The time is now - Let's get creative

The time is now - Let's get creative

Finding a food related topic that is interesting for people to read could be a real challenge. My first idea was trying a new recipe, taking some adequate pictures and commenting on the process, which would have probably been sort of banal. I realized I had to play with my creativity. So I thought „Why not combine these two ideas in order to get unique and impressive results?“ As I have always been crazy about trying out various creative ways of preparing and decorating food, I decided to share it with those who are eagerly interested in reading this blogpost. Each idea is linked to a short story of my life, so you may also get an even better picture of who I am.

The first idea is called „sliced baked potatoes“ which I first tried for mothers day, as my sister and i were preparing dinner for our family. It’s important to take bigger potatoes, because it makes the whole process a lot easier. Before cutting them, you peel (which is optional) and cook them as you would normally do when making for example mashed potatoes. Let them cool for a couple of minutes while you prepare the cheese slices. You can choose whatever kind of cheese you like, it is completely up to you. Remember that you do NOT want to slice them the whole way through, just approximately half way through. Try to insert the cheese carefully, as cooked potatoes are very soft. The only thing you can do wrong is that your slicing technique is not so good at the beginning, which is why my first attempt failed. But it’s not that hard to get the hang out of it. Put them in the oven for a few minutes and voilà - your perfect side dish is ready. Additionally you can put sour cream and some herbs on it to give it even more flavor. It’s really easy to make and it tastes absolutely delicious!

When thinking back to your 18th birthday, I’m pretty sure, most of us wanted a big party with lots of guests and, of course, a lot of alcohol. I remember being very excited about my birthday and wanting to have some special drinks for my guests. It was important to me that the drink (I decided to make a cocktail) not only looks gorgeous but also tastes delicious. The „Blue Hawaii Cocktail“ was exactly what I was looking for. I’m not going to explain how to prepare such mouth-watering cocktails, as everyone has his own special taste. All you need is white vodka, rum, pineapple juice along with some pineapple chunks and the secret ingredient blue curaçao. The reason I chose this cocktail is because it’s not bitter at all and you don’t taste the alcohol as intense as you do the pineapple juice. Additionally you could also put some whipped cream on top, which is another delicate way of preparing it.

Last summer my little brother celebrated his fifth birthday. What would you have prepared as a special sweet treat? I came across a really nice idea for children which could be done in 10 minutes - Chocolate cups. Basically I just melted some dark and white chocolate and blew up a couple of small balloons. The next step is to just take one of these balloons and dip it into the melted chocolate and then let it dry. After the chocolate sets, take a tooth pick and pop the balloon, so you can peel it of and have a perfectly small chocolate cup. To make it even more interesting, each cup was filled with either some ice-cream or various kinds of sweets for the children. As you can imagine, the kids were crazy about it.

How cute are these? My last idea would be perfect for those of you, who are still thinking about little treats for Easter. They are so easy to make and I guarantee you that people are going to love them. I just used small balls of dough for dinner rolls and snipped them to make the ears and I used a toothpick to poke into the dough in order to make the little eyes. Just put them into the oven and let them bake. I think I'll try them again this year on Easter Sunday. 

I have to admit, these are not my pictures - But I did try all of these and yes, I did photograph them, but all my photos were on my laptop, which broke down about two months ago. I lost every computer file, every picture and every song I had on my laptop, because the disk was defective. At least I learned to save every file on an external hard disk drive.

Who am I?

Who am I?

Who am I? I guess this is one of the hardest questions you could ask yourself. Of course I could tell you that I am obsessed with fashion and make-up and that my hobbies are reading, baking and spending some time outdoors with my loved ones, but instead I am going to tell you a story my grandfather told me a couple of years ago when he was still alive. To understand the whole story, I have to tell you a little bit about my origins. I am Croatian, who originally comes from Bosnia (obviously the Croatian part of Bosnia) and was born in Austria. My parents were not refugees as you may think because of the Yugoslavian war from 1991 until 1995. Actually they came prior to the war because my dad was offered a job and that's how they started a new life here in Austria.

“Odžak“ is the name of the city I originally come from. It's located in northeast Bosnia, ten kilometers from the border with Croatia. It was first mentioned in 1593 during which time there was a huge fortress. Until the end of 1900 Odžak was part of the Ottoman Empire. After 1908 the city started developing as being part of the House of Hapsburg. Recovering from the First and the Second World War required a lot of time and energy, but the damages of the Yugoslavian war, often described as Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, can still be seen in many parts of the municipality. But back to the actual story I'd like to tell you.

I remember playing in the yard on a hot summers day when my grandfather pulled out a sheet of paper and told me to have a look at it. While growing up, my grandfather was always keen about telling us stories related to historical events or to our origins and family. The headline of one special article instantly cached my eye. „Berlin pao, Odžak nije“, meaning that Berlin had capitulated and Hitler had already pulled the trigger, while Odžak was still fighting. The article was about the Second World War especially in connection to not only my home town but also my home village. When I saw my surname in a collocation (Nuića Bášča) mentioned in the article I absolutely had to read it.

While Berlin had already capitulated, the combatants “Yugoslav Partisans” were planning on invading Odžak. After fighting several days against “Croatian Armed F

orces” they managed to occupy it. Their goal was the occupation of all municipalities around Odžak, including “Posavska Mahala” (also known as “Vlaška Mala”), the village I come from. The ”Croatian Armed Forces” were trying their hardest to defend their territory, but after numerous battles and thousands of lost lives, they had to capitulate.

We have a huge plot of land in Bosnia, which is common down there, as agriculture has always been and still is the main occupation. Let me now explain why my surname was mentioned – Behind our stall there is a small cemetery located (Nuića Bášča), which cannot be seen when standing in front of our house. This cemetery has not always been there, but was more or less created during the Second World War. It is said that this last battle, which led to the final end of the Second World War, ended right at our property. All the dead bodies were at first just thrown at one side of where they were battling and should have later on been brought to the local cemetery. But the number of corpses was increasing each minute, so they decided to bury them right at our plot of land. The cemetery officially includes just about 30 tombs, but the number of people buried there is countless. I researched the internet and found out that the cemetery is nowadays a symbol for the arrival of the enemies, the “Yugoslavian Partisans.”

My father once planned to engrave the names on a huge marble slab of all those who fought and lost this last battle but were not buried properly. But as my grandfather and probably all older people who could have helped him with the names, have already died, he never got the chance to do so.

While searching for some appropriate pictures of my hometown, I came across a picture of my grandfather with a link to a YouTube video. He passed away in 2008, so seeing and hearing him speaking after such a long time brought tears to my eyes.