Slavic Feast!

Going back earlier last week I hosted a dinner celebrating Slavdom with courses from the Southern Slavs (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia), the Western Slavs (Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia), and the Eastern Slavs (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus). For three days I ran around to various Russian and Polish markets and cooked for hours on end in preparation. In the end I think it went splendidly, and I was surprised at how much people enjoyed the food (or at least how much they consumed). Let's recap the courses!

First Course (South Slavic)
шопска салата - Bulgarian feta, tomato, roasted red pepper, cucumber, and onion salad
ајвар - Macedonian spicy red pepper spread
burek - Bosnian meat and cheese phyllo pastries
pašteta - Croatian pork pâté
пълнени чушки със сирене - peppers stuffed with Bulgarian feta

Second Course (West Slavic)
bigos - hearty hunter's stew with cabbage, mushrooms, apples, tomato, pork, sausage, and bacon
buraki z boczkiem - beet salad with bacon
pierogi ruskie - Ruthenian pierogi with potato, cheese, and onion filling
kiełbasa -fried Polish sausage
ogórki kiszone - homemade pickles
sałatka rosyjska - Russian vegetable salad

Third Course (East Slavic)
naleśniki z serem / блинчики с сыром - crêpes with sweet cheese filling
Шармэль - chocolate-covered marshmallow
сливы и миндаля торт - Plum and Almond Tart (note: poor translation into Russian)


Beverages
srpska šljivovica / српски шљивовица - Serbian plum brandy
българска ракия -Bulgarian grape brandy
Żubrówka - Polish bison-grass vodka
Столичная - Russian vodka
Żywiec - Polish lager
Pivovar Zlaty Bazant -"Golden Pheasant" Slovak Lager
Staropramen -Czech "premium" beer
Okocim~Leżajsk~EB~Warka -Assorted Polish beer
sok jabłko mięta - apple mint juice
сок клюквы и землянки - cranberry and wild strawberry juice
сок клюквы, черники, голубики и ежевики cranberry, bilberry, blueberry, and blackberry juice
квас - fermented rye beverage

Cape Weekend with the Fam

This past weekend was spent at my family friends' house in Chatham where my family was staying for two weeks. Since I leave in a mere 19 days this was the last time to see them before departing. Really I'm only going a month longer than usual since I'll be seeing them next at Christmas as opposed to Thanksgiving. Nonetheless it was a teary goodbye for my mother. After work on Friday Christopher picked me up for what ended up being a 3 hour ride down thanks to traffic. We sat about for and chatted before heading to Clancy's for dinner, a place on the bass river we have frequented when we're up there. Well the 2 hour wait put an end to that, so we instead headed to Dennis for dinner at Ebb Tide, another favorite place. It was a very nice dinner and very comfortable with Chris there - he mentioned that for the first time it felt like he was just chilling with them as opposed to "getting to know them". I was quite satisfied with my Scallops, as was Chris with his crabmeat stuffed salmon. We stopped at the liquor store on the way home for some port and this chocolate wine my Mom had enjoyed a few years ago before a riveting game of Balderdash .

The next morning Chris left wicked early so he could beat the traffic to Rhode Island, where he was meeting his family at their house. I enjoyed three hours of coffee and getting work done before we finally made it to breakfast at Grumpy's, another favorite. I thought I'd start out with something light and got the homemade corn beef hash benedict. The next few hours were spent at Crow's Pasture, this off-the-beaten-path beachfront we had discovered a few years ago. In order to reach it you need 4 wheel drive and drive down this bumpy-ass puddle-filled road down to the beach. We are used to being the only people there, but apparently that's not the case anymore and many people were there with their jeeps and trucks driving on the sand. We walked in the shallow water picking up crabs and shells and whatnot for an hour or so before heading back. Next stop was the Cape Code Museum of Natural History, another favorite destination. There are a bunch of exhibits of all of the Cape's wildlife and whatnot, then a nature preserve going down to the water. After another few hours of sun and exploring we set out for an early dinner at the Lobster Claw where I had - lobster! - and also a really tasty red ale from Maine, "Lobster Ale". The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at the house, with an additional excursion to get ice cream around 9. Unfortunately I was slightly underwhelmed with my butter pecan. **Sigh**

Sunday was the day we designated as our "beach day" and naturally it was overcast and a little cooler than normal. Nonetheless we stuck to the plan and headed to Harding's beach in Chatham after some delicious spinach and cheese and ham and swiss croissants from Marion's pie shop. The water at the beach was nice and warm, but once you got out all the wind made you feel like you'd get pneumonia. Still had a nice time and got a bunch of reading done. Lunch was at Guapo's, this new "Mexican" place my parents found and had really enjoyed fish tacos at. They were really nice and had huge chunks of lightly fried cod in a creamy lime sauce. Got ice cream again - this time "Red Velvet", which seemed to be a sweet cream ice cream with chunks of red velvet cake in it. Delish! Sadly it was then time to drive up to P-Town where I was catching my 7:30 ferry back to Boston. My entertainment for the 90 minutes was the psychotic mom and children with their whippet next to me. Highlights included the girl on the phone with her father asking for a new mommy, and the boy lifting up the dog's tail and sniffing it and sticking his finger in it. Awesome! Mind you these kids were perhaps 10 and 13, not like toddlers.