Mmmm ... 14

[solata, rdeče zelje, testenine školjke, tuna, fižol, poper, olivno olje]

[green salad, red cabbage, pasta shells, tuna, beans, pepper, olive oil]

Predzimska generalka A pre-winter rehearsal

Cincanje Indecisiveness

Ko zima preseneti jesen in si potem premisli.

When winter surprises autumn and then it changes its mind.

Sem ter tja s tega konca tedna A mixture of this weekend

Ker pri delu v najinem bodočem domu vedno iščeva svinčnike, tiste običajne gradbene, modre in rdeče, sva tokrat kupila nekaj rumenih, ki že na daleč fluorescenčno sevajo »Tukaj sem, tukaj sem!« :)
 
Mami je že kak dan prej namignila, da bo za nedeljsko kosilo pripravila nekaj po navdihu iz aktualnega resničnostnega šova, in sicer bučne štruklje, ki jih je postregla na ajdovi kaši z gobami.
 
Kako noro se pokrajina spremeni, ko zapade sneg; iz pisane slike čez noč nastane črnobela grafika. Lepo!

When Miro and I are working on our new home we are always in search for our pencils, those oval construction ones, red and blue, so this time we bought a few yellow ones which fluorescently radiate already from a distance “I’m here, I’m here!” :)
 
My mum made a delicious Sunday lunch; rolled dumplings filled with pumpkin puree inspired by a popular tv show currently in Slovenia, that mixes our traditional cuisine with some new ideas. She served them on buckwheat porridge with mushrooms, also a popular traditional dish in Slovenia, usually made with boletus or chanterelles.
 
Oh, and we woke up in a snowy morning today and it is still snowing from time to time, also as I write this!

Govoriti spatifilščino To speak Spathiphyllumian

Siv dan bom obarvala z nekaj dni starim sončnim posnetkom spatifila.
 
Enega, ki ni preživel več kot nekaj let, mi je Miro poklonil ob mojem prvem rojstnem dnevu, odkar sva par. Tega, na gornji sliki, pa mi je podaril za letošnji dan žena in sklenila sem, da bom pozorneje ravnala z njim.
 
In res, kljub temu, da roža zaradi utesnjenosti še nima stalne namestitve in jo po potrebi premikam sem in tja; da se mi dozdeva, da ji zadnje čase nagaja hladnejši zrak ob zračenju in kasneje gretje, rožica krasno uspeva.
 
Včasih govorim sama s sabo, to imam po očiju, pa sem zadnjič pogruntala, da če se takrat obrnem k njej, ubijem dve muhi na en mah – menda koristim roži in obenem morda sama sebi izpadem … malo manj trapasta? :)

I will colour a grey day with a few days old sunny picture of my spathiphyllum.
 
The one that I had got from Miro for my first birthday since we are together didn’t survive more than few years. So I decided that I will take a better care of the one in the picture above that he gave me for this year’s Women’s Day.
 
And indeed, despite the fact that I’m constantly moving it around because it doesn’t have its own place yet due to limited space and I suspect that a combination of a cooler air outside lately when windows are open and the heating later doesn’t suit it very well, nevertheless I think it is doing great.
 
I sometimes talk to myself, I have this from my dad, and the other day I figured out – if at that point I turn to it, then I kill two birds with one stone, or, as we say, two flies at one stroke, namely: it is supposedly good for the flower and at the same time perhaps I might seem to myself … a bit less silly? :)

Čompe s skuto

Tradicionalna slovenska jed z bovškega konca.
 
Neolupljene polovičke krompirjev sem skuhala v slani vodi in jih nato postregla s skuto.
Preprosto. Okusno. Škoda le, da nisem imela nepretlačene, domače skute.

[Jed sem pripravila po receptu iz kuharske monografije Janeza Bogataja Okusiti Slovenijo.]

Ste vedeli, da imamo v naši mali deželici kar 132 narečnih poimenovanj za krompir? :) 

Čompe s skuto, potatoes with cottage cheese, a traditional Slovenian dish from the Soča River valley.
Simple. Tasteful. I only regret I didn’t have an unmashed homemade cottage cheese instead.

Did you know that here in our little country we have no less than 132 dialect names for potatoes?
Čompe is just one of them, while krompir is the most widely used and therefore the official one.

Izginjajoča rumena A disappearing yellow

Jesenski konec tedna An autumn weekend

Ena najboljših stvari pri jeseni je kostanj na vsakem koraku.

One of the best things about autumn is chestnuts all around.

Skriven nočni projekt A secret overnight project

Ne vem, kaj je bilo težje - sestaviti mozaik (z vsemi urezninami, praskami, opeklinami in zaradi dolgotrajnega sklanjanja nad veliko površino bolečim križem vred) ali kasneje pretihotapiti ga na želeno mesto, ne da bi slavljenec to opazil.

