my brother has recently spent a few days with us here in ljubljana :) it was a trip of firsts for him: first time in a foreign country, first flight, first time eating mexican nachos, ćevapčići or krofs… and first carnival in venice!
being the right time of the year and so close by, we couldn’t pass the opportunity of taking him there. so we left ljubljana, bright and early on a 2am train and then… we walked and walked and walked, just taking it all in. venice is incredibly crowded but i think it is also a really happy place. the carnival feels a lot more solemn than we’re used to (which is refreshing), but it retains quite a bit of its colourful aura. we had a great day, enjoyed the sun and took a ton of photos of little things we liked.
best costume in our book went to a guy dressed like ezio in assassin’s creed II. joão had spent half the morning commenting at how familiar everything in venice looked from the game, and how realistic it was, and “i climbed this and that building in the game!”, blablabla and then out of nowhere we see this guy and whoa! talk about a perfect moment! :)
Author: ana
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cockta!
cockta is one of those things that you have to try in slovenia. for a while we were curious about it… it looked a bit like a fake cola – would it taste the same?
so one day we brought some home from the supermarket to try. and whoa! i actually like it a lot! reminds me of the kind of syrups parents give to children when they’re sick: sweet and herbal, evocative of medicine but with bubbles! very nice. paulo disagrees and prefers to drink multisola :)
from wikipedia, i learnt it was invented in the 50s by emerik zelinka of slovenijavino, in his research for an original slovenian beverage. it’s made of rosehip, lemon, orange and lots of different local herbs. the design of the logo and unique bottle was made by architecture students.
all in all, a genuine slovenian drink!
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an ode to the slovenian krofi
some months ago, the company i work for got mentioned on the newest tim ferriss book, the 4 hour body. i’ve gotta say, i’m not mr. ferriss biggest fan, so i looked it up, confirmed the quote, and forgot about it.
but then some weeks later, someone else mentioned it and i actually started to read it. the first few chapters are about nutrition and weight management, which peaked my interest a bit – especially after the semi-disastrous results on our xmas blood tests… definitely not a bright idea, going for blood tests on the end of the xmas holidays, after feasting on portuguese delights for weeks. *sigh*
anyway, mr. ferriss’s approach to weight loss is rather simple: avoid food that will produce sugar peaks and trigger fat storing mechanisms in your body. he doesn’t say “count all the calories and eat less” – he says “eat as much as you want, from the right stuff”. that’s it. basically, lots of protein, veggies, fat from the right things, and specific carbs that are digested slowly (hence the name, the “slow carb diet”).
he doesn’t explain things very thoroughly though, which irritates me quite a bit, so i started researching all about glucose levels, insulin responses, ketosis… things started to slowly make sense, so we decided to give it a go. fast forward 4 weeks, and i’m quite a bit lighter than i’ve been in years, so something must be working! :)
the best part of it all is the fact that you are encouraged to cheat on the diet once a week, so that your body doesn’t go into ‘saving energy’ mode. this, to me, is what makes this diet stick. i eat within rules during the week and then, on our cheat day (we affectionally call it DoD, the ‘day of disaster’), we go crazy… very literally! i get vivid sugar rushes from all the sweet stuff we eat! :D
which is where the mighty krofi comes in: it’s our favourite breakfast food on cheat days! :D why eat bread or cereal when we could eat berliners with chocolate or jam for breakfast?
they’re delicious, especially on the chocolate version and remind us of the portuguese bolas de berlim, without the egg filling. krofis are especially popular around carnival – last year on carnival we went to a printer shop to print some flight tickets and the owner wanted to give us a few krofi for the road! :D
they’re unmissable year-round, proudly displayed in bakeries all around the country. definitely a must try!
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pretty trimmings
i have a growing obsession with trimmings and small, nice decorative details on buildings. do you ever notice them? they’re like candy for the eyes, or the syntactic sugar of construction! :)
more of that, please!
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čevapčiči
čevapčiči was the only balkan dish we had heard of before going to slovenia, a recommendation from the mother of a friend who had fond memories of it, many years after having visited the country. it’s a simple dish, meaty & greasy, and a mess to eat, but oh so good!
it consists of minced meat, shaped into small sausage-like bits and grilled. there are several variations of the dish: the slovenians serve it with warm lepinja (flat pocket bread), onions and delicious kajmak (clotted cream). we prefer the pola-pola version that harambaša serves, with 5 čevapčiči and 2 sausages: 
grab a piece of lepinja, slather it with the creamy kajmak, stick a piece of čevapčiči in it, and enjoy! (for extra slovenian points, wash it down with some cockta or the local laško!)
harambaša is on vrtna ulica 8, ljubljana.