tUESDAY tUNES: I WISH

tuesday tunes: Marcus Canty dos Michael Jackson's I wish ... Hope he is still bringing down the roof with his talent. Bobby Brown reincarnated...

I Wish

MONDAY MUSINGS: THE HILLS Of CROATIA...

MONDAY MUSINGS: The Wisconsinites and I had a day and a half to ourselves at the beginning and end of our visit to Croatia.   

This European journey began in the city of Dubrovnik, where we would embark on our yacht the second afternoon. So we had time to orient ourselves to this beautiful seaside city.

We rode the cable car up Mount Syd for the best city views. 

            Pretty magnificent, right? 

A bit blustery, but we warmed up with our first toast with a spectacular view and had my first of many lemon drinks- 

 a limoncello with a sprig of rosemary and berries ,,,

You realize Italy lies across that body of water, right?

Some young men were even playing hacky sack with apparently little concern for losing their hacky sack ball/ one of their group over the edge..

Dubrovnik started as a small settlement in the 7th century. Then in the 14th-19th century, it grew into the independent Republic of Ragusa, with its own government and laws, a maritime power, trading with the Mediterranean. 

A massive earthquake destroyed Ragusa but it was rebuilt in 1667. After being Yugoslavia, it became Croatia, suffering the damage from fighting for its independence in the early 90's. Evidence still remains of this destruction. 

Heading down to the old city, a myriad of roof tiles with interesting chimney covers and stonework- a lot of stonework...

Rocks are used everywhere on all the islands we would visit as walls, houses, streets, paths, floors...

The old city awaited us below and we would wander and our dinner reservations were sitting by the water. Of course, I ordered fish: sea bream and a local glass of wine.   

That's our restaurant with the curved roof on the right...

These two lovebirds at the restaurant welcomed us to Dubrovnik and told us to go for the walk to get a bird's eye view,,, It was definitely on the agenda for day 2. 

What a wonderful beginning to our adventure! 

Stay tuned ...

                                                                                          

    

FOTO FRIDAY:RAIN,RAIN GO AWAY

FOTO FRIDAY: ENOUGH already. We were forewarned about 2 weeks of rain but we are saturated. 

Look what fell from the neighbor's yard!

18ft long 5" in diameter. 

All can be fixed and no one was hurt.

Last week's pic was STICKERED

MIDWEEK MUSINGS:MOMS KNOW BEST/MIND YOUR STEP

MIDWEEK MUSINGS: Our Moms imprint us with many lessons and one specific teaching keeps serving me well, and that's the importance of wearing good shoes. You know, shoes that provide good support and are appropriate for the occasion, especially walking on all types of terrain.

My computer reminded me that I had more than tripled my steps both in Costa Rica and Croatia. Hills galore and a lot of stairs especially in Croatia.

Our first condo in Dubrovnik had 192 steps out the back door when we wanted to go down to the old city... Can you imagine schlepping groceries up them?

I  finally decided to count them our last trek back up them. Even if I doubted my precision, I wouldn't be willing to recount them. It was safer to take them over the narrow winding road with pin curves, not really enough room for walkers. 

AND there were more stairs when one reached the old city...

Thank goodness I had brought two pairs of walking shoes, Merrills that could get wet, and the other was leather 'grandma' looking ones. They served me well in addition to some slippers for the long plane ride, Teva sandals for walking the beach, water ( sea urchins!) and around the pool/ hot tub. 

Accidents can happen regardless, and we had 2 amidst us that wiped out- one on sidewalk stairs and another on an uneven stone boardwalk. Luckily, no hospital visits required, and just bruised bodies and egos. 

Remember Mom knows best- Wear the best footwear for the journey wherever you are headed...

TBT: ASIAN WHITE HOUSE CHEFS

 TBT: Last week in spite of jetlag, I attended the Clinton Library's talk given by both Adrian Miller and via Zoom his co-author Deborah Chang re: their collaboration of writing Cooking to the Presidents Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History." 

Both authors met when they attended Stanford while working towards becoming  lawyers, not cookbook authors.

Years later at a dinner party the two crossed paths again and both left law to collaborate on this book.

