Ok ok so like I said the kitchen remodelling’s not finished yet and still no fresh paint job. Does not affect the food being served, though 
Adriaan, I know… I know… but like I said, you’re welcome to join us for dinner
EDIT: This quote seems appropriate 
I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed.
-Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
So you see Adriaan, it’s all about maintaining rock-steady principles.
Saturday Breakfast
Banana muffins with a crumbly topping. Not a bad way to start off a weekend day
Inspired (also) by Quint’s post on the Portuguese sponge cake, I baked this apple “cheese” pie last night. Skuta is a type of cheese kind of like cottage cheese but so much better in pies. This was the no. 1 item I missed among food supplies whilst living in Luxembourg. Anyway, here comes this morning’s breakfast.
OK so the kitchen remodelling project is not quite complete yet as I’m waiting for my wallpaint guy’s leg to heal so he can come finish the walls and give them a paint job, but hey, the kitchen is back in action
Chilli @ Pomf
Miša’s doing a bit better and is taking a healing vacation at the seaside. In her absence, Sabina and I had our traditional Friday lunch at Pomf on Trubarjeva cesta, followed by the equally traditional yummm icecream at Rustika. A classic.
Ice Cream @ Rustika
Gotta love this town
Last Friday, Sabina and I again enjoyed a tasty meal at Čompa restaurant on Trubarjeva cesta in Ljubljana centre. Just like before, we phoned in and decided on our meal and at the set time we strolled over to the cozy place where the owner makes you feel at home. We had tuna on a bed of arugula - covering up a delicious chompa of course. Yumm! Chompas are traditional baked potatoes from beautiful Bovec region. After the meal, we were treated to a “teranov liker”, a sweet variation of teran wine.
Miša has not been well. She is seriously ill and has just completed a set of treatments. We talked for a length of time today. She is the type of person who is always there for others, but now she is the one in need of support and all the power of positive thought we can muster up. It takes so little to make a big change. Miša is in a dark place and needs to know there are people out there who care. It will give her the strength she needs. If you are willing to write a few inspiring words for Miša, I will print them out and make sure they reach them. I’m selfish. I want her back on her feet soon so I can enjoy more of her great cooking! Help
Extra extra, read all about it!
Amazons take over Adriaan’s house in Srednja vas and start producing Walnut Brandy!
Wow, what a weekend. Again! Having had some very interesting real estate work on Friday (selling a flat on prime location in Ljubljana city centre makes for meeting a whole new set of people) and finishing a translation job late in the evening, it wasn’t all that easy to get up early Saturday morning, but the chore to run was a fun one. Meeting central heating system experts in Bohinj to inspect the house and come up with a plan. I learned so much! Had no idea about the heating systems in private homes being run over the internet or phone line. So you’re in Sicily for New Year’s and just before returning home you go online, set the house temperature and upon your return home, you hardly know you’re back in an Alpine country? Cool. I mean… hot!
It rained cats and dogs all Saturday, which was kind of disappointing, but did allow me to get to know Uncle Frank (actually his name is Franc, pronounced FranTS) much better. I invited him over for a cup of tea, then took him to the big supermarket that had just opened in Bohinjska Bistrica, where we had a cup of coffee. Actually, coffee and spritzer. Franc did, anyway. We were joined by a friend of his who happens to be very active in the local volunteer firefighter brigade. We talked and talked some more. These men have such abundant knowledge of so many different issues. Walking encyclopaedias just waiting for someone to let them share the stories.
Back at the house Franc cooked for the both of us. He made a delicious meatloaf of sorts. He soaks groats over night, then mixes them in with a mixture of ground beef and pork along with a touch of salt, lots of garlic, quite a bit of fresh parsley, some onions, a whisked egg shapes a loaf and puts it in the oven for about 45 minutes. Again, we had a long talk.
Late in the evening, Mattie and Joan finally arrived. It was lovely to see them both again! We visited with Franc and you guessed right, we talked forever. Franc taught us about various medicinal herbs, made coffee and served walnut brandy. The arnica ointment he had made soon was put to good use on a bruise.
