Three generations behind the stove

Hello everyone! Dobar dan!

Since I am in Croatia over the Easter break I was convinced that our requested blog post is going to write by itself because every time I am here, there is constantly some deliciousness served on the table. It took me a while to choose the right recipe to write about but then I thought: Why focus on one recipe when I can show you a few meals I cooked with my grandmother and my mother? So here you are and I hope you enjoy it!

First things first, let’s start with the main course: chump chop with cooked cabbage.

In a bowl, combine oil, lemon, and thyme. Season to taste and pour it over the meat. Set aside for at least 20 minutes. Turn occasionally. Heat a pan for about 5 minutes on full heat, add oil and next the chops. Fry on each side until evenly browned all over. Rub some garlic and parsley over the hot meat and lay it in a large dish, covered.

Meanwhile cook the cabbage in salted water. Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add flour and paprika powder and stir until thickened - add water if needed. Then add the cooked cabbage, some water, salt and pepper and cook a further 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste and serve warm beside the chump chop.

Secondly, there's always room for dessert, especially for „Fritule“, a Croatian pastry resembling little doughnuts. Bite-sized snacks always go down well. ;)

                                      Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 packages vanilla sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 20 tbsp plain flour
• 1 package baking powder
• oil for frying
• 1 tbsp brandy
• zest of 1 lemon
• powdered sugar

Mix the plain flour and sugar together. Add the beaten eggs, lemon zest, vanilla sugar and brandy. Stir together well. Add some milk if necessary. You can use a whisk to mix the dough to make sure everything is well combined and that there are no lumps left. You should have a batter which has a dropping consistency, if it is a little thick, add a splash more milk. In a small pot, heat oil and quickly drop teaspoonfuls of the batter into the boiling oil – until you have around 8-10 cooking. Fry the mini doughnuts on all sides, until they are golden brown (1-3 minutes in total). Carefully take out the „Fritule“using a spoon and drain in a bowl lined with kitchen paper. Once they are all cooked, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and serve them warm. Basically, nobody can resist those little bites - they will disappear immediately.

Wait a minute. Did you think that I am going to show you some fish recipes because, well, I am in Croatia? You’re right!

Last but not least, I am going to show you my first attempt to make fish. It didn’t turn out at all like my mother’s, but at least eatable as well as my Swiss chard.

Say hello to my fishy friends!

  

Lets start with the fish. You will need:

• 5 grey mullets
• salt, black pepper, parsley
• garlic
• onion
• juice of 1 lemon
• olive oil

Directions:

Mix olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and parsley together in a bowl until well combined. Place three of the grey mullets into a dish, pour over the marinade and rub it into the fish. Set aside to marinate for about 30 minutes. Preheat a pan and put oil in it. Grill the fish for 2-3 minutes on each side. Obviously, I grilled it for a few more minutes. When done, baste the fish with the lemon juice.

You could use the other two fishes to make some fish soup, like I did. Just add olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, onion and laurel leaf into a pot. Bring it to the boil with some water. Add the fish. Be sure to stop cooking when the fish is just shy of done, otherwise, it will overcook.

Now, the side dish: cooked Swiss chard                                 

                                          Ingredients:

• 1 pound Swiss chard (or other greens)
• 1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3-4 large garlic gloves, peeled and minced
• salt and cracked black pepper

    Directions: 

Wash the chard and trim the stems, then cut everything into pieces. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add potatoes and cook until almost tender (about 20 minutes). 
Add the stems from the chard and cook another 10 minutes, then add the leaves and cook until wilted. Drain the potatoes and chard very well in a colander. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Season the oil with salt and pepper. Add the Swiss chard and potatoes, and then cook over medium heat. Stir often and mash the potatoes gently while they cook. Taste, and adjust seasonings as needed – serve warm beside the grey mullets and enjoy. 

Yes, it's my feast foreign language

Trial One

In our German classes, which are now almost four years ago, our teacher asked us to be cautious about what we say since we are on our way to become professionally-skilled translators and interpreters—which consequently means that the words we use count thrice as much. Being a vegan, I also have to be constantly wary about what I buy and what I eventually eat/consume. I literally see a connection between my eating habits and my practical language usage.

As a youth I always needed money and therefore I did lots of jobs in hospitality. My first experiences in this line of business I had as a pizza driver, but only for two days (due to the far too low wages), and as an ice men (job: refreshing the showcases filled with seafood wih new ice cubes) for a succesfull fish seller, also only for three days. My next experience on the other hand kept me occupied for more than an entire year: During my community service I worked as a dish washer and kitchen hand, plus—because money didn't suffice to finance my life—I additionally worked at a petrol station where I had to create sandwiches, serve fast food, prepare coffee, bake several breads and pies,  replenish fridges and showcases, and conjured up everything else clients needed. After this year, during my first semester as a student of philosophy I also tried to persevere as a waiter. Unfortunately I was too clumsy those days and therefore gave in much sooner than expected,.. sooner than I actually wanted. Eventually I needed a break from hospitality. It would take another five years until I'd give it a try again. This time I started as a kitchen hand and supportive cook (Küchenhilfe/Hilfskoch) and remained in this company for about nine months; then I suddenly couldn't stand it anymore. In sum, I definitely had a great deal of experience in hospitality, had a lot around my ears with blood and intestines—and that brought about a decisive cut that would change my view of the world decisively.

