Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Bosnian Cooking 101: Bosnian Salad

Summer is here! The farmer's markets are filled with new fruits and veggies, and I'm hoping to enjoy them as much as possible before I leave. One of the first things I fell in love with here was the markets. Their organic produce has much more flavor than anything I've eaten in the US. It's also much more affordable. I rarely spend more than 8 KM($6) on my produce for a week.

Because of this, one dish has consistently been a staple of my diet since I got here: Bosnian salad. My vegetarian roommate had done some research before arriving in Sarajevo and noticed a key difference between American and Bosnian salads: lettuce isn't necessary. She applied her research for our “Bosnian salad” early on and before we figured out how to work our stove (the markings had worn off). Here's a formal version of the recipe for your convenience. Ingredients have changed over time, as different vegetables have come in and out of season, but this is my favorite version.

Ingredients:
tomato, paradajz
cucumber, krastavac
red bell pepper, crvena paprika
feta cheese, feta sir
olive oil, maslinovo ulje
red wine vinegar, vinski ocat
(or lemon juice, limon)
pepper, crni papar
oregano, origano

Combine equal parts chopped tomato, cucumber, pepper, and feta.
Lightly coat with olive oil and a minimal amount of vinegar or lemon juice.
Season with pepper and/or oregano to taste.
Stir until ingredients are mixed well.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Sarajevska crvena linija

Friday marked the 20th “anniversary” of the siege of Sarajevo. Honestly, I've never really enjoyed using that word to describe tragic events. For the lucky person who has never experienced loss, the term anniversary only calls into memory happy celebrations of life such as weddings, first dates, and birthdays. For the rest of us, it sometimes means concentrating on living rather than dwelling on all of the tough things we have been through.

To commemorate 20 years, Sarajevo's main street was filled with empty red chairs, each of which represented one of 11,541 people who were killed during the siege. There were even smaller chairs near the Children's Memorial to represent each child. A screen displaying the names of all of the victims stood roughly every 50 meters along the street, while nearby speakers blared a heartbreaking rendition of Albinoni's Adagio in g, the piece Vedran Smailović, the Cellist of Sarajevo, was most known for performing. People stopped to place flowers, teddy bears, and other gifts on the chairs in memory of their loved ones. Others gathered around the screens to watch their loved one's name appear on the lengthy list of casualties. Though most of the people I saw were reverent, some of them caught me offguard. One lady was grinning ear to ear while she happily took photos of the memorial. I don't think she really got it...

As I walked along the street from Ali Pasha's Mosque to the Eternal Flame, I was quite moved by the vastness of the memorial. In fact, I could not bear to look at the screens with the victims' names or truly listen to the music that looped endlessly throughout my 20-minute observance. I've heard the statistics from the war: how many people died, how many children died, how many shells fell on the city per day, etc. I've heard stories from my friends who were in Sarajevo during the siege. I've even watched real video footage from some of the massacres. Nothing prepared me for this though. It was the first time I could actually comprehend how much was lost during the war.

I have seen the signs of war damage every day since I came to Bosnia six months ago. There are still houses in my neighborhood with clear mortar scars and bullet holes. Next to those houses are new ones though, a symbol of hope and forward progress. On the tram ride from Ilidža to the center, it is hard not to notice the skeleton of a building so damaged that you can see the beautiful mountains through its remains. Closer to the center appears a cemetary covering an entire hill with densely-packed tombstones. Even my daily walk in the center is accompanied by the passing of a Sarajevo Rose. I am continually impressed with Sarajevans' ability to continue to live fairly normal lives in a place so touched by the scars of hatred.

If there is only one thing that I take away from my time in Sarajevo, it will be one part of the mindset of its people: the inclination to celebrate life. People here seem to live their lives to the fullest. They tell someone that they love them instead of waiting and making excuses for themselves. They take time to eat lunch or drink coffee in the sunshine. They make plenty of extra time for family and friends. Sure, I've realized in the past that these things are important, but it helps to be reminded of that. Coming from a society which seems to value success in terms of career rather than happiness, I found that I had to change my mindset quite a bit in order to feel like I belong here. I truly hope to be able to continue to party hearty when I go home.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Jahorina

Well, it's officially spring here, minus the fact nature played an April's Fool joke on us by leaving us a dusting of snow this morning. Before I switch seasons in my blog though, I need to share my first winter mountain-going experience. As surprising as it was for my Bosnian friends, I have always lived at least a 4-hour drive from any mountains. Therefore, I was quite excited to go to Jahorina in January.

Megan, Alisa, her friend, and I all piled into the crowded Holiday Market Bus one Sunday. We had to stand up in the isle, but the ride was rather short: roughly half an hour. Like my other bus-rides here, my eyes were glued to the windows as we wound our way up the mountain. The depth of the snow grew more extreme as we drove, and I was amazed at this bus's ability to navigate the snow-covered mountain road.

