Želje Wishes

Zadnja objava v letošnjem letu je s silvestrskega pohoda na Šmarno goro.

Moja želja za novo leto je velika. Rada bi živela v takšnem svetu,

Zojina pa je čisto skromna: da bi praznična noč minila brez petard.

Srečno 2012 vsem!

The last post this year is from Sylvester hike to Šmarna gora hill.

I have a big wish for the New Year. This is the world I’d like to live in.

But Zoja’s wish is a more modest one: that the festive night ahead of us would pass without firecrackers.

Srečno 2012 to all of you!

Piškoti Cookies

Zunaj se peče. Pardon – sneži. Ampak jaz sem pekla! :)

Sladkarij (oho – razen čokolade in par drugih izjem, kot je npr. tale!) od nekdaj ne maram kaj dosti in jih temu primerno tudi (skoraj) nikoli nisem pekla. Ne rečem, da nikoli nič ne poskusim in sploh ne rečem, da so zanič. Rada jih namreč gledam in še bolj vonjam in si kar predstavljam, da če bi mi bile te stvari všeč, kako zelo bi mi bile dobre. Ne bi se tudi branila, če bi recimo znala delati take dobrote, da se jim prav nihče ne bi mogel upreti. :)

Zadnjič sem poskusila en mamin piškot. Tudi ona ne peče pogosto teh stvari, ampak letos se je tudi ona zasekirala in v smehu potarnala, da bo treba tej temni eri narediti konec; morda se napoveduje že s tem, da je bila za neke druge piškote že z dveh strani naprošena za recept!

Da ne zaidem. Ta piškot je bil seveda oblit s čokolado, in sem si rekla, v redu, tale je od vseh piškotov še najbolj po mojem okusu, in ker sem se takrat enkrat ravno javila, da jaz prispevam sladico za včeraj, ko smo se dobili z najinimi prijatelji, in sem skoraj v isti sapi – kakšno nepremišljeno tveganje! - tudi javno naznanila, da stvar zastavim profesionalno, s peko in vsem (imela sem pripravljen tudi plan B za vsak slučaj), sem seštela ena plus ena in pograbila priložnost, ki je bila na dlani, namreč da bodo ti omenjeni piškoti ravno pravšnja stvar – enostavno in hitro za naredit, meni je všeč, pa še pohvale bom pobrala. (Sem jih res!) :)

Mami sem zato prosila za recept. Dobila ga je v Slovenski kuharici Felicite Kalinšek in ga priredila malce po svoje. Takole:

OREHOVE PODKVICE S ČOKOLADO
Testo sem zgnetla iz 17 dag moke (približno 15 pirine, ostalo bele), 8 dag sladkorja*, 8 dag zmletih orehov, noževe konice cimeta, nastrgane lupinice 1 limone, 14 dag masla in 1 jajca in ga nato dala za nekaj časa na hladno.
Potem sem iz njega oblikovala podkvice in jih spekla v pečici na 170 °C (15-25min, odvisno od debelosti). Ko so se ohladili, sem jim noge pomočila v stopljeno temno čokolado. To je vsa umetnost! :)

*meni je hecno, de bi pisala »rjav sladkor«, ker drugega tako ali tako ne uporabljam

It’s baking outside. Sorry – snowing. But I was baking! :)

I’m not a big fan of sweets (oho – except of chocolate and a few other exceptions like this one for example!) from as long as I remember and accordingly to this I have never baked any. I’m not saying that I never try any and I’m not saying at all that they are not good. I like to look at them and I like to smell them even more and I can imagine quite well how good they would be, if I liked them. And I wouldn’t mind if, for example, I could make such goodies that no one could resist. :)

The other day I tried one of my mum’s cookies. She doesn’t bake this sort of things very often aswell, but this year she smilingly troubles herself about how she has to end this dark era. Maybe the first positive signs are that she’s been already asked from two persons for a recipe of other cookies that she’s made recently!

Better not stray away. This cookie was dipped in chocolate and I said to myself, ok, this one suits my taste as much as it can and because I’ve volunteered to make the dessert for yesterday’s meeting with my and Miro's friends, I decided (and almost in the same breath - oh, what a reckless risk! - also proudly announced) that I should do this professionally, with baking and all (I had also plan B waiting, just in case), so I concluded that these cookies seem to be just perfect – simple and quick to make, I like them, plus I will turn out so cool! (I did!) :)

I asked my mum to tell me the recipe. She got it in Slovene Cookbook by Felicita Kalinšek, but has changed it on her own way a bit. On this way:

OREHOVE PODKVICE S ČOKOLADO (=walnut horseshoes with chocolate)
I kneaded the dough out of 17 dag of flour (cca. 15 of spelt and the rest of white), 8 dag of sugar*, 8 dag of ground walnuts, knife tip of cinnamon, grated zest of 1 lemon, 14 dag of butter and an egg and put it to rest in a cool place for a while.
Then I shaped little horseshoes and baked them at 170 °C in the oven (15-25 min, depends of the thickness). When they cooled down I dipped their feet into melted dark chocolate. That’s all art! :)

*it seem so funny to me to write “brown sugar”, because I always use just this one

Najina smrečica Our tree

Takó, najina novoletna smrečica je »postavljena«, tako da bo dedek Mraz imel kam postaviti svoja darila.

