Divan dan journal

Where are you and where are you going?
sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by sky »

Welcome

I had my appendix removed in Sarajevo, after drinking turkish coffee in a downtown cafe. The hospital bill was $18 and some cents.

I recently started playing guitar again, after buying a $40 guitar from craigslist. Doing a youtube search on "[name of song] guitar lesson" gives excellent results.

Divandan
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Divandan »

Hi Sky! I have made the mistake of having turkish coffee quite late at night and being up all night as a result (and I have a pretty high tolerance for caffeine).

Yep Youtube is great. I can play every song with chords right away but am interested mostly in Romani (gypsy) and Gypsy Jazz. Having a teacher accelerates my progress quite a bit because him showing me something in 20 seconds would probably take me weeks or months to potentially figure out myself.

Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

Dobrodošli! I spent a few months teaching English to a Bosnian family who'd recently immigrated to the US, during my last semester in college, but I'm guessing that wasn't you. Regardless, welcome! With a significantly positive net worth you're certainly light years ahead of where I was at 32.

Divandan
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Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Divandan »

Hvala Hristo! Unless it was in the early to mid 90's in Philly and it was for my grandparents it probably wasn't my family. Looking forward to being a part of this community!

Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

Late 90s in the midwest; oh well. Shortly thereafter I spent a couple years living in the Balkans, and one of the items on my very long list of ERE-inspired DIY skills to learn is to make rakija at home (though I recently learned that's probably illegal). I'm already somewhat competent at making Turkish coffee at home, which I don't believe is illegal yet.

Divandan
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Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Divandan »

Rakija and Sliva both taste like acetone to me and whenever a friend wants to take a shot of it I cringe!

What countries did you vist and where was your favorite? (I have traveled extensively throughout the whole region)

Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

I lived in Bulgaria for 2 years (hence my username), and visited all of the countries in the Balkans and much of the rest of E. Europe, as well as Turkey (well, Istanbul). I have to say Bulgaria is my favorite cuz I'd get in trouble if I didn't. But apart from BG I'd go with Croatia. But I was very much amazed by the time I spent in Sarajevo; it's a beautiful city--I'd be interested to see how it's changed 20 years later.

Crusader
Posts: 342
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:16 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Crusader »

Welcome! Your username reminded me of this cute little song that I listen to regularly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpznKoo ... E-Playband

:)

Divandan
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Divandan »

@Hristo- I do think Bulgaria has the best Ajvar and Sarajevo is a beautiful city but that whole region is rather complicated :)

@Crusader- Nice to meet you virtually! I've never heard of that song before but it is quite catchy!

Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

Divandan wrote:
Fri Dec 04, 2020 9:23 am
whole region is rather complicated :)
Understatement of the year!

I'd totally forgotten about ajvar (or, IIRC, lutenitsa in BG). As I recall my first real from scratch cooking experience (tells you something about the fish sticks and premade lasagna world I grew up in) was my host mother in Bulgaria teaching me how to peel the skin off the roasted eggplants and peppers to make lutenitsa. The basement of their house was dedicated almost entirely to food preparation, with a much smaller kitchen upstairs next to the dining room for meal prep. And right off the large basement kitchen was the family's veggie garden, with chickens and with a goat (IIRC a neighbor would come by every morning and gather everyone's goats to take them to pasture?). Anyway, all the veggies that were used for the lutenitsa came from that backyard veggie garden, which couldn't have been more than 12' x 16'. As I'm trying to better develop my ERE skills I find myself frequently remembering all the wonderful food I ate in BG, and how it was almost all made not just "locally," but within the same home/neighborhood/village (e.g., grapes from the village orchard at harvest, young wine straight from the barrel in the basement a little later, and the good stuff (in 2 liter plastic soda bottles) a few months later).

I ate the lutenitsa as a spread over bread almost daily during the winter.

ETA: Also, as I'm reading Parable of the Sower (based on @mooretrees' recommendation), I'm realizing that the level of self-sufficiency that I saw from the generation of Bulgarian villagers who'd come to age under Zhivkov is the kind of self-sufficiency that might serve us all well for whatever is coming with CC.

Divandan
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Divandan »

@Hristo. Thank you for sharing that story. It reminds me a lot of things that my family did as well (fermenting their own cabbage, sewing, cooking items totally from scratch) which was taken to a whole different level in the village my grandmother was from in Serbia which was similar to what you describe above. How much of that we have lost in the throwaway society we live in now.

After re reading ERE and then Charles Hugh Smiths books are there any other books I should read that seem to connect all of these disciplines in one cohesive package? In my queue is Antifragility and Skin in the game. I have not ready anything by Taleb yet but I am open to suggestions for my next few books if the group could let me know. Thanks!


Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

I got a lot out of the practical aspects of John Michael Greer's The Long Descent: https://newsociety.com/books/l/the-long-descent-pdf. But if you search around on the forum you'll find yourself with reading recommendations to last a lifetime. See: https://wiki.earlyretirementextreme.com ... ed_Reading. Also, perhaps start a new topic on the forum asking your question, though I'd recommend first searching through the Resources & Recommended Reading subforum: viewforum.php?f=13

ETA: I'll note that one thing I really like from John Michael Greer's thinking is to find some thing or skill from the pre-industrial world to learn and preserve. The example he always gives is learning how to use a slide rule. Or another idea could be @Jacob's clocks. Or even things like keeping a library of books that you think should be preserved. Anyway, here's a taste of JMG: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2009 ... -delusion/. I'm not familiar with Charles Hugh Smith, so I appreciate the links. Seems like perhaps they are looking at the world in similar ways.

I'll also add that recently I've really enjoyed Granola Shotgun, though I believe folks on this forum have some differing opinions on him: https://www.granolashotgun.com/. You have to rely on the Wayback Machine for his older posts. And Rob Greenfield's website/blog is very good, with lots and lots of practical advice on how to live more simply: https://www.robgreenfield.org/blog/. Anyway, I'll stop there as others on this forum are much more well read in this general area than I am.

Crusader
Posts: 342
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:16 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Crusader »

Did you know that ajvar can be made from cooked or grilled peppers, with or without eggplant? I find it is the best when it's grilled, without eggplant, such as this one:

Image

Image

Hristo Botev
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

Oh man, there is a WHOLE thing re what should and should not be included in this spread, and how. It's kind of an analogy for the Balkans in and of itself. About the only thing that is common between the various countries/regions/versions is red pepper; eggplant is more common in Bulgaria than other places.

jacob
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Re: Divan dan journal

Post by jacob »

Divandan wrote:
Fri Dec 04, 2020 3:54 pm
After re reading ERE and then Charles Hugh Smiths books are there any other books I should read that seem to connect all of these disciplines in one cohesive package? In my queue is Antifragility and Skin in the game. I have not ready anything by Taleb yet but I am open to suggestions for my next few books if the group could let me know. Thanks!
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/the-h ... treme.html

Otherwise, start filling in the details: https://earlyretirementextreme.com/furt ... books.html

Crusader
Posts: 342
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:16 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Crusader »

Hristo Botev wrote:
Fri Dec 04, 2020 6:18 pm
Oh man, there is a WHOLE thing re what should and should not be included in this spread, and how. It's kind of an analogy for the Balkans in and of itself. About the only thing that is common between the various countries/regions/versions is red pepper; eggplant is more common in Bulgaria than other places.
Interesting, I had no idea! I was just speaking of my personal preferences. I found that generally, the more expensive it is, the better it tastes. Last time I was in Serbia, I bought the cheapest one I could find just to try it (and compare it to the expensive stuff I buy in Canada), and I couldn't even eat it, and I think the difference was a higher amount of eggplant.

Hristo Botev
Posts: 1734
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

I'm looking forward to trying out making different recipes at home; call it a Bulgarian meets US Southeast fusion of a pepper and oil spread. I can customize it and claim my version is the "authentic" version. And it'll be good for Christmas presents. It's not that complicated, just a bit time consuming. I used to work for an Armenian organization and they had a version that translated roughly to: husband killer; or something like that. Basically, the idea was you could tell how much a wife was sick of her husband and ready to be a widow based on how much oil she added to the recipe.

Divandan
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Divandan »

@Hristo- Thank you for the reccomandations! I ended up getting the digital version of "The Long Descent". Looking forward to reading it.

@Jacob- Thank you for sharing that link. I remember reading this article years ago so it was great to re read. I think overshoot will be added to my list.

I think my reading game plan is finish "A Hacker's Telelogy" > Skin in the game > The long Descent.

I was actually going to pickle some things with my GF next week but making my own Ajvar really intrigues me as well. I don't have a grill (can use my parents) and perhaps they have some recipes they can share with me. This is exciting!

Hristo Botev
Posts: 1734
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: Divan dan journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

Ha! Beat you to it. DS and I made lutenitsa today from a recipe in my old Peace Corps cookbook. Charred the red peppers on the grill and roasted the eggplant in the oven. Plus some oil, vinegar, tomato paste, salt, and a little sugar. It’s in the fridge now and on the menu for tonight; it’s definitely going to send me down memory lane. Even seeing the texture and color (pinker than ajvar bc of the eggplant) in the mason jar reminds me of some cold Balkan winters.

ETA: We didn’t do them as preserves because we will eat it fresh, and this is definitely not the time to be buying red peppers. But for sure this summer I will be growing some red peppers in the veggie garden.

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