serbian food, belgrade restaurants

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I recently had my first taste of Serbian food — and it was delicious. We went to this hole-in-the-wall place downtown that Grant had previously been to, and as we were on the early side, we had the place nearly to ourselves. We had the very traditional, very Serbian ćevapi. Grilled ground meat, but nothing like a hamburger; it looks more like small sausages, and they are stuffed into a piece of bread similar to pita.

Some people are very partial to “their” ćevapi place, and I wonder if I will become one of them. I’ve only had them once so I am certainly very far away from having a favorite Serbian restaurant.

ćevapi -- Grant was right, they were delectable!

ćevapi — Grant was right, they were delectable!

Before coming to Serbia, we had also heard a lot about various salads that are very popular here. So far, my favorite has been a šopska salad that I had at an Italian restaurant: diced vegetables (tomato, pepper, cucumber) with Serbian goat cheese on top, and olive oil and vinegar served on the side. This time of year is the best time for these salads, as all the ingredients are very fresh. I’ve been eating as much in-season fruit as I can, because the seasons for each fruit aren’t necessarily very long and then when they are over, it can be much harder to find that fruit in the city, and much more expensive.

Since we’ve been here, while we have mostly cooked at home for dinner, we have also eaten out at a Japanese restaurant, which had good sushi, and a Korean restaurant that also seemed to be pretty authentic. Not that I would really know what authentic Korean food is, since I’ve never been to Korea, but it was good and the chef was Korean.

There’s an Italian place we’d like to try, in addition to a Lebanese place, a pizza place, and a certain Serbian restaurant that apparently is hard to find. The diversity of cuisine is very welcome here — I’ve  heard a rumor that there is a Thai restaurant — lots of Chinese food, KFC, McDonald’s, even a couple of Va Pianos. Options are good, especially when it comes to food.

naša prva nedelja u beogradu (our first week in belgrade)

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Although it seemed as if United Airlines did everything in its power to keep us from getting here, we made it! (More on how awful United is later; I promise this won’t be a ranting post.) We’ve been pretty busy since we arrived, too. We got in last Thursday afternoon, and after being shown our apartment by our social sponsors*, we spent the rest of the day checking out our apartment and getting Internet installed. Grant called the Internet guy and ten minutes later, he was here, setting everything up.

The next morning, our sponsors took Grant to work for his first day, and then the wife came back for me a little while later so I could spend the morning with her and a few other women, who were all meeting up so their kids could play together. Not only was it nice to meet some other people so soon, but I also was able to see more of the city and more of the area where the majority of Americans live.

St. Sava Church

St. Sava Church, a popular tourist destination, is the largest Orthodox church in the world. It is very impressive, but we were surprised to find that the inside is nowhere near complete!

On Saturday, we navigated the bus/tram system to head into town, where we met up with a women who had started language with us, but who has been here for a couple of months. We walked all around downtown and saw many of the main sights of the city. Belgrade is a very interesting city and it certainly has an old world European feel to it, with some cobblestone streets, a big walking street, gelato carts and cafes everywhere — it is very nice, and I will enjoy exploring it more. We also checked out a photography exhibit sponsored by the embassy, which was in a park by an old fortress, overlooking the water. The exhibit was for pictures of America taken by Serbians, and there were a number of very good photos.

On Sunday, we explored the area around us a bit more and walked to a nearby pijaca (pronounced like the Italian word “piazza”), or green market. It is a good 15-20 minute walk in the opposite direction of town, but it is a small market, which is nice. The large ones can be very overwhelming! We just bought some small basil plants, dirt, and a pot in which to plant them. Fingers crossed we don’t kill everything…

We walked to the embassy on Monday morning, where I got the grand tour before we each had some meetings. I met some more people and had lunch before getting a ride back home to Scarlett, who was thrilled to see me. Then on Tuesday, I took my first taxi! Very exciting. I went downtown to spend some time with a couple of the women I had met on Friday. It is nice that I already feel way more independent here than I ever did in Tashkent. Yesterday I stayed home and read a couple of books, which was perfect. We did, however, venture out last night to go to a concert by the International Belgrade Singers, a group in which a number of Americans sing (although its members comprise at least 16 different countries!).

