries, ground cinnamon, crashed red pepper, summer savory

 Casing

 Traditional recipe recommends pork but I have used as an experiment  grounded turkey breast.  
Soak casings for about an hour in warm water to soften them. Before using the casings, rinse them out by putting the end over a funnel and pouring cool water through them several times.

Clean the grinder then remove grinder attachment, wash and dry it well, and reassemble it, adding the sausage stuffer accessory. Feed a piece of casing onto the sausage stuffer, leaving only an inch or two of the casing hanging off the end of the stuffer. Tie a knot in the end of the casing.

 Place a flat dish below the sausage stuffer to catch the stuffed casing.

 Use all the ground meat to fill out casing. Tie the end, spread evenly.

Use natural fiber tread such as cotton or silk

 

 Form the stuffed casing in loop and tie both ends together.

Final step - 
deep kupati in boiling water for about a min. 
Let them dry.

Grill them until the sausages in casings are 
nicely browned.

Serve with fresh tomato and greens.

Mercy and Justice

In late 1970s a group of artist of Lomonosov's factory started a new project. The goal was to  create porcelain copies of the statues from  the Summer Garden Park in St. Petersburg. The Summer Garden was largely completed in 1719. The walks were lined with a hundred allegorical marble sculptures, executed by Francesco Penso, Pietro Baratta, Marino Gropelli, Alvise Tagliapietra, Bartolomeo Modulo and other Venetian sculptors.

  It took almost 2 decades to complete the project. 
The figurines "Mercy" and "Justice" were created in 1999 by artist Olga Belova-Veber   at  Lomonosov Factory. LFZ is the first in the country to have worked out technology and set up production of thin-walled bone china items which are notable for enhanced whiteness, thinness and transparency in comparison with traditional hard porcelain. All figurines were made out of white unglazed porcelain and have a great decorative look.