Food

With these fabulous gifts I have received I have been busy cooking and exploring many new flavors. YUMMMMY

Yes, the food is all in the white to brown range of colors. Not much else available right now. What you do find goes bad very quickly. Lessons learned.

This weekend I am going to try my hand at preserving some lemons for future Moroccon cooking. Maybe also lemon curd.

For those of you that do not know me well, or at least know me in the kitchen, I do a lot of experimental cooking. I rarely make the same dish twice, I rarely write any thing down that I have made and hate cleaning up after myself in the kitchen. I really think Macedonia should have kitchen elves.

 

 

Hey! You, following Aimee’s blog … sssshhhh

Did you know she is a procrastinator?

I heard that!

Okay. Sorry it has been so long since my last posting. I have so much to share and not even sure where to start. Over the last couple of weeks I have received numerous gifts; A wonderful visit with Mark, packages in the mail, self reflection and words of wisdom from those I hold close to my heart.

I think I will just throw stuff out at random, just like my brain works.

It was nerve wrecking getting Mark here, working through the complexities of my first visitor; getting permission to leave the country, finding and choosing a way to get him here from Bulgaria,  crossing the border, where to take him, can I really give the “tour” of my new home, is my language really good enough if there is a problem, will I be able to say goodbye and let him go home.?.?!?.

All went well, bring on the next visitor! Who will it be?

Mark brought not only the gift of himself but two suitcases full of goodies! I will not list my favorites… it all was, well, okay, no, not listing, no.

It was nice to share my space with a familiar face. Now, when I tell him I am laying on the couch warming my feet on the heater he can get a visual, or when I have to take a break out of the kitchen to stand by the heater he fully understands why. He has experienced my sunrise and sunset views, the local sheepherd and sheep, saw-go-carts, me speaking bad Macedonian but getting what I need, the food, my friends and so much more.

Mark, thank you so much for coming.

 

 

Hike to Monastery of Sv Ilija & Carevi Kuli

Macedonia is a great place to hike and explore. Yesterday I went on a hike with a couple of friends, Eli and Aubrey, up the Elenica mountain on the SW border of the city of Strumica. We started out in the town center and walked through the old (original) center then up into the mountain along a road I imagine has been here as long as people have. After about a km we leave the homes and businesses behind and enter into the woods. We met many people along the way, this is a common hike. I believe Eli ran into about 3 or 4 groups of people she knew. We also ran into a woman from Wisconsin that has recently moved here with her husband, they are working with a church. It is very hard to explain the emotions that I felt at hearing her voice. Homesickness? Nostalgia? It really took me by surprise.
We continued up, hugging the left and staying away from the steep drop on the right, because there was snow and ice along the path making it very slippery along most of the trail. We followed a beautiful stream all the way, I wish I could capture the sound it makes and attach it to a picture. Imagine a secret babbling stream flowing through dappled sunlight over ancient rocks, past patches of snow and moss, small waterfalls, cold as ice …
The St Ilija monastery is about 4 km from the center of Strumica. It was probably built at the end of the 16th century but some think it could have been built earlier. Surrounding the monastery are living quarters, we were not sure if they are privately owned or rented. There are also areas to grill and picnicThere are many monasteries hidden away throughout Macedonia.
From the monastery we continued up the mountain to a new road that comes up from the other side, it ends at the Carevi Kuli (Czar’s Towers) of Strumica Fortress. It is currently being excavated, Macedonian style, with plans to rebuild the entire structure. It has been fortified since the Roman times (1st Century BC) or earlier but the structure that is there now is from the 11th century. They have found evidence in the surrounding area of life dating back to the 4th millennium BC, an early bronze culture. It is believed that it had eventually been abandoned in the 1600’s
After meandering the ruins and enjoying the breathtaking view we took the shortcut back down the mountain and caught a cab as we made it back into the edge of the city. We decided we were just to starved to make it home to cook for ourselves so we ate at Bonita, a great place at the edge of Gradski Park. We shared a big mixed salad, vegetables place in separate piles on a large plate; shredded lettuce, carrots, shredded cabbage, tomato, olives, cucumber, white cheese. They shared a schnitzel, it was served in a big ceramic baking dish, fried breaded beef served over a bed of french fries topped with a light mushroom sauce, melted yellow cheese and slices of ham. I had pork medallions covered in a mushroom sauce with a side of french fries.
A side note … on our way to dinner we needed to exchange euros for MKD, you can do this on the street, through the car window, like a fast food restaurant. Then, since you are now heading in the wrong direction you can back up half a block, in the middle of the city mind you, so you can continue on your more direct route to where you were heading to begin with. For this whole 2 minute chunk of time I sat there with my mouth hanging open (it must have been). It felt like we were making a drug deal. Window half open, middle of the street, money exchanging hands, car running, quickly backing down the road to get out of there. When asked “How did you know he would be there?” the response … “Because they have been doing it for 30 years!” I swear I heard a “Duuhhhh!” at the end of the response.