By the time we reached the resort, I felt like I was in Narnia. We took a short walk further up the mountain before meeting Mattia, who had taken an earlier bus so that he would have more time to ski. Evergreens lined the path as we trudged through the snow. It was so beautiful. When we found Mattia, we all grabbed some mulled wine and food in a nearby restaurant. After filling our tummies with hot food, we ventured back out into the cold to enjoy the snow.

Us girls weren't brave enough to go skiing, so we rented sleds instead. It was so much fun to act like a kid again. But between the teenage boys who blocked the entire hill while they waited to jump over their friends as they sledded down the hill and the fact that our sleds weren't made for steering, I managed to learn a new Bosnian word: Pazi! (Watch out!) Hehe.

We didn't let our wariness of skiing keep us from riding the skilift though. We wanted to see the bird's eye view of the mountain, but as soon as we made it halfway up the lift, we realized it may have not been the best idea. We hit a very dense fog, the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees, and it became incredibly windy. As Megan pointed out, it felt like we were in Chicago! ...except I wasn't dressed for that weather... Everything was covered in at least a centimeter of frost, and our hair had turned white due to the cold! I imagine that the skiers going up the lift we were wondering what these four crazy women were doing riding it up and back in the cold, wind, and fog. Oh well. It was still worth it.

We spent the remainder of our time there alternating between sledding and enjoying a hot beverage inside. I enjoyed every minute of it! I was really hoping to go back to the mountains again before the snow melted, but my schedule didn't allow it. I guess that means I'll have to come back to Sarajevo in the future. :) Three years ago, I had never set foot on a mountain, and now I almost can't imagine a life away from them. Even while walking to the tram to go to work in the morning, I bask in the glory of their magestic peaks.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Busy Busy Busy

It's been a while since my last post, and this time I have an excuse. I have had a busy rehearsal schedule for tonight's concert, and a little over a week ago, I took on a web development project for my friends. With the Sarajevo International Guitar Festival just a month away, minimal information on the website, and nobody with the time and expertise to work on it, I volunteered my help. Now, I'm the happiest I've been since I arrived in Sarajevo.

The brothers who are organizing the festival are quite fun to work with. It feels good to help them out and be rewarded with their incredible excitement and enthusiasm. In fact, the day after I uploaded the newest changes, I was pleased that my friend was in the best mood I've seen in the past month. I don't know of a job that would be better than this one. I am highly motivated to work on the website because my friends are so excited about it (and a bit anxious for it to be updated). That on top of my already high interest in web development means that I've been forcing myself to stop “fixing just one more thing” so that I can sleep at night.

During our meetings about the website's progress, I have been able to see a little more about how Bosnians work. We have intense business-related conversations that are punctuated with many jokes and teasing. We always make sure to “make pause” (take a break) with coffee, youtube videos, and a little education on Bosnian culture and history. Most importantly, we celebrate achievements. For example, on Monday I met with them so they could approve my work from the weekend, and I uploaded the changes right then and there. In my past experiences, the meeting would have ended at that point, and I would have just gone home. However, since we're in Bosnia, I stayed and had a few beers to celebrate. It was a good night.

In addition to the fun, working on this website is quite beneficial to me as a programmer. It is important to be able to communicate with clients about the technical aspects of your work. Here, I get to not only practice explaining web technology to non-techies, but I am forced to simplify things even more than usual because English isn't their first language. If you know me, then you know that I can make things a bit complicated at times. I find that I am slowly learning how to be more direct and concise.

This project is probably the best thing that has happened to me this year. I feel like in some ways, I came to Bosnia because I needed to run away from “real world” responsibilities like getting a full-time job that I may or may not like so that I can pay the bills. I was able to delay certain decisions that I wasn't ready to make yet. I've had a lot of time to think about things here, and I am finally confident saying that I know what I want to do with my life. Before last week, I had already made the decision to pursue a computer programming career when I return to the States and keep playing bassoon on the side. It is quite reassuring to know that I will be happy with my decision...and to know which area of programming I should pursue.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Bosnian Cooking 101: Chili in Sarajevo

One of my favorite things to eat during winter is chili, so naturally, I made it during our huge snow storm. It can be fairly difficult to find ingredients for American foods in Bosnia though. I was quite thrilled to find everything I needed in the Konzum in the Sara Centar. Here's what I came up with:

Ingredients:

500 ml beer, pivo
400 g canned kidney beans, crveni grah
800 g canned tomatoes, paradajz
160 g tomato paste, paradajz pire
1/2 large chopped onion, luk
2 chopped green peppers, zelena paprika
2-3 cloves minced garlic, češnjak
1 package chili mix (Tex Mex Chili con Carne)
1 Tbs cayenne pepper, ljuta paprika
1 rounded Tbs dried oregano, origano
2 rounded Tbs dried parsely, peršin
salt and pepper to taste, sol i papar
500 g ground beef, mljevena junetina

Note: I used a soup spoon for my tablespoon (Tbs) measurements.

