Update

I know it's been awhile since I posted, but life has been hectic. I've had comments asking how we are doing and sad to say, not well.

My love and I separated a year ago and our divorce was final in May.

He still lives in my city, has a good job and an apartment. We are still friendly.
I would say the communication problem was our biggest one.

I often think of my time in Novi Sad, our friends and the good times. Thinking of these things make me sad and happy at the same time.

Several of our friends in Serbia have suffered from health problems and there have been deaths as well. Seems to be a lot of cancer. I can't help but wonder if our bombs or their own bombs from the various wars contribute to this.

This time in my life was precious and helped me grow as a person. We had our ups and downs and if I had stayed in Novi Sad we would probably still be together. The changes and pace of life in America were just too much. I became independent again and all of the things that American women are and he was overwhelmed by it. I ended up comparing him to an American man and that was unfair too.

If I had it to do all over again, would I? YES, but hopefully I would be gentler on my family and smarter about it all. And I would hope that I would slow down and savor the good things longer.

Welcome to the world of work

My love has gotten a good "starter" job at a local nationwide discount chain. This will give him the opportunity to work on his English and get out amongst people. He is such a friendly, people person that it has been hard for him to wait for his Social Security and green cards so he could work.

That wait is finally over.

He is able to walk to work - it's only about a 10 minute walk from here. He has the type of job where he will be trained in what to do and will have possible advancement to other positions.

In the previous weeks we have been enjoying our apartment, cooking at home almost everyday and going to some of the local festivals. Here is a photo of him and a new friend he made from a local TV station at the Mudbug Madness festival which celebrates the crawfish.



So, life goes on....we are happy and just working and getting settled here in America.

He is here!

My love is finally here in America with me. He flew in last Wednesday, due in large part to the efforts of Senator David Vitter and Congressman Jim McCreary's offices. I am so grateful to the staff of these true public servants.

This past week has been busy and I continue to look over at him in disbelief that he is really here with me.

When I met him at the plane a friend of mine from work and her husband came along and we waved big American flags and had a nice little greeting for him.

My son and he hit if off right away and I am very grateful for that. He is happy for us all to spend time together and that is so important to my son right now.

My love has spent some time doing a few "honey-do's" around the apartment and has been cooking for me. It's nice to have good Serbian food waiting for me when I come home.

In a few weeks he should have his Social Security card and Green card, so then he can get a job. He is not the type to just sit home. Right now we are just enjoying each other's company.

Thank all of you who were sending good thoughts our way. I am very happy!

Whiny,whiny,whiny

Well............ My love is all ready for his interview for his visa to come here. Only now the embassy is not scheduling interviews as people keep trying to BURN the damn place down!

No, really. They say it will be a month before they schedule him. This is such bull. I had hoped that things would move along and he would be here by the end of the month of March. But that was before the embassy had to close early every time there is a demonstration and before they had to go down to a skeleton staff.

I wonder if the people who do this vandalism realize how they hurt their own people? I wonder if they realize that blaming America for their problems is not going to help them in any way whatsoever as the last time I looked, Serbia was ruled by Serbians, elected by Serbians?

The good people of Serbia deserve so much better than all of this turmoil. I am truly sorry for anything that my country is doing to prolong any suffering. But, when you boil it down, anything that is going on in Serbia today is the result of bad governing internally over many,many years. Only the people there can solve this.

I just want my love here with me.

I Found It!

I found a job! A very good one, in fact with a major department store here in Shreveport. There are several ladies working there from Eastern Europe and Russia and I am so excited to meet and speak with them all.

I sent in the papers on Friday to bring my love here. These are the final papers,so as long as the embassy remains open things should move along quickly now. I hope and pray that he will be here by the end of March.

He says things are calm now in Novi Sad and I am so glad. I have been so worried about his safety. I still am. Things can change in the blink of an eye.

I truly love these wonderful Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian, Hungarian et al people that I have met there and pray daily for their safety and well being. I wish there was a way for this conflict to end and end permanently so that they could move on and prosper.

