Yet another thing to like about Lojos and Bori’s house –
they have a professional coffee maker hard wired and plumbed into their
house. Beans go in one side; tasty
beverages come out the other. Nice.
*****
 |
| The Church in "Downtown" Kishegyes |
We wandered to “downtown” Kishegyes today to look in the
stores, snap a picture or two, and have a gelato. Sad to say, the activity I refer to as
“Fast-Fooding” has made it to Serbia.
“Fast-Fooding” is a verb I invented in my music classes to describe my
students inability to follow even mildly complex instruction. They are so convinced that they “multitask”
well that they haven’t put together that – well, yes they can multitask, but
only if both activities are very simple and linear in nature. They have practiced this extensively, and do it
pretty well now.
Here is how it works; you go to a fast food place and order
a burger, fries, and an orange juice.
The person behind the counter is inevitably surprised when, a few
moments later, you are explaining “no, I don’t want a coke, I ordered an orange
juice.” Extreme Fast-Fooding has you
walking to your table a few moments later with a tray containing both a coke
and an orange juice, and the person behind the counter, with the cogs of their
brain slipping, trying to figure out what just happened. You, on the other hand, are shaking your head
in wonder of how they managed to get dressed in the morning.
So anyway – we ordered four scoops of gelato, two of which
were correct. On the plus side, it cost
us 40 dinar – about 80 cents – a scoop and it is “hand made by local artisans”
on premise every morning.
*****
7/4
Lunch today is at Pista and Rosza’s house. It is family lore that Rosza makes the best
palinka in the area, and I must admit, it is much less like hitting yourself in
the face with a hammer than some I’ve had this trip. There is, hard to believe, some complexity to
the flavor. Today we are enjoying
apricot – and pretty swell it is, too.
The conversation centers on farming and tractors. So not only can I not follow it, I have no
understanding of the subject anyway – with the exception that I like
vegetables!
The carnivores are having liver dumpling soup (one of Z’s
favorite things), followed by the traditional tray of various fried meats and
sausages. Z tells me that it is all
fabulous. The veg is enjoying fried
squash, zucchini, and cheese! I am not
sure what they do differently with the frying thing here, but this is not at
all greasy like you would expect, but light and refreshing – true almost
everywhere. Rosza is an expert at
it! We are all sharing the
tomato/pepper/onion salad, the fried potatoes (fresh-from-the-ground Yukon Golds)
and the freshly baked bread. The alcohol
fest continues with Champaign after lunch, followed by wine from Rosza’s trip
to Italy. Fortunately, I am driving, and
Serbia is a zero tolerance state, so no more alcohol for me. It’s too hot!
*****
7/5
Today we made our annual trip to Subotica, on what will
eventually be a 100+ degree day. Because
of this we reversed our usual order of things and visited the “Black Market”
first. This place, as has been mentioned
before, is a large mall/flea market.
Like all malls lately, increasingly what you find are clothes, clothes,
and more clothes. Today’s find, amongst
the Chinese knock-offs of Puma, Adidas, and Nike sportswear was a cheap
t-shirt. The collar was bunching up and
the fabric was transparent. It was
clearly not something that the above mentioned sportswear companies would never
in a million years put on sale – even in their factory stores as seconds. Emblazoned on the front, in a recognizable
and I’m sure under copyright font, was “Oregon Basketball” – just like the ones
on sale in the Nike Store in downtown Portland.
Hey, the Ducks are even getting knocked-off by the Chinese now.
It does make you wonder, what does the
Chinese version of the Chip Kelly offense look like? And can Oregon State afford one?
*****
From the market, we moved downtown to visit the beautiful
central square for coffee, sight-seeing, shopping and to visit the music store
we found last trip. I bought Book one of
a Serbian sight-singing text on that trip that was sequenced beautifully, so
this year we had to get Book Two.
 |
| The Synagogue in Subotica |
I was delighted to see that the ruins of the synagogue in
town are getting a makeover by the community.