Directions:

  1. Put beer, beans, tomato paste, onion, pepper, and garlic in a large pot.
  2. Cut canned tomatoes into medium-sized pieces (unless they are already diced). Add to pot.
  3. Add 3/4 of the chili mix.
  4. Add cayenne pepper, oregano, parsely, salt, and black pepper.
  5. Stir and start cooking on the stove at a low temperature.
  6. Brown beef in a saucepan. Strain the fat when the meat is still barely pink, and sprinkle the rest of the chili mix onto the beef. Let it cook all the way before adding to the rest of the chili.
  7. Cook large pot of chili uncovered for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Yield: about 7-8 large servings.

Chili is best served with grated cheese on top, bread on the side, and a glass of milk. I used gouda because cheddar is impossible to find in Bosnia. I have also found that chili tastes better the day after you cook it, since the extra time lets the flavors meld together. This makes it perfect leftover food.

I made this recipe for my friends here last Monday, and it was a fun night. I wanted to introduce them to one of my favorite winter meals, since most of them hadn't even heard of it before. Chili is best with a bit of a kick, and even though I cut the cayenne pepper in half from the first time I made it, some of them had an interesting time handling the heat. They demolished all of the cheese and bread I had in an attempt to cancel out the spice. It makes sense though. Bosnian food isn't spicy at all.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Svijet Dinosaura


triceratops
One day, we were sitting in a cafe enjoying coffee and tea when Adi leaned over and asked, “Have you seen the dinosaurs at the zoo?” Haha. What?! Sarajevo hosted the World of Dinosaurs exhibition for a couples of weeks this February. The exhibition includes over 50 life-sized reconstructions of dinosaurs and other extinct animals. A German palaentologist created the replicas in Hannover, and they travel as an exhibition all over the world. Adi, Megan and I visited the zoo right after the huge snow storm, and it was a lot of fun. The exhibition was outside, so it was even more interesting than I thought it would be. I felt like I was in a mix between The Land Before Time and Ice Age.


mammoth
The exhibit includes all kinds of dinosaurs and some animals from the Paleolithic period. Each one had a little sign next to it explaining what it was called, how big it was, and what it ate. Of course, this was all in Bosnian. It was quite astounding to stand next to the them though. In other museums, you can't really get the sense of the size of the animal because the bones are roped off. However, at this exhibition, the whole point was to stand directly under it or even put your hand in its mouth. Of course, lots of silly poses for pictures ensued. Nothing encourages your inner child quite like the combination of dinosaurs and snow.

Of course, there were living animals at the zoo as well, but quite honestly, I went there for the dinosaurs, hehe.


A new friend


holding claws with the T-rex

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Bosnian Cooking 101: Back to the Basics

Having quite a bit more free time here in Sarajevo than I ever did in school, I have found myself experimenting with a new hobby: cooking. Sure, I've been inspired by people close to me in the past to learn how to cook. In fact, last year I resolved to cook something new every other week. Like most new year's resolutions, it only lasted for a few months though. Fortunately here I don't need to make a resolution to experiment with cooking. I found myself becoming bored of the same old eating routines, so I decided to be brave and expand my cooking repertoire. I have received some encouragement from my friends to continue to cook. After all, I usually share it with them!

There are several reasons I waited so long to experiment with cooking in Bosnia. First, pictures on food products only explain to a certain extent what is inside. Without a broad knowledge of food vocabulary, honestly you just have to guess what it is. Second, there isn't as wide of a variety of foods at the super markets here like I am used to. I know I'm spoiled, but it is really hard to find some ingredients that are staples of my cooking back home. For example, I've only found powdered sugar in one super market here, and I have yet to find black beans. Finally, the kitchen supplies in my apartment are fairly limited. I have invested in a few key items such as a liquid measuring cup (in metric and english systems) and a couple of pie tins. I am reluctant to invest in kitchen gadgets because I know I will be here for a limited time.

Perhaps my favorite part of cooking in Bosnia is that I am almost always forced to make things from scratch. American super markets are full of pre-made foods. We have cookie dough, pie crusts, powdered mashed potato mix, canned soups, flavored rice, sliced fresh fruits, minced garlic in a can, etc. This helps people who are challenged at cooking put food on the table without ordering take out from a restaurant. It's great for college students (who don't know how to cook yet) and adults (who don't have the time or energy to put supper on the table after a long day at work). The problem is that nearly all of these foods have extra preservatives and ingredients that I cannot pronounce. I like knowing what is in my food. Plus, it feels much more rewarding when you eat something entirely made by you.

Because of the many differences between cooking in the US and cooking here, I have found the following sites useful. Perhaps you will too:

Cup to Gram Conversions for Baking Ingredients
Wolframalpha (for conversions and nutrition information)
Ingredient Substitutions
AllRecipes.com (for new recipes or ideas)
Good Eats Recipes (recipes backed by scientific explanations)

Throughout this blog, I will be posting some guides to cooking specific recipes in Bosnia, complete with Bosnian-English translations and conversions to the metric system. I hope to learn how to cook some popular Bosnian dishes as well as expand on my knowledge of American recipes.