My suggestion to climb Komna the next day was greeted with laughter as apparently it came as not much of a surprise. When I told them I usually start out around 6 am, the element of surprise kicked right back in, though. We compromised on 8 am.
The morning was beautiful. After a nice slow breakfast we started out at about 8.30. The first half an hour was not very promising and I was a bit afraid we wouldn’t make it to the top. But easy does it and slowly, but surely, we made progress. There were so many people walking up that path it was amazing. The now familiar path offered those same beautiful views and again, all of us were amazed at the beauty and variety of the flora. It changes with elevation with ever new flowers catching your eye and new fragrances permeating the fresh air. Aaaaahhhhh…
We reached the top in three hours. I will post photos when Joan downloads them from the camera. Had a nice lunch at the Komna cabin. I don’t think the girls has either “jota” or “mineštra” before and the “golaž” was different from what they expected. I looove jota!
Impressive
Slightly disappointed that we found no arnicas or St. John’s wort for Franc, we returned to the valley much faster than climbing the mountain. Made it back to the house around 4 pm. Joan and Mattie did some gardening. Then we all had a cup of tea together at which point Franc decided he’d teach Joan how to make walnut brandy. Oh, I made Joan stretch so as to prevent sore muscles next day and Franc wisely remained silent, but a look at his ever-smiling face was worth a thousand words. Perhaps he thought we all really needed that brandy, eh?
Joan and Mattie gardening
Uncle Franc
But first, there was another enjoyable chore to run. We drove off to a lovely place 12 km away with a house for sale that Joan might be interested in:
Pretty House with Potential
The area was lovely. Complete peace and quiet, back to nature sort of environment. The owner’s daughter who was showing us around ran the same charity race as I did - see those T-shirts do serve a purpose
Upon return to the house, Uncle Franc had us chopping green walnuts in no time.
Chopped green walnuts
After the approximately 35 walnuts were chopped, we put them in a contained and added almost two litres of brandy made by the local fruit growers. We wrapped it tightly and placed in a sunny spot where the mixture (stirred occasionally) will wait and mature for three weeks before other ingredients will be added. These include sugar dissolved in water and sage. Then with a bit of magic, the end product will be wonderfully fragrant and rather strong liquor.
Phew was that a long day or what! We deserved a nice dinner and ended up strolling over to Pri Hrvatu where Joan treated us to a delicious meal and great red wine Cabernet Sauvignon barrique over which we made plans on bottling our own walnut brandy. We have already come up with names and labels. If you’re interested, get in line quickly as this “Vrhunski Orehovec - prva letina” (top quality walnut brandy - first edition) produced by “A & A” (Arh & Amazons) will come in truly limited quantities
I drove off home to Ljubljana. I hear the ladies woke up feeling good and not broken up from the mountain walk at all (I’ll bet it was the stretching, Franc’s eyes rolling or not!). I hope they come back soon so the Amazons can go back in action!
PS: remember, clicking the images will show you larger versions, but the quality is poor as they were taken with my old cell phone. Will publish Joan’s pics when they come.
Po prejšnji petkovi izkušnji sva danes s taisto kolegico končno našli pravo mesto za medslužbeno kosilce. Domačno okolje, zelo prijazna lastnica in super hrana sploh niso slaba kombinacija.
V Čompi na Trubarjevi 40 pripravljajo pečen krompir s prilogami po originalnem bovškem receptu. Cele pečene gomolje krompirja, kot so ga nekoč v žerjavici pekle babice, spremljajo mesne in zelenjavne priloge.
Opravičujem se za slabe fotke, posnete so bile s telefončkom
Pečene bučke z mozzarelo (in seveda v srajčki pečenim krompirjem)
Pečena zelenjava (brez nadaljnjega v spremljavi v srajčki pečenega krompirja)
Zadovoljni gostji!