Takole je bilo. Mirovemu očiju sem že davno obljubila, da mu naredim stenski mozaik in ker se je bližala njegova okrogla obletnica, sva z Mirom rekla, klinc, zdaj je pa res že čas pa tudi priložnost ne bi mogla biti primernejša.

Ker sva seveda želela, da bi se mozaik kar naenkrat pojavil na steni, torej da bi bil presenečenje, je bil najin največji problem, kako to izvesti. Namreč, ravno v tistih dneh starša kot zakleto nista in nista šla od doma za dalj časa.
 
Takó nama ni preostalo drugega, kot da sem mozaik sestavila doma, na mrežo (kar je sicer lažje zaradi večje možnosti predhodnega načrtovanja in morebitnega sprotnega spreminjanja, po drugi strani pa je toliko več problemov kasneje pri lepljenju na steno, vsaj pri tako zajetnem kosu), ga nato razrezala na manjše, daljšemu transportu primerne kose, potem pa sva se sredi noči odpravila k njima, ob vstopu umirila psa, potiho in šepetajoče, z nemalo težavami in v nenehnem stresu, da naju zasačita, nekako uspela pritrditi vse skupaj v temu namenjeno nišo, postavila nazaj že pred časom postavljen kamuflažni zastor in kolikor se je dalo odstranila dokaze o najini nočni prisotnosti.

Kljub temu, da reže še niso zastičene, oziroma kot se reče lepo po slovensko – zafugirane :), da robovi mozaika še niso obdelani in da sva bila, kot sva kasneje izvedela, vseeno malce opažena, je presenečenje na praznovanju več kot uspelo.

[Na slikah sta utrinka procesa nastajanja podobe, pred in po lepljenju koščkov na mrežo, in s praznovanja; kako izgleda končna podoba na steni, pa pokažem enkrat v prihodnje.]

I don’t know what was more difficult – to make a mosaic (together with all the cuts, scratches, burns and back pain due to many days of bending over large image area while composing it) or was it later, trying to smuggle it to a desired place without being noticed.

This is how it was. Long time ago I promised to Miro’s father to make him a wall mosaic and since his round birthday anniversary was approaching we, Miro and I decided that this is a perfect opportunity to finally make it.

But of course, we wanted to mosaic just pop up on the wall suddenly, to be a surprise for him, that’s why the biggest problem was how to do it. Namely, just in those days, contrary to my wishes, Miro’s parents didn’t leave their house for a longer period of time.

So, I had no other option than to made the mosaic at home, on the net (which is in fact easier because of much bigger possibility of pre-planning the design and eventual changing along the process and on the other hand it later causes much more problems at placing it on the wall, at least when the design is so huge), then we cut it into smaller pieces, more transport-friendly, then drove to them, calm down the dog, quietly, whisperingly and in a constant stress to be caught we somehow managed to fix everything into the wall niche and, set back the camouflage curtain and tried to remove the evidences of our night presence.

Although the fugues aren’t filled yet, the edges of the mosaic aren’t done completely and that we were, as we later found out, noticed a bit that night anyway, the surprise at the celebration was a huge success.

[The pictures show the work process before and after gluing the pieces on the net and the celebration food goodies; I'll show you how it looks on the wall when it will be completely finished.]

Slastni ostanki Delicious leftovers

Miro je mojster izumljanja okusnih obrokov iz ostankov hrane, na primer;

Miro is a master of inventing delicious meals out of leftovers, for instance:

narezek iz preostalih dunajskih zrezkov s sezamom v kombinaciji s paradižnikom

a snack of sliced remaining Wiener Schnitzels with sesame in combination with tomatoes

kruhki, premazani z maslom in obloženi z viškom maminih znamenitih pečenih paprik s tržaško omako
breads with butter, overlaid with overabundance of my mum’s famous backed peppers
with a Trieste sauce (parsley, garlic and olive oil)

Jesensko-zimska predjed Autumn-winter appetizer

S pričujočo enostavno kulinarično kombinacijo, ki jo je na nekem sejmu nedavno odkrila, je mami navdušila na očijevem rojstnem dnevu. Kruhki so namazani z zaseko, obloženi z bučnim oljem zabeljenim kislim zeljem in okrašeni z bučnimi semeni.
 
Druga varianta, zame za malenkost manj okusna, ker mi je pač zaska čez vse, je z móhantom, ki je sicer eden od smrdečih zaščitenih slovenskih sirov.

I was impressed by this simple culinary combination that my mum picked up when recently visiting one of the farm fairs. Breads with zaseka spread, overlaid with sauerkraut with pumpkin-seed oil (one of Slovenian protected products)  dressing and decorated with pumpkin seeds.
 
Another version, for me a bit less delicious, is with móhant spread, which is one of our stinky protected cheeses.