I will always treasure my time in their country and hope that when/if I return that I will find them all in good health and doing very well.

February Update

I'm still looking for that elusive job. I have all kinds of applications all over town in Shreveport and Bossier City. I pray that something opens up for me soon. I know the perfect job is out there, I just have to find it.

Things are tough here between my son and my ex. My ex says that my son is not helpful around the house and lies to him about his chores, etc. I want to help. I know it is hard for my ex to be full time mom and dad as well as work in his own business. I take my son on the weekends, but he goes to high school in Shreveport and I can't drive him back and forth on the weekdays and look for a job as well. Gas is anywhere from 2.80 to 3.00 a gallon and I can apply online for many jobs so that saves me a little.

The media is not helping with their gloom and doom reports on the news every night. They seem almost happy when the economic news is of a downturn in the markets or fewer jobs being created. After coming back from Serbia, I want to tell them what bad economic news really is.

I think this is typical of election years in the US. No matter what happens, we will have a new President. George Bush can't run again...he is out. That is the sure thing. The only questions now are which party will be in power in Congress and which party will the President belong to. The markets and employers are nervous, and the media wants to sell papers and advertising time by fanning the flames to make the story better...meaning more gloom and doom.

You know, the truth is, no matter who gets to be President or who runs Congress, the real power in the US is held in the beaucracies and those people are government employees who never leave...can't be fired, don't have to worry about layoffs like regular people. Others come and go, but they remain and they "write" laws through beaucratic policies and regulations, most of which are not subject to review or revision by anyone. The US will go on as it always has, these people have the power and they provide the continuity...for good or bad.

Update

Well, I haven't had any luck finding a good paying job in Longview, so I am now looking in my old hometown of Shreveport, LA.

Longview is such a great little town...friendly people, not a lot of traffic, clean, etc. Problem is, because it is a small town there is only one mall there and not many jobs available in the field I am interested in. Oh well.........

Please,guys, wish me luck! I am so ready to get to work and get my husband here to the US. It is so very hard to have a long distance relationship. I worry all of the time about him and he worries about me. I can't express the sadness, the loneliness and the misery of being away from him. We speak on the phone every few days, and we email constantly, but that is just enough to keep me from going completely nuts.

The only good in this is that I see my son now almost every weekend. He is my bright spot.

Greetings From Longview Texas

I am in Longview, TX now. I have been here for about 2 weeks. I am living with my parents...starting over. My husband is still in Novi Sad. We are waiting for papers from a former student of his who will co-sponsor him with me. I am also trying to find a job so that I can sponsor him.

I bought a little car and will be looking for an apartment for us soon. Everyone here has been very friendly and very helpful, so I feel good about making this our home.

It is nice to be close to my son. We have had two very nice weekend visits so far. He was at the airport to meet me, which was a surprise.

I spoke to my daughter, but have not seen her.

I miss my husband and my friends in Novi Sad. This is very hard. On the one hand, I know we can be happy in America. On the other hand, this is a slow process and I miss my husband terribly. I would not recommend to newlyweds that they be alone during the holidays.


I'm not sure what I will be doing for Christmas Eve. My parents will probably go to my ex's house to see my kids. I'm not invited. I may go to the local church here for Midnight Mass...I'm not sure. I know I will spend Christmas day with my parents, so that will be nice. My son will probably come spend a few days with me after Christmas.

Heading Home

This weekend I will be returning to American to get a job and an apartment and wait for my husband's visa to come through so he can join me.

There is something about this time of the year. Last year, I returned to America for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Hopefully, next year my husband and I will be together for Christmas. It is going to be hard to be without him.

I expect that this will be a challenge. I am going to live with my parents for a time. Just until I get a job, a little car, and an apartment. I plan to live in the Longview,Texas area.

Longview is a beautiful little town with plenty of retail stores where I can find work in management. When my husband comes, he should be able to find work as well.
We're also talking about opening a Martial Arts school.

