February 23, 2014

More Food and More Church Friends

In this blog I sure can make interesting combinations, but that is what our life seems to be about here in Albania (and maybe anywhere we live). So let's talk more about food and church.

To begin, right now I am eating yogurt mixed with a healthy sprinkle of sugar, and this evening (it is now 5 p.m.) I added a spoon of berry jam. All very tasty! I have eaten more yogurt since we have lived here than I have at any other time in my life. We buy it in a 1-kg plastic bottle which is probably a bit less than one liter or about one quart, since one liter is 6% more than one quart. (For those of you who may have been in one of my classes or in our family, you should remember that one kg of water if one liter of water.)

On our walk on Saturday, I took a photo of the sandwich board sign on the sidewalk in front of one the restaurants we have gone to several times, the Snack Atack. They sell gyros with French fries inside the sandwich.

Snack Attack restaurant sign

The Snack Atack Restaurant Sign (22-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Last evening I made toasted tuna salad sandwiches with hard-boiled eggs and local soft cheese. Elsie asked for them, and I thought they were good even if I made them. Fresh apple slices topped the meal off nicely. I sprinkled olive oil on the bread before toasting it.

toasted tuna salad sandwiches and apple slices

For Our Supper--Apple Slices and Grilled Tuna Salad Sandwiches with Local Cheese and Eggs (22-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Now to get back to the Turkish Delight I mentioned incorrectly yesterday, I have deleted the incorrect assumptions, and here is the real story as I know it now. Below is the box and the candy.

llokume (Turkish Delight)

Suxhuk = Fancy Llokume (Turkish Delight) (20-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

The name on the box (suxhuk) would seem difficult for Americans to say, but in Albania the "xh" is considered one letter and pronounced like a "j." When I went online to find more info about suxhuk, I was surprised. What I learned is that suxhuk is a spicy sausage eaten in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia. I did learn that llokume (or Turkish Delight, to persons in the US and Europe) looked like what I had eaten from this container.

When I asked Dini about it after church this morning, he said that it is fancy llokume. They call it suxhuk since it is to llokume what spicy sausage is to regular sausage. To see a photo of plain Turkish Delight, you can search for it on the Internet, or look at the simple sketch below. I think my grandmother bought it at times.

I did contact Pasticeri Lika, the company that makes the confection in Tirana, and they confirmed my understanding of Dini's comments. Skol Bregu responded, "More or less it is the same product. Suxhuk has more nuts in it. Anyway they are from the same family." There you have it.

sketch of plain Turkish Delight

Sketch of Plain Llokume (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

This morning after having a coffee latte in My Bar with others who were going to our church, I went to use the restroom only to find a woman in there already. My host at that point pointed out that the respective men's and women's toilets were off from the main room. So this is one more cultural thing that I am leaning.

toilet in My Bar

Toilet in My Bar (for Coffee) (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

At church while waiting for the service to begin, I made some friends with the children in front of Elsie and me. They were excited to review their photos after the service, and they wanted to have their picture taken with me. So Rafael obliged them and me! So if our grandkids are not in Albania, apparently I can find others to show love to.

children at church

Children at Church Grin Happily While Picture Is Taken (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

children at church talk to each other

Children at Church Talk Happily with Each Other (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

children wanted a photo with me

Children Requested a Photo with Me (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Also after church, I learned that Besnik and his wife were going with the youth from the church to the seashore this afternoon. Below they are discussing this with Norma Teles and me.

Besnik and wife talk with Norma Teles

Besnik and Wife Talk with Norma Teles (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

We hosted Allen Umble for lunch at the "chicken place" for rotisserie chicken, French fries, pilaf, and beans. While we waited, Allen pointed out that the whole cow is used for food, including the head! The cook was active in his spotless kitchen with lots of good food simmering.

skinned cow's head ready for cooking meat from it

Cow's Head Ready to Be Cooked for Its Meat (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Cook at the Rotisserie Chicken Restaurant (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

I have appreciated that when I ask permission to take photos of shop keepers, cooks, and kids, in Lezhë they are always glad and proud to oblige. It is truly a friendly city, and we ask God to let our light for him shine brightly here.

