Visit in Slovakia - 22 - 26 November

On the third day we had the trip to the High Tatras. We visited Donovaly - Habakuky, the natural air-open museum Pribylina and the Strbske Pleso - mountain lake.

The second day we visited the castle in Topoľčianky and the National horse-breeding farm and in the afternoon we presented films and PowerPoint Presentation about winter traditions in each country.

The stay in Slovakia in Primary school of V. Zaborsky in Vrable was realised from 22 to 26 November 2010. The topic was : Winter traditions.
The first day started with Welcome programme - The guests saw the Slovak winter traditions, they were welcomed by Local authorities and spent nice moments in the workshops of Slovak school. The atmosphere was fantastic - Students were working , cooking and dancing together.

Holidays and Traditions,DIMITROV DEN,NOVEMBER THE 1st,HALLOWEEN,NOVEMBER 21 st

1. DIMITROV DAY 27.10.2010

2. NOVEMBER THE 1 st DAY OF THE NATIONAL LEADERS-KONSTANTIN FOTINOV 10.11.2010

3. HALLOWEEN

4. NOVEMBER 21 st

Visit in Romania and Italy

We had a  nice time in Romania and Italy. We saw a lot of beautiful traditions of these countries. And we would like to share with you  our impressions and experiences.

Spring tradition in Slovakia

Spring traditions in Slovakia

View more presentations from repaska.

Exchange Visit to Italy!

Here are just a few of our favorite pictures from Italy! A review of the trip will be up on the website soon. Please feel free to post your pictures as well! To view our entire photo gallery from Itlay click here

The first exchange visit - Romania
(22nd - 26th of February 2010)

The first Comenius school partnership “The Heritage of Europe - Traditions are alive” meeting took place at the Bucecea Industrial High School, between the 22^nd – 26^th of February 2010. This meeting was attended by representatives of every partner schools: Romania (the host), Bulgaria (the project coordinator), Turkey, Italy and Slovakia. There were 32 foreign participants: 11 from Bulgaria, 7 from Slovakia, 8 from Italy and 6 from Turkey.

The program was busy comprising various presentations of clubs and different research visits.

The participants of these four countries arrived at Botosani on Monday the 22^nd of February 2010.

On the 23^rd of February, the guests were greeted at Bucecea Industrial High School.

The meeting began with the introduction of project teams, presentation of the partner countries and their educational systems.

Then, the guests visited the school, the greenhouse and the museum of natural heritage.

Later, the guests, divided into three groups, attended different classes Drawing, Chemistry, Mathematics, English where they were involved, together with our students, in different activities.

After lunch break we continued our meeting with a “Sezatoare” that took place in the school canteen and which was previously traditionally adorned. Each club presented its activity: the cookbook, the greeting cards, the March amulets, painted eggs and folk dances.

On Wednesday February 24^th our partners got acquainted with the activities of the “Virtual World” and “Calendar of National Traditions” clubs. They received information about Romanian traditions and saw pictures reflecting “Dragobete”.

This was followed by discussions concerning the project and some visits at the Calinesti Mansion, at the “Stefan Luchian” Foundation and at a ceramics workshop in Botosani.

On February 25^th the foreign team members had the opportunity to visit some tourist attractions in Suceava such as: Stephen the Great’s Main Fortress and Voronet Monastery. The day ended with the evaluation of the meeting and discussions about the project. The participants received attendance certificates.

For this first reunion every partner school made and presented the cookbook and the Power Point presentation of a unique tradition. So, as a result of these presentations we had the opportunity to withdraw the first conclusions about our traditions. We discovered some similarities such as March amulets, painting eggs; but also a lot of differences that make our cultures unique.

This first meeting was a good occasion to evaluate the progress of the whole project, to realize that the activities are going as planned, that everyone is at the same page.

To sum up, the reunion attained its objectives and was considered a success.

Recipes from Romania

Turkey jelly

Ingredients: 1 turkey, garlic, salt.

Preparation: Cut the turkey into medium-sized pieces. Place them into a pot with boiling water; remove the foam when necessary and add little salt. Leave it to boil at low temperature until the meat is done and the gravy has boiled to a third of the initial quantity. Then take out the meat and put it on a dish. Season the gravy with garlic to taste and strain it. Pour the gravy on the meat and leave it to set in a cool place.

Meatball Soup

Ingredients: 500 g lean meat, 2 carrots, 30 g root parsley, 20 g celery, 80 g onion, 40 g lovage, 500 g bones , 80 g bread, 2 eggs, 1 cup cabbage pickle, 15 g rice, 100 g sour cream, salt, ground pepper.

Preparation: Put the bones in a pot with one and a half liters of cold water. Add the chopped vegetables and leave everything to boil. Mince the meat, bread and onion. Mix this composition with white pepper, salt, eggs and boiled rice. Make walnut-sized balls. When the vegetables softened, add the meatballs and the previously boiled cabbage pickle. In the end pour the cream and sprinkle some chopped lovage.

Pound Cake

Ingredients: 1 kg flour, 7 yolks, 4 egg whites, 300 g sugar, 250 g butter, ½ l milk, 1 spoon rum, vanilla, 1 teaspoon salt, 20g yeast.