Amiable and quick-witted Adrian found another passion in researching as a lawyer and it was Deborah who asked him to collaborate in writing about food, specifically food prepared by Asian Chefs in the White House. After all, he had been a judge in a Bar-B-Q cookoff! She had grown up in her parents' restaurant business. He handled the history and research while Deborah tested and developed all 60 recipes in the book. 

Through the years, many ethnic cooks have graced the White House kitchen, yacht, and Camp David cooking for our Presidents, especially Asian chefs. Chinese chefs like Ah Loy for Roosevelt, Harry Truman had a favorite Filipino chef, Lee Ping Quan, who cooked for Harding and Coolidge in addition to Shiro Tsurusaki. Filipinos like Ireno Esperancilla served Hoover through Eisenhower, and later Filipina Cristeta Comerford ran the White House kitchen from 2005- 2024 for 5 presidents. Right now, the executive chef is Thai American, Tony Kurpradit.

 The night's attendees were treated to a yummy chocolate chip cookie in addition to recipes both in this book and others by Adrian  Miller. 

I am so glad Miller and Chang collaborated, and I was privy to hear about their work!

tUESDAY tUNES:

Silente is  a a pop-rock band from Dubrovnik, Croatia which appeared in 2012. In its earlier years the band was known as 'Silent' (2006-2012).

We saw their stage being assembled our first day in the Old City and then that night SILENTE'S sound more than wafted up to our condo above the square.It was anything but silent... Towards the end of their concert,the crowd sang along to their most popular song. Below are the lyrics in a rough translation to read while you listen to the song...

: Terca Na Tirišinu  

The concert continued until almost midnight. My condo-mates slept through it all. I wish I could have fallen asleep but the rewards were to to hear the sing along at the end of the concert and not have to stand amidst all their fans...

Third in Silence

Chorus:

Don't make a single sound

And I will compose a third* 

I'll propose until you say ''yes''

I will invite people

You'll take care of the wine

First wedding without music

Only third in silence

You rule the air

And I will rule the ground

Don't make a single sound

And I will compose a third* in it

I'll propose until you say ''yes''

I will invite people

You take care of the wine

First wedding without music

Only third in silence You rule the air

 

I shine like a new moon

The east is resting in me

I admit, I'm responsible

For the mess in your eyes

Among your Russian writers

You're looking for someone like me

I read everything in your freckles, freckles

that look like the stars

You sleep in the skies

I will wander the world

Let's meet somewhere in the middle

Let's meet where your clouds

and my hills meet

Let's meet since your freckles and

my wrinkles already greet each other.

MONDAY MUSINGS: EXPANDING ONE'S GASTRONOMIC PALATE

MONDAY MUSINGS: Travel can not only help one see magical places but also experience new foods. I just returned from a WONDERFUL two weeks, one of those spent upon a small yacht that would visit a fraction of the over thousand islands that make up the country of Croatia.

Below is our main itinerary on our small yacht which only had 16 passengers for their initial trip of the season. Yes, 16! Couples from Australia, Chicago, St Louis, Seattle, Russellville (ironically Arkansas) 

 

                                    our group of 5 from La Crosse and yours truly from Little Rock.

Every day our cruise director would handwrite our day's itinerary and we could snap a picture to keep track of the day's plans and dinner suggestions. 

European breakfast bar and lunch most days would be aboard the Diamond, our recently renovated craft of the Zantium fleet. 

Dinner was always on our own, except for the Captain's Dinner., a lovely meal and dance party!

I actually tried the cheese-filled burek 

Sampling local cuisine including treats of both savory and sweet baked goods.

Burek (l)and pistachio-filled croissants, cardamon rolls, etc...

Since we were surrounded by water, seafood was a must and I tried the gamete. 

All sorts of risotto although my fave was Black risotto with cuttlefish. 

Sea bream cooked various ways, salmon, octopus salad, scorpion fish and all sorts of shellfish that had never passed my lips before.

Popular desserts including European gelato, tiramisu, custards, mousses, cakes, etc... 

Yummy fresh food every day. ..

I could get used to a Mediterranean diet for sure.