Dubrovnik, Home Visit, Monday , December 6, 2010.

The country of Croatia being 90% Roman Catholic celebrates Xmas and decorates their towns with Nativity scenes and lots of ornaments. They were very strong people to have been able to keep their culture in tact even though they were invaded many, many times. Under Communism the only place they were allowed to speak their native tongue was in church. Therefore, they attended church everyday to be able to socialize with their friends. Their religion allowed them to be able to stay connected with others of their own nationality but only inside their churches. The children were able to attend school in the church also. This formed very strong bonds.
In Hvar, (pronounced without the "h"), we ate Hvarti cheese in cubes but it was served in olive oil. it was delicious. We need to try it that way at home. They serve it on a wooden board. we also ordered seafood risotto with muscles, squid and shrimp. They cooked the seafood with the shells and legs in the risotto. Therefore, we had to pull the legs, heads and shells off before we would eat them. But it was tasty. We also had bread with olive oil. They make the best bread done inside a dome that is covered with ashes to bake for about 3 hours. The dessert was called Rosata which is a caramel cream. It is more like our flan.
We visited a local family that lives outside of Dubrovnik on a farm. With OAT, you always have a home visit with the locals. In 1991, during the Civil War, he was inscripted into the Crotian Army for 4-5 years as a MP. They had to rebuild their home after the Civil War. Most of their house was destroyed; but between them, their extended family and friends, they were able to rebuild it by themselves. The man did all of his own woodwork and stonework. Their walls are of stone on the inside as well as the outside of the house. The two children they have were born after the Civil War. They are 6 and 9. When we arrived they took us into their wine cellar. They had several oaken barrels full of homemade wine and homemade olive oil. They have a farm; therefore, in the wine cellar were huge baskets full of white potatoes, carrots, celery, cabbages, turnips, beets, peppers, almonds, black walnuts, figs, grapes and citrus. Their main citrus they call clementines but it looks like our tangerines. They make their own black walnut schnapps. It was delicious. I had 3 shots of it. They also make their own grappa. This one had herbs in it. When Bill next to me asked which herbs were fermented in it, she pulled out her Croatian/ English dictionary and pointed to the word. It ended up being weeds, instead of some fancy herb!!! And we had already had several shots of it!!! But nobody got sick. I guess it is like the older farmers in America making dandelion wine.
The lady of the house kept stressing that everything they eat is natural. Everything they eat at supper is grown in their gardens. They buy baby pigs at 6 weeks of age and raise them till butchering time. They raise pigs and butcher them and hang the hams up in the wine cellar to cure after they have been placed in salt. Then they slice them very thin into proschuitto which they serve as an appetizer along with cheese, bread and olive oil. They have a special slicer to be able to cut the ham so thin you can almost see through it.
The main course was stuffed cabbage rolls. The rolls were stuffed with rice, carrots, potatoes and ham and then boiled. This is served with a side of mashed potatoes. They eat a lot of starches, but they work really hard outside in the fields all day. They obtain their beef from his parents. His parents raise the calves and butcher while they are young. Therefore they eat a lot of veal. They also raise chickens for the eggs. His wife made Rosata which was so much better than what we ate in the restaurant today. She has a special caramel liquer she pours over it. It just melted in your mouth. After the meal he played a 3 stringed lute and the girls danced their native folk dance to the music.
We were a group of 4 couples and Darko spent some time with us as well. Bill's wife, Karen, said the wife related to me more than the others. I didn't notice it, but I was able to ask her questions and make comments because of the dictionary. She had items for sale after the dinner : homemade crocheted scarves , homemade black walnut liquer, homemade caramel liquer with the recipe for the flan. I wanted to buy that too, but didn't. she had homemade dolls dressed in their native folk costumes; but they weren't dolls to play with. When we left she gave everybody a stocking full of walnuts, almonds, carob sticks and a Clementine.
It was very chilly out tonight because it rained. During the winter they receive a lot of rain. They have no snow and in the summer it can reach 120 degrees Farenheit which is 44 degrees Celcius. The wife came from the town of Dubrovnik where her parents still live. She remembers being able to watch TV a lot as a kid. Her kids do that now. The husband came from the rural area where they now live. He remembers helping out on the farm as a kid. Now the wife works in town as a bookkeeper, but she has even more work to do when she comes home. She has to help in the fields and she has to help with the olive oil, wine, hams, nuts, citrus, figs and putting up of all the veggies.
Tomorrow morning we sail to Montenegro at 6:30AM while we are eating breakfast.