I'm no vampire...

I'm having a hard time coming up with something clever for this blog title. Maybe the block is because I should be cleaning, but blogging is so much more fun. :)

On Tuesdays we have our Bible study at Varaždinske Toplice. Usually we met at Ana's house, but Kristina wanted us to come to her place so she could make us a meal. Apparently they slaughtered the pig over the weekend, and below is the pig feast she prepared for us.


The dish in the background is kind of like deep fried fat, except I think it's baked. Think pork rinds except these are soft with fat in the middle. They weren't bad, but I could have used a little salt on mine. The big plate upfront is holding some of the best pork I have ever had in my life. The outside ring of meat was amazing. I just can't say enough about how so unbelievably good it was - holy cow, or pig... whatever. It was amazing.

The sausage on the inside was... good. It was interesting. Sometimes you just need to eat the food without being curious as to what you're eating. I'm up for most things at least once. I mean, the worst thing is that you eat it and it kills you - and then I'm basically a martyr, right?

But anyways, it's basically blood sausage. Pig blood sausage. Anita told me ahead of time that Kristina prepared it, so at least I was prepared as well. So I told Kristina I never had it before but that I would absolutely try some. So then she started to tell me what was in it. Paraphrasing - "We don't use a lot of blood... there's rice... we use the meat from the head and of course the lungs..." I decided to stop listening at the lungs... Lung was not an organ I had eaten yet - I've done eye and kidney and face meat before, but not lung. My decision to stop listening was based upon my personal rule of only knowingly eating one organ per meal (yeah, I made up that rule yesterday).

But honestly, I actually liked it. It wasn't my favorite, but it certainly wasn't horrible. I won't be making it anytime soon, but it's one more food and one more organ conquered!

Below are a few other pictures from our time together (Oh, and it didn't go unnoticed by me that no one else ate the blood sausage!)

Dragica and Ana (please continue praying for Ana's healing from back pain)

Anita and Kristina the Chef!

Dragica and Ana again

Dragica, Ana, Me, Kristina

Ana, Anita, Kristina, Dragica (with her little bag of pig fat)

And since I live in a country that actually celebrates Christmas, I bought my first Christmas tree - yeah it's fake, but it was on sale for half price (only $13 for a 5-foot tree!) and I can use it every year now, so I thought it was a good investment. So below, I introduce you to my Christmas tree - I named her Maggie...