Dr. Filomena

We’re off to Belgrade. Catch you all later! 🙂

Cheers!

One of the contenders in the quickly approaching Slovenian parliamentary elections (located at more or less the centre of the traditional political left-right spectrum) the Zares party (translated literally as “For Real”), has found an innovative way to advertise its cause. This up and coming party that evolved relatively recently but is lead by one of the most experienced political players in the country and includes some people with an established track record in national-level politics, put up billboards in neighbouring Croatia.

This type of advertising will not be possible in our country under Slovenian legislation for another week to come while in Croatia it is already addressing resident Slovenian citizens and – more importantly- Slovenians returning from their summer holidays on the Adriatic coast.

Perhaps Barack Obama could follow suit and put up billboards in Mexico and possibly, though probably less effectively, in Canada thus escaping the undoubtedly overcrowded local ad market. Somehow, I think he would achieve better results than his Republican competitor.

Ps: this is primarily an exercise in establishing a connection between hits to the site generated by the most obvious terms and the current political hotspots.

Let’s see what you think 😉

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Photo by dr. Fil, taken on Mt. Triglav

In Italy, Corriere della Sera published news of a beauty pageant  for… Catholic nuns. The pageant is open to all nuns between the ages of 18 and 40.

Italian nuns will be able to show the world God’s gift of beauty by sending their photos to priest Antonio Rungi (southern Italian diocese of Modragone) who will publish the photos online and visitors to his blog can vote on the photos.”Miss Sister Italy”, the first beauty pageant of its type to take place in Rome, aims to challenge the stereotype of old and sad nuns. Father Rungi said it was the nun’s idea and that he expects about 1,000 contestants. “Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God,” priest Rungi told a daily Italian newspaper. He continued explaining how beauty is not restricted to what we see on television and that young and vital foreign nuns will be participating. (source)

I shall hereby apply self-censorship and not say exactly what I think about this particular contest. Humm, I wonder if it will contribute to an increase in eating disorders in nunneries. Oh wait… silly me!

Romance Sonambulo
Federico García Lorca

Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.
Con la sombra en la cintura
ella sueña en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Bajo la luna gitana,
las cosas la están mirando
y ella no puede mirarlas.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Grandes estrellas de escarcha
vienen con el pez de sombra
que abre el camino del alba.
La higuera frota su viento
con la lija de sus ramas,
y el monte, gato garduño,
eriza sus pitas agrias.
¿Pero quién vendra? ¿Y por dónde…?
Ella sigue en su baranda,
Verde came, pelo verde,
soñando en la mar amarga.
–Compadre, quiero cambiar
mi caballo por su casa,
mi montura por su espejo,
mi cuchillo per su manta.
Compadre, vengo sangrando,
desde los puertos de Cabra.
–Si yo pudiera, mocito,
este trato se cerraba.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
–Compadre, quiero morir
decentemente en mi cama.
De acero, si puede ser,
con las sábanas de holanda.
¿No ves la herida que tengo
desde el pecho a la garganta?
–Trescientas rosas morenas
lleva tu pechera blanca.
Tu sangre rezuma y huele
alrededor de tu faja.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
–Dejadme subir al menos
hasta las altas barandas;
¡dejadme subir!, dejadme,
hasta las verdes barandas.
Barandales de la luna
por donde retumba el agua.
Ya suben los dos compadres
hacia las altas barandas.
Dejando un rastro de sangre.
Dejando un rastro de lágrimas.
Temblaban en los tejados
farolillos de hojalata.
Mil panderos de cristal
herían la madrugada.
Verde que te quiero verde,
verde viento, verdes ramas.
Los dos compadres subieron.
El largo viento dejaba
en la boca un raro gusto
de hiel, de menta y de albahaca.
¡Compadre! ¿Donde está, díme?
¿Donde está tu niña amarga?
¡Cuántas veces te esperó!
¡Cuántas veces te esperara,
cara fresca, negro pelo,
en esta verde baranda!
Sobre el rostro del aljibe
se mecía la gitana.
Verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Un carámbano de luna
la sostiene sobre el agua.
La noche se puso íntima
como una pequeña plaza.
Guardias civiles borrachos
en la puerta golpeaban.
Verde que te qinero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar.
Y el caballo en la montaña.

back to normal 🙂

(photo taken at Nanos Mountain; click to enlarge)

and a view from Nanos into the valley:

To serve two, you will need:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced white onions
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 cups seeded, chopped plum tomatoes
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup sliced stuffed green olives
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• red pepper flakes
• 2 fillets sea bass
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until soft. Stir in garlic, and saute about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, and cook until they begin to soften.

Stir in wine, olives, capers, and red pepper flakes. Heat to a simmer.

Place sea bass into sauce. Cover, and gently simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Transfer fish to a serving plate, and keep warm.

Increase the heat, and add butter to sauce. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Stir in cilantro.

Serve sauce over fish. With love.

You can serve these yummy treats as a standalone dinner or as a side.

To stuff 12 mushrooms, you will need the following:

• 12 whole fresh mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick.

Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

Serve. With a smile, of course 😀

coming tomorrow: sea bass cooked in wine

Last Sunday, I thought why not try something different for dinner. Humm… never tried cooking rabbit before. Why not, indeed. The result exceeded all expectations, so I decided to share. The recipe is originally Colombian. Thanks to the cook who originally posted it on a recipe site.

It takes a while for the rabbit to cook and I actually managed to get some fresh air, sun and exercise in the meantime 😉

To serve two, you will need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds (450g) rabbit, cleaned and cut into pieces
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
• 1/2 bird’s eye chile, seeded and minced
• 1/2 large tomatoe – peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock
• salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• rice

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the rabbit pieces until browned on the outside. Transfer to a soup pot or large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, green pepper, red pepper and chile pepper to the skillet; cook and stir until onion is transparent. Transfer to the saucepan.

Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, salt and pepper to the saucepan, and bring to a boil. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 2 hours. Just before the 2 hours are through, start cooking some white rice.

Remove the rabbit pieces with a slotted spoon, and keep warm. Turn the heat up to high under the saucepan, and boil the liquid until it has reduced by half. Return the rabbit pieces to the pan, and stir in the coconut milk. Cook, stirring gently, until heated through.

Serve over rice with a smile 😀

coming tomorrow: stuffed mushrooms

We’ve been waiting for you, little one.

Welcome to the world!

Love from auntie Fil