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.

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

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.

Snowpocalypse 2012: Bosnia edition

Well, we're over a week into Snowpocalypse 2012, so I guess it's about time I write about it. Luckily, I have only been slightly inconvenienced by the storm. Here's how it all went down.

Friday, February 3rd:

Bašćaršija in the storm Friday afternoon

We knew a blizzard was going to hit Sarajevo today. I would have just stayed in my apartment the entire day, but I had a gig to play that night in the city. We live about an hour's commute away, and the snow had been coming down rather heavily since noon. Megan and I left over 2 hours early just to be sure that we would get there in time. We bundled ourselves up in our winter gear and trudged through the 5 inches of snow that had already fallen. When we got to the tram station, I was a little concerned because I heard several people say, "ne radi," which translates to "it doesn't work." When we got onto the platform, we saw one of our colleagues. She informed us that she had been waiting there for half an hour already. Fortunately, our timing was perfect. The tram that was sitting at the stop started moving within 5 minutes of our arrival. We chose to take the second, less crowded tram.

Everything was going well for the first third of our commute, but then the tram started moving backwards! My first thought was, why on earth are we going back to Ilidža? This proceeded for the next 5 to 10 minutes, during which the tram had exploaded with conversation, as people tried to figure out what was going on. But just after Megan and I discussed contingency plans for getting to our gig, it started moving forward again. Perhaps it just needed a little more momentum to move through the snow that was pushed into the intersection by cars crossing the tracks. We made it to Bašćaršija with enough time for me to buy a much-needed hat before our gig.

Sarajevo center Friday night

During the our breaks, Matt, Megan, and I discussed what we would do that night just in case we were stuck in the city. A lot of cab companies weren't running because the road conditions were too slick. The trams seemed barely to be working. Megan and I were able to catch a ride with Edo though. He is a safe driver, and we were grateful that we didn't have to trust some strange cabby to get us home in one piece. We insisted that he drop us off about an 8-minute walk from our apartment since we knew the streets in our neighborhood would be too snowy. Man, were we glad that we made it home that night!

Saturday, February 4th:

shoveling the roof

Today, I spent the majority of the day inside. When I woke up, there was already 3 feet of snow on the ground. Everybody outside shoveling paths so that people could at least walk to the stores. There were even people already shoveling snow from their roof so it wouldn't collapse. You could barely tell where cars were because they were so completely covered in snow. It was unreal. Last year, Chicago had its biggest snow storm in 30 years, but it doesn't even compare to this one.

our courtyard

I was happy that we had no problems with our electricity, water, or heat. Honestly, winter is the best time for the electricity to go out. You don't have to worry about food going bad because nature is a great refridgerator! So I bunkered down and watched some tv on my computer and kept on eating warm things like soup for meals. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy bread when I went to the store the day before, so I ventured out into the snow to the market across the street. One look, and I knew they were out. According to Matt, there was no bread, meat, or cheese within a 4 block radius of our apartment.

Sunday, February 5th:

It stopped snowing! According to news paper articles, we received 110 cm of snow total in Sarajevo. According to pictures I saw of the center, everything was reduced to a one-way street, even next to the Eternal Flame. We were most definitely stuck in Otes. Today, cars were just starting to be able to drive down our street, much less the bus. It took a lot of man power to clear away enough snow for even that. I never saw a snow plow go by, but there was a bulldozer and excavater helping the man power.

excavator

Megan walked with Ingrid and Morena to Ilidža today. I only walked halfway because I wasn't feeling quite so adventurous. The streets that weren't cleared at all had rather narrow walking paths most likely made by the first brave person to walk in the waist-deep snow. When I was out and about, I saw quite a few other people walking around...much moreso than in Chicago last year. Honestly, it was the only way to get anywhere. I'm glad the snow didn't bother the Bosnians. Any time I heard someone complain about it, someone else would remind them that it's just snow...it's not like there's a war going on.

