How much does hedonism cost us?
Old hedonism fair in the New Year’s addition.
Hedonism comes from the times of Babylon and famous Epic of Gilgamesh, in which lines are full of hedonistic philosophy.
‘Fill your belly.
Day and night make merry.
Let days be full of joy.
Dance and make music day and night […]
These things alone are the concern of men’.
Where does our hedonism begin?
Well, what do you mean where it begins… at the very entrance. 🙂
Our hedonist in the Hedonipolis.
I wasn’t invited this time, but I invited myself 🙂 .
And at the entrance… Licitar hearts and Turkish delights (rahat lokums). Candied apples… which remind of those sticky fingers, mouth and hair… which would drive my mother up the wall. So, it means, that being a hedonist… has begun in the early childhood.
Immediately after the closed door, I would get a spank and be closed for a day or two, depending whether I need a shower or not, and there would go my joy in Hedoipolis.
And there… a large number of our Hedonists.
It was crowded, unable to move… they pushed, breathed in each other’s necks… and there was queue… to have a hedonistic bite.
What are hedonists best at?
Well, wine and brandy, of course!
There is unbreakable connection between brandy and the Serbian history and culture. So, I’ve been taught the wrong thing all these years…
It’s not Ceca that it national, but the brandy.
Brandy.
Right on my way in, I was struck by stara Sokolova. The old Soko brandy comes from Bajina Basta, it won a prestigious award ‘Belgrade winner’ on the tenth Brandy Fest this year. It was named after the region from which it comes, the region of Western Serbia along the Drina riverside, which was named the Soko region in the Ottoman times, after the medieval city, Soko.
One thing is sure… if it’s not Jovanovic, then it must be somewhere in the neighborhood.
Except for the brandy from the Bajina Basta region, Petrovac na Mlavi had its CALEK too.
Then there is PRUNA and brandy and wine from Vukotic village, from the vineyards in the Branicevo region.
Brandy is treated as a member of the family, a fellow countryman, the best man and the best friend.
Then, brandy can even be mixed into Mojito.
Where are you Vidoslav, along with your Trnovaca? Isn’t it for the hedonists too?
There was wine too.
Trivanovic winery from Fruska Gora- black currant and coffee aromas, ripe cherries and blackberries, citrus and tropical fruit. Wine with rich texture.
Zvonko, and not just any Zvonko, but Bogdan. I had the chance to try these wines in some of the restaurants in Belgrade. Some were good, some slightly better. My recommendation is Cuvee No.1 with lamb baked in sac, venison, beefsteak, and Life goes on wine with tartar beefsteak, duck, grilled tuna, beef baked in sac, homemade sarma which is prepared in this time of year.
Wine, made by women from Vranje, in Aleksic wine basement. And where there are women, there are sparkles too.
Consequently, a bottle of Gold Bonaco is filled with golden sparkles. And in case you still haven’t decided what to give as a gift to the special ones for the New Year, this is the right occasion for the sparkly wine along with the personalized labels you can also arrange with these girls to get.
And where are Kovacevic, Radovanovic, Aleksandrovic and all of the other famous names?
Also, some black currant juice, and a somewhat alcohol juice from Pancevo (risticmil@yahoo.com)… With just 16% of alcohol.
I had to try it. You surely do drink. It has a sweet taste, it is thick juice made of traditional wild currant… you can’t even feel the alcohol… but I am sure it kicks in after the first glass. This was a very interesting tasting, but I stoped after the first sip… because I had to drive.
All in all… it was definitely wines and brandy that were present in the largest number and those were also the places where there was the biggest crowd of Hedonists, so that must be connected.
And where were we the weakest?
Our Hedonists weren’t only the strongest ones… they had their soft spots as well…
Apparently, they appeared to be weakest on the soap!
Although we need it so much, we don’t like it. There was only one stall All nut, with cosmetic products based on natural ingredients.
It is not that All nut has only cosmetic products for hands and body, you can also get cold squeezed oils of plumb, apricot or hazelnut seed… maybe one day of cherry plumb and African plumb. Give them some time… everybody appears to end up with African plumb.
Bread and circuses
Where there are bread and circuses, there is also pastime and joy till the early morning hours.
There was prosciutto from the Suvo Zlato manufacture. Rudimentalera bratwurst.
According to my husband’s words, my mission on the hedonism fair wouldn’t be considered successful unless I caught some of the bratwursts, or biltong meat and take it home. I am only going to say that this time, it was Curug that ended up in my pantry.
Yuhor. Cold meat products.
Curd, sausage ‘hunter’, and peglana sausage… and then some more plumb brandy, homemade, not the African one… it is intertwined with our culture…
When I go to my summer vacation, I bring a plumb brandy to the hosts, it’s what you do when you visit someone for the first time.
I tasted Kurpes cheese (KUPRES-MILCH d.o.o. Kupres), cheese with tuber and wild garlic (just how aromatic that was to me, and, afterwards, around me).
Heavens butters (‘Puteri Nebesa’) with sage, rosemary, tuber… I have to admit, that wasn’t my favorite…
For me, it was the famous cheese packets. One of them ended up in my fridge, and it was the one from the picture.
Dozens of various colored and flavored pastas (black-sepia, red-sepia, white-sepia… apparently that wasn’t all sepias… there were some green ones too… green-nettle…) with nettle pesto.
My nest.
Pasta and nettle pesto, a must try.
So hot that they can’t get any hotter.
Fatal spices. It isn’t for the ones that like hot, but for the ones that love extremely hot. My eyes started watering after the mild hot spice… I started crying just like that.
There were hot and sweaty games… with belly dancer and fit curvers.
In the end.
Just bread and jam.
Littlebluepot. A real hedonistic approach… small packages for extra enjoyment.
Cherry in combination with black pepper.
And then some spiciness. Chilly sweet.
For some, also…
WARNING!
IT’S NOT FOR THE ONES WITH LOW BLOOD SUGAR!
Loly Pops
Mega-sized cakes and cookies…
The Black Forest cake…
Almond, or crispy cake…
Does it matter what its name is?
Fruit baskets and flames…
The flames left me speechless.
Medino cookies and gingerbread.
And now, who is who…
The Gilgamesh of the fair?
You know that I always point out and mark everything worth paying attention to from every fair. If you like cooking in traditional world recipes, or try out different culinary flavors like I do… that it is important to be familiar with…
A store that sells spices from all over the world. There is everything there… and they also have delivery
Now… after we have visited everything and learned something, the most important question rises… does hedonism have a price?
How much does hedonism cost us?
As a complete impression of my experience of our hedonism fair…
But, not to make it all so dark, there were other things too…
And what about the traveling?
They appear to have left only on paper.
And a cup of black coffee
In order to digest all of what we’ve tasted, I recommend a strong black coffee (Turkish, or espresso), along with a piece of rahat lokum with some nuts (Vojvodjanski ducan) which was great.
And, till the next fair or trip, a goodbye from your Black Sheep, both in picture and in action.
