Thursday 22 September 2011

I'm back a short story about walnuts ( Orah )

I know its been a while but I've been busy OK, now that we have got that out of the way lets continue. In the part of Croatia that I was born the Bilogora hills walnuts abound as they do in most parts of the Balkans and are used extensively in cooking cakes, biscuits and making the fabulous liqueur Orahovac  ( which you can find in Australia through the Dan Murphys chain see recipe below ),  I remember visiting my cousin Dragan who was the last of our family to be still left on the farm and who looked after his bedridden mother and how behind the mud brick house with the thatched roof and whitewash walls in which they lived, was a walnut grove from which he made a small living, and as we sat in the house in the half light as there was only one tiny window to let the afternoon sun in, I wondered how different our lives were solely for the fact that my father had decided to emigrate and take us to Australia and how hard life was for Dragan and what might have been had we stayed, anyway as I got up to leave Dragan looked desperately for something to give me as a parting gift but all he had was a small bag of walnuts which he thrust into my hands as I left, I shared those walnuts all but one of them with the rest of my cousins when I got back to the city, that one walnut I still have......( just don't tell customs )

Half fill one whisky tumbler with ice add shot of Orahovac and a twist of lemon then drink.....and behold you shall see the face of God !!!