Skrajno prav nama je prišlo, da sva se z Mišo prej slišali po telefonu (040 542 552), se dogovorili o tem, kaj bi hrustnili, in naju je ob dogovorjenem času že pričakal okusen obrok.
Naslednjič morava poskusiti gobice!
Dragi moji. Če vas na petek zamika, da bi tako kot se šika jedli eno dobro ribico, vam odsvetujem ribjo restavracijo pod ljubljansko tržnico. Načeloma nimam čisto nič proti Štajercem, ampak ko mi sredi Ljubljane postrežejo v masti utopljen kos mečarice v obliki ražnjiča s par ostanki zelene paprike na uveli rukoli na mizici z umazanim prtom, nisem najbolj impresionirana.
S kolegico sva se odpravili na kosilce po sončnih potkah Trubarjeve in uživaško ubrali pot med množicami turistov, nekaj domorodcev in mimo skupine nadobudnih mladenk in mladeničev nekega 9.b, ki so glasno proslavljali nekaj pač že. Saj ni važno, samo da je žur. Oliver je baje car.
Prispeli sva do tu inkriminirane ribje restavracije in se ob ne najbolj prijazni pomoči natakarice odločili ter brez navdušenja pohrustali prinešeno. Če nič drugega, družba je bila odlična, prav tako mesto ob ograjici, s katerega sva med jedjo lahko občudovali Ljubljanico in čolničke, ki so, polni v mobilne pogovore zatopljenih potnikov, tu pa tam priplavali mimo.
Sodu je izbilo dno pri plačevanju. Pogovor približno takšen.
Lahko prosim plačava?
Seveda… (cena)…
dam kartico.
Čez sekundo nestrpno zadoni: PIN! HALOOOO!!!
Prosim?
Ja pin pridite vtipkat, ne?!
Aha, nisem vedela, da moram tja.
Pa saj sem vam vendar rekla!!
Ste mi res rekli HALO!?
Pa če ne čujete.
Mislim, da se gostu ne reče HALO!? … vtipkam pin in se usedem.
Ja pa a pin boste vtipkali ali kaj?
Saj sem ga.
Ja kam pa???
Semle.
Pa ne tam, tu spodaj (skrita dodatna reč).
Aha, nisem vedela. Mi niste pokazali.
Ja, ko ste pa tako pametni.
Gospa, jaz sem tukaj gost, veste, tako se ne pogovarja z gosti.
Mi stisne račun v roko.
Ambient v kombinaciji z okusnostjo hrane in prijaznostjo osebja so naju prepričali, da se vrneva na tisto čudovito mesto šele, ko se bo zamenjalo vsaj nekaj od omenjenega.
Na poti nazaj sva si v Rustiki na Trubarjevi pri vedno zelo prijaznih dekletih privoščili sakramensko dobro kepico sladoleda, moram pa priporočiti novo odkritje. Za 1,9 evra lahko tam nabavite tablico 100% čokolade brez sladkorja. Zadeva gre direkt v žilo in pomiri želodček in duha
Evo današnje kosilce. Preprosto, 1-2-3 narejeno in baje sploh ne slabo.
V rdečem vinu kuhana rižota s črnimi olivami in pršutom.
Čebulo in česen prepražiš na olivnem olju, dodaš za rižoto primeren riž. Jaz sem dodala še malo na kolobarčke narezane mlade čebule. Zaliješ s (pazi!) toplim rdečim vinom. Če zaliješ z mrzlim, bo riž zakrknil in bo zunaj trd, notri mehak, takšen pa ne bo niti okusen niti ne bo mogel vsrkati začimb. Počasi kuhaš in dodaš še malo vina, potem začneš zalivati z juhico. Narežeš črne olive in pršut ter jih dodaš par minut, preden je riž kuhan. Takrat tudi dodaš malo bazilike in po potrebi še soliš. Kuhano pokrito pustiš par minut pri miru, preden postrežeš. Ponudiš še parmezan.
Dober tek!
