Our First Veggie Garden: Planting Plants in Boxes
What would be a real country house without a garden? Right it would be a garden less country house. Although we have some old apple orchard and a few cherry trees there was one thing missing - some small veggie garden for our needs. There was one another major obstacle we didn't have any water supply at our rural country house. Read more: Home Remodeling - How It All StartsSo we opted for a small veggie garden to be planted into boxes, call it a mini sustainable agriculture if you prefer. We saved a lot of water at least, thus we were carrying about 50 liters in 5 litter bottles each day just to water our garden. Water is crucial and during this summer I actually…
The Tiger Lillies Concert Review in Tbilisi
The Tiger Lillies performed on Tbilisi Concert Hall on November 8, 2015. I must admit I had no clue what this band is all about, but had heard that The Tiger Lillies are must have. And I'm glad I agreed to visit their show in Tbilisi.
This was the second show in a row (previous one was Diana Krall's concert at the end of October 2015) I visited in Tbilisi concert hall.
First surprise arrived when we noticed that our seats was just behind tuner control
Tuner control in Tbilisi Concert Hall
What seemed an issue at start turned out to be a good place to photograph from and see in action how tuner guy works. I would say I had an option to see two shows for price of one.
Local…
How to Patch and Plaster Walls in Your Old Rural House
It's one of the construction works I really enjoy - to patch and plaster walls - it doesn't requires a lot of skills and it's a really cheap way to get things done fast.
Today I will show you how I patched our rural country house's kitchen walls with a plaster mix for less than $10. Prior to that I removed all the junk from the room (kitchen) and applied a base paint both for walls and ceilings. Read: Removing Junk And Adding First Layer of Paint (Kitchen Works)
Tools you will need - and old bucket (I prefer used plastic bucket leftover after paint job), a trowel and some good mix of plaster mixture. In those parts of world I'm living and plaster mixtures I'm familiar with - I…
Abandoned Airfield Near P104 (Jaunpils-Tukums) Road (Latvia)
As I stated in my previous post about beautiful poppy fields near P104 Jaunipils - Tukums road in Latvia, there is a hidden treasure inside those lovely fields - an abandoned airfield.
I doubt it has been used for any military means, more for agriculture (field spraying from a biplane).
So I headed in and here is what I got:
Abandoned airfield near Tukums
The same concrete plates for runaway structure as seen in Skrunda Abandoned Military Ghost Town
Abandoned airfield
I just love such low profile perspective photography. Grey concrete in contrast to dark blue skies.
Airfield in middle of poppy fields
This is the same poppy field I wrote before…
Riga Central Market
Riga Central Market as I believe is among of of the top Riga attractions a tourist might want to visit and see. First opened to public in 1930, with main structures of the market built by reusing old German Zeppelin hangars, it now has become Europe's largest market and bazaar.
There are not many markets from which I have seen I could compare this one. The closest I can compare is La Boqueria market in Barcelona, Spain.
One of the Riga Central market pavilions
In total there are 5 pavilions in Riga central market, each representing it's own sector, like there is a dairy pavilion, meat pavilion, vegetables pavilion, fish pavilion and the 5th pavilion which…
How To Split Large .TSV files and Import to MS Excel or OpenOffice Using EmEditor
In this article you will learn how to split large .tsv (and not only) files so you can import them to MS Office, Open Office or whatever you need using a small and neat (paid) program called EmEditor.
Here is the scenario - I have been booking.com affiliate partner for many years already, I remember few years ago I dreamt I wish I would programmatically access to all of their hotels (with metadata) , so I could import those data to some other web app and reuse data I want in manner I want to.
Recently I noticed on my Booking Central there is a new option - Data download, and here it was - All I dreamt for a couple of years ago. Booking.com offered me to download their hotel data in…
First Summer Solstice in Our New (Old) House
Last year we celebrated Summer Solstice on our apartments balcony in Tbilisi, this year we did it the right way. After I tried out how it's to move grass with a scythe, then with a trimmer and finally hiring a professional grass mover we started to repair our recent acquisition, after room and kitchen was cleaned out ouf junk and some paint job was applied both to walls and ceilings we did a test with a first garden party in order to prepare for this Summer Solstice night.