The Jewish community has moved to new digs, but the town has dedicated
the renovation as a memorial to WW II – and after – atrocities. It is to be made over into a community
performing arts center, but as much of the architecture as can be maintained is
being done so. You can now tour the
building, with a guide that explains the history of the Jewish community in
Subotica. The price was one Euro, but we were unable to go today. I am looking forward to it on my next trip.
We had lunch at a Hungarian Cabaret in town. The club has existed since the late 1800’s,
and has been doing Hungarian entertainment and floor shows since it
opened. Strangely, it is now run by SAB
Miller (I know – weird, right?). Those
guys are everywhere!
The banquet room was clearly visible from our table. While we were dining, the lunch banquet
arrived; about 100 third grade-ish girls.
I could see no adults, but they must have been there. The girls sat down and had quiet
conversations while eating, politely, with a knife and fork, a salad and an entree
of potatoes and some meat thing. Everyone
was eating everything on their plate, and no one seemed to be complaining of
it, even though this is the age of that stuff.
They had obviously been out in the heat before this, so they kept
sending emissaries over to the bar to refill the table water pitcher – the only
“weird” thing about the whole scene. It
was something to see – and something I would, sadly, be shocked to see back
home.
*****
 |
| The dread Jelen Pivo - possibly the worst beer on the planet |
It is Emese’s Name’s Day, so by for a visit we go. It was nice to talk to Emese and Joe – they are
nice folks, and longtime friends of Z.
This evening, the topics of discussion included; an infomercial for the
virtues of hyper-oxygenated water, opera, the perks awarded to 10 year and 20
year tenured teachers in Serbia (one month and two months of your base salary
respectively), Emese and family’s trip to Rome, and how to make a local soft cheese
that Z really enjoys.
To be polite – and so that Joe could have one – I sucked
down a bottle of the dread Jelen Pivo (seems Joe can only have beer when there
is company and they are drinking – happy to help out a friend!). Reading the bottle, it seems they have been
brewing this swill since 1756 – 20 years before the revolution. I have to imagine it was better once – I wonder
how long ago. I’m sure the extreme metallic
taste of preservatives, “hoppy drops,” and chemicals used to speed up and stop
fermentation were not part of the original suds.
*****
 |
| Fresh Stew from the pot... |
7/8
 |
| Capriolo Pizza - the best 'Za on the planet!!!! |
Lajos and Bori are having us over for lunch today after the “big”
market in Topolya. The carnivores are
having a stew made with some freshly killed game animal of some type and
prepared in a big earthen-ware pot in the bread oven on the new porch. My diner arrived shortly after the pot was
removed from the oven in the form of a delivery from Capriolo from down the
lane! Folks, I don’t know how to say
this more emphatically – this is the best
pizza on the planet! Today, I am
having the classic Quattro Formaggio.
Salt and garlic are predominant in the flavor, but there is a smoked
cheese in there, as well as garlic and oregano.
At about five bucks a ‘za, these things are amazing. You must go!
*****
For the people who read this for the beer reviews, because I
love you guys, and I want to spare you from the pain of bad beer, and I am
willing to make the sacrifice for you, and this was a big one, so you owe me…
Lord help us – Jelen Strong, Jelen Brewing Company, Novi
Sad, Serbia. 7.3% alcohol. 7.3%!
You can see where this is going, I’m sure. Hard to believe, but the bright white head
hangs around for a while. The color of
the beer is approximately the same color of my Oregon “Lightning” colored
t-shirt. The nose is the “wet hop” smell
of badly produced pilsner, with maybe a tiny bit of hops. How does it taste, you ask? Well – thin and watery on the front of the
mouth, changing to bitter and metallic on the back. Strangely, you can’t taste the alcohol in
it. So what do we have – a nice looking
beer that tastes like crap! Obviously
the purpose of this swill is to get you wrecked, as quickly as possible. Stay away!
Ick!
No comments:
Post a Comment