Silvestrski večer je bil zame vedno vrhunec leta, primerljiv le še s predvečerom odhoda na morje in stokrat boljši od rojstnega dne.
Zaradi vsega. Zaradi pisem, ki sem mu jih pisala že nekaj tednov prej, in kot vidim, v njih napisala še spisek za vse druge, kaj naj jim prinese, in pri "nekaj" stvareh zraven pripisala »nujno« in dodala kar nekaj risb, vse z namenom, da nanj naredim čimvečji vtis. :)

Smejim pa se tudi temu, da me je očitno zelo skrbelo, če bo pismo res prišlo do njega in tudi da ne bi slučajno spregledal ali pozabil, kje živim, saj sem mu napisala vse podatke o sebi, skupaj s tem, v kateri razred hodim in na katero šolo, še posebej pa sem poudarila domačo hišno številko in napisala celo telefonsko! :)

Nekaj najlepšega je bilo tudi skupno pričakovanja daril in oprezanja, da ga enkrat vendarle zasačim.
Mislim, da je bil to tudi razlog, da sva s sestro najmanj enkrat dobili darila šele zjutraj. Spomnim se, da so naju takrat nagovorili, da je najbolje, da gremo vsi trije z najinim (pravim) dedkom pogledat malo naokoli po soseščini, kod hodi, da še ni daril. Sumim, da sva tisto leto tako neumorno dežurali pod smrečico, da jih odrasli brez te krute zvijače niso uspeli postaviti pod njo. Krute zato, ker ko smo prišli z našega obhoda, so rekli: joj, ravno ko vas ni bilo, je prinesel darila! :)

Takó, our New Year’s tree is now “standing”, so that dedek Mraz (=grandpa Frost) will have a place to leave his gifts.

Dedek Mraz is an old man who’s supposed to live under Triglav, our highest mountain. He has long white beard, a round dormouse fur hat, white coat embellished with Slovenian ornaments, usually carnations or rosemary, he carries a big basket on his back and has a coach with Lipizzaner horses.

Sylvester Eve has always been the highlight of each year for me, comparable only with the nights before leaving to the sea in summers and a hundred times better than my birthdays.
Because of everything. Because of the letters which I had been writing to him few weeks earlier, adding also many drawings, obviously to impress him. :) As I can see now sometimes I even made a list for the whole family. The funniest part is that some wishes are marked with “necessarily”. :)

I was obviously very worried about my letter reaching the recipient successfully and also that he will know for sure, or maybe not forget, who is it from, so I added all my information, from my school and my class number, but I emphasised especially our house and phone number! :)

It was wonderful when we all together waited for gifts and also to be on a lookout to catch him finally of course.
I think that was the reason that at least one time my sister and I got our gifts only in the morning of the new year. I remember that we were talked into going around our neighbourhood with our (real) grandpa to check it out why there are no presents yet. I suspect that that year we were so determined to catch dedek Mraz at his action, that adults just couldn’t make it without this cruel trick. I say cruel, because at our return they said: oh, he was here just when you were out looking for him! :)

S.B.

Tudi če bi se menila, se z dedkom ne bi tako fino srečala in to ravno v bližini picerije.
Srečno naključje torej, a ker S.N. nisem našla, sem pač fotografirala S.B. :)

Even if we would have planned this, my grandpa and I

couldn’t meet so spontaneously just in front of pizzeria.
Srečno naključje (=lucky coincidence) it is, but since I didn’t find any S.N.

I had to take a picture of S.B. then :)

Hokus pokus

Tako zelo imam rada ta prednovoletni čas!
Manjka le še sneg, zato si ga bom
- ob tej super glasbeni podlagi -
pač pričarala od lani.
[recimo od tu]

I like this pre-New Year's time so much!
The only thing that I still miss is snow, so
- with this great music to go along with -
I will conjure it up from last year.
[let’s say from here]

Sobota, nedelja, danes Saturday, Sunday, today

Na treh sprehodih, v treh mrzlih dneh, v meglenem, sončnem in oblačnem, sva občudovala drobne stvaritve narave, videla piramido, Krvinovo in Rajšpovo hišo v Guncljah iz 17. stoletja s čudovitima fasadama, naš volk, kot velikokrat imenujem Zojo, pa se je temeljito pogovoril z levom in se na vsak način hotel sredi zime potapljat. :)

Uživajte v današnjem prazničnem dnevu!