Throughout these years in kitchens, bars, Bistros, (and cars;) constantly fostered with nutritious meals,  I also became aware of the fact that food—these things I always took for granted and that appeared so simple and obvious as what they are—mean more than merely food to those who made it their very own profession since they feel obliged to put their hearts and souls in their creations. In fact, it often felt very strange to me when the chefs sitting next to me on the table sipped coffee in a united league of experts; discussing ingredients, choice of side dishes, flour prices, and so forth, as if it was to decide over life and death. Maybe I am a bit exaggerating in your point of view but it literally got through that cooking can be taken very serious in professional kitchens. Cooking experts have an own communication system, an astonishingly wide range of specific vocabulary (at least as much as they have different herbs and spices), and thousands of noteworthy secrets that distinguish them from wannabe chefs and from those who think cooking was just a bland, has-to-be-done job. But you knew all that before, right?

Well, because what I actually wanted to mention is even more fundamental, but maybe you haven't thought about it yet...


Trial Two

Today, after an eleven hour power nap, I went to the dining room for breakfast, took a cup of black coffee with sugar and asked myself the fundamental question: "What would Jesus do?" I guess, he'd probably let his fellows slaughter the rest of the world and later complain about them slaughtering the rest of the world. But what already bugged me during my eleven hour nap, which appeared like an eleven year nap then brought up the question: "What would Puff the Magic Dragon do?" He'd probably label all his stuff and leave the cave in order to go for some shooting in the next Schießbude, and in that way get rid of thoughts about Jesus and whoever else wanted to be leader of the world. But the answer to this question was not appeasing at all and made me ponder about my misguided life, because now, in my thirty-third year of age, the hardest of all—remaining without any sort of invigoration, barely disillusioned about the future of my studies—I'm dealing with the question "How's my English learning going?" That question took me very long but eventually I stood up, smiled and prepared for a power walk to the distant bedroom. That is to say that there was rain outside, me too, but other than me the rain was wet and salty. And I went by bike which was very hard for me to cope with; Rain is usually heavier when there are clouds in the air...


Trial Three

I doubt that food wasn't necessary in my daily life but it makes me desperate to constantly think about the animals that get killed throughout the process of food production. They usually end as meals because people do not really care about what other beings feel. As a controversial fact,  the vast majority of omnivores prefer the taste of a succulent chicken or a bloody beefsteak to everything else that can be enjoyable, such as a poker match with friends or a run through the woods. That's why I think that it's more important to find alternative entertainment to food. Life would certainly be better if the gluttonous consumption of food wouldn't have such a high value in our daily lives. I am damn sure phenomenons such as obesity in most cases have their roots in boredom and desperation. It is unquestionable that people don't necessarily need as much food—especially meat—as they permanently swallow.

I still love and sometimes even "speak" food but I think it shouldn't guide our lives to such a high extend as it obviously does. Even so, like everyone else, I eat. There is one recipe I want to share with you. I got the idea at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne were I had starved to death rather than payed for meals—since the snack prices in there appeared that criminal to my tender wallet. However, here's the meal I found:

Green Sandwich

as a substitute for Extrawurstsemmel

Ingredients
1 quarter loaf of flat white bread*
1/2 egg plant or zucchini
1 tomato
1/2 bulb of onion
vegan soy quark
mustard
salt
pepper
beer
*such as the  caraway-spiced, fluffy ones you get at AKDAG Ankara or AKDAG Istanbul in Graz

Utensils
a camping knife
a non-stick toaster or portable stone grill
a bottle opener or a camping knife

Rite
Preheat the device. Cut the egg plant in round slices of about six centimeters (zucchinis can be even slimmer), the tomatoes in slices of four centimeters (don't half them), and the onion in slices as fine as possible; separate them into sickle-like anythings. Half the bread.
Sprinkle the vegetable slices with a generous dose of salt and a faint hint of pepper. Let them spread themselves on the hot surface, then turn them regularly until they're softened and easily digestible. In the meantime cover the lower half of the loaf with soy quark and the upper one with mustard. Put the egg plant or zucchini slices over the quark layer and the tomatoes over those [the zucchinis]. Distribute the onion anythings on the device and almost blacken them. Then sprinkle the result over the tomatoes and finally close the composition with the mustard-besmirched loaf cover. Open the beer; Enjoy

Why you should watch Food and Health Videos at videojug.com

What makes this site so useful for learners of English is that there are not only tons of short, educational (and often entertaining) videos on how to do and make all kinds of things, but also a handy list of "things you will need" and a set of written instructions as well.  You can hear how the words are pronounced and are more likely to remember them because you see/hear them being used in context. Definitely a smart way to improve your vocabulary while learning some useful things.

Here are two of the topics we are covering this semester:

• FOOD
• how-to-make-american-apple-pie
• Listen and jot down some useful vocabulary. Or simply follow the recipe and make the world a better place :)

• healthy-eating

• HEALTH
• how-to-give-a-chinese-massage#
• Try it out on a friend. I'm sure they'll appreciate it!

How to quickly become familiar with the words needed to write and talk about food

1. Go to simplyrecipes.com/index/ look at the alphabetized list ingredients. 
2. Click on the yummy words!

WARNING!  Do not do this if you are hungry and have no food in the fridge!