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some of our new neighbors, Rex and Mickey

This morning I went to a coffee morning for spouses and met a ton of other people. I’m going to find it hard to remember everyone’s name, particularly because many people will be leaving for the summer when school is out of session. Right now our apartment is really echo-y and we are really looking forward to getting some of our stuff (and our car, of course). We have a few more things coming up on the schedule, but that’s what we’ve been up to!

So much is new and there are tons of topics to write about: do you have any questions? Anything you want to know about Serbia, Belgrade, or our experience so far? Comment below!

*Each new arrival is assigned a social sponsor, whose job is to help the newcomers feel more welcome, answer any questions in the time leading up to arrival, and set up the house so that the beds are made, the kitchen isn’t completely empty, and dinner is waiting in the oven/fridge. It is a really nice thing and it has certainly made me feel much more comfortable here.

breaded roast pork loin with garlic and herbs

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When we go shopping for groceries, sometimes I’m really good about planning the menu ahead of time, and sometimes we just grab things — a pork loin here, chicken breasts there — and say we’ll come up with a recipe later. This roast pork loin was one of the former. I hunted around for a good recipe that I could make with the ingredients I had. Per usual, I ended up combining a number of things from various recipes, and I think it turned out pretty well! The pork itself was moist and flavorful and it is definitely something that we will make again!

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the finished product, along with some green beans

Ingredients:

  • Boneless pork loin, about 1 1/2 lbs
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 T butter
  • 1 T chopped parsley (if fresh; use less if dried)
  • 1 T chopped rosemary (if fresh; use less if dried)
  • 1+ t paprika (to taste)
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 C panko crumbs
  • 2 T Dijon mustard
the panko crumb mixture as it toasts in our dutch oven

the panko crumb mixture as it toasts in our dutch oven

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F, sprinkle the pork with salt (preferably kosher) and pepper, and, on medium-high heat, warm the olive oil in an ovenproof skillet or dutch oven (the skillets we have here weren’t big enough for the pork loin we had).
  2. Brown the pork, turning occasionally, until all sides have been browned, then transfer the pork to a plate or cutting board.
  3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter, garlic, herbs, and paprika. Cook for about one minute, stirring constantly so the panko crumbs toast evenly. They should be golden. Turn off the heat and transfer the mixture to a large piece of was or parchment paper.
  4. Brush the pork with the mustard, as evenly as possible, then roll in the panko mixture, being sure to press down so more of the mixture sticks to the pork.
  5. Return the pork to the skillet/dutch oven and put it in the oven to roast until the center of the largest section is 135-140 F, about 40 minutes.
  6. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes before cutting ( FYI: while the pork rests, its internal temperature will continue to rise 5-10 degrees).

housing in belgrade

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So it finally happened: we found out where we will be living for the next two years! One of the many perks of Foreign Service life is that we are usually assigned housing from a pool of properties owned or rented by the US government. The size of one’s house depends on the availability and timing as well as the FSO’s rank and family size, and the buildings themselves have to have proper security measures, which can sometimes limit the types of housing available.

Our home in Tashkent was big for the two of us, and while it had its quirks, it really was a great place to live. We were near the embassy, there was actually a closet in one of the bedrooms, and we had a nice place to walk Scarlett. When she was a tiny puppy and didn’t venture far from us, she enjoyed a leash-free yard; however, as she got older and bolder (and friendlier!), we stuck to using a leash or a tether because she could get through holes in the fence and loved to go say hi to people.

This past October, we filled out the housing survey for Belgrade. After a lot of research and back-and-forth, we decided to prioritize living downtown, in the city center. We had heard great things about the housing in one particular suburb, which is supposedly kind of like living in 1950s America. As we have no children (human children, I should specify, since Scarlett is our dog-child), we thought it would be fun to live closer to everything, even if it meant giving up the living space that we Americans love so much. I will admit I was a little worried that were we to live downtown, our apartment would have a European-sized oven… now that would be a problem.

