What's Bobici, anyway .. ?

Someone wrote ( Hi Paul ... ! ) and reminded me I haven't yet fully explained the name of this blog. Right on, so here we are with a full explanation.

I have lived in Texas for almost 17 years, and I adore barbecue. Right now my family and I are living in Trieste, north.eastern corner of Italy, and that's the city I grew up in. Bobici is to Istria and Trieste what Barbecue is to Texans....

Let's talk about Barbecue: If you do not know what this is, well, I am so sorry for you, looks like your "gastronomic" life is not complete just yet.
There is a solution: run, don't walk, to Cooper's in Llano, Texas, ask for forgiveness, and let them introduce you to one of the gifts of Texas. After all, Texas Monthly wrote in 2001:

( If you are not a Texan, there is still hope. Just go to Cooper's and they will take care of you )

"50 Things Every Texan Should Do:

1. Read William Barret Travis's famous letter while inside the Alamo.
2. Raft down the Rio Grand through Big Bend's Santa Elena Canyon.
3. Pick your own piece of meat from the giant pit at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano."

Now, for the Bobici, part. That is *my* heritage ...
Bobici is a delicious soup typical of the Istria Region, in the North-West of Croatia, or, if you prefere, in the North East of Italy...
My birth place, my home, and a beautiful place to see....
Bobici is a soup made of corn, beans, and, well, just have a look:

* 50 g, (2 oz.) young corn from the cob
* 300 g, (10 oz,) beans
* 600 g, (l lb. 5 oz.) potatoes
* 100 g, (4 oz.) smoked bacon
* 100 g, (4 oz.) smoked meat or prosciutto
* 3 cloves garlic
* 1 bunch of parsley and celery
* 50 ml, (2 fl. oz.) olive oil
* salt and pepper

Clean the beans and set to soak 24 hours before required. Wash the smoked meat or prosciutto. Then make the pesto - finely chop the bacon, garlic and parsley to a paste-like consistency. Chop the celery leaf. Peel and slice (or dice) the potatoes. Place the beans and smoked meat in water to cook. As soon as the water boils add the prepared pest. When half cooked, add the corn, chopped celery , potatoes, oil, salt, pepper
Continue cooking until all ingredients are soft. Let it "rest" for 10 minutes, serve, eat, enjoy.

The corn *must* be young at the point that if you press on the kernel with your fingernail, it will "bleed" its milky juice.

Here you have it, from Texas to Trieste and Istria, or if you like, from Barbecue to Bobici ...

See you next time.

Bolina Stretta.

What to do, what to say ... ?

Oh, my .. It is mid-November, already, and this is the first post.

I promised to have this thing up and running sometime in August, a whooping 3 months ago. You all must think Italy gobbled us up, and we disappeared in a black hole, somewhere.

Nope, we are still here. Thanks to the "customer-disservice" of the main Italian phone company, Telecom, we have been waiting since August the 11th for a DSL line to be installed, but so far, nothing, nada, niente.

Internet Points in town are few, expensive, and sometime with weird hours or even weirder customers... Anyway, the local city library finally got up to the 21st century, got a sweet wi-fi "reading room", just acroos the streeet from a local old-timer snack place ( more will follow, and it is worth it, trust me...)

So, here we are, back in cyberspace from Trieste (Italy) , the town I grew up in, trying to spend some (quality) time in the old-continent...

More tomorrow, for real!