We want to live and work in America and save money for our eventual retirement. We can't do that here. We hope to eventually return to the Novi Sad area. I would personally love to live in Čelarevo.

The political situation here continues to worsen. I haven't talked much about it because I frankly don't feel qualified to. I don't understand it. My American heart and soul rebells against what I hear and see on the news on a daily basis. It is incomprehensible to me how people can remain as leaders when they don't have the confidence and support of the people they are supposed to serve. Probably since they don't have to fear the ballot box, they can do as they please.

I love the people of this area, I only wish they had the opportunities and the life that they deserve. I'm sure some would say that I am being unfair, judgmental or imposing my "American ideals", but I have spoken to many people since I have come here and this is the impression they give me.

I appreciate the cyber-friends I have made since beginning this blog. When I get internet access, I will continue to update the blog with news. I will keep reading your blogs and hope that you read mine for as long as it interests you...

Please, wish us luck and if you pray, please pray for us.

St. Luke Slava

On Oct. 31, my new husband and I went to my Kum's house to celebrate his Patron Saint St. Luke's slava.

The slava is a Serbian Orthodox tradition. The family celebrates their Patron Saint every year. Each family has their own Patron Saint, taken from the father. A married woman will take the slava of her husband. This tradition has been called the heart of Serbia - it is specific to the country.

Everyone brings a gift. Usually, it is wine or liquor for the host and flowers for his wife. Flowers here are truly beautiful...huge blooms and wonderfully scented.

The family will invite their closest friends and relatives to this party and they feast on traditional dishes. The ceremony begins with the lighting of the slava candle and a prayer. The most important of the foods served are "slavski kolač"-"the slava cake" a yeasty bread that is served by bringing it to the table whole and then tearing it into pieces by hand and Koljivo (also called žito) which is made of boiled wheat flavored with ground walnuts, nutmeg and honey. The Koljivo is served in a bowl which is taken around to the guests on a tray with a small spoon for each guest. You make the sign of the cross and take one little spoonful of the Koljivo. You put your used spoon in a glass of water on the tray. Each guest is approached one at a time. Red wine and rakija (homemade brandy) are served to drink. Red wine symbolizing the blood of Christ.

At this particular slava, we ate sarma (minced meat, rice and spices in cabbage rolls) and a freshly roasted pig. The host's Kum was presented with the pigs head as a token of the respect he has for her:


The pigs head is considered a delicacy and is reserved for the guest of highest honor.

My Kum is not a particularly religious man, so there was no priest at this gathering. From what I understand, many people do have a priest conduct the service at their slava. My Kum's daughter lead the prayers and read from the Bible.

After these ceremonies were completed, it was time to eat, drink and be merry. Music is an important part of the Serbian culture. People here love to laugh and sing. There was even dancing in this small room with 12 guests!

When I was watching all of the goings on, I couldn't help but think of how similar it was to celebrations I've been to in Louisiana...particularly South Louisiana. When I lived in Shreveport, I often visited friends in Abbeville, New Orleans, etc. and good food, laughter, music and dancing are an integral part of those celebrations as well.
Of course, in Louisiana, we feast on crawfish and beer and dance to the Zydeco music of Clifton Chenier!

And the closeness of the family unit is also a part of both of these cultures. My Kum's son lives in Austria, but he made sure to call during the celebration to wish his father well and to send his regards to the guests.

All Souls/All Saints

This past Saturday we went to a large cemetery here in Novi Sad to visit my husband's parent's graves. This was in the midst of the All Souls/All Saints days celebrated by the Catholic and Orthodox communities.

I've never seen so many people at a cemetery in my life. There were cars parked on both sides of the main road as well as the side roads all around the cemetery. People made their own parking lots in the nearby fields.

Police were there to help with traffic flow around all of this.

In front of the cemetery gates, there are always people selling fresh flowers and candles. The flowers are gorgeous and the blooms are huge. This must be the best time of the year for the vendors....EVERYONE was handing over dinars.