Needless to say, after having sent in the survey in October, we were more than ready to find out our housing, and we checked e-mail almost every day in anticipation of the email that would finally reveal everything. When it finally came, it was not what we had expected. Instead of being placed downtown, we found out we would be living in a neighborhood outside of town, near the new embassy (they are supposed to move into the new embassy before we arrive). If I said I wasn’t devastated when Grant shared the news with me, I would be lying. 

The problem is that I had been picturing my life in Belgrade in a very specific, city-living way: exploring the city streets with Scarlett after a breakfast at “my” cafe, people watching from my table at the kafana (local restaurant) from which I am working with my laptop, wandering around at night to find a restaurant for dinner, etc. While none of that is impossible now, it will all be a bit more difficult, and my day-to-day life certainly won’t be the same. So I’m working on re-imagining what our life will be like.

I am getting over the whole location thing and getting more and more excited for our actual apartment. While we have not seen pictures of the actual interior, it is a modern building with all the amenities we wanted, including parking and a fenced-in yard for Scarlett! I am also really happy that we will have room for visitors (*hint* *hint) and an office for me (and Grant, of course; at this point I’m planning on doing some freelance writing when we’re there, so a space reserved for that will be nice). Plus we’re near the embassy and public transportation. It’s hard to believe how quickly our time in DC is wrapping up, and housing definitely makes everything seem so much more “real.”

glazed cinnamon rolls from scratch

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Grant has been sick, off and on, for the past few weeks. As a surprise for him when he finally began to feel better, I decided to try my hand at making cinnamon rolls from scratch. In Uzbekistan, one of our housekeeper’s specialties was cinnamon rolls, and they were incredibly delicious. While I was a bit worried about mine not being able to hold up to the memory of her’s, once I the idea of making them had been implanted in me, I could think of little else.

The plan was to start making them early enough so Grant would wake up to the smell of them baking in the oven. Unfortunately, the plan failed for a number of reasons: 1) They took longer for me to make than I had originally anticipated, 2) Grant woke up much earlier than I had expected, and 3) He was still a little sick, which means his sense of smell was a bit dulled so he couldn’t smell them baking anyway. Despite the failure of my original plan, I did keep what I was making a secret, and it was worth it because not only was he very surprised (and impressed) but they actually turned out to be incredibly delicious.

The cinnamon rolls themselves are not “typical” rolls, in that they have some citrus in them and therefore aren’t quite as sweet as many of the rolls out there. I also chose to make a light glaze to go on top instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting, which I feel allowed the flavor of the rolls to really stand out.

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Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 1 packet (2 1/4 t) active dry yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk (pref. whole or 2%)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 t kosher salt
  • 6 T butter, in chunks at room temperature

Filling:

  • 4 T butter, in chunks at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 t ground cinnamon
  • Finely grated zest of 1/2 grapefruit or 1 orange (I used the grapefruit)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 t water

Directions:

  1. Warm milk to 110 F (43 C) on the stove and pour the warmed milk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and let stand until foamy, roughly 10 minutes.
  2. Add  the sugar, eggs, flour, and salt, and knead on low speed using the dough hook. Add more flour, if needed, until ingredients come together.
  3. Put the butter in and keep kneading the dough until it is smooth and springs back, about 7 minutes.
  4. Form the dough into a ball and put it in a large, lightly oiled bowl, covering with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise, at room temperature, until it doubles, 1 1/2-2 hours.
  5. Punch down the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and cut it in half.
  6. Roll one half out into a 9-by-13 inch rectangle. Spread with half of the butter, sprinkle with half the brown sugar, half of the cinnamon, and half of the zest.
  7. Starting at the long side close to you, roll the rectangle into a log, moving away from you, then cut into 8 slices.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the other half of the dough.
  9. Arrange slices in a buttered 9-by-13 inch baking dish and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
  10. Let stand in a warm, draft-free spot until it gets puffy, about an hour. Alternatively, refrigerate overnight  then let it sit at room temperature 30-60 minutes before baking.
  11. With a rack set in the middle of the oven, preheat to 400 F (200 C) and brush the buns lightly with the beaten egg.
  12. Bake 20-25 minutes, until rolls are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  13. Let rolls cool slightly before glazing, but put the glaze on when they are still warm.

