Life is the same wherever you are - Milena asked if I had tasted pasticada  (its a 'sh' on the 's')- a local meal which is usually served up at Christenings, large family gatherings. It's not something that you would make as you rushed into the house after work (late home as usual) as it is a three day labour of love. In a nutshell you spike beef with garlic,  bacon, celery and carrots and let it marinate in salty vinegar for 24 hours - then you roast in a juice of bacon, figs or prunes, and various secret spices. Anyway, Milena said she would bring us some from her fridge - this of course sets a thought stream of 'what can I give her in return' because that's what you do. We thought about various options from the shop but then I decided to make pesto - a jar, a ribbon - and there you have the exchanges which happen between women all over the world. The pasticada was heated and served with gnocci - and was divine.

I hope my pesto rates.

The night before last was another fishermens' night (ribarskara noc) and i decided that three pieces of soparnik and a mohjito would be dinner. The riva was incredibly busy with people out walking - I was walking with Ana (we left the guide dog behind because of the crowds) and it was difficult to manoeuvre the people. She usually holds my elbow but had to change to her hand on my shoulder, single file. It's interesting to see the reaction of people to Ana. Anyway, we found a spot at a table and she had a large plate of risotto with seafood (not my idea of fun)  and when the crowd thinned a bit we walked to Sveti Petar. Imagine this walk - people sitting chatting in the dark, music drifting, the smell of the cooking. And it was a particularly gorgeous sunset - check this out.



I walked early in the morning and sat in a little cafe on the water - just a squirrel racing around for company, with a couple of Polish women sitting on deck chairs (until a rogue wave or two came through and soaked them, shrieks of laughter).


I decided that I needed to buy another Croatian language book, one with answers in the back so that I can study and check that the answers are correct - so off to the school book shop - and bumped into a woman that I used to have coffee with - I had heard that Suzana had moved from the clothes shop job to work at the supermarket and then I had lost touch with her - it was wonderful to see her and in the early evening we met for icecream (see, life is so simple here!) and then a walk along the riva - she brought her daughter Tina with her - my Croatian is improving and Suzana is learning English to add to her German. These friendships are so lovely...

In the school book shop I also spotted this school bag - it would seem that the endorsement of someone in authority, is important even when buying a school bag.

Oh, and then i thought you needed to see the new addition to the police force fleet..
 - 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End

Image
 This is it folks, the end of the blogging, this is the last one, and it will be brief - because, well the excursion was brief. Following Rocco's advice, I set off this morning at 8 to go to Ostuni - I jumped online to see the best way to do so. You see, to date, I have relied on trains, and there is no train to Ostuni. 'Rome to Rio' (great travel site) said Bus/ Taxi/ Drive. Unfortunately, the information for the buses was scant - and the more I checked it out, the more I could see that there were three bus companies and no particular 'station' as such. I spotted people with suitcases down the hill from the old town here, spoke to them, a bus pulled up, was going to Fasano and the driver indicated that I should get on. He said I could then take the bus to Ostuni. Arrive in Fasano, sprawling large city- someone pointed me in the direction of a link bus to the train station because it seems that there is a train to Ostuni from Fasano (but no train from Locorotondo t
Read more

Rental Car. Part 1. First Destination.

Image
 Early start to the day. And it was raining.  I had arranged to be at Eurocar rental cars to pick up my Mercedes. Yes, that's right people, a Mercedes, I've (sort of) arrived. Was momentarily disappointed when it was silver, but that was quickly overshadowed by the fact that I had no idea how to drive it. Seems that other cars are more sophisticated than mine - even the car rental guy couldn't work out the gears or the GPS - which were really the only components of the car that were of importance to me as I had no idea (in the world) where I needed to go, except that I wanted to see Rocamadour (First Destination). I drove Really Carefully, sticking to the right hand side of the road, not daring to go the speed limit, and arrived early enough in the day to find a carpark, but not early enough to miss the sweltering heat. The temp gauge in the car said 32. Seriously dripping with perspiration, and that was just was climbing down to the village. Rocamadour is a small
Read more

Back in monopoli

Image
 We stayed here last year and I really enjoyed it, smallish old town, good food, bars, meandering little streets and walkways, surprising things behind big doors. I still like it, totally worth a visit. The weather was cooler again this morning, cool enough to send me back into my room to grab a long sleeved shirt, and even then I felt I needed to shelter from the wind.  Basilica Concattedrale di Maria Santissima della Madia is the name of this beautiful church but there are 18 others to choose from, including one which has depictions of death on the door, mummified administrators in the crypt and is a place to go and pray for those in limbo - it's a purgatory church. Today there were three weddings at the Basilica and honestly, we need to up our game in terms of wedding clothes. The prize went to the couple who both were a deep purple - his suit and her dress. Men were mostly in sneakers with their Italian suits, and it was all sparkle and gold for shoes for the women. It was a fe
Read more