We've been to the cemetery before. My husband regularly visits his parent's graves. From what I gather this is common here. I think it is very nice that the dead are not forgotten. In America, my deceased family members were buried far from where I was living, so visiting graves wasn't possible.

Inside the gates, there were people everywhere. On this particular holiday, people come and bring some food and drink to leave at the gravesites. I saw apples, loaves of bread, small cakes, etc. Some graves had only one or two mourners, others had large groups of people - whole families, I suppose.

We did what many people were doing: cleaning the gravestone, discarding dead flowers and replacing them with new ones, lighting candles and paying our respects.

There were some Roma kids in the cemetery, begging for money at the gates and riding their bikes among the gravesites. People here tell me that on this day, after people leave, they take the food that is left at the graves. If so, I guess it doesn't go to waste.

When people told me this, they weren't angry. It was more in the way of an accepted fact.

You may now refer to me as Mrs. I....

The day of our wedding was cold and rainy.

I was cleaning the apartment when his family arrived (30 minutes early!). My fiance was out taking the food to the place where the reception was being held, so I was alone. I got them all settled (not easy, since my Serbian is weak and their English is pretty much non-existent) and went ahead and changed into my "wedding clothes". I don't have any fancy things here so I just wore a black skirt and a white blouse. He wore his tux, but no tie, which was fine by me. I thought he looked very handsome.

They all had some drinks and then we went to the Novi Sad City Hall to be married. When we arrived, there were Roma out on the streets playing music on their instruments, attempting to drum up business. That's fine. But, there were also many of them out begging for money from everyone. They would come right up next to us, interrupting our conversations, and being quite obnoxious. After the wedding, when we were leaving, they practically followed us into the cars!

The place where the weddings are held is nice. It's a long hall with a red carpet on the floor and a large desk at the head where the Justice of the Peace (we would call it that in LA) and our translator stood. I had to have a translator, since I am American.

Our Kums and friends and family all marched up to the desk with us when the strains of the "Wedding March" began. Then we stood and the service began. The JP wore a sash in the colors of the Serbian flag and she performed the ceremony very nicely. Our translator gave me a copy of the ceremony in both Serbian and English. The whole thing took about 10 minutes.

Afterwards, we posed for pictures and then I threw the wedding bouquet. There were only two single women there. Here's a pictures of me and the woman who caught it:


I am very happy that Donna caught the bouquet. She is my husband's Kum's girlfriend and has always been very kind to me. She does my hair for me and when we travel for Martial Arts events, she always comes with us. She's a lot of fun.

Our reception was held at a friend's bar. It was a typical celebration for this part of the world with lots of drink, food, and singing. Later that evening, after we came home, my husband's friends from work came over for more food and drink.

The whole experience was very low key and comfortable. I've never been to a wedding performed by a Justice of the Peace in America, so I don't know if it would be the same. Since we are both older (I won't say mature) and this is not a first marriage for either of us, I think it was just perfect. The most important thing is that our friends and his family were there.

Seedlings

Just have a few short comments and observations to make. Things are really hoppin' around here with preparations for the wedding and other things that I will talk about soon.

1. Slackbastard has commentary on the Novi Sad Nazi/Antifascist rally held recently. He took the words right out of my mouth.

2. My home state of Louisiana has made history! A reformer with an actual history of reform has won the governor's election. This is exciting news for a state that always ranks at the bottom of every list of rankings for jobs, education, income, etc. Looks like all the talk about throwing the bums out after Katrina may actually happen.

3. I made my first batch of sarma all by myself yesterday. This dish is my favorite of everything I have tasted since being here. With the weather being cold and rainy, it is a perfect time for sarma.

4. I've been deep cleaning the apartment the past couple of weeks. One thing I have noticed is how watery the cleaners are here. When I squirt some cleaner onto my sponge, I have to make sure I am holding it level or it will drip off. Jeeze.