Glaze

Ingredients:

  • 1 c powdered sugar
  • 1 T butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 t vanilla
  • 1-2 T milk

Directions:

  • Stir the ingredients together until smooth, adding milk if needed, until the glaze is thin enough to drizzle
  • Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the warm rolls
  • Serve warm and enjoy!

Punch Brothers = awesome

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You know you’ve gone to a really good concert when the first thing you do the next morning is check to see if you can see the group perform again while they’re on tour. And then you buy tickets for said show. Let me explain.

When I was in college, my friends and I went to many concerts, the majority of which were at the 9:30 Club (now known as the U Street Music Hall, but I will stick with the old name). Once, I saw Nickel Creek on their “Farewell For Now” tour. They had been together since they were little kids and decided that they wanted to branch out and do some other things, but weren’t ruling out the possibility of getting back together at some point in the future. It was a great concert and the mandolin player, Chris Thile, was incredible. It was one of those things that is way better in person.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago, when I’m going through my email and I see that Chris Thile’s current group, Punch Brothers, is coming to play at the 9:30 Club in February. I told Grant about it and he said if I wanted to go, we could, so I should order tickets. I ordered the tickets and made it “official” by putting the concert on our shared Google calendar (we’re dorks like that). I’m glad we didn’t put off buying the tickets because the show sold out and they ended up adding another show, which also sold out. I was very excited, and not only because I love Chris Thile and enjoy going to the 9:30 Club, but also because Grant had never been there and I knew he was going to love the music.

The night of the concert, we got there in time for the opening band, and the standing-room-only venue was already pretty crowded. We went up to the balcony and managed to find room where I could mostly see. As the title of this post already gave away, Punch Brothers was awesome. As a group, they sound even better in person than they do coming out of a recording studio, which is pretty rare for the overly auto-tuned musicians of today. Thile was incredible, as expected; every other guy was nearly as good. Their music was great, but watching them play it is what was so fantastic. We are looking forward to April, when we are going to see Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau (a jazz pianist) perform.

flag day revisited

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January 29, 2010 was a huge day for us: it was Grant’s Flag Day. Flag Day is when everyone assembles in the gym at FSI to sit in rows of chairs in front of a table covered in mini flags. Bingo sheets of post names are handed out and people are encouraged to play by marking off posts as they are called. I think this is a way to distract people from potentially bad news.

Prior to Flag Day, each new officer receives a list of all the possible positions open to him or her — the infamous bid list. Everyone must then rank each post “high” “medium” or “low,” and provide rationale for some of the rankings, as well as list three overarching priorities in rank order.

Grant and I had some long conversations about his list, and quickly came to the conclusion that DC is where we wanted him to be. We weren’t really ready to have him sent to Nowhereistan, or some other similar place, and we had heard that DC posts aren’t popular with entry level officers so we figured we had a shot (I mean, really, who joins the foreign service to serve at a domestic post off the bat?)… Let’s just say we were wrong.

When Flag Day rolled around, Grant’s mom came in to town for the ceremony and she and I made our way over to FSI to see where Grant had been spending all his time and in great anticipation of learning where he would end up. He gave us a quick tour before the ceremony, which took place in the gym. Once there, Grant’s mom and I sat down together, bingo sheets and pencils in hand, and he went to sit in the front with his classmates.

As posts were called, I checked them off my mental list (and my bingo sheet). When I heard Consular, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, one of the last things I was expecting to hear was his name — but I did, and I recovered enough to take a picture of him receiving the flag. Uzbekistan wasn’t even marked with a “high” on the list he had submitted, so to say this was a surprise was an understatement. He would be going really far away. Which meant that we really needed to have some serious conversations about our future. Yikes. Honestly, I thought I held myself together pretty well at this point: I even managed to give him a smile and a thumbs up. The rest of the posts were announced while I was in a fog, with hundreds of different thoughts swirling in my mind. Well, I reasoned, we met someone in early January who is going to Tashkent and he’s not going until October, which means we have at least until late October, early November to figure things out. I can deal with that.

