The study strike is over!!

Yeah, I finally began to study today for the first time in days.  I was really unmotivated for a number of reasons.  But mostly because I'm a lazy miserable homesick brat.  It's the fourth of July tomorrow, and all my family is telling me there fun plans, and I'm so jealous.  I wish I could go to the barbeque with everyone, but I can't this year.  I'll say, I never really appreciated family gathering so much in the past, but I guess I'm starting to get a little sentimental as I approach my 30's.  Anyways, I've kept busy during my strike.

I baked a cherry pie:

I made my first Зелник со сирење (Pastry with cheese):

I discovered the mysterious hssss that made my husband think the a/c was broken.  After some investigating, it turns out that one of my canned cherry jars didn't make it and started to leak and release gas.  That was the hsss'ing sound.  Well, dummy that I am, decided to help release the gas, so that I could throw away the bad cherries and the jar exploded all over my kitchen.  I had cherries at least 4 feet from the crime scene.  In an attempt to hide the evidence of my housewife failure, I decided to clean the entire apartment from top to bottom.

Which was rather convenient, because afterwards, my husband called and told me that we would be entertaining guests that evening.  Which I did so, very successfully.  I say that, because I've had some rather terrible experiences in the past with entertaining Macedonians.  Like for example, not standing up and greeting the guests at the door, not walking the guests to the door or car at the end of the night, not making sure their drinks were full, not making enough food, or not having some sweet to serve with coffee, etc... And I heard about it from the husband or his mother.  I kind of developed a phobia when guests come over because of the damn formalities.  But this time, I decided that I wasn't going to pretend I was some native Macedonian housewife. Rather, an American who choose to live in Macedonia, that keeps a average clean house, is not working at the moment, is somewhat polite, and will make and serve food if she feels like it.  And it just so happened that I was in the mood for making food, and so I did.  My house was clean enough (actually cleaner than usual, due to the event that occurred earlier that day), I kept the drinks full as best as I could, and the our very small living room table didn't have an ounce of room for more food.  My husband was so pleased at the end of the night, and so was I.  But mostly, for not freaking out because I'm not perfect.  I mean, who set the damn standards in this country for hospitality anyways???  I think even Emily Post herself would struggle here.

Macedonian Zucchini Burger Recipe

Just a week ago, my grandfather was complaining that there were no zucchini and that he wanted to pull up the plants because they were taking up so much space and not producing any fruit.  Well, one week later look what happened.

I started with 11, but I gave away 5 and used one for dinner, and this is what's left.  That tiny little dot is a quarter. All from only 4 plants.  I don't understand how they can grow this fast, especially when last week they were only flowers.  

Anyways, I discovered a new way to cook them, zucchini burgers.  They are so good, and great for a non-meat meal.  I made them tonight and my family loved them.

Serves 4 people.

Ingredients:

• 800 grams zucchini
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 medium onion
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 2 heaping spoons of flour
• ground black pepper
• 1 cup of Italian bread crumbs

Preparation:
1.  Wash, peel, and grate zucchini.  Add salt and leave for a few minutes and then drain the water.  (It helps if you squeeze them out by hand).
2.  Finely chop onion and parsley, add to grated zucchini.  Add flour, eggs, black pepper, and
bread crumbs.  Mix well and make small burgers. (I find that if you shape them into balls first and then press them down once they are in the pan, it helps keep the mixture from separating.)
3.  Fry in preheated oil.

Enjoy!!

Language Journal 1, and Recipe for Stuffed Zucchini

I have new motivation for studying Macedonian.  I was recently contacted by this woman in North Carolina, who has asked me to keep a journal of my language studying.  So, since I already have a blog, I figured I will just make small posts each day on my progress.

Today, as usual, I studied 30 minutes of the Book2 English-Macedonian, which I programmed into Anki, which is a digital flashcard program.

I didn't get a chance to speak Macedonian with anyone today, but I did watch one of my favorite cooking shows.  I think that should count for something, since the entire show is in Macedonian.



I don't remember the cook's name, but she a really pretty woman with black hair.  She used to have  a cook book for sale on Amazon, but I can't find it anymore.  It doesn't matter, I only wanted to give a reference.  But today she was making stuffed zucchini.  Which looked extra amazing, and I so want to try this one, since I'm growing zucchini in the garden at the country house.  It's really easy, and if your interested here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 zucchini
• 3 or 4 fresh tomatoes
• 1 finely chopped onion, 
• 500 grams ground beef, 
• 1 tsp. vegeta, 
• 1 tsp. salt, 
• 1 tsp. (trienna sol???) I need to find a translation for this. But it is a salt that smells like curry,
• 1 tbs. ground red pepper,
•  pinch of black pepper,
•  handful of rice, 
•  3 or 4 cups of boiling water,
•  handful of chopped parsley,
• 2 or 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic,
• olive oil or sunflower oil,
• large frying pan,
• casserole dish

1.  Remove the center of the zucchini, but not all the way through, just enough to put the mixture in.
2.  Over medium heat, cook onion until soft, about 5 minutes, add the ground beef, cook until no longer pink, than add vegeta, salt, trienna salt, red ground pepper, black pepper, and rice. Cook for a few more minutes.
3.  Place the ground beef mixture in the zucchini.
4.  Chop up 2 or 3 tomatoes (depending on the size of casserole dish, you just want to have a even layer on the bottom), and add to casserole.  Add to the top a pinch of vegeta, salt, and olive oil or regular cooking oil.
5.  Add stuffed zucchini to casserole.  In between the zucchini, add parsley and garlic.  Add boiling water to each stuffed zucchini, and fill the casserole about half way.
6.  Then add a slice of tomato to the top of each stuffed zucchini.
7.  Bake in a preheated oven 200C or 375F for 30-45 minutes.

Serve with a vegetable salad, hot pepper, and kiselo mleko (cottage cheese, I think??)

Enjoy!!!!

Ajvar: National food of the Republic of Macedonia

Ajvar, is a traditional meal of Macedonia.  It is a savory roasted red pepper dish found across the Balkans, usually prepared closely to fall, the peak harvest time for red peppers. Family cooks roast batch after batch of the colorful vegetables, making plenty of ajvar for their winter pantry. The smoky and tangy spread and sunflower oil, can be a bright garnish for a dish of grilled meats, paired with Mediterranean salads, or simply devoured on a piece of fresh bread.

If you don't want to spend an entire day making this you could always buy it Ajvar commercially made, but it won't taste as good. 

Links to Ajvar pre-made:

• Podravka Mild Ajvar 690 gram jar 
• Podravka Hot Ajvar 690 gram jar 
• Ajvar Mild (Jadranka) 690g (23.6 oz) 

Musaka (Мусака со компири) Beef and Potato Casserole Recipe

Musaka Background:
This recipe is one of the Family favorites!! From what I've been told, it's a Turkish recipe.  Turkey has influenced Macedonian culture in many ways. This recipe is easy to make, inexpensive, and full of flavor.

Prep Time:
20 Min

Cook Time:
30 Min

Ready In:
50 Min

Serves 4 people