Ljubljana, Slovenia

Last July, we took a trip to Slovenia.  Our van died on the way there, and we were stuck in Ljubljana (the capital) for a few days.  We eventually got our van towed back to Italy and bought a new one. But while we were waiting to figure out how to get home, we had a good time exploring Slovenia. We had an AirBnB in the University/Embassy section of town.  The main section of the city was easily walk-able from there.  Good thing, since we had no vehicle.  (Our AirBnB was featured in National Geographic for being so quirky!) Anyway, I never posted pics from our trip.  These are just phone pics, as I had forgotten my real camera. We walked around the old town, saw the castle on the hill, the dragon bridge, ate out a few times, got gelato, and took two river cruises.

There was a photo exhibit in a large park.  The photos were or Syrian refugees as they passed through Slovenia the December before.

The market had SO many fresh and delicious berries.  

Corn soup, above.  White chocolate and pistachio gelato, below.

Last night dinner with our tow truck driver and his cool friends.  They were all very educated and professional, spoke English, and we had wonderful conversation.  The food is pictured below.  They grilled Serbian sausages, and I made them myself a few months later.  Above are the beautiful roses in his yard.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Cevapcici (Serbian Grilled Sausages)

We had a Slovenia adventure a few weeks ago.  I never posted about it, but maybe I will later.  (I only have phone pics.)  We ended up needing to be towed back to Italy because our car died, and we had a barbecue with our tow truck driver the night before we left.  His friends came (all Slovenians seem to speak English) and we ate delicious food, including Grilled Serbian Sausages.  I wanted to re-create them at home.

I would say these are more like Cevapcici-inspired, since I couldn't even find lamb to use.  (I only tried one butcher, but the Italian gentleman told me "It's too hot for lamb right now!"  That's why they didn't have it.  I never buy lamb, so I know nothing.)  Anyway, I used a mix of equal parts pork and beef.  The flavor of these was very good, but not quite the same as what we had in Slovenia.

Cevapcici (Serbian Grilled Sausages)
adapted from Allrecipes

1 kilo mixed ground pork/beef (roughly 1 lb. beef, 1 lb. gound pork, can also use lamb)
1 egg white
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika

1.  Preheat a grill for medium-low heat.  In a large bowl, combine the ground meat and egg white. Add the garlic, salt, baking soda, black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika. Mix well using your hands, and form into finger length sausages about 3/4 inch thick. (Can form these ahead of time and store in fridge, covered, until ready to grill.)

2. Lightly oil the grilling surface. Grill sausages until cooked through, turning as needed.  

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Predjama Castle & Postojna Caves, Slovenia

I just realized that I had never posted the pics from the very first time we went to Slovenia, back in May 2015!  We loved our first trip; Slovenia is so gorgeous with so much to offer.  For our first trip, we just went the the Predjama Castle & Postojna Caves.  They are close together, a few kilometers. This  castle is amazing; it's sticking out of a rock face/cliff/cave.  The pics don't really do it justice. Inside it's kind of cold and gloomy, but it's so worth seeing still.  Here are some pics from both inside and outside.

PS.  Eight years ago today I started this blog!  So crazy!

Bathroom break, anyone??!

These two pics (above & below) are the view from inside the castle.  Gorgeous!  If you go, get the guided audio tour (headphones) to learn interesting facts as you walk around inside.

Right before seeing the castle, we went to the famous Postojna Caves.  They are beautiful but very touristy.  You get to ride a little train to the inside though, which is cool.  (We went to the other caves, called Skocjan Caves, the next trip to Slovenia and those ones are a lot less touristy, and just as cool, if not cooler! But no pics permitted of that one.)  Anyway, here are some pics of the Postojna Caves.  It's hard taking pics inside; I think these are all without flash so that's why they might be a tiny bit blurry.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/**

Radovljica, Slovenia

After our trip to Lake Bled, we stopped at the little town of Radovljica, Slovenia.  It's close to Lake Bled, and our B&B hosts recommended a gingerbread factory/restaurant there in the old part of town. We loved walking through the old part of town; it was so picturesque and not crowded with tourists at all.  This would be a great town to stay in for a Lake Bled trip.

We ate at the gingerbread factory (also a huge restaurant) before seeing the actual factory.  The place is called Gostilna Lectar.  It's also a hotel.

My husband and I ordered traditional Slovenian food.  (Our kids got stuff like turkey cutlets and pasta, lol).  My food is pictured above, and it's a beef goulash with dumplings.  It was good, and very hearty.  Perfect winter food.  :)  My husband got the rabbit stew, pictured below, and it came in a type of crisp eggy, edible bowl.

During the meal, we were serenaded by some traditional music (pic below).  It was very lively; my 4-year old was dancing in his seat.  

The gingerbread factory is in the basement.  There were two ladies down there baking and icing the gingerbread cookies.  They were very small and delicate designs.  This building is a few hundred years old.  Almost 500 years!  They make the dough down here, bake it in those tiny white ovens, frost, and package the gingerbread.  These cookies are a drier variety.

 After dinner we took a short stroll around town.  Above, pic of a nice viewpoint.  Below, some tunnels underneath the old part of town.  These tunnels were so cool!  They're the city's old moats. Some of them go under houses (last picture).

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/**

Lake Bled, Slovenia

During the first week of September, we took a trip to Slovenia.  We stayed in the South-Western part of the country, but took a day trip to Lake Bled one day, as Slovenia is a small country.  It only took an hour to get to the Lake.  (We also went to Skocjan Caves on the trip, but no photos are permitted inside, so I don't have any.  The caves were freakin' awesome, though.)

Lake Bled is pretty small, and there is a walkway built all around the lake.  So, we walked the whole thing with our family.  It took about 2 hours, with lots of stops.  I think it's about 4 miles around, but I'm not sure.  The kids loved it.  We stopped for gelato and Lake Bled Cream Cake.

We took a boat ride over to Bled Island.  No motorized boats are allowed on the lake, so everything is by rowboat.  This was a large rowboat rowed by a strong man in the back.

Our rower, above.  Next four pics, below, taken from Bled Island.

Bled Island.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/**