Now we were ready to great Sun. Since our property on that time was without electricity we decided to go creative and lightened a lot of candles and put them into jars, hang up them in trees and got a superb Summer…
Ēdole Castle and Emila Market with 17 Cheeses and Crayfish
Ēdole Castle is a Gothic Revival castle situated on the banks of Ēdole Lake, Ēdole parish, in the historical region of Courland, western Latvia.
I had an opportunity to visit Ēdole castle and taste some of the 17 cheeses few days before Summer Solstice Līgo was held (back n 2015). During my visit a fair called Emīla market (Emīla tirgus) took action.
Famous Latvian film Emīla nedarbi was filmed here in 1985. So that's the reason why this fair is named after Emīls.
If you enjoy medieval things and medieval architecture you will find a lot interesting at Ēdole castle.
Ēdole castle complex
It was pretty hard to photograph here that…
Removing Junk And Adding First Layer of Paint (Kitchen Works)
In my previous article on home remodeling series you already learned how with the help of just a white paint I decided drastically to improve a room which latter might become our bedroom in our rural house. Haven't red that article yet? Go ahead and see it: Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based PaintNow it was turn for another room (kitchen) to put some facelift on, but before that we had to clean up the mess, remove all the junk and... paint. Kitchen loaded with junkAs you can see from above picture both walls and ceiling are covered with soot, Soot is coming from the Kitchener.There is a stove actuallySo we spent about a day just to getting rid from all that…
How To Prepare Traditional Uzbek Plov (Lamb and Rice Pilaf)
In this post you will learn how to prepare a traditional Uzbek plov (lamb and rice pilaf. It might sound as a complicated food to prepare, but in fact if you have the right ingredients and right tools (cooking pot) there is nothing complicated in it.
There are three main ingredients to get that tasty plov done - lamb meat, rice and quince. Since I'm living in Republic of Georgia, it's easy to find all the ingredients here, on the other hand, it might be tricky to get the correct ingredients in other parts of World. For a seasoning there is one must have - a cumin, but unfortunately a seasoning lady I usually buy spices from in Tbilisi, sold me the…
How To Carve a Pumpkin and Make Stunning Halloween Photos
In this post you will learn how to carve a pumpkin and prepare it for a good photography. Let's call this digital photography school tutorial - a pumpkin photo session.
Tools you will need: a pumpkin, sharp knife, a marker, candles a DSLR camera and a tripod (for photography)
For a pumpkin I visited local Tbilisi market and bought one for 2 GEL (~0.6$)
Let's start with carving that pumpkin:
Use a marker to draw up lines on the pumpkin
You can use some trafaret or you can just draw by hand. I prefer doing it by hand (although have never tried using a trafaret yet)
Cutting of the top
Start with cutting of the top of your pumpkin, so you can scoop out the flesh…
Georgian Parliament Building (Kutaisi)
That day finally come and I have finally photographed the legendary Georgian Parliament building in Kutaisi. After picking up my mom at Kutaisi International Airport and before heading towards to Tbilisi, we made a short excursions around Kutaisi and villages near Kutaisi.
It took me just a few seconds to capture this amazing landscape of futuristic parliament building.
The Georgian Parliament Building in Kutaisi has been the home of the Parliament of Georgia since its inauguration on May 26, 2012, replacing the Parliament building at 8 Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.
Georgian Parliament building in Kutaisi
I have been dreaming…
Sorrel Soup With Hard-Boiled Eggs (Photo Recipe)
Today we will prepare one of mine all times favorite soup - Sorrel soup.
The idea for this blog post come out of my 365 days photo project, when everyday I'm taking some picture in Manual mode and publish it to my Flickr account. Since the strong jury didn't enjoyed my entry photo with sliced onion for day 13 I was literally taken to the kitchen and all I has to do - just to photograph. One image speaks thousands words! Enjoy!
Ingredients: Sorrels, carrots, smoked meat, potatoes, dills, parsley, some onion and some seasoning.