On three walks, in three freezing days, in sunny, in foggy and in cloudy one, we admired tiny creations of nature, saw the pyramid, Krvin and Rajšp houses from the 17th century with beautiful facades and our wolf, as I call Zoja many times, had an interesting conversation with a lion and insisted to dive in the middle of winter. :)

It’s a work-free day here in Slovenia today, we celebrate Independence and Unity Day.

Božične aktivnosti vzvratno Christmas activities reversed

Dedek je na svojih pohajkovanjih odkril novo kavarnico in tako nas je vse skupaj danes povabil tja.
Vsi smo se strinjali, da ima dober nos, ambient je namreč prijetna kombinacija starega in novega in zato deluje domačno in umirjeno, lokacija je krasna, ob vznožju Šmarne gore, s pogledom na Savo, domujejo pa v obnovljeni stavbi, ki je pod spomeniško zaščito. [slika 1]
(kavarna in NZ Dvor Tacen)

Najina polnočnična abeceda naju je tokrat, ob poslušanju dobre nočne glasbe, peljala preko 902 m n.m. v Gornji Grad na drugi strani. [slika 2]

Slastna bučna juha je bila le del božične večerje, ki so jo pripravili sosedova glavna kuharica in njeni pridni kuharski škratki. :) [slika 3]


My grandpa has discovered a new café on his wanderings and invited us all there today to have a coffee.
We all agreed that he has a good nose, because it’s a pleasant combination of old and new, therefore it’s very cosy and calm. Location is great, at the foot of Šmarna gora hill, on the Sava River bank and it’s in a restored house which is now under the monument protection. [picture 1]
(Dvor Tacen café and b&b)

Our Midnight Mass' alphabet took us across 902 m asl pass to Gornji Grad church on the other side, while listening good night-music. [picture 2]

Delicious pumpkin soup was just a part of the Christmas dinner, made by neighbour chef and her hard working cook-gnomes. :) [picture 3]

Tretji zimski dan, pet utrinkov Third winter day, five impressions

1: Takole žalostna je "okrasitev" na naši lokalni železniški postaji.

2: Medena sveča, ki mi jo je kupila mami za pod najino smrečico, moji AVGUSTvarjanja krogci, ki bodo le-to krasili in lepo presenečenje od Špele, ene od prejemnic MM koledarja, »kosmična mešanica«, kakor ji jaz pravim, ki je čisto po mojem okusu, saj si rada pripravljam take stvari.

3: Včerajšnji večer je bil kvartopirski. S starši in Mirom smo igrali ameriški remi. Na internetu nisem našla nič o njem, ampak mi mu tako pravimo, naj bo prav ali narobe, in je že vse od otroških let, poleg taroka, ena mojih najljubših iger. Obe sta naju s sestro naučila, kadar smo na morju zaradi dežja ždeli notri.

4: Rada imam tisti del dneva, ko še ni popolna tema, tako da se vidi lepo nebo in že migotajo praznične lučke.

5: Za nameček sem prejela še tole fotografijo kot provokacijo, kako je Miro z najino Praktico lovil decembrsko vzdušje, medtem ko sem jo jaz panično iskala.

1: This is how sad the "decoration" is at the local suburb train station.

2: Honey candle that my mum bought for me to give it under our tree, my AVGUSTvarjanja little circles which will decorate it soon and a nice surprise from Špela, one of the recipients of my MM calendar giveaway. She sent me a healthy bio granula that suits my taste completely, as I like to prepare this sort of things.

3: Yesterday’s evening was all about playing cards. My parents, Miro and I were playing American rummy. I haven’t found anything about it on the internet, but we call it this way, whether right or wrong, since my childhood. Besides tarock this is one of my favourite games and my parents had taught to play the games, both me and my sister, on bad weather days while we were on summer vacations.

4: I like the time of the day when there isn’t completely dark yet, so that you can still see beautiful sky and there are already lights twinkling.

5: And for the closure I got this photograph just to teas me, how Miro was catching December atmosphere with our Praktica, while I was searching it like crazy.

Belo obrobljeno White contoured

Mrzlo kot pri norcih

(tako da svoj ubogi mali fotič občasno grejem kar v žepu),

a zaenkrat še brez snega.

Freezing cold

(so that I warm up my poor little photo in a pocket occasionally),

but no snow yet.