Dr. Filomena

More about the trip to follow shortly… continuing with a few bird shots.

above: in Priština

above: in Novi Sad

above: in Novi Sad

above: at Lake Ohrid

photo taken in Zemun, Serbia

Še pomnite čase, ko smo bili vsi milijonarji? Nostalgija ni prehuda 🙂

Kjebapchinja at Destan restaurant in the Old Bazaar (Stara Čaršija) in Skopje

Still very much processing impressions from the trip through the ex Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces, my project of making something that includes pastry, spinach and cheese may have taken a turn in the direction of zeljanica, the veggie variation on the famous burek.

One of the things I found on the trip is that our southern cousins have great food and though the meats such as čevapi and pleskavice (my favourite was the one in Belgrade) are simply mouthwatering, especially when combined with kajmak and true burek is out of this world, the true riches are found in their fruits and vegetables.

open-air market in Skopje

I was finally able to eat REAL tomatos again. Tomatos with a delicious taste unlike the EU-prescribed reddish water in plastic wrapping offered in Slovenian supermarkets. Granted, such veggies can also be found in Slovenia on a few select open-air markets, when in season in our country.

open-air market in Skopje

How could one not be impressed! Fruits and vegetables were diverse and plentiful so I could see myself very well switching over to a vegetarian diet, which would undoubtedly have been completely unimaginable both to the people in the area and to my travel companion.

Flia

In Kosovo, we were introduced to a dish we’d never heard of before: flia. It can take hours to prepare and is usually made at social occasions. The end result is akin to a lasagne made of multiple layers of crepes without filling, served with yoghurt. Mode of preparation: make crepe dough, bake a layer, spread oil and cream on the baked layer, spread oil and cream on top, bake in the oven, remove from oven and repeat the process until you run out of the dough. Sometimes, onions are used as well.

The fast food in the ex-yu area is so diverse and tasty that I can’t see the usual burger and pizza places making their way into the region big time anytime soon. Especially pizza in Kosovo as I’ve never seen anything like it before: a gas station every mile of the road from the Macedonian border to Priština and every gas station featuring its own pizza restaurant. Bizzare! Almost as bizzare as such signs alongside the same road:

Speed limits in Kosovo

Back to the subject of the post. I’ve been planning on making a cheese spinach pie for weeks and yesterday finally did something about it. Having been preoccupied bothering MP candidates for the upoming Slovenian elections with questions on their political platform, I was running late so did not keep to a recipe but just threw some ingredients together in hopes the end result would feed my dinner guests and not leave any undesirable consequences.

I mixed a pound of spinach with salt, pepper, onion and chilli pepper seeds. Added a pound of cottage cheese, a spoon of sour cream, half a cup of grated cheese and an egg. Mixed well. Took ready-made pastry, oiled the pan then placed a layer of pastry, oiled it, topped with another layer of pastry, then a thick layer of the filling, topped with a layer of pastry, oiled it, added another layer of pastry, topped with filing etc, finishing with a layer of crumbled pastry which I sprinkled with oil. Baked at 180°C for about 40 minutes. I should have then poured more milk/sour cream or similar on top and bake for another minute or two, but well, didn’t. I like these pies to have crunchy tops as opposed to the soft, greasy ones.

So here is the result:

It turned out quite edible even if it’s not really zeljanica. Most people will use more eggs, more sour cream and pour one type of a dairy mix or another over the top before the baking is done.

With all the goodies from our own “down south” comfort food not boasting low-calorie properties, I think I’ve had my fix for a while and will be eating salads for a while 😈 , but nothing can stop me from having real coffee… Not now that I have my own coffee set from Sarajevo’s Baš Čaršija.

Enjoy! And possibly read Michael Flocker’s book on the Art of Hedonism kindly shared with me by our wonderful Belgrade hostess.

Bosnian coffee as served in Sarajevo, with ratluk

A coffee shop spotted in Krujë (Albania), the hometown of Albania’s national hero Skanderbeg.

Speaking of the man:

Saw a replica of the above statue in Priština (Kosovo) while the one in Tirana was slightly different.

Hello my friends… we’re back and still very much alive and kicking after the road trip through ex Yugoslav republics. Back to a different kind of reality though the one we experienced during the trip was no less real. A detailed report will hopefully follow at some time, but seeing as in the Quiet dr. Fil post the correct answer was ‘all of the above’, it may take a little while. I’m moving to another country next week, but definitely plan on keeping in touch here.

The first stop of the YugaTrip was Belgrade and the House of Flowers was one of the sights to visit, of course. Here are a couple of photos from there:

Peace

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!