(Image source) The other evening, I was having dinner with friends and at some point, we got onto the subject of pălincă. As you do. When you're drinking it. "Do you know the origin of pălincă?" Radu asked me. I thought I did in terms of the 'firey plum...

In 1850, Barbu Dimitrie Stirbey, ruler (voivode) of Walachia (1849-1853 and 1854-1856), began the building of his palace at Buftea as a stronghold with its two exit tunnels should a quick get-away have been deemed necessary. Such were the times. It was...

(Image source) Dumitru Furnica-Minovici (1897-1982) was born into an influential Aromanian family legendary for their crusade in the name of Romanian medicine. His Brasovian father was a merchant and his mother, Elena, one of the sisters of the famous...