Dr. Filomena

Made this for friends who do not eat meat or fish. With thanks to Binula for her tips!

Served 4:

Cooked eight large sliced potatoes and drained them well. Covered the ceramic pan (no grease necessary as the olive oil from the stir-fried zucchinis suffices along with the sour cream that drizzles through the potatoes and veggies) with half of the potatoe slices, salted.
Topped with three sliced stir-fried zucchinis.
The next layer were four large sliced quickly-cooked carrots. Topped that with a large aubergine, sliced, salted, grilled on the big toaster and cut into cubes. Sprinkled with some grated cheese to hold together.

Topped with another layer of the cooked potatoes and salted.

Mixed sour cream with two eggs, three large spoons of flour, salt and pepper and poured over the top.

Baked in the oven for 15 minutes at 220°C

Sprinkled with grated cheese and baked for another 5 minutes.

Voila.

As a side: shredded a large cucumber, added yoghurt, garlic, salt, pepper, some hot pepper seeds and dill.

Bon appétit, my vegetarian friends
And Bon voyage!

… and I’ll tell you who you are has been rephrased by Mr. P to

Tell Me Your Song And My Readers Will Know Who Your Friends Are

Definitely worth a look (and a hear)!!!

Primary Colours

I presume Lisa would have said:  sedi, pet!

Člani Kulturnega društva Dolsko so se včeraj spet izkazali in s premierno predstavo Okrogle mize pošteno nasmejali publiko. Iznajdljiva kombinacija gledališke igre, skeča in video vložkov je vžgala. Scenarij ima kar nekaj nastavkov, ki bi mu lahko omogočili nadaljnji razvoj likov in prepletanje njihovih zgodb. Upam, da si bodo scenaristka, režiser in igralci, ki so jo sooblikovali, vzeli čas in z dobro voljo, ki je imajo v Dolskem na pretek, uprizorili razširjeno in poglobljeno različico. Jaz zagotovo pridem!

Aplavz vsem sodelujočim! Uživaška predstava, ki jo toplo priporočam vsem, predvsem tistim, ki bi se radi skladno z željami sedanje vladajoče politične opcije dodobra sprostili.

Pa še nekaj slikic za pokušino:

PS: Res mi je žal, da nisva mogla ostati na žuru, da legendarnega štrudla prav tako legendarne babice sploh ne omenjam. Delu čast in oblast, kenede?

EDIT: Več o predstavi: pri Binuli

Yesterday, The Poušters threw one heck of a party at the Geonavtik Café. Thanks for the great time you’ve shown us, you guys!!! And to the Geonavtik team for making us feel at home. Seemed like a bit of a scene from Cheers.

If anyone is looking for the right band for a party or wedding for that matter, although the wedding-divorce ratio of their clients seems to match the general population statistics), these all-rounders (music, stand-up comedy, website programming etc.) will make a great choice. Just make sure you book them well in advance

Here comes the big bad ant:

Now sing along, everyone!

Last Saturday saw an eagerly awaited event come true. Denis a.k.a. človek came up with the idea and was the driving force behind the successful organisation of a bloggers’ Xmas season party. Shunning sponsorship funds, everyone gathered at the cozy setting of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum a.k.a. SEM, bringing some food to help ease the drinks served by the museum down thirsty throats. How appropriate a location, wouldn’t you say? Ethnographic history was being made on site. (Note: part of SEM mission statement: a museum “…about people, for people”, a museum of cultural identities, the link between the past and the present, between our own and other cultures, between the natural world and civilisation…”)

Since there was supposed to be a karaoke show as well, I decided, with some encouragement, to give it a go for the first time with “These Boots Were Made for Walking”. I even dressed… I mean… booted (?) for the occasion. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for the rest of the gang, Mr. Mojo forgot to bring my song. He (or whoever the saviour of blogger ears and possibly eyes may have been) is forgiven, however, especially since it turns out that I actually know mojo man from work-related ‘real life’.

Somehow, I managed to miss out on the karaoke performances of others and I am sorry for that although not sorry to have enjoyed interesting conversations with The Smokers in the plastic tent outside in the mean time (note: reference to the anti-smoking legislation).

I must say I never expected a bloggers’ party to be a place to reconnect with old schoolmates, either. Especially not ones from elementary school! (Yep, happened.)