5. We went to this huge store on Friday night. It's called Mega Market and it really is mega. It has the same type of goods as our Super WalMarts back home...household, electronics, food, bakery, etc. We were able to find this tea that we love and have looked for everywhere. It's called "Red African Bush Tea" by Fructus and it is really good when you have an upset stomach. The box has a picture of a woman who is not wearing a top - I suppose she is supposed to be African, but she looks European with a nice tan. We call it the "Tea with the Big Boobies", ala "Allo, Allo" one of our favorite TV series.

A Ring and A Date

Our wedding is set for Oct. 28, 2007 - the day before my birthday. It's funny. Where I am from, people don't get married on Sunday. Here, it seems to be the busiest day.

We went last night and looked at rings. There is a street here in Novi Sad with jewelry stores one after another. Rings are priced together...the woman's and the man's.

We just walked down the street, going into each store in turn. We were looking for simple wedding bands and settled on one that is brushed with thin polished edges. I really like the ring and it's not too expensive. Some of the rings we looked at were over 300 Euro, which is quite out of our league - for that kind of money, I think there should be a diamond involved...haha.

We went to Novi Sad city hall after we got back from the American Consulate to turn in our papers to be married. The lady in the office there was very kind and efficient and got our papers in order and said that since this is an "international" marriage, I will receive a marriage certificate in English and in Serbian. I also must have someone there who is official to translate the ceremony for me. That's fine with me, I want to know what is said! This marriage will be legal in America.

She will perform the wedding. In Serbia, only civil marriages are recognized and they must be done in the city halls. The service takes 10 minutes, she said. There is a special room that the services are held in.

While we were in the city hall office, young couples came and went, scheduling their own weddings. When we were looking at rings, there were two other young couples doing the same thing. We kept running into them in the stores.

After the wedding, we will either come to our apartment for drinks, food and celebration or we may be able to rent a place in our building to hold this celebration. Depends on how much that will cost. There will be 12 of us altogether. In the meantime, I am doing some deep cleaning of our little place to be prepared.

Lots of people here have a church wedding after the civil ceremony. Since my love and I are both Catholics and this is the second marriage for each of us, we can't marry in the church. I don't want to get into all of that, but suffice it to say we are doing the best that we can with what we have. I feel blessed.

I spoke to my parents and both of my kids to let them know. It was very nice when I spoke to my daughter. I thought she would just hang up on me, but she didn't. We spoke for a few minutes. My love even said at one point, I laughed. I was so nervous and excited I don't remember much of what was said. It was very nice and again, I am grateful for answered prayers. There is still a long way to go, but at least there is a crack in the ice.

Quiet Sunday at Home

I'm staying home today....Nazis are marching in Novi Sad. Wow....what can I say?

I can't be smug. Back where I am from, the KKK used to march on occasion - all 10 to 20 of them. Most of us would drive by honking and give them the universal signal for a**holes. They were a joke, no power, just a holdover from a dismal past.

Nazis, on the other hand, are scary.

I DO know that a counter-demonstration is planned. Hopefully everything will stay peaceful.

1 Hour in America, 4 Hours in Belgrade

Our trip to Belgrade was fun. We left by train from Novi Sad at 8 and got in to Belgrade at a little after 9:30. Added on to the price of our train fare was 50 dinars for a little sticker affixed to our tickets for "Celebration of Children" week/month??? I don't know. No, it was not voluntary like that little box on the 1040 US tax form that you check to donate money for political parties. I figure some government official has a wife who dabbles in causes.

Anywho... We got to Belgrade and it was buzzing with activity. Lots of people walking and driving and heading everywhere fast. The part of Belgrade that I saw is like a mini-San Francisco. You walk uphill, you walk downhill. (My legs are still sore!) There were even functional trolley cars on the streets.

We had to head directly to the US Consulate. I had read that this place is considered US soil, so I was happy to be in the US for that hour.

I'm not a "my country - right or wrong" person, but I have to say that since I have been away from the US, I appreciate it so much more than I did. And, I have always loved my country. I miss it.

