There will probably not be new posts here over the weekend, because we are on a mission. Our Belgrade friend from the halcyon days of gradskool is off teaching at a very fine college very far from the nearest object. She dreaded the prospect of the bucolic life, but I think that over the years she has come to enjoy it, and her children are especially delighted. But being so far from the Balkans has a major drawback: no regular supply of kiseli kupus. This has never been easy for us in this large but kupus-deficient country either. In California we used to be supplied by our friend's mother who made it in the basement. Our rural friend used to get shipments from Vancouver.
But we have found a source: the Euro Market in Lynn, out past the airport, features a variety of Balkan specialties, including kiseli kupus from Travnik, courteously vacuum packed by Poljorad-Travnik! They used to have a Macedonian version in jars, somewhat thinner and more suited to sarme, but heaven knows we are willing to trim some stems in pursuit of perfection. Our mission: to deliver three heads of it to our friend, roll them up, and enlighten the countryside.
Too bad they are predicting a huge blizzard, but we are driven by a higher purpose. Back to you Monday.
Update: Thanks to AR, what we will not be drinking with our sarmice:
ZAGREB, Jan 21 (dpa) -- A wine in Croatia has been named after fugitive Croatian Ante Gotovina, whom the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has charged with war crimes. The daily Jutarnji list reported Friday that a wine called "Gotovina" was presented in his hometown of Zadar earlier this week. Former general Gotovina has been in hiding since the ICTY indicted him for war crimes related to the deaths of 150 Serbs during the Balkans war in 1995.
Graševina could be nice, though. Okay, now we really have to get going.
Balkania
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4 comments:
worthy cause! good luck!
ludost
Enjoy in sarma with kiseli kupus from Travnik - we have tried it, it is really good. I hope you will drink Graševina, good wine! I am not sure I'll taste the new one - I mean the wine Gotovina!!!
Quod
Oh, there was a lot of Grasevina drinking at this end! Milena panicked because we were too late for the market yesterday after I picked her up from the bus from White Town, and indeed, the kupus dude was packing up already and utterly uninterested in making a last sale. (I don't think he'd have budged if we had offered him a hundred bucks, just out of spite.) But today she was luckier and got a nice fat piece that's now contaminating oour fridge, which already smells like Russia (my chicken soup is all messed up because of it). Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend.
Thanks for all the good sarma-centered wishes! We succeeded in making the delivery before the blizzard hit, and it looks like we will be staying here in the hinterland an extra day, because it is still going on (Azra's school is cancelled for two days! The full meter of snow should provide us with a lot of material for snow sculptures!). There should be plenty to eat, because three heads of kupus is really a lot, but it will be a pleasure to get back to the city.
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