Start with grated carrots:
Grated carrot
Chop that meat
Dills and parley
Sliced potatoes
Now bring all the above ingredients to some…
Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint
It took us some time to figure out what do next with our recently inherited rural house which was not in her best shape. After I started my fight with grass, (Lawn moving with scythe and Lawn moving with trimmer) I decided it's time to free up some space inside the house, so we actually have some room to stay for night, for example. Since our major tasks for this summer was actually to change that leaky roof, we were not ready to invest any serious money in building a perfect room, so I bought the cheapest water based paint, some brushes and started to paint.
We decided we will go for a white color, we will make one room completely white (except floor), so at least we have…
Diana Krall Concert Review in Tbilisi (Georgia)
Diana Krall performed in Tbilisi in frames of Tbilisi Jazz Festival and her own Wallflower World Tour on October 23, 2015.
We visited this show at Tbilisi Philharmonic hall (Previous time I was here was a concert of a Russian band Aquarium and Boris Grebenshchikov 2014).
During this show some older songs from Diana Krall repertoire, like Fly me to the moon were performed and of course some new ones. But speaking of me, I most probably enjoyed the most song California Dreamin'. Amazing show, great animated visuals on screen.
The show was set to start at 20:00
Stage is ready for Diana Krall at Tbilisi Jazz Festival 2015
As it happens in such events, show didn…
Boiled Potatoes With Ground Meat Sauce Recipe
Welcome everyone to just another food blogger post series - today we will prepare a very simple recipe - Boiled potatoes with ground meat sauce.
It's just that time of the year when I found myself more in kitchen just eager to cook something, and after a visit to the local market I decided I want to prepare something simple, tasty and something I could photograph for my digital photography school project. As I believe a successful food blogger should take sharable and pinable pictures (share them now!)
This is one of the simplest foods I can actually name - I was like a 5 or something when my grandmother taught me how to prepare sauces, and I really love sauces.…
First Barbecue Festival in Our Newly Inherited House
While there is a good reason to visit a barbecue festival in Armenia, in this post I will provide some details on the first barbecue festival (OK, it's actually a party) we held in our recently inherited country house, where some serious home remodeling tasks are performed.
Throwing up a barbecue party is a must have to fully enjoy all the good works and intentions you are doing while performing such a routine tasks, like fighting a grass (and I had fight with it all Summer along), figuring out how to change that leaky roof, or doing some paint job. This was a special party, there were not many people invited (just 3 and a dog) but it got us amazing feeling of happiness. Hey…
Lawn Mowing with a Trimmer
Right, this post is like and extended version for my previous post in home remodeling series on lawn mowing with a scythe. After a tough fight with grass using old school tools like scythe it was enough for me. And I mean it - no more scythe for me.
Having a house in rural Latvia teaches a very important lesson, you have to own a trimmer, or it will be a very costly for you to fight the grass. Since some serious trimmers cost a lot and we hadn't actually planed to spend a money on it, we found an owner who could rent us out his trimmer for a six pack of beer.
Author of this blog captured in action fighting grass with a trimmer
Gosh, what an experience - during my first trimmering…
Borjomi Mineral Water Park in Georgia
Borjomi mineral park which is located in town on Borjomi, some 120 km from nations capital Tbilisi, is a lovely place to enjoy a lazy day, preferable for slow walking and enjoying beautiful aroma coming from pine cons.
This park (and Borjomi town) has been on my most favorite destination list in Georgia for many years already (well, I first visited this place in 2011). This park was in our Borjomi hiking route, during our recent hiking tour organized by Georgia Expat Photographer Club. If you are a solo traveler or group of indies - here is a tip how to get to Borjomi for cheap - Tbilisi - Borjomi Transfer by Marshrutka (Minibus)
As a rule of thumb there is some small…
Lawn Mowing with a Scythe
Welcome to the second post in home remodeling series, today I will write about thing called - lawn mowing (I prefer using word grass) with a tool called scythe. It has been a while before my first post about our new property - a house, a really bad managed house we inherited. The thing why it took us so long is - it took us some 2 months to decide - will we seriously do anything with this house or probably let's just leave as it is and come back to Georgia or any other destination in the World?
After 2 months of intensive thinking, arriving on site (our house) everyday, drinking coffee on it's so called porch - we finally get a grip and decided - yes, let's do this, let's build our dream…