When we got to the Embassy, my fiancé was very hesitant about opening the door, he felt like we had to wait for someone to open it for us from the inside. I was like, let's go in! but, I deferred to him and soon someone came and opened the door to see what we wanted. As soon as I told him I was an American citizen and had an appointment he took my camera and my love's phone and got us through security quickly.

We sat in the waiting area of American Citizen's services with a couple of Americans, but mostly with people who were waiting to find out if they were going to get a Non-Immigrant visa to the US, for various reasons. I was a little irritated at the procedure that they used for these people. They call them by number to a little booth (like at a bank teller counter) and the consulate person is inside an enclosure and speaks to them through a microphone...forget privacy! The person who is requesting the visa doesn't have a microphone, thank God, but since some of the people spoke English, I could understand everything that was said. And for those that spoke only Serbian, the people in the waiting room could understand everything. I don't see why the microphone is needed.

When they called me, by name incidentally, there was no use of a microphone. The officer just spoke to me through the glass.
Now, why wouldn't that work for everyone???

Anyway, we got our business taken care of there, only had to wait about 45 min. and I got to read some old Newsweek magazines while I waited and had access to a clean bathroom with toilet paper and paper towels to dry my hands with. (You will not understand how much this meant to me unless you come here for a visit!)

As we left the Consulate, I stopped to take a picture of the outside, since it was the first time I had ever been to a Consulate or Embassy. As I snapped away, my fiancé was conversing with the guards out front. As we walked away, he told me that taking these pictures is forbidden, but when he told them I was a US Citizen, they said OK. OMG!

Afterwards, we had to go to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (hmmm....how appropriate) to get our documents stamped and pay our tax (fee) and I had to sign a big book. Everyone was friendly and wished us the best.

Finally, we had finished all of the work we had to do. I had no clue where the mysterious Commissary was, so we just decided to walk around and see what we could see in the time we had left before our train left. About a block away was one of those buildings you read about when you read about Belgrade being bombed. I had never seen a picture, so here goes:

It was very disturbing to see those images, but I also realized clearly that it was meant to be a surgical strike. This building was a military headquarters. There were all sorts of civilian targets nearby (it is a busy main street after all), so if killing civilians was the idea, it could have been done on a massive scale. Again, I'm not political, I'm just saying it obviously was a target, not just a place to drop a bomb. And yes, it upset me and made me ashamed...OK?

We walked on down the street and found a gorgeous park with beautiful flowers all around and as our walk continued we found a lovely area with a fountain and a reflecting pool. Here's the park:

We made a large circle and came to a really impressive building set up on a hill. My fiancé called it Capital Hill, because this building is the setting for important government meetings and such. Here's me on the steps of this huge building:

And here's a shot of the building itself:

It was a warm and sunny day so the walk was nice. We stopped by a pekara (bakery) on the way back to the train station and got a yummy, flaky bread with cheese inside and walked down the street grazing on it.

I slept most of the way back on the train and we got home to Novi Sad at 3:30. We'll go to the City Hall in Novi Sad early next week and turn all of this paperwork in so we can get married.

UPDATE: I posted the photos from the trip to my Flickr account.

To Belgrade on Friday

We have our appointment at the American consulate in Belgrade for this Friday morning. We will take the train in.

I read somewhere, on someone's blog (can't find it now, of course!) that there was some kind of commissary at or near the American consulate in Belgrade where one can purchase American groceries like Dr. Pepper, etc. Do any of you reading this know what I am talking about? Could you please leave me a comment with any info you have, like WHERE IS IT? I would love to visit this place while I am there.

Kum's Chosen!

Well, our Kum's (best men) are chosen and our wedding will happen shortly. The next few weeks will be very busy for us.

First, we have to go to the Consulate in Belgrade to get some documents notarized so I will satisfy Serbian legal requirements in order to marry my love and have this be a legal marriage that will be recognized by the US as well.

Then we take those documents to City Hall in Novi Sad. A couple of days later, we will be free to set the date and marry.

This is all very exciting. It will be the first time I will go to Belgrade other than at the crack of dawn to catch a plane, or arriving at the airport at the end of an 18 hour plane ride. All I've seen of it so far is the airport and the highway!