Monday, February 6th:

snow height

Our rehearsal was canceled today, thank goodness. Commuting to the city would have been a nightmare. The trams still aren't running, though I think they were running about halfway to Ilidža by the end of the day. Cabs still refused to drive to our apartment, so we're still only able to get anywhere by walking. Megan and I walked to Ilidža today and met up with Mattia and Ingrid. We had coffee in the Sara Center, and stopped by the grocery store there too. On the way home, we had a pretty fun snowball fight with rather large clumps of snow. Good times.

snowball fight!

Then, when I got back, I proceeded to make a test batch of chili, and it hit the spot. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to find all of the ingredients in Ilidža, but it seemed to work just fine. I made Megan, Matt and Tim try it too just to make sure that my taste buds weren't crazy. I made it a little too spicy for my taste, but that was okay. When I make it again for my friends, I'll tone that down a bit. :-D

Tuesday, February 7th onward:

shovelers

I have been impressed with Bosnia's ability to deal with such a vast amount of snowfall with limited funding and machinery. I have seen trucks full of snow on the highway, presumably heading towards the river, where the snow will be dumped. Brigades of people worked well together in helping to clear away the snow. While I was practicing this weekend, I was quite entertained by looking out my window at the lumber shop. A car would drive up, someone would get out and buy some wood, and then the sellers would help give them a push when they tried to drive off again. It was pretty cool to see how helpful everyone was.

By Wednesday's rehearsal, we were able to get to the theater without too much trouble. We took cabs from Ilidža. There was a bus that took people from Ilidža to where the tram started working too, but it looked rather crowded. Fortunately, the tram was working all the way from center to Ilidža by Thursday. The walk to Ilidža is a little trickier now though. The sidewalks are completely covered with snow banks taller than me, and the streets have been effectively reduced to one lane. Therefore, everybody has to walk in the middle of the street (which is actually quite a normal thing to do here) and then jump into the snow banks whenever a car goes by. It's fun times.

street market in Ilidža

I have also been really impressed with how many people are still selling things on the street markets even in the snow and frigid temperatures. There are old ladies bundled up outside selling their hand-knitted slippers and hats. I have even seen some produce vendors set up shop in their usual spots. My favorite part is how these people use the snow to their advantage though. One lady had a blanket draped across a pile of snow with all of the clothes she was selling laid out on it. It was an impressive display. Other merchants stuck snow shovels into the snow piles, so it looked like they had sprung up from the ground like flowers.

basketball court, or what's left of it

The bus still doesn't run in my neighborhood, but that's okay. I enjoy getting the exercise in the morning on the way to work, and if I'm too tired in the afternoon, I can usually catch a cab when we get off the tram from Ilidža. By this point, I'm rather sick of the snow and coldness though. It was cool for the first day or two when I didn't have any obligations. Now it's just annoying. Oh well. At least it's perfect weather for uštipci!

Asthma in Sarajevo

When I first started researching Sarajevo before coming here, I came across a few websites that warned of the air quality. They mentioned that it was important especially for people with asthma to make sure that they bring enough medicine to last the duration of their stay. I also heard that the air in the winter was the worst, due to the lack of winds that usually move air out of the valley. However, nothing prepared me for the reality of these claims. During my flight from Munich to Sarajevo in September, I knew exactly when we started flying over Bosnia before our pilot announced our descent. I could literally see how polluted the air was.

I had a hard time adjusting to the air when I first arrived here. State-side, I have seemed to outgrow my asthma. It doesn't bug me too much when I forget to take my daily inhaler, and I rarely have to use my fast-acting one even when I do an intensive cardio workout. Here though, I can always tell when I haven't kept up with my medicine. During the first week I was here, I took my fast-acting inhaler before rehearsals because of all of the smoke in our work environment. People smoke everywhere here, and it is almost impossible to avoid unless you become a bit anti-social. It is quite rare to find a place in Bosnia where smoking is forbidden, since it is ingrained in their culture. It bothered me in the beginning before I was used to the smoke. In fact, during our first opera performance, I remember having to drink water to keep from coughing because of the smoke that filled the pit during the intermissions. Nobody actually smokes in our rehearsal or performance spaces, but it creeps back into those areas from the cafe and the lounge. After a couple of weeks though, I rarely had to fight back coughs.