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Chickens Make Me Smile

I have had in my mind for some time that this would be a title of one of my blog posts. I just was not sure when or how it would go.

Now I know … This morning I listened to a recent podcast of This American Life (last weeks Christmas show), one of the contributors was David Rakoff. I like his work and wanted to hear something else he had done. I found this, it was the first one I clicked on. His story happens to be the 4th act.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/116/poultry-slam-1998
-click on Play Episode

I have always believed we should honor our food more then we do. We should be awake to what our planet gives us for sustenance. I think I would like to try an ortolan, or at least experience the process.

You will just have to make you own opinion about chickens and the animals lives we take to feed our own. Just listen to the podcast.

Chickens still make me smile, I think that makes me part of the problem, but I don’t mind.

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These are pictures of chickens I have known in America. Sorry, I have not taken any good Macedonian chicken pictures.

I also happen to be roasting a chicken as I post this, hummmmm.

It is a new year

It just does not have that same holiday feeling here, and that is okay. It is quiet. It is a time for reflection and growth as well as a time for pining.

I had a wonderful birthday, I am amazed at the love, kindness and thoughtfulness of my friends and family. It was a quiet day of joy that gave me many smiles.

I rang in the New Year at home with a fellow PCV and numerous Skype calls to the states to chat with family and all my friends in the castle. It is still so weird to be living in such different time zones. On a saturday morning at this time of year I am getting ready to watch the night take the day and they are still lounging in bed and watching the suns rays light up and warm the room.

On New Years Day we went on a long hike (we decided it was about 12km round trip) to the village of Bansko which is situated at the base of the mountain Belasica. Some sources say Bansko is the hot springs capital of Macedonia. We were looking for the ruins of a Roman bathhouse that is currently under excavation. We found it! I guess it dates back to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

There we met a young man who is studying tourism. He gladly gave us a brief tour, pointing out where just a small amount of this famous spring is seeping form the ground.  There is no water currently running through the ruins but above it on a hill there is a small trickle of warm spring water.

A stones throw from the ruins is a hotel, Tzar Samuil, which houses a natural spa called Banja Bansko. He also gave as a brief tour of the spa pool. The water is so hot that it is mixed with cold water after it flows into the pool. It is used by the hotel guests but is also a treatment center. It was interesting with a very new/old Eastern European feel, imagine that.

After our tour we stopped at his family villa for a wonderful coffee and rest before heading back. We almost declined because we had such a long walk back and worried about returning before dark. I am glad we stopped, toured his home, drank italian coffee, and made a new friend.  има време

The Strumica Valley is where the majority of vegetables were grown when this area was Yugoslavia. It is now considered one of the wealthiest areas of Macedonia because its rich soil and climate still produce a great deal of produce that feeds this country as well as others.

This is just the beginning of my hiking excursions (I hope) there are waterfalls, wetlands and more ancient ruins close by. I am hoping to get a bike this spring so I can get further faster and not have to rely on a combi or taxi.