Winter foods

This is a typical scene on a Belgrade market in the winter. Here you see garlic and parsnips in front of some homemade products. From left to right there are pickled hot peppers, tomato sauce, horseradish in various sizes, and figs and ajvar, a spread made of ground roasted red peppers, garlic, and eggplant. The garlic is marked 20 dinars (about 30 cents) a kilo (roughly two pounds.) NOTE: Oops. A goof on my part--the garlic is 20 dinars a piece, not a kilo. I didn't read the fine print.... Still not a bad price!

Pots and pans

The company Metalac (May-TAHL-ahts), located about 120 kilometers from Belgrade in Gornji Milanovac (GOR-nyee Me-LAHN-oh-vahts), is one of the most successful producers of enameled, teflonized, and Inox kitchenware in Europe. The 46 year-old company exports 70% of its production to France, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, USA, and Australia. Recently this year Metalac participated in the Housewares Show in Chicago. My guess is that this lady on one of Belgrade's large green markets is reselling some mismatched pieces of enameled pots and pans she may have purchased at the factory. She's even offering some carrots and parsley to cook in them!