Pajek, kaktus in sosedov muc A spider, a cactus and a neighbour's cat

[prvi posnetek / the first photo: Miro]

Trije neji Three nots

slika 1: ni prstan.
slika 2: ni kupljena zelenjava
slika 3: sploh ne slaba tortiljačinka

picture 1: not a ring
picture 2: not a bought vegetables
picture 3: not bad tortiljačinka at all

Kovačeva kobila postane baronesa A smith’s mare becomes a baroness

Ta konec tedna je v organizaciji Mirovega kluba Letimo in Turističnega društva Trebnje tam potekalo (namesto sprva načrtovanega državnega prvenstva le skromno, a zato v prijateljskem vzdušju speljano) balonarsko srečanje, zgornja posnetka pa sta z mojega prvega zaresnega poleta, ki se je, ker sem pač kovačeva kobila, zgodil šele pred dobrimi tremi leti na Barju, ko sem končno postala baronesa plemenita, in sicer – Vnanjegoriška! :)

Včasih naj bi Marija Terezija tak naziv menda podelila vsakemu, ki je poletel z balonom, danes pa tradicijo nadaljujejo z zabavnim simboličnim krstom in pisnim potrdilom, na katerem je zapisan pridobljen naziv z imenom, ki si ga, glede na kraj pristanka, pridobil.

Kakšni veličastni razgledi! Ne morem se odločiti, ali so mi ljubši ti, poletni, ali oni, zimski.

This weekend there was a hot air balloon meeting in organisation of Trebnje tourist association and Miro’s club Letimo, but the two pictures above are from my first real flight with him, which happened, since I’m a smith’s mare (of the “the smith’s mare is always barefoot” Slovenian proverb), only a bit more than three years ago in the Barje area where I finally became a noble baroness – Vnanjegoriška! :)

Maria Theresa, also our empress at the time, had supposed to give that title to everyone who flew with a balloon and that tradition goes symbolically on with a fun post-flight initiation ceremony when you get a title with a name of the place where you’ve landed and a written confirmation of it.

Such glorious views! Can’t decide whether I prefer summer or winter ones.

Zgrabi jo, ko jo vidiš! When you see it, you better grab it!

Naš dedek je človek navad in ko je pred kratkim vnovič naročil govejo juho z rezanci in so mu jo postregli v prozorni skodeli, ni rekel sicer nič, ampak ni bil čisto sproščen. :) Po večini so mi taka mešanja tradicionalnega in sodobnega všeč.

Mene je zanimala teranova torta, v bistvu bolj razveselila kot zanimala. Razveselila zaradi pomanjkanja izvirnih domačih jedi in prepogostega posnemanja vsepovprek, samo da se fino sliši in je tuje.

Še vedno ne vidimo prednosti v domačem poimenovanju. Tujemu gostu zna prav gotovo zveneti še bolj mikavno, ker je pač napisano v nekem za njega eksotičnem jeziku, tega pač lahko doživi le tu in nikjer drugje. Ampak verjetno se motim; v gostilno z imenom Reka ne bo zavil, v River pa? Eh!

In če v jedilnem listu prevajajo (zakaj že?) prekmursko gibanico (sem mislila, da se hecajo: over Mura cake!), zakaj potem ne prevajajo v obratno smer panne cotte, ker, kakor vem, če prav vem, saj ne vem, je to strjenka, smetanova ali jogurtova, ali nekaj podobnega. Vse se da, če se hoče.

Kakorkoli, ker tort ne maram preveč in ker jo je tako ali tako naročila mami (ki je planila nanjo še preden sem jo uspela zabeležiti), sem padla na gibanico, saj se v ponudbi naših gostiln ne pojavlja zelo pogosto, pa bi se, kar se mene tiče, morala. Je pač tako: zgrabi jo, ko jo vidiš, žal.

Our grandpa is a man of habits and when he once again ordered a beef soup with noodles, our traditional dish, and when it was served to him in a transparent bowl he didn’t say anything, but you could tell that he wasn’t completely relaxed. :) But I like this kind of traditional and modern mixing.

I was interested in teran cake (a cake made of our delicious Teran wine), actually more pleased than interested. Pleased because of lack in offer of our local dishes on general and copying all around too often in a way like foreign and global sounds better.

We still can’t see the advantages of naming things in our own language. It might sound even more appealing to a foreign guest since it is written in an exotic language for her/him, which she/he can’t experience anywhere else. But I guess I’m wrong: no guest will ever turn into gostilna named Reka, but in River she/he will, right? Eh!

Kakorkoli, as I am not a big fan of cakes and since my mum asked for it anyway (and attacked it before I could take a proper picture of it) I fell for prekmurska gibanica, because I adore it and because it is not seen very often on the menus, but in my opinion it should. Unfortunately, it is so: when you see it, you better grab it.

Brezvetrje Windinessless

Blizu ali daleč
Prazno ali prenasičeno
Posončenost sivine
Ali zasivinjen sončen dan
Razočaranost ali zamera
Jeza ali žalost
Ravnodušno ali pregloboko
Brezvetrje duší

Close or far away
Empty or too saturated
Sunnyfied greyness
Or greyed sunny day
Disappointment or resentment
Anger or sadness
Indifferent or too deep
Windinessless chokes