Easter in a Foreign Land

Although I was born in Vukovar, Croatia, just a stones throw from where we were staying with my cousin Nena, her husband Petar and son Vladimir, I had not seen the place since I was two years old and had no living memory of ever being there.

The decision to come to Ernestinovo at Easter time was driven by my need to have a translator for conversations with my father as he does not speak English and I don’t speak Croatian.  Over the past year, as we had been planning the trip I got to know Nena, Petar and Vlad through Skype and Facebook and now I had another reason, I wanted to meet these wonderful people as well!

It was a hard decision though as Easter is very important in my family and although I had missed one Good Friday, I had never spent a whole Easter away from my girls before.

We arrived on the Thursday afternoon and it was wonderful to meet Nena, Petar and Vladimir for the first time! 

When Nena brought out plates of home made salami, sausage, ham, bacon, cheese, pickled cucumbers and pickled peppers (Seriously! All home made!!) I knew we were in for a treat on the food front!  Nena explained the only thing that hadn’t been home made was the bread but I certainly wasn’t complaining, the food was divine :)

With steaming cups of Turkish coffee that even Nathan loved, the meal was complete!

After we had eaten Nena went off to fetch my father, and Nathan and I went and checked out Petar’s invention, a hydrogen fuel cell that he made in his shed and that saves him 30% on his fuel consumption!!  This man needs to get an agent; this thing would sell like hotcakes in Australia!

When my father arrived he came bearing gifts, flowers for me and a bottle of liqueur for Nathan.  Everything felt surreal and sitting here now I actually don’t really remember much about the rest of the evening.  There was the liberal pouring of Rakija (a vile concoction that should be banned all over the world!!) that Nathan declared was not as bad as I had warned him and lots of time passed while I waited for Petar to translate the things I was saying for my father to understand.

At one point my father asked if we would go for a walk to the local café and we went and had coffee then went our separate ways as we walked home.

Good Friday dawned and Nena told me about her family tradition.  We would go to her parents house (where my father was also staying) and cook a fish stew on an open fire in a large pot.  Petar was at work and Vlad was in bed with the flu so it was going to be a smaller gathering than I thought.

There was a side trip to be made during this time though.  Nena had to go and get a pig from a friend.  Now I had no idea what this meant so I offered to go along as well.

We pulled up out the front of a shop and waited, then another car pulled up and there was some discussion before both boots were opened and the pig was transferred from one boot to another….yep a dead pig :/

We drove back to Nena’s parents where the pig was stowed in the garage and the cooking went on as though we had never left.

Lunch ended up being so much more than the fish stew…next came fried fish, potato salad and bread… we were stuffed! 

If I needed confirmation that I was of Croatian descent here it was….the need to cook enough food for 10 people to drop in unannounced and still have leftovers had to come from somewhere ;)

After lunch Petar had arranged to take us to see the sights, in particular Vukovar to show me the hospital where I was born and the church my parents were married in.  Vukovar actually made me very sad.  There is still visible evidence of the war, so many houses with bullet holes, others falling apart, decayed and rotting, abandoned by people that will never return, sitting side by side with houses that had been restored.  This constant reminder of a war that made no sense and caused so much grief had me feeling brittle and ill, I don’t understand how people cope with looking at this day after day.

With the threat of unexploded land mines between the towns I felt jittery, even though I knew I was safe with Petar.

My mood was quite melancholy as we returned to their home for a meal of leftovers from lunch.

After dinner Nena had to leave again…apparently she needed to help do something with the pig….and there a new joke was born as the pig became a daily chore, until we got to eat it ;)

Every time there was mention of the pig Nathan would have to say “I’m getting the pig!”  I haven’t seen Red but it must have been funny ;)

Vlad also got an irresistible urge to cook us a “special”dish which was brilliant, I wish I had some more stomach space but at 10pm after a day of gorging I had very little left and couldn’t do justice to the meal.

Saturday was a nice day,  Nena took us to Osijek where we walked through town and along the river before stopping for cake, coffee and ice cream at a place called Petar Pan.  Osijek is such a pretty town, the fountain in the middle of the square, the brightly painted trams and the lovely old buildings give it a lovely atmosphere :)

Nathan and I wanted to take Nena and Petar out for dinner as a Thank You for taking us into their home and looking after us so well so we arranged to go to their favourite restaurant that night after another tour to some of the towns that Petar thought would give us a broad experience of the Croatian area that I came from.

We all piled in the car (Vlad included) and took the scenic route to the restaurant that was in a town called Baranja.

To say the dinner was excellent would be an understatement!  Foods that brought back memories of being a child and going to the Yugoslav Club….I ate an obscene amount as we ordered two platters and a huge salad between the 5 of us.  We also tried a couple of different Croatian wines but as most of you know, I’m into super sweet wines and these were so dry they made me shiver!  But it was easy to get rid of the taste of the wine with more cevapi ;)

That night I learned that no matter how full you are, there is always room for Palatschinken!!

We got home at about 11pm and went straight to bed, tired but full and content :)

Sunday was almost a repeat of Friday, back to Nena’s parents house but we were in for a shock….Easter Sunday lunch is four courses!!

We were still full from dinner when we woke up so thankfully had skipped breakfast.

Nena’s mother had prepared all the food before we arrived and I was amazed that she had managed to do it all on her own and still have the house and kitchen so spotless that it was like the food had been made somewhere else! 

First course was a clear broth with noodles that you could add precooked carrots, parsnips and melt in the mouth beef to with fresh crusty bread.  Second course was cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes and more bread.  Third course was roast pork (we got the pig!!) with cabbage salad and fresh tomatoes and then finished off with an assortment of cakes, slices and truffles!

Why is this woman not running a restaurant and making a fortune?  The food was amazing!  I can see where Nena gets her cooking skills from and Vlad is going to train to be a Chef, it certainly runs in the family :)

Nena’s father and mother can’t speak English but we still managed to communicate, they are so open and we spoke in a mixture of Croatian, German and sign language and their kindness just shone through in their actions :)

Dinner was another feast of ham and eggs (that pig went a long way!!) that have spoiled me forever….never again will I have ham that good!  Nathan learned that "cracking eggs" at Easter is the equivalent of pulling a cracker at Christmas and got into the spirit, I think he even won one!

By Monday though I knew it was time to start planning our departure.  Mentally this visit had been draining and I was starting to feel the strain.  Nathan and I checked our options and Petar suggested we take a look at the Croatian coast, down near Krk Island where my father lives in the Summer months.  We found a nice hotel, a bus that went directly there and made our bookings for Tuesday afternoon.

Nena went all out and made us a feast for lunch with cevapi and fried bread being the centrepiece and I started plotting ways to take her home with me ;)

A final dinner out was planned so we could try the “best pizza in Croatia” and once again we piled into the car.

Our final night ended up being a late one and I know poor Petar would have suffered at work the next day.  Nathan and I made sure we woke up before he left though so we could say our final goodbyes and have final hugs.  Vlad headed off to work and Nena couldn’t let us go without another huge breakfast, went into the kitchen and made us French toast with an assortment of salamis and cheese and drinking yoghurt on the side :)

After we ate she suggested we duck into town and get my birth certificate, as she had checked for me that I would be able to get one!  We piled our bags into the car, went and bade farewell to my father and Nena’s parents then went and got the certificate.  Births, Deaths and Marriages in Aus could learn a lot here!  $3 and less than 10 minutes later I had it in my hand!!

Off to the bus station and our final farewells with Nena had me feeling sad again.

I will truly miss these wonderful people who took us into their home and their hearts and I am already planning the time where we will get together again, eat amazing food, drink terrible wine and laugh and talk the night away :)