The concept of Kum is very interesting. It's a little like what we in America call a best man, but it is so much more. This is what I have been told and gathered from the locals: The best man is someone who is there for you forever. Not just the day of the wedding. The best man can be a man or a woman and the bride has hers and the groom has his. (I found my Kum almost as soon as I got here, but my fiancé just decided on his this past week.) In the most ideal situations, your Kum is a friend you can depend on for life.

I have had people tell me stories of their Kum coming to the rescue in health emergencies and helping them celebrate their children's births and marriages. I haven't seen my Kuma (maid of honor) in probably 25 years and have only recently re-established contact by email with her. In America, people move around so much. My Kuma lives in Arizona now.

Please send us your good thoughts, OK?

Grape Picking in Karlovci

On Saturday, we went to the "Grape Picking in Karlovci" festival held in Sremski Karlovci. This annual event is also the first festival I went to when I first came to Serbia in 2006. As a matter of fact, Saturday was the one year anniversary of my arrival!

As is the normal practice at these festivals, booths were set up for wine & rakija tasting, and for selling food, T-shirts, souvenirs, etc. There was also an area set aside for a carnival with rides for kids. I found these leather Serbian-style shoes particularly interesting:

Dancers representing the many ethnic groups in the area were present and performed on a large stage with live music. I had my picture taken with many of them. These young people are very talented and represent their country very well. Here's a couple of the pictures:
These are Serbian costumes:

These are Hungarian costumes:

Here's a group of Macedonian dancers getting ready to go onstage:

This is a group of Serbian dancers onstage:

But, this was my favorite costume and this is my favorite picture from the event. I call him "The Herder". I don't know where the costume comes from or what it means. If any of you out there know, please leave a comment! My fiancé was born and raised in Novi Sad, but doesn't always know the answers to my unending questions.

Several of the food booths were selling fresh roasted suckling pig. I just had to share this image with all of you. (PS - I wasn't the only one taking a picture of this!)

I'll post more pictures on my Flickr site later today. You can go there by clicking HERE It may take me a couple of days to get all of the labels on the pictures because I will have to get with my fiancé to identify some of the costumes and things.

Roasting Peppers - The Easy Way

This is the time of the year when the locals buy bags of red peppers to roast and enjoy in the fall/winter months. A friend of ours told me an easy way to do this and I wanted to share the method with you. (We don't have a grill which is what lots of people use, so we needed another way.)

First, you just go and buy how ever much of fresh red paprika that you want. Wash them and dry them thoroughly and put them on a baking sheet or pan:

Turn your oven to it's highest heat and let it preheat. After it is ready, put the pan full of peppers inside and cook them until they are bubbly and cooked to where there is some black on them. My oven goes to 250C and it took about 20-30 min for my peppers. Don't open the oven during this process unless you must. Here's the finished product:

Now carefully remove the peppers from the oven and the baking sheet with tongs or something. Put them into a plastic bag, close it and let them cool. You'll have to pick them up with your hands to pull the skins off, so they really need to cool.
When they have cooled, they will look like this:

Now comes the fun part. Cut the stem of the pepper off and peel the skin away. It should come off rather easily, but if you need to, use a knife to help it along. You can keep the seeds, or discard them...whatever you like. You can keep the peppers whole (more authentic, I think) or cut them into slices. Here's what that process looks like:

For the final step, put your peppers into a bowl and add chopped fresh garlic, a little oil and vinegar and a little salt. Mix it all up and refrigerate it for a couple of hours to let it marinate. I like to refrigerate overnight and enjoy them the next day. As you can see, I like mine garlicy, too. No problem with vampires in our apartment!

These are great as a side dish, which is the way the locals have served them to me. I think they are fantastic on sandwiches or added to salads.

I don't know how long they will keep, as we eat them all in one day, but I would imagine it is best to eat them in a couple of days since they are fresh and have no preservatives.
Isvoljeti! Prijatno!