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Khast Imam mosque complex in Tashkent

My facade crumbled when, right after the ceremony, Grant came over to us and said, “Well the great news is I don’t leave until August!” August?! I nearly lost it completely right then, settling for sufficiently embarrassing myself by having some of the tears escape, enough so that Grant’s mom put her arm around me and said, “let’s go find a bathroom.”

The first thing we did when we got back to Oakwood was watch the Uzbekistan episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, which Grant randomly had on his computer. It was interesting to learn about this country I had hardly heard of before and although it remained very hard to imagine what life there would be like — I was relieved to find out that it wasn’t a particularly cold place. Bourdain’s first words, on the other hand, were not so comforting. They were something along the lines of: “Uzbekistan, where the U.S. Government sends people to disappear.” Hmm… is that what they were doing to Grant?

The Department’s decision to send him to far away Uzbekistan (i.e. the Nowhereistan I had feared) may not have been our first choice, but it all certainly worked out for the best. Thinking back, I still don’t like to relive that day (sorry Grant!), only because I remember how devastated I was when I learned how soon he would leave. That being said, our time in Uzbekistan ended up being a positive experience. We had to spend a year apart, which was pretty awful, but now we know we don’t want to do that again! In Tashkent, I had a fantastic job — perhaps the most perfect job possible for me — and I met some incredible people who certainly made going there worth it. Plus we got Scarlett. ‘Nuff said.

language training and what I have to remember

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Right now, we’re in the middle of learning Serbian for our upcoming post to Belgrade. I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to learn the language — moving to a foreign country where I don’t speak the language(s) and no one speaks English? Been there, done that, would prefer not to do it again. Yes, I survived Uzbekistan without any prior language knowledge, but that aspect wasn’t particularly fun. By the end of my time there, I was able to exchange pleasantries with the guards and tell the woman at the pet store how much dog food I wanted (though that adventure included a lot of pointing and nodding on my part), but that’s about it.

Serbia should be quite different. Not only will I be going armed with at least basic knowledge of the language, but also many people speak English there. Still, it is good to be spending our days at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) learning the language. FSI is a cool place to be and I’m enjoying class… for the most part. Language learning is tough, and for some people it is harder than others. The Foreign Service used to give officers a test that rated their ability to learn a foreign language (someone told me they no longer do this, but I’m not sure); however, EFMs don’t take the test, so I don’t have a definitive answer as to whether or not I am a “good” language learner, but I think it is safe say foreign languages are not my strong suit. I love the power a foreign language provides but, to be perfectly honest, the learning can get pretty miserable. It is a series of ups and downs where the ups are often lost among the downs.

The main thing I shouldn’t forget (but tend to) is that it doesn’t matter. My encouraging and optimistic husband tries to remind me of this but I’m not always the most receptive. I am in language training for myself and there’s no score I have to achieve, nothing I need to learn. That being said, I’m the worst in my class — and I’m not used to being the worst. One of the worst, perhaps, but the worst? Put it this way: I hate doing things I’m not good at. I can be a poor sport (there, I said it).  I will also admit I have both a mind like a sieve and a problem with sometimes keeping things in perspective. Put those two together, add in a not-so-easy language and sometimes it results in tears when I’m slaving over my homework.

Sometimes I can keep perspective and just have fun with it. Grant and I are now able to do things like talk about people in front of them without their knowledge. Not that we would do that, of course, because that wouldn’t be nice (sorry sis!); theoretically it could come in handy. Really, though, it is fun to be able to speak together in a foreign language and I’m glad I can take advantage of the opportunity to learn it before leaving for post. We should probably take advantage of the fact that we’re learning the same language and speak in it more often outside of the classroom, but I think I need to build my vocabulary a bit more so I can say things that are actually interesting.

In other news, Scarlett got her first US haircut!

