I had a different blog post planned, a twist on a traditional Slovak dish. On Monday I sat down to upload my photos from my external hard drive and…nothing. Click to continue reading
Since I first saw this woman, I’ve wanted to photograph her. I originally noticed her because she is one of the few women in my husband’s hometown who still wears traditional dress to church. I was also captivated by her pleasant and peaceful demeanor. You know when you meet someone and they have that light in their eyes? She is one of them. Click to continue reading
Despite the abundance of walnut trees in Slovakia, both feral and domestic, walnuts are still a precious commodity. Cracking the shells by hand is tedious and difficult work. Once I cleaned a couple kgs of walnuts to sell; by the end the tips of my fingers were reduced to shreds. At least, that’s what it felt like.
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While this winter has been unusually cold in North America, over here in Slovakia it has been particularly mild. To some people, a mild winter might be a relief. To me, it means grey skies, grey trees, grey mud. Grey. Winters like these are the reason I painted my living room yellow. Winters like these make me miss Canadian Rocky Mountain winters of crisp temperatures, dazzling snow, and bluebird skies. When I tell people I enjoy -10C (14F) they look at me like I am crazy. I also cement ideas people have of Canada being the land of snow and ice. I protest, however, that it is completely different when the air is dry. When it is humid, as it is here, barely freezing temperatures seep into the bone and make it feel much colder than it is.
Sometimes I come up with an idea that I think is genius, like putting molasses in a smoothie. Then I google pumpkin gingerbread smoothie, to see if anybody is as brilliant as I am. A lot of people are, it turns out. Even if I’m not so special after all, my recipe is not quite the same as any I found. This is simpler: fewer ingredients mean less work, in my opinion.