Turkish coffee

I'd mentioned before that the Turks had occupied Serbia for 500 years and left many traces behind in the language, music, and overall culture. Turkish coffee, still referred to by that name, is what you'd most likely be served right off the bat when you visit someone. The coffee is boiled in a little dzezva (DJEZ-va) like the one you see here and served in small cups. I'm not very good at making Turkish coffee, so the typical and desirable foam you'd see on the top is absent in my cup! On the little plate are Turkish Delights, also still popular. Read more about Turkish coffee by clicking on that link!

ABC WEDNESDAY "A" is for "artisan"

Meet Jan Nemcek, an ethnic Slovak, who lives in the village of Kovacica (Ko-VA-cheet-sa) about an hour's drive from Belgrade. Kovacica is home to several artists and artisans. Mr. Nemcek has been making violins all his life, maintaining a tradition in his family of several generations. That long instrument is a kind of Slovakian flute.

His wife also creates handicrafts and pottery. If you'd like to watch a video, you can check out this Youtube site and you can also look at his site (in Slovakian...but there are photos.)

See other A's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

More street art, literally

Last Wednesday I posted a zebra crossing and promised you more street art, literally on the street. Here's a crosswalk decorated with several Belgrade monuments and surrounded by the Danube and Sava rivers. The red statue on the left is The Victor, which stands in Kalemegdan Park. At the top is Saint Sava's church, and in the center is the statue of Prince Mihailo downtown. The yellow monument on the right is the newly-rebuilt Avala Tower that had been totally destroyed during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. My fellow Belgrade blogger, Vlada, recently posted two terrific photos of this tower that you can see on his blog.

Window washing

This is what I did this past weekend...only not so high up. My daughter and son-in-law arrive today for my son's wedding this coming Sunday, so I had to tidy up. I sure am glad I don't have this many windows to do.... This trio is washing windows on a building in New Belgrade that you can see and read about right here.

SUNDAY BRIDGES--an archway and a bridge

This a photo from last spring, but I need to 'shoot' more bridges... This is an archway in Kalemegdan Park on the other side of which is a wooden bridge. You can see its railing on the left!

Check out other bridges on Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges.

Reflections Weekend--rakia bottles

This little bottles filled with Serbian plum brandy are called cokancici (CHO-kan-chee-chee)and will be favors at my son's wedding on July 25th...perhaps many will be downed before being taken home. I filled about 160 of them and touched nary a drop, since I don't care for brandy! Pass the wine!

See more reflections at Newtown Daily Photo's Reflections Weekend.

Skywatch--View of part of New Belgrade

It's nice to have friends in high places. I took this view of part of New Belgrade from a friend's tenth-floor window. The large building in the foreground is the municipal building and across the street is Saint Demetrius of Salonica's church, where my son will be married on July 25th.

Check out more skies on SKYWATCH.

The latest laptop bag....

If you're tired of the run-of-the-mill laptop bag, you might want one of these bags created by EthnoNetwork, an organization created by USAID to help women in villages find sources of income. I was asked to do some photos for them, and so this is one of their many beautiful products that you can see on their site above (not my photos on the site; this was a different project.)

ABC Wednesday "Z" is for "zebra crossing"

Some artist used his or her literal sense of humor to create zebra crossings in front and beside Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Dositej Obradović's museum downtown. I've noticed a couple of fancy crosswalks downtown, so perhaps I'll show you more.

Check out other Z's at ABC WEDNESDAY.

Summer's finally here and it's hot....

Summer's finally here and even the art is hot. Couldn't resist this very happy purple whatever, with steam coming out of his ears.

Peace, brother.

Lunch near Leskovac

Hungry? This is what my friend and I had for lunch in Southern Serbia, in a small village near the town of Leskovac, where a rostiljijada (ro-schteel-yee-ya-da) or grilled meat festival is held every year in September. I've said before , for example, right here that Serbs are big meat eaters. I'm not, but enjoy it from time to time.

Those are not scoops of vanilla ice cream flanking onions (another Serbian favorite), but rather balls of kajmak (ky-mak) that you can read about if you click on the "right here" link above. Also pictured are a pair of Serbian homemade sausages with serving of smoked pork and a grilled pepper, tomato, and garlic salad. And the warm, crusty bread.... Leskovac is known for its spicy cuisine, and you can see that instead of ground black pepper beside the salt and toothpicks on the table are red pepper flakes...

If you're interested in seeing more food from Eastern Europe, I've just added this blog to my blog roll.