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I researched a lot and called tons of different groomers in the Arlington/DC area (and even some back in NJ) before eventually settling on the one I had called first. It was Scarlett’s first time going to the groomer’s — in Uzbekistan, the women came to our house and disappeared into the bathroom with her for a few hours — and she was a bit scared when I dropped her off. Fortunately, they said she behaved and they did a fantastic job. I had been so worried they would have to shave her because she was rather matted after having played in the snow over New Year’s (she loves snow), but she wasn’t shaved and she looks very cute — and now people can see the eight-pound dog that had been hiding under all that fur!

the 12 of 2012

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Apparently the thing to do is make a list of the top twelve highlights of 2012… well, picking just twelve is a little difficult. After some consultation, I have come up with my top twelve, although a few of them contain numerous things all rolled into one, and I think I am missing a number of important events but this will have to do! Additionally, many of these had blog posts on my old blog, so there are not as many links to the past as I should probably have on a list like this one. Next year will be a different story, however, as I will continue to work on this blog and there will be more travel stories when we start traveling again.

1. We took a fantastic trip to Koh Samui, Thailand. This was probably the best trip we have taken so far and it turned out to be everything we had wanted and more: gorgeous weather, incredible (inexpensive) food, friendly people, and lots of time for relaxing. Coming from Uzbekistan, we took a direct flight from Tashkent to Bangkok, then a short flight from Bangkok to the island of Koh Samui. If you want any recommendations for a trip there, just ask! We stayed on two different parts of the island and it was the perfect combination — we came back and all I did was rave about everything. It can be hard to decide where to stay when one is going somewhere completely new but in our case it worked out perfectly.

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2. Scarlett got her first haircut!

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before

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… and after

3. I finally got to see the Savitsky Museum in Nukus, which I had originally heard about from this New York Times article and the documentary, “The Desert of Forbidden Art,” to which it refers (I did manage to see the documentary on television in the US). We took a quick day trip out to Nukus, which is literally in the middle of nowhere. It was quite an experience and I am very glad we went, although it was a little sad because it was so desolate.

old Soviet stuff in Nukus

old Soviet stuff in Nukus

4.  One weekend, we woke up early and jumped in the car with Scarlett for a road trip to the Fergana Valley to see more of the country and to get some silk. We managed to meet up with a friend of a colleague, who was kind enough to take us to some silk factories and a huge Sunday bazaar. She was one of the most remarkable women I have ever met and it is the presence of people like her who made our time in Uzbekistan rich with happy memories. We also bought silk in Margilan, which is known for its hand-dyed silk, and I had two dresses and a skirt made before I left for the US.

women making silk

women making silk

at the silk bazaar

at the silk bazaar

5.  For my first (and thus far only) experience with a CLO (Community Liaison Office) trip organized by the embassy, we went to Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan over Memorial Day Weekend. We enjoyed seeing more of Central Asia and the lake was utterly spectacular with its backdrop of the snowcapped mountains of the Tian Shan range.

the resort's lake beach

the resort’s lake beach

6. Shortly before I left Uzbekistan, we attended a Pine Leaf Boys concert in Tashkent, which was hosted by the embassy (and written about by yours truly). Their music was catchy and soon all the young people in the amphitheater (and many of the older ones as well) were up and dancing. I felt like a celebrity because many of the students who attended the weekly English Discussion Club I ran at the embassy were there, and they all wanted to say hi and take pictures with Grant and me. It was so much fun and I loved seeing everyone outside of the embassy.

Pine Leaf Boys in concert

Pine Leaf Boys rocking out in concert

7. What is probably the biggest highlight of 2012 is that we came home! Grant followed a few weeks after Sarah and Scarlett’s Great Adventure and while we did have our moments of reverse culture shock (grocery stores and restaurant menus probably required the most readjustment — and how expensive everything is!), I would say the transition back to life in the US has been a relatively easy one and Scarlett has been loving it.

just hanging out

just hanging out

8. We had a wonderful month of home leave, where we spent time with our respective families, went down the shore in NJ, explored Newport, and visited friends in Nantucket. Our home leave worked out perfectly in that we ended up having a “real” summer and were able to take advantage of the glorious summer (beach) weather. I love the beach, in case you couldn’t tell.

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9. During home leave, we bought a car! We ended up leaving Grant’s 1998 Ford Ranger in Uzbekistan and although we were very sad to part with it, we made the right choice. Our new-to-us car is a Volkswagen Tiguan and we love it. It is a small SUV so it should be perfect for the less-than-perfect roads in the Balkans while not being too large for city driving. Plus it is really cute! (Shout out to my sister who let us borrow her Tiguan during the beginning of our home leave — we fell in love with it and ended up getting one of our own!)

