Word of the Day!

Povitica - noun.

Povitica (pronounced "poh-vee-TEET-sah" in Croatian, or "poh-TEET-sah" as potica in Slovenian) is a traditional Eastern European sweet or savory nut roll bread characterized by a very thin, yeast-raised dough.

A rich filling, usually finely ground walnuts, honey and/or sugar, is spread inside and then rolled into a tight spiral. Learn how to make it yourself below:

Watch on YouTube

Pluperfect - noun or adjective.

There's never a shortage of new words to learn and yesterday I learned about pluperfect.

We've all seen pluperfect in action, usually in past perfect and wordy sentences like "It was already noon, but we had finished lunch because we were hungry." "Had" is usually the clue a sentence is past perfect.

However, it can also be used to mean "more than perfect", such as "Grandma's turkey was pluperfect--crispy golden skin and always moist."

And, lastly, ancient languages often had a pluperfect form, which Wikipedia details nicely.

Makoenva - noun.

Life continues to be sweet--and I wish I knew a place where I could sample some makoenva locally!

These deep-fried fritters originate from Lesotho, with raisins and cinnamon added. I'm pretty sure every culture loves its deep-fried dough! If you want to try making them at home, here's a recipe--

Ingredients
-2 teaspoons yeast
-1 tablespoon sugar
-1 cup water
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 teaspoons mamador oil
-2 cups flour
-¼ cup raisins
-Mamador oil for fryIng
-2 tablespoon brown sugar
-1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
-Combine yeast and sugar in a bowl and add in 1 cup of lukewarm water
-Wait until it turns bubbly and frothy (about 10 minutes)
-Add salt and oil
-Add flour until dough doesn't stick to your hands while kneading
-Add in the raisins and mix together
-Let the dough rise until it doubles in size
-Stretch the dough and pinch off a medium-sized piece
-Put in hot vegetable oil to fry until golden brown
-Roll them in cinnamon and sugar
-Serve warm with cup of rooibus tea.

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Toscatarta - noun.

I don't think I've posted a Swedish word before, but here's a delicious one--tosca, toscakaka or toscatarta--it all refers to a moist sponge cake topped with caramelized almonds.

Was the name inspired by the opera or a racehorse? This recipe site dives into the name origins and has a video if you want to try making it for yourself.

Watch on YouTube

Kourabiedes - noun.

The inventor of kourabiedes couldn't know they had a smash hit on their hands back in the 10th century with a confection popular throughout the Mediterranean and West Asia. There are as many regional variations for this almond-loaded shortbread as there are names--qurabiya, ghraybe, ghorayeba, ghoriba, ghribia, ghraïba, gurabija, ghriyyaba, and kurabiye, to name a lot!

Kourabiedes is the Greek version, often shaped into balls or crescents and dusted with icing sugar. They are popular at Christmas and other special occasions.

By Jastrow - Own work, CC BY 2.5, Link

Mandazi - noun.

Today's dessert takes us to the Swahili Coast! Mandazi, or bofrot or puff-puff, is a triangular frybread found in Kenya and surrounding areas. Peanuts, almonds, or coconut milk can be added to change up the flavours. Mandazi are not glazed or frosted, and can also be a convenient snack!

By The original uploader was ChildofMidnight at English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Bobamnertiopsis using CommonsHelper., CC BY 2.0, Link

Kūlolo - noun.

Kūlolo is a Hawaiian pudding-like dessert made from coconut and taro.

I'll defer to Wikipedia on the entymology:

The Hawaiian word kūlolo is a cognate of the Eastern Polynesian term "roro" which describes "brains matter, bone marrow; spongy matter," which itself is derived from Nuclear Polynesian "lolo" which describes "coconut cream or oil", while "kū" is a qualitative and stative prefix.

By Gregg Tavares - https://www.flickr.com/photos/greggman/2459987876/in/photolist-4Ko5G5-4Ked6B-GbVWqw-4iPXyg-EefFh9-Eno3mf, CC BY 2.0, Link

Hi peeps, I've gotten behind on my weekly word due to a busy summer! Things may be spotty for me until September.

Thinking of summer, kulfi is on my mind! This creamy, frozen dessert, made from evaporated milk, has been around for centuries. Although it is considered a popular South Asian dessert, the word originates from qulfi, a Persian word for "covered cup". Kulfi comes in many different flavours and you may find a freezer full of them at your local South Asian import store or grocery!

By Commoner247 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Apophenia - noun

Similar to pareidolia, apophenia is the tendancy for people to see connections or meaningful patterns between random and/or unrelated things, whether they are objects, visuals or ideas.

I scheduled posts for the LJ community as I'm a little busy this month--DW doesn't have scheduling, so my posts here may be out of sync for a bit!

Zaouli

This is a topic where I will defer to Wikipedia's expertise:

Zaouli or Zawli is a traditional dance of the Guro people (who speak the Guro language) of central Ivory Coast. The Zaouli mask, used in the dance, was created in the 1950s, reportedly inspired by a girl named "Djela Lou Zaouli" (meaning "Zaouli, daughter of Djela").

By Zenman - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link