February 22, 2014

More Flowers, Food and Friends

I am trying to follow my interest in nature (and train) photography while we are here in Albania, so I have photographed several flowering plants, However, I have not yet found out what they are called, so help me out by filling in the response form at the bottom of this page if you can identify any of these flowers.

In my post on February 16, I showed one spring flower that I think might be a kind of Zinnia, but I am not for sure by any means. Below is another unknown flower. It is a succulent whose leaves resemble those of a Jade plant. Might it be a kind of Aeonium or Sedum?

jade-like plant

Jade-like Plant in Bloom at LAC (19-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Last Saturday, a week ago, in the city park in Lezhë, Elsie and I saw several kinds of spring flowers, most of which we did not know the names. Here is one.

unidentified flower in Lezhe park

Unidentified Flower in Lezhë City Park (15-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

And on Sunday when we went to a new bar for coffee before church, since we were meeting in a joint worship at a different church building, I was able to get some photos of beautiful Cyclamens.

Cyclamen at a bar in Lezhë

Cyclamen in Bloom at Bar (16-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

On Thursday morning, Mrs. Klementina Shahini, director of the school, brought some special sweets into the faculty room. They had been given to her, but she wanted to share the calories! She told us that these are traditional sweets with roots in Turkey. [I deleted several sentences from here and will give a fuller explanation in my Feb. 23 post. --RLB]

Albania "Turkish Delight"

Close-up of the Albanian "Turkish Delight" (20-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Last evening a number of the teachers ate together at the "chicken place," a restaurant that specializes in rotisserie cooked chicken. The chicken, pilaf and salad were good as well as the conversations.

meeting Phil and Betsy to go to the restaurant

the chicken roasting on the rotisserie

Below are more photos of the many different types of shops and stores along one of the main roads in Lezhë. In fact they were all taken on our walk to or from the school on Friday. There seem to be at least two (and maybe more) seed shops along our path to LAC. Many of the root crops are available in large plastic bags such as seen below. I have not checked, but I presume that each village farmer comes to town and buys the number of bags he needs for his small farm.

There are several "shops" on our journey to LAC that are simply open-air venues selling clothing, or as in the case below, shoes. We have not stopped to inspect the items enough to know if they are new or used. Given the amount of inventory, I hope the sellers did not have to pay very much for the items to begin with.

shoe for sale in an open-air spot

Just a couple of shops away from the alley to the school, there is a shop that appears to be selling guns. Hopefully no student does business there for any reason other than to buy hunting supplies.

a gun shop

At the entrance to the alley to LAC, there is a pastry shop that sells cookies, cakes, and in the mornings some milk bottled in re-used pop bottles.

shop selling cookies, cakes and milk in re-used bottles

Across the street from the pastry shop is the Net Center. Only this week did I learn from a student that Net Center stood for "North Entrance Trade Center." And, of course, when I pulled this photo up on my computer, I noticed for the first time that it was in fact defined on the sign. The Net Center is owned by the husband of one of the Albanian teachers at LAC.

Net Center--North Entrance Trade Center

Of course one needs a way to get rid of the waste of packaging in any home around the world, and Albania is no exception. We were told we could leave our garbage at the bottom of our inside stairway, and someone would take it out. Then this week we realized that the way to do this is to simply take the garbage with us as we go out. The large trash bins are not too far down the street from our building. Below are a few bins and the wheelbarrows used to transport garbage and building supplies and sometimes other items.

garbage bins along the street

Tomorrow morning is our local church service which we are looking forward to attending. I have heard that Allen Umble will be preaching again this Sunday. We have now been in Albania for more than one month. That does not seem quite possible. More at the next posting.

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