Get a Taste of Eastern Europe

I came across this magnificent Pinterest user: A Curious Taste.  It is a complete smorgasbord of pictures from all around the world, including the beloved CEE, and even has a board specifically for cuisine blogs.  I found a number on there that I would like to share for those interested in making authentic cuisine from these areas, and added to the list to fill in the gaps.  I had to cut so many blogs that had no English translations/translation function.  :((

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  Plenty of cooking and recipe websites have sections for regional cuisines that aren't difficult to find, but I sought for original blogs in English.  There are plenty of regional cuisine cookbooks as well, so do not feel limited to the internet (is that a limitation? I wonder...)

Moving Forward: 4/19 Review

This past week hasn't been the flashiest in terms of news, but there has been some movement on the political scene.

Central Europe

Hungary got quite a bit of negative attention this week, and for more than solely-political reasons.  To add to the constitutional changes that Fidesz has put into action, they've decided to annoy Brussels with an ad hoc tax to pay EU fines.  Delightful.  It had one thing going in its favor: the ruling on the violent interrogation was upheld.

Romania made two big decisions this week: 1) they are abandoning their original EU target year and postponing until 2020 and 2) they are proposing a property restitution bill to settle disputes from collectivization during the Soviet era.  A Romanian daily paper is concerned that this will fuel the Romanian real estate bubble.

Germany has a new party emerging: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has an outline of its political stances here (in German - sorry!).  Surprise, surprise, they are not pro-EU/United States of Europe and challenging the CDU/CSU coalition that's been in power since Merkel stepped up the podium.

Baring It All: 4/12 Recap

Welcome to the recap of the week.  There's so much to read and know that I've taken the liberty of condensing it for you.  If you want to see these things as they happen, follow me on Twitter!  You just have to click that button over to the right.  It's not far...  You can also see who I follow; I discovered that Twitter is the best place to find anything on CEE and there are fantastic, smart people to interact with.

Let's get to it.

Country Spotlight: Montenegro

It's been a long, long time since I have spotlighted a country and it's time to revive it.  Today will be focused on Montenegro!  I have completely neglected the country, but here I am to shed some light on the country, which has been popping up in the news due to some presidential problems.  Though besotted with corruption, the EU approved accession talks.  Let's dive in to Crno Gora!

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Name

The name Montenegro actually comes from the Venetian word for Crna Gora (sometimes transliterated as Tsrna Gora): Monte Negro.  It means "black mountain".

Europe Came to Chicago

I don't mention Chicago on this blog as much as I should.  I grew up just to the north of it and came back after college.  While I hadn't anticipated staying, it seems Chicago had other plans and got me a job and married within my second year of being back.  This place has a very soft/large place in my heart and it's not just nostalgia.  Though the winters are harsh and unpleasant, the summers are season-long celebrations.  The Parks and Recreation Department blows most of its budget during those 4 blissful months by hosting all manner of free events, whether outdoors at Grant Park, the Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park  (with the famous "Cloud Gate"/the Bean nearby), or just any park that exists in the city.  Then neighborhoods and any organization that wants to have a party does it during that time.  There's never a thing NOT to do.  It is, hands down, the most enjoyable part of the year despite oppressive humidity and heat.  There's cool stuff to do indoors, like our fabulous museums, and year-round, but the real taste is in summer.  You see all the ethnic mixing and vibrant culture bursting out of the concrete.

Election Season!

It's election season, and how!  As America gears up for its presidential election, let's reflect on elections for our beloved former USSR satellites.

Let's do a quick round-up of recent elections:

Balkan News

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My RSS feed reader is slowly becoming larger than the newspapers I read.  I recently made it worse by adding Balkan Insights, which will supplement the six I was reading before.  I can't even keep up with some of them, so I simply browse headlines to keep myself sane.  This website is great and a fantastic addition to my feeds because I need some more Balkan news.  I give a full review after the jump.

Kosovo

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Kosovo, while not technically a country yet, does deserve some attention during Country Spotlight Week since I hardly highlight the region, mostly because I find the many Balkan wars befuddling.  As Christine Armbruster beautifully captured in her project, war is not a simple right vs. wrong historical event (her project took her to Sarajevo).  In the wake of Mladić's capture, there will be more international discussion of the Yugosphere and how it's progressing.   The problems of Kosovo are not over even though the age of shrapnel and land mines are (or should be).  I am in the midst of a lengthy queue of books written by Balkan writers, so I may have more insight on the region afterward.  Enough about me, more about Kosovo!