I have also noticed that any time I go away from Sarajevo, I go through the same break-in period when I return. It happened when I returned from Munich for Oktoberfest and after our tour in Italy. After my most recent trip, my transition to the smog was quite bad. In addition to the usual coughing and extra congestion, I was sick with a cold. Luckily though, I was able to avoid the rooms that most people smoked in without feeling too much like an outcast. The first week, the orchestra only had two performances and two rehearsals. The second week, I had nothing with the orchestra and instead played in a conducting recital at the music academy, which is the only place in Bosnia I have found that has “no smoking” signs. However, I never went into the faculty lounge where my friends were drinking coffee (and thus also smoking) because my sickness made me too sensitive to the smoke.

I can confirm that the air here is much worse in the winter. I think that was the main reason I caught a cold when I returned from the clean sea air. Many days when I look out my window in the winter, I can't even begin to see the hills that are only a few kilometers away from my building. I live close to the airport and can also hear when the planes aren't land due to the intense smog. I can feel how the air is more dense with pollution than it was when I arrived in September. I've never been to Los Angeles, but apparently Sarajevo in winter is like LA in the summer.

The moral of the story is that if you are really sensitive to the air for medical or other reasons, be prepared when you come to Sarajevo. It is a beautiful city, especially in non-winter months and is definitely still worth the visit.

Deja vu, La Traviata

Last week after I returned from my vacation, the orchestra played La Traviata for the second time, and it brought back a whole slew of memories from my very first experiences with the orchestra. When I first came to Sarajevo in September, we started working straight away within 48 hours of our arrival. I was dealing with jet lag, culture shock, and nerves. Rehearsal seemed to fly by in a haze as I was sleep-deprived and unable to understand anything the conductor said. I remember being so conscious of playing every single note clearly, softly, and perfectly in time with my colleagues. I also remember being disappointed in myself when I would lose focus and play something below my standards. I was quite surprised by the fact that people in the orchestra would sing along with the soloists during their favorite arias. I thought that it was adorable that my bassoon colleague would swivel his spinning chair to play a duet with the principal clarinet. He was the one who told me where to start, and I was always so nervous of miscounting or misreading the cuts in our messy parts.

By now, I have transformed into a confident Bosnian musician. I worry much less about playing things perfectly during a performance and concentrate on having fun like my colleagues do. During this rehearsal/performance cycle I even caught myself humming several of my favorite arias. I no longer get tense during woodwind chorales but play the bass line at a comfortable dynamic. If I play too softly in La Traviata, nobody will hear me since the bassoons are too far back in the pit. I was also more comfortable during this performance because I was used to pit's size. It would be a bad place for someone with claustrophobia, especially in the back row. I have developed a nice system for making my little bassoon nest within such small confines though.

I think the difference that struck me the most between my first performance and now is how much more I can understand. I no longer need Edo to translate for the conductor and tell me where we are starting. I can generally understand when the conductor is asking for something from the orchestra, like playing softer. I understand when they say how long the breaks are or remind us what time our next rehearsal is. It feels nice to no longer depend on other people for the basics of a musician's life.

Dubrovnik: Part III - The Hotel

the view from my room

I was quite thankful that I had the opportunity to go to Dubrovnik. My colleagues were going there to teaching in a classical music seminar for musicians from Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, so I tagged along too. The week-long seminar involves nightly concerts and daily master classes for strings, accordion, harmonica, guitar, flute, clarinet, and trumpet. I went to some of the concerts but did not participate in the masterclasses, since there was nothing for bassoon. Instead, Edo and I played duets in the lobby one night before dinner. The seminar was held in a 4-star hotel on the western side of Dubrovnik. I managed to get a sea side room with a spectacular view of the cove the hotel faced, and I definitely couldn't get enough of that view. There were a few walking paths along the sea that I explored almost every day I was there. I always saw someone fishing on the rocks below.