Preparation: Pour some warm milk over the yeast in a bowl, adding a teaspoon of sugar. Mix 3 spoons of flour with hot milk. Add the yeast and knead thoroughly. Sprinkle flour, cover the bowl with a napkin and leave it in a warm place. Mix the yolks with salt and sugar. Sprinkle the remaining flour, add warm milk and battered egg white. Mix it with the dough, oil, rum, vanilla and melted butter. Cover the mixture again with a kitchen towel and leave it to grow in a warm place for a couple of hours. Divide the dough and lay it in special trays. Bake them in a hot oven for about an hour.

Recipes from Turkey

Dolma

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rice
• 1,5 cups olive oil
• 1/2 cup pinenuts
• 500 gr. onions finely chopped
• 2 tea spoons sugar
• 1 tea spoon allspice
• 1/2 cup currants
• 3 cups water, hot
• 1 pinch parsley, finely chopped
• 1 pinch dill finely chopped
• 1 pinch mint finely chopped
• salt

Preparation:

Soak the rice in hot water for 30 minutes, then rinse throughly until the water runs clear. Drain. Soak the currants in warm water until they swell up. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the pine kernels and brown lightly over a medium heat. Add the finely chopped onions and cook until coloured. Add the rice and stir over the heat for 4-5 minutes. Add the drained currants, salt, remaining spices and stir into the rice. Add the hot water, bring to the boil and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes. When the water has evaporated, and the rice gets too tender tip onto a large plate to cool. Chop mint, parsley, and dill finely and stir into the cooled stuffing.

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Baklava

Ingredients:
• 1 pound frozen phyllo sheets
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 cups finely chopped walnuts or blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation:


Thaw phyllo pastry and separate sheets according to package directions. Keep pastry not being used covered with clean damp dish towel to keep it from drying out. Place half of pastry sheets in a greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan, one by one, brushing each sheet quickly and all over with melted butter. Combine nuts, 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon; sprinkle over buttered pastry. Place remaining sheets on top, brushing each with melted butter. Cut baklava pastry into 2-inch diamonds. Bake at 400° until brown and crisp, about 30 to 35 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar, honey, 1 cup water, and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Boil baklava syrup for about 20 minutes,
stirring occasionally, until syrupy. Cool and pour over baklava.

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Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils
1 medium size onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste (or you can do half&half)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed pepper or red peppercorns
6 cups of water

Ingredients for the sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 tbsp sweet or spicy paprika

Preparation

-With a pressure cooker: Put everything (onion and carrot coarsley chopped) for the soup in the pressure cooker and cook on medium for 15 minutes and then smoothen the soup with a blender
-With a regular pot: Put everything for the soup in a big pot and cook on medium heat until the lentils are soft and mushy, for about 20-25 minutes. Smoothen it with a blender.
-If you don't have a hand blender or if you want to have a chunky soup, chop the onion finely and grate the carrot before you cook them.
-Previous two are, in a way, healthier ways of making this soup. If you want to try the tastier way, sautee the onion with 1 tbsp oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the paste and cook for a couple of minutes, and
add the rest of the soup ingredients. From this point on, everything will be the same. Sauteed onion and paste will make quite a difference, though.
-Before serving the soup, heat the oil in a skillet and when it's hot add the paprika. Stir for 5-10 seconds. Pour a couple of scoops of the oil+paprika sauce on the soup bowl.
-Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top.

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Recipes from Slovakia

Potato meal called Granadír

Ingredients:

6 peaces of potatoes
2 onions
200 g of pastas ( short noodles )
Ground red pepper
Ground black pepper
Salt
Oil

Instructions:

Boil potatoes in jacket,
peel potatoes and cut to small cubes,
boil pastas in salt water,
mix pastas with potatoes,
add salt and a bit of pepper,
chop onions ,
fry onions in a pan ,
add red sweet pepper,
put pastas and potatoes ,
mix it and salt if it´s necessary,
serve it with acid cucumber.



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Round cake with sheep cheese - Pagáče

Ingredients:
250 g of flour
180 g of fat
180 g of sheep cheese
Salt
1 yolk
Conditioner dough
White of egg
Salt and cumin for sprinkle

Instructions:

1. Put flour into a bowl ,
2. add fat, sheep cheese, salt, yolk and a bit of
conditioner dough,
3 . mix it very good,
4. spread on the board – it can be 1cm thick,
4. cut round cakes ,
5. cover with egg white, salt, cumin
6. bake until they are pink .
We can add a grated cheese instead of sheep cheese.


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Stuffed Chicken – Plnené kurča

Ingredients:
2 chickens
40 g of bacon
60 g of oil
Stuff:
20 g of oil
40 g of onions
4 eggs
4 rolls
Milk for wet rolls
40 g of butter
Parsley leaf
Salt, ground black pepper
Marjoram
Chicken giblets

Instructions :

Salt and oil 2 good washed chicken,
fill with stuff and sew very good,
put on an oiled baking pan,
garnish with slices of bacon,
pour with a bit of water,
bake in hot oven.

Instructions for stuffing:

peel and chop onions,
fry it on oil,
stew chicken giblets on it,
cut small cubes from rolls,
put them into a bowl with milk,
mix butter, yolks, salt, pepper, chopped parsley leaf, marjoram,
add chicken giblets, wet roll and snow from egg whites,
mix everything.
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