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Horsin' Around
Here it is, The Horse Burger, anyone interested in a bite? Geez, I guess I have let the time slip away because it has been a long time since the last blog update, but life has been cruising along quite smoothly. In a sense that means that I haven’t had too many exciting things going on OR I have become somewhat acclimated to my new home. I think the latter is most true because I’m getting ready to fill you in on some of the events of the past month or so. First of all, as of yesterday, I am now entirely finished with the three courses required for me to fully graduate. All I have to do now is send my transcript back to OU in order to have my credit applied and my diploma issued. It’s a bittersweet feeling after having already gone through graduation and feeling as if I had already completed my schooling.
On the academic note, I must describe to you the professor that I have had for my Slovene classes—he is quite the caricature of what is considering ‘professorly’. His name is Tomo Korosec, and when I first met him I had the feeling of being transported back in time about 50 years. He is a rather tall man with a small pot-belly, salt and pepper colored hair with a full beard of the same color; his eyes are full of life and he is extraordinarily expressive though his English is quite broken for he is a distinguished Slovene linguistics professor who speaks Russian, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, German, English, and is nearly fluent in Latin. With the way that he speaks you cannot help but notice his Jabba the Hut-like tongue, and he is constantly smoking a large pipe or a cigarette that inevitably he will ash on himself or his desk during his animated speaking. He is the epitome of a professor—gazing out the window of his office with a view of the Julian Alps, puffing on his pipe, reclined in his cushy chair with his hand resting on his paunch of a belly, and inevitably wearing a pink shirt with a striped tie and a light earthen colored blazer—that is Tomo. He is also the reason that I was first introduced to what is called in Slovene
regrat solata, which translates into Dandelion salad. Yep, you read it correctly, dandelions; the weed that I spent countless hours pulling out of the lawn at home when I was growing up. Needless to say, I was a little bit skeptical when he told me that regrat solata was his favorite salad, which can only be eaten in the early spring. He insisted that I HAD to try it. So, one day, this kind old professor took my Portuguese friend Joao out to a small inn in a town called Kamnick about 12 km from Ljubljana to enjoy our first dandelion salad. It was prepared with a little bit of oil, some salt and pepper, and some boiled potatoes in the bottom or the salad bowl; with it he offered us a nice Slovene wine as well as some local breads and cheeses. I looked down at the salad, and indeed these were the leaves of the former lawn pest of my childhood, and not wanting to insult the professor, I took my first bite. Hmmm, spinach-like with a little more subtle flavor, not too strong, with a fresh taste accented nicely by the oil and potato. What do you know—pretty damn good!—couldn’t believe it really.
I have had one other unique culinary experience since I have been here of which I am enclosing a picture (unfortunately didn’t have the camera with me for the regrat). In Ljubljana there is a chain of restaurants called the Hot Horse, a popular place for students to grab a burger, but as you can tell by the name of the restaurant, it is not you ordinary burger. It’s a horse burger! In my mind, it seemed quite strange that I would ever entertain the idea of eating a horse burger; I mean I have tried hamburgers, buffalo burgers, turkey burgers, etc., but I never think of horse as being an edible meat. However, once again I was pleasantly surprised that is only slightly more dense than a hamburger with an almost steak-like flavor, and this restaurant does a very good job of having fresh buns and lots of fixin’s that makes the overall experience of a horse burger all in all not so bad.
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anonymous
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Grant! You know how much I love horses!! I can't believe you actually ate a horse! That is sick and kinda sad :( Other than that sounds like you are having a blast. Can't wait for the next update! - Allison Wade