Anyway, it was way cool to have seen the guys I’d met before at Pr’Skelet, reconnected with several people I’d not seen in a long time (and had no idea they were blogging) and met a bunch of new interesting people. Oh, and not to forget… thanks to Sigi at the bar! Even though they were officially not available, she made me as many caipirinhas as possible (i.e. limited by the number of limes available. They sufficed, thank you very much, and gave Seks a glimpse of the cocktail world.

When I hear music, I can’t help but move… and although I was slightly disappointed by the number of people who ventured out on the dance floor. But hey, the ones who did warm up to the beat sure did move You girls and guys know who you are…

I’m sure I’ll mess up by forgetting to mention a blogger pal, so I apologize in advance and blame it on my swiss-cheese memory. Heya, my long-lost grandson (we’ll have to talk about your drinking and sexual orientation someday, but granny loves you anyway and the talk can wait till after the holiday season), my favourite person from Krško who makes yummy rum-coconut-chocolate balls, the most blogestest couple in the room as far as I’m concerned who brought us a homemade blogelicious humongous chocolate jaffa cake. Burn, baby burn!

Morska is officially joining the witch club Binula and I had started a few centuries ago. Provided that Kobrowsky doesn’t wrap her in special plastic foil first.

Sunshine & Mitja, I enjoyed meeting the other half, especially since he comes from the best high school ever. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all your plans come to realization. Šuši, I remember! Yup, upside down, too.

Cheers, Chef (you can move!), Boštjan, Eirene, Saša (way cool to have come! and loved your smiles), Big Bad Wolf (so much younger and not as sharp-toothed as one would have presumed), Mojca the sunny one, Cyco the designer, Fotoholik (found your blog)… Hey Kašpar if Fetalij is my grandkid, I could always make you my great great great great grandson. MachineMan, we have to talk about the clubbing scene in Ljubljana… probably will come see you this week.

I think I noticed Pengovsky carrying on a political debate in a dark back corner of the room. A rather heated debate. Ok so it may have been on sex after all.

Again, thanks to all for a fun fun fun night. I was shocked to see it was 3.30 when leaving… Seemed more like pumpkin time to me.

Some photo material:

OK so admittedly I was more focused on the quality of the caipirinhas than that of the photos. I knew I could count on the other 75 cameras in the room to take better pics anyway

…

Človek, you da man!

Blog on!

Anyone care to venture a guess? Shoot! Shake!

Ljubljana Lights

Every now and then it really feels good to simply take a walk. If you happen to be in a great town like Ljubljana, even better for you! So after just another fun-filled day at work (BTW, the website is being refurbished completely by a great angelically devilish team as we speak) and an uplifting cup of coffee with my beloved sister, I decided to take a stroll downtown that had just been lit up with a zillion colourful lights and extras, a cheerful reminder of the shopping season that spreads love and wrapping paper all around us.

Exhibition at Mestni muzej

So as not to succumb to the shopping spree completely (whoops, one does require a certain type of paper for that purpose… or plastique plastic), a visit to the museums seemed in order. The artefacts above were excavated at the site of the museum, from the Roman period when this city went by the name of Emona.

Copper Age; style truly is timeless, eh?

Mestni muzej (City Museum) has interesting exhibitions year-round and one of the amazing rooms, at least to me, is the one featuring some of the objects found in the Ljubljana area going all the way back to the period of the so-called pile dwellings (mostišča) at Ljubljana marshes during the late stone age and the copper age (4,500 - 1,800 B.C.), such as the one pictured above.

The many faces of Ljubljana

One does tend to discover many interesting bits and pieces… and people at museums, but one’s uncle is rarely among them. My eye caught a familiar pace and when the monk on the wall projection turned around and gave me that big all-knowing smile, my jaw dropped so low I had to struggle to pick it up. I wasn’t sure if it was just my eyes playing games with my brains on account of the delicious mulled wine I’d just consumed at one of the stands at the Three Bridges as part of the December tradition… Confirmed with a follow-up phone call, yep, that’s my uncle up there, featuring as one of the “many faces of Ljubljana” through the ages. Also re-confirmed, he never really was a monk. Phew.