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10. And then we relocated down to the DC area and began language training. This was my first time starting language training; in fact, it was my first time taking any kind of class at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). Grant and I remain in the same class, though that may change in the upcoming weeks, and it is really cool that we are able to speak to each other in a language other than English. My Serbian is far from being good but I love being able to speak another language(ish). It will certainly make me feel a lot more comfortable when we actually head over to Serbia. Not knowing any Uzbek or Russian and moving to Tashkent, where no one speaks English, wasn’t easy and I am glad things will be easier when we start our next adventure in Belgrade.

sunrise from our apartment one morning

11. Hurricane Sandy also hit this past fall and, unfortunately, warrants a place on this list. A few weeks ago, we took a weekend trip to NJ to help my parents tear up the ruined deck at the beach. We were glad we were able to do something to help after the devastation that struck much of my beloved home state and elsewhere, though it certainly didn’t feel like enough.

debris from the storm and of the deck

debris from the storm and of the deck

12. For the final highlight, I’m going to stretch it a little and say it was celebrating everything in the US with our families and friends, most specifically: our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. We have loved being able to see everyone, particularly around this very family-centric holiday season. Uzbekistan is a predominantly Muslim country, so Christmas wasn’t quite the same; fortunately, Serbia is mainly Orthodox, so while the Orthodox Christmas is a bit later than our Christmas, we will still have more of the holiday spirit! In fact, we’re already looking forward to going to Christmas markets in Europe next year!

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I hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday season and wishing you all the happiest New Year!

pumpkin spice cookies with cinnamon frosting

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I know, a lot of pumpkin spice on the blog — and not a whole lot of blogging; I’m full of reasons/excuses. First and foremost, Serbian takes up a lot of my brainpower, with not much left over for the blog. I’m trying to get better about it but it also happens to be college basketball season, so that eats up a lot of time as well. Anyway. Cookies. The day after Thanksgiving, I was ready to start baking Christmas cookies. Baking Christmas cookies is just one of the many holiday traditions I love. I also particularly enjoy using many of my mom’s holiday cookie recipes because the cookies remind me of home and family (and Christmas, of course). Although I will be able to go home for Christmas this year, I really appreciated being reminded of home — and of Christmas — last year, since we were in Uzbekistan and all.

But before I could start making any Christmas cookies, I had to make pumpkin cookies (although I did listen to Christmas songs while baking them). To me, pumpkin is Thanksgiving. So why pumpkin cookies post-Turkey day? Because I had been planning on making them and I had all the ingredients ready and waiting to go, so I just had to make them (the second main reason/excuse). Nice and soft, and flavorful without being overly sweet, these cookies were delicious. And I mean delicious. We brought thirty into class the next day and had no trouble getting rid of all of them. Unfortunately, the pictures I have do not do them justice as the lighting here is just terrible and they disappeared before I could actually take a good picture. Oh well, next time!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies 

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 t ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 t ground cloves
  • 1/4 t ground allspice
  • 1/4 t salt (1/2 t if using unsalted butter)
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice, and salt; set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
  3. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients.
  4. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls 1-2 inches apart; flatten slightly.
  5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  6. Cool cookies before frosting.
the cookies, shortly after they were frosted and right before they began to suspiciously disappear

the cookies, shortly after they were frosted and right before they began to suspiciously disappear

Cinnamon Frosting

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick of butter, softened
  • 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/4 cup of milk
  • 1/2 t vanilla extract
  • 1 to 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon

Directions:

  1. Using a mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
  2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon (cinnamon to taste*).
  3. Mix until blended and creamy, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
  4. Frost the cooled cookies and enjoy!

*Cinnamon frosting is arguably my favorite kind of frosting and I tend to like more of a cinnamon flavor, so I used 1 1/2 teaspoons; I realize not everyone shares my strong cinnamon preferences. We also use saigon cinnamon instead of regular cinnamon and it yields a much deeper, more complex flavor.