There's a fire! Come quick!

This happened about two weeks ago. And I almost forgot about it till I saw the picture again today. It was late at night sometime after 1am on a Sunday morning. We all decided to retire to bed after a really long night of chatting. We had two mates who flown in all the way from Australia and were staying over at ours for a couple of nights.

The balcony is situated right outside our bedroom window. And usually we do not lower the shutters (yeah the window shutters as I call it) all the way, making sure to leave a small gap at the bottom for ventilation. I sleep on the side of the bed right next to the window. Just as I was putting my head down to my pillow, I caught a sudden sweet smell coming from somewhere. It smelled like something was burnt. I was making a joke about someone burning cakes in the middle of the night.

The smell did not go away... so me and my fiance did a thorough search to make sure that there was nothing burning in our flat. Nope. So I drew the shutters and I saw smoke.. not lots of it.. but puffs of smoke coming from somewhere below. We headed straight for the balcony and stuck our heads out for check for any source of fire. Nope. But we could see more smoke and really strong smell of something burning.

What happened next was.. my frantic fiance rang up the fire department. Within minutes, two fire engines and about 10 firemen got out of them with equipment and all pulled up below our building. 5 of them dashed them with a water hose. One came into our flat to check out the smoke. When the source was identified, the firemen sprinted down the stairs and we could hear a loud hacking sound. Like someone breaking down the door.. Minutes later, we heard the firemen shouting at an old lady (in Croatian): "Do not do this in the future! It's dangerous!"

What we understood was.... we alerted the entire fire department that night. Thank goodness that they were the most efficient firemen ever seen and their professionalism (all equipped) even though we told them we only saw smoke and no fire. We had a good laugh as we felt silly for causing the false alarm. But who knows....

Croatia foods: Fresh Yeast

Being a baker, the yeast is my best friend. And when it comes to yeast, no other instant yeast can compare to fresh yeast.

Here in my new homeland, Croatia, fresh yeast (yeah homegrown in Croatia) comes in neat little cubes as small as 40g. Unlike fresh yeast in most countries that are only comes in 1kg blocks. For domestic bakers like me, 40g is a nice size as I break it up into quarters for each bread.

I still have not found the plains where this particular brand of yeast is from but I will post it here once I got it unless there are some kind souls out there who can help me out?

Pears are also known as Kruška

Got my blogging momentum back, here's a post to introduce more Croatian produce to the English speaking world. And to make up to those, my dear readers of this blog, for the lack of posts here.

Those featured in the picture above is a smaller version of what we usually find in Singapore. They are known as Mala Ljetna Kruškica or Little Summer Pears. Most of the fruits in Croatia are sold by weight. These little pears sometimes come in punnets too. For a pear this small, I would expect it to be sourish. On the contrary, it is actually pretty sweet and juicy with a slight tang to it. But there isn't much of it due to its petiteness.

In Croatia, there are many types of pears. This is the first time I'm seeing Summer Pears. The usual pears that one can find in Croatian supermarkets are slightly more longish than its counterparts on Singapore shelves. The other close cousin of the pear that is common in UK.. the Quince is also a favourite in Croatia (see my older posts). You can get that probably in the autumn.

For Croatians, almost all fruits can be made into some kind of brandy or schnapps or eau de vie. Poire de William which is a popular pear liqueur in France where the pear is grown in the bottle is not that unique afterall once you see the Croatian shelf of fruit liqueurs. The Croatian equivalent of Pear liqueur is known as Kruškovac. Its chrome yellowish alcoholic content is simply sweet without a hint of pear. Though you can tastes its fruit origin. There is also a kind of Pear Vodka too.

With all said and done, do remember to pop by for more Croatian specialties!

Why isn't Croatia featured on Travel and Living?

I was on Skype with my mum this afternoon. We were chatting about the usual stuff and I was telling her about Croatia. She popped a question: "Why wasn't Croatia featured on Travel channel?" My mum subscribed to Channel16 on CableTV in Singapore. And her love for seeing new places is now satisfied through the tube temporarily till her next adventure. She was following the program .. I'm not sure which one as a matter of fact... the host travelled throughout Austria, Italy and then Hungary. In my mum's words, "Everywhere around this region except for Croatia!"

I found this a strange phenomenon that most TV programmes chose not to travel to Croatia. A relatively unexplored country with a gorgeous Adriatic coastline. Boasting one of the most hospitable people on earth. Not to mention the abundant Mediterranean sunshine!!

I'm not doing a commercial for Croatia Tourism. But I asked myself the same question :Why is there a lack of Singaporeans travelling to Croatia? I scratched my head and came up with a few conclusions.

First, Croatia is still not featured on one of the "Hip" travel destinations yet. No tour agencies in Singapore has Croatia on its itinerary. If one travelled here, he will not be able to "show off" his latest adventure as no one's been here.

Second, I guess it has to be the main reason..Croatia is relatively "unknown" or unfamiliar in the Far East. Many of my mates even my relatives questioned if it's safe to travel here alone. For goodness sake, I (who lived in London for 3 years) think that it's far safer than the English capital!

Last reason.. or before I could come up with another...the lack of knowledge means it's hard to figure out how to get around this country which is pretty huge as compared to Singapore. Frankly, my two mates did not have any difficulty getting around Rijeka town during their two weeks' stay on their own. Buses are pretty easy to find and on time. One can catch a coach to another town or city at one of the town's autobus station. Trains are well connected too. Well.. for the locals, we love our cars. Hop on one and we can go anywhere in a day!

So what's stopping you from visiting this country? Drop me an email and I'll gladly offer you travel advice anyday. Hope to see you around. Bok!