Bakk in the Day 2

The Bakkich’s are of no more exotic descent than Scandinavian and Eastern European, but Mom Bakkich had a flair for out-of-the-ordinary meals.  We grew up on dinners of keema (an Indian spiced ground meat/tofu & veggie dish), Asian glass-noodle & fish soup, home-made hot & sour soup, and things of the sort.  (Dad Bakkich stuck with the classics when it was his turn to cook; eggplant parmesan, American chop-suey, smothered pork chops and New England style fish chowder.)  Mom also experimented often with vegetarian substitutes, the most memorable being textured vegetable protein sneakily substituted into my favorite meatball dish.  I’m still scarred from the shock of biting into what I thought was ground beef and am wary of any meatball Mom serves to this day.  I’m not bitter, I swear. 

My favorite dish, bakk in the day and to THIS day, is Mom’s Tabouli.  I have loved it my entire life.  This is my comfort food.  Can you imagine a kid in the mid-80’s craving bulgur wheat?  It's a cookout staple.  People request, nay, demand it.