Pitted Fruit and Water
Posted by Margarete on Jun 08
Cherry season is almost here (though it might be delayed due to all the heavy rain). Cherry trees can be found all across Slovakia. In fact, you have to know two words: čerešňa – cherry, and višňa – black cherry or sour cherry. I remember the first year I was teaching and students would bring me large bags of cherries. My teacher roommate and I could never finish them, even after making cherry cobblers and pies.
There are many recipes for koláč using cherries. I posted a basic fruit cake recipe here in the past. Of course you can always eat cherries as they are, freshly picked, but if you reach for a glass of water don’t be surprised if a Slovak vigorously warns you against taking a drink.
We’re back home in California after 7 weeks in Slovakia. We had a wonderful time, but of course it’s always nice to come back home.
My husband’s grandpa gave him a bottle of homemade palenka. I wasn’t sure exactly how to describe palenka so I looked it up in Wikipedia:
Nut-roll koláč is probably the most commonly-known Slovak dessert. For me it had become a mountain to climb and conquer. Why? Making good koláč is not easy, at least it’s not easy for me. To get the dough just right you have to know what you are doing and that takes experience. Additionally, any time you are dealing with yeast things get exponentially more complicated. For me the risk that my entire attempt may be sabotaged by uncooperative yeast always looms.
It’s that time of year when the Christmas markets around Europe are starting. In the five years I lived in Slovakia, I’ve visited vianočné trhy – Christmas markets in Bratislava and Nitra but almost all the larger towns and cities will have one, usually from the weekend beginning with Advent until December 24th.
Many people who navigate to this Website do so searching for information on what are the average costs for items in Slovakia today. The best way to find that information is to do a little shopping of course. Even though the cost of goods and services is fluid and prices change all the time, I wanted to provide this information for those who are planning to spend time in Slovakia and are curious about budgeting.
Vianočka is a common yeast bread in Slovakia. It is a braided bread, slightly sweet, and eaten often at breakfast time. Vianočka is available in just about any grocery store in Slovakia. It is so common in fact, that I’ve never seen or heard of any Slovak baking it at home. Why would you bake a basic bread if you could just pick up a loaf at your local market?
If you spend time with Slovaks, sooner or later you will gain first-hand experience with tvrdý alkohol – hard alcohol. Typically, it could be connected with a toast on a special occasion, or some type of home-made schnapps could be on hand as a drink of choice of people you are spending time with.
Guláš stews are common in the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. What exactly is guláš? (gulyás – Hungarian spelling; goulash – English spelling) Broadly defined, guláš is a hearty, paprika-based dish that originated in Hungary. In Slovakia, the most common types of guláš are segedínsky guláš and perkelt, which is also a meat stew, usually served along with a pasta or with dumplings.
One kind of ovocný koláč – dessert fruit cake that I sampled several times in Slovakia was for a basic vanilla-flavored cake that could be topped with whatever kind of fruit you may have on hand. In the summer this recipe is popular because fruit and berries are readily available, particularly those that have ripened in people’s gardens.
