All things sheepish and other culinary musings

The ability to deal with my food allergies while traveling is always a bit of a challenge.  I requested gluten-free airline meals, but the gluten-free products contained dairy, eggs, and yeast, so I still wasn't able to eat most of what was provided.  Any other meal selections are also problematic.  I eat what I can and rely on what I bring with me.

Slovakia, like many other countries/cultures has seen a rise in the incidence of food allergies.  After a careful perusing in Tesco, I was able to find rice noodles, rice milk, oatmeal, etc.  Fortunately, most packaging is transparent so I can see what I'm getting along with translating the ingredients list as much as I can.  Most products are intended for several countries within and not in the the European Union.  If I don't know the food word in Slovak, I can usually decipher it in German.  I brought with me a couple of gluten-free baking mixes that would need a few ingredients to complete, which I was confident I could get.  In the US, I have only identified one brand of margarine and one variation within that brand that is soy-free.  I really didn't think I'd find margarine, but thought I'd give it a try.  I was even ready to look for lard.  Much to my surprise all margarine here is made with sunflower oil, not soybean oil.  After diligently inspecting each ingredient listed, I took the plunge and bought some generic margarine.

What I knew I could eat, once I got here, was sheep's milk cheese.  Sheep's cheese has a long tradition in Slovakia.  I first ate it in 1995, breaded and fried -- think mozzarella sticks -- and, served with roasted potatoes and tartar sauce.  It was a common meal, available everywhere -- gooey, and quite satisfying.  I eat several sheep cheeses in the US, but most are French or Greek in origin.  I said something to my hosts about sheep's milk cheese and was told there was a special, sheep's milk store where the best sheep's milk products could be obtained.  My host wanted to go there anyway so he offered to pick me up some things.  The true season for sheep's milk begins in May and is waning now, but products are still available.  In the spring you can get sheep's butter.  He came back with five jars of yogurt, smoked cheese, and the plain, soft cheese I was more familiar with.

 

The yogurt (left) is out of this world!  It is thicker than any Greek yogurt I've every seen.  You can definitely stand a spoon in it.  I've been mixing it with jam (homemade, courtesy of my host), oatmeal, and a banana for breakfast.  It's tangy, but not too tangy and the cute jar it comes in is an added bonus.  The plain cheese (lower right) is pretty tangy.  I've used it to make a Slovak version of "mac and cheese."  It melts into the hot rice noodles and with some added margarine and a bit of mustard is the best gluten-free pasta dish I've had in a long time.  The smoked cheese (upper right) must be put into some kind of mold before being smoked.  It's really good as well.  I'm in sheep's milk heaven!

  

My host also brought me some sheep's milk (left) from Tesco.  It's a strong version of buttermilk, probably more like kefir.  I've used it to make salad dressing and thin the yogurt.  The last item (right) is a commercial brand of the plain sheep's cheese.

While my product discrimination skills are pretty good, I did make a pretty foolish mistake at the local potraviny the other night.  I was in need of toilet paper.  Since the store is small, not too many choices sit on the shelves and everything is jammed together.  I selected the item on the right, brought it home, opened it, and, to my chagrin, discovered I'd bought paper towels.  The key piece of information was 2X, which meant 2 pieces, not 2-ply.  Later, I purchased the second package and noted the 4X.  It's good to have learning opportunities!  And, to laugh at one's self. 

On my second trip to Tesco I discovered powdered rice milk.  Oh, how I wish we had that in the US.  At the health food store I also bought rice cream.  Now, why can't we have that?  I put it in my coffee yesterday and today -- perfect!!!!

Speaking of yogurt ... there's an old, not so politically correct joke told by Europeans.  What's the difference between Americans and yogurt?  Yogurt has culture.  M and I went to the ballet on Wednesday, so I'm even getting my culture!  It was Romeo and Juliet.  Just beautiful!!!!  We were sixth row and slightly right.  There was a live orchestra.  The dancers were an international group working in Bratislava.

I didn't bother to buy a program -- couldn't read it anyway.  Instead, I took a picture of the posted program.  There were four bus loads of Austrians.

The next day I could have sworn the dancer who was Romeo was on the bus across the aisle from me.  The tickets were 14 Euro.

Later, we've got tickets to the opera, Aida.  Can't come to Bratislava without going to the opera!  With my senior discount the ticket was 10 Euro.  :)

Dobre chut' (Good appetite!)