The new exhibition at the School Museum

Desperately in need of some enlightenment, I swiftly entered not the school, but the next best thing. The Slovenian School Museum where a new exhibition was just presented. With lots of wine available, but in view of the as yet unconfirmed sighting of uncle at the other museum, I decided to pass on that particular temptation. The exhibition “The Teacher in a New Social Reality between 1945 and 1963″ makes for an interesting addition to the regular pieces.

We build schools, we build knowledge, we build socialism
(replace with an -ism of your choice any time)

One inscription that stuck was that “any system, anywhere, always wants to claim the society’s children”. Kids, you’re all we’ve got, guys!

Hey, it was time to get some more fresh air.

The festive Three Bridges

What better way to finish a day than to hang out with interesting people. I think the guy in whose honour admission to museums was free of charge yesterday would have approved. Especially if he’d had a chance to share a glass of wine with us. Mulled or otherwise.

Fetalij, the star blogger

Fetalij showing off (ok, so I sorta forced him to) with his own image in the very first printed blogger publication in Slovenia, Blogorola. Grayscale photo per his request

Happy birthday, Dr. Fig!

Photo of the Week in Mladina magazine; visit the author’s blog: Binula

While the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša struggles to discipline his coalition partners, people still find it difficult to forget some of the recent statements considered to be in rather poor taste.

In our office’s backyard, my dear colleague (meet Sabina) took a photo of a question posed by an annonymous voter or voter-to-be who apparently dug through the trash container for loaves of bread in vain. He or she most probably came across no milk and honey, either.

Today, Sabina’s photo of the container with the sign: “Janša, where are the bread loaves?” was published in Mladina magazine as the “photo of the week”. Incidentally, Barbara Brezigar, featured to the left of the photo used to share Sabina’s last name. And possibly a drop of blood or two. Hey, it’s a small country

Bravo to Binula the blogger on becoming a published photographer!

This one’s for Luka

The kitchen project, which truly turned out to be one heck of a wild ride for a while there, and the area looking like a construction site for longer than I care to mention, we are nearing some sort of closure

It all started out looking like this:

BEFORE

After which, the sliding glass windows in the balcony were thrown out along with the wall dividing the balcony/loggia from the kitchen area.

New, “real” windows were put in, with the middle one being sliding as well. This will come in handy later for my idea of placing a high-legged table right next to the windows to allow for relaxing breakfasts in fresh air whilst enjoying the view of the park below. A new wall with appropriate insulation was erected and shelving placed on top.

Waiting for better days to come…

Removing old tiling and top layer of concrete… Zaim in action!

Response to the first complaint regarding the windows (successfully resolved) while the plumber looks on and figures he’d better do his radiator job well…

New tiling and radiator in…

A job well done calls for celebration… Or at least a cup of good coffee for Roki, the master of tiling.

All of the above was done in a matter of five days so it seemed the impossible goal of quick completion of the project was not going to present much of a problem. However. The walls in my home have always been taken care of by a friend I’ve made during my agility days. Iztok is somewhat of an artist and an exceedingly thorough man. Unfortunately, he hurt a leg muscle while training for an agility competition and would not be able to come over for three weeks. Fine, I’d wait. Then an added, potentially fatal complication occurred: thrombosis. Not only is Iztok a friend, but also a father to three children with the fourth one on the way. Some food for thought on the meaning of life right there, but I digress. I decided to wait for Iztok to get better and some six weeks later he was able to come over and finish the walls. In the meantime, dinners were served in front of partly disposed concrete walls with candle light playfully illuminating creaks and holes the old windows had left, the draft moving the flames in an especially romantic fashion.

Thanks to more help from my loved ones, the new TV is up as well. LCD and all and has been put to use. Now all that is left is to pick out a new couch and to have the custom-made table built by Iztok’s brother the ingenious carpenter (who happens to have been involved in the Slovenian Presidential Palace remodelling this summer, ha! ). I promise to host the kitchen-warming party before that, though

AFTER

With this project, I’ve learned so much, for example about expansion joints in the tiling between the kitchen and ex loggia, but most importantly, I’ve met wonderful people with fascinating stories to tell and am thankful to the guys who did their job so well. In the words of Zaim, the incredible contractor who found solutions to the problems thought insurmountable by others and did so seemingly effortlessly:

Victory is inevitable - if only we try hard enough.