Having never stayed in a 4-star hotel before on my own expense, I intended to take advantage of some of its best amenities: the pool, jacuzzi, and sauna. The day in the sauna was the best. When I met Alisa and her friend there, they fixed me some tea and told me to take a “tropical shower.” I'm not entirely sure what was tropical about it, but it smelled great and felt fresh. In addition to a main lounging area, the sauna had three specialty rooms: one dry, one steamy, and one in between. I honestly, had some problems in the steamy one and had to leave after only maybe five minutes. I did not enjoy most of that time because I spent it concentrating on breathing in the intensely humid air. I guess is wasn't a place for someone with asthma. My favorite room was the one in between, which Alisa first described to me as the one “for babies.” Oh well. The best part of the sauna wasn't any of the steam rooms though, it was the foot jacuzzi. My feet were quite sore from my adventure on the mountain the previous day, so as soon as the jets turned on, my face lit up in relief. It was exactly what I needed.

sunset plus the shadow of a fisherman on the rocks

Away from the sauna, I gained a new perspective on my colleagues' lifestyle and attitudes. I was the only one of the Americans to go on the trip, so I was constantly surrounded by Bosnians. I learned that out of all of the regions that used to make up Yugoslavia, Bosnia's people have the most notable sense of humor. When anything happens whether it's good or bad, jokes will apparently pop up there first. It's not like in America, where we have to wait a certain amount of time before joking about something or else risk it being deemed inappropriate. I also noticed that they aren't afraid to go after what they want. As a musician, I am always determined at least to become a master of my trade. However, I felt pushed by my colleagues to become a little more strong-minded. If you stand around without deciding what you want in their culture, nothing will happen. You have to decide what you want and take the actions to see it through. It's not enough just to tell someone that you're going to pay for the next round of coffee. You have to actively butt in and get to the waiter first. Speaking of, Bosnians are also quite generous with their friends, sharing whatever food or alcohol they are enjoying at any given time. Without any special prompting on my part, my roommate kept on buying me things like candy bars when she went to the super market. Even walking around the old town, when Edo would stop in a market and get a juice for his kid, he would get a beverage for everyone else too. I have never seen sharing on this scale in the US...not even in the more rural areas of the country. I might have to bring back this mentality when I return home in June.

the rocks below one of the walking paths

I also learned a little bit about Croatian culture, at least through the eyes of my Bosnian friends. I found it entertaining that the Bosnians kept on mocking how the people of Dubrovnik speak. I don't know enough Bosnian to hear the difference, but apparently they have a weird accent, even to other Croatians. It must be similar to the differences between the Boston accent and the Southern accent in the States. I also heard tradition Croatian music in the bar on the main floor of the hotel. It had some similar characteristics such as the mode, but it seemed to have a more relaxed and mellow feel both in tempo and timbre. I wonder if it reflects pace of living in Croatia. It seemed like Croatians do things at their own pace even more so than Bosnians. One of the nights we were down at the bar, it took at least 20 minutes for a waiter to even come to our table. I'm not sure if that's just how they are or if that's how they are when a bunch of Bosnians are partying in their bar.

One great thing about spending an entire week away from my English-speaking friends is that my Bosnian improved quite a bit. I learned even more ways to say hello and goodbye and to wish people well. I was almost always in a group with at least three other people, and I enjoyed listening to them speak to each other. I felt bad every time they stopped and repeated a story in English so that I could fully understand. Most of the time, I observed them intently, trying to use their hand gestures and facial expressions to infer what they were saying. I don't think it actually worked, but it helped get Bosnian into my ear. Alisa's friend was the person who helped me the most with my Bosnian. When Alisa wasn't there, I would speak to her in English and she would respond in Bosnian (well, Serbian really). We understood each other pretty well without a translator. She spoke fairly slowly and simply, and I think she is the only person I have met who speaks to me at least 90% of the time in Bosnian. By the end of the week, my mind was much more adept at producing the sounds in the Bosnian language. I would no longer sound out words slowly, letter by letter like I have in the past, and it felt good. I was quite proud of myself when I returned to Sarajevo. I managed to take a cab back to my apartment by myself without saying one word in English. Yeah!