Skiing season just started

Got a bit over 6 kilometers on skis yesterday, second day out on the mountain...

Ciorbă de perișoare

Azi am făcut puțin spionaj în bucătărie,

 în urma căruia m-am ales cu rețeta unei minunate ciorbe de perișoare,  

așa cum se face la noi în casă...

Curățăm un morcov, o ceapă, o țelină mică, un păstîrnac, mic și el.

Adaugăm cîteva bucăți de ardei, ca în poza de mai jos.

Pentru perișoare măcinăm carnea de pui,

împreună cu jumătate din ceapa curățată mai devreme.

Adăugăm o mînă de orez, un ou, împreună cu verdețuri din abundență:

pătrunjel, țelină, puțin mărar, piper mănăstiresc și foarte puțină sare.

Amestecăm compoziția și o lăsăm deoparte...

Pentru zamă tăiem mărunt legumele,

păstîrnacul se lasă bucată mare, doar despicat în patru...

Punem legumele într-o oală și adăugăm puțin ulei...

Le călim cîteva secunde...

Adăugăm apa, ca în pozele de mai jos...

Trîntim puțină făină într-o farfurie...

Formăm perișoarele, le dăm prin făină după care le aruncăm direct în oală.

E important ca perișoarele să fie grăsune!

 Punem ciorba la fiert. O fierbem 10 minute în oala sub presiune...

Între timp, pregătim următorul amestec, 

cu care dregem ciorba după ce fierbe:

un ou,

puțină făină,

puțin suc de lămîie,

și verdeată din belșug: pătrunjel, țelină, mărar.

plus leuștean din abundență,

iar la final mai trîntim vreo trei linguri de iaurt gras, sau smîntînă...

Și amestecăm bine...

La ciorba fiartă mai adăugăm apă fierbinte, dacă este nevoie...

Dregem ciorba ca în pozele de mai jos...

Amestecăm bine, și potrivim de sare și acreală după gust...

Atîta tot...

Exploring

With summer holidays in full swing I decided to stay off the Transfăgărășan Road. It is simply too crowded this time of the year, especially during weekends. There's really no point in fighting the crowds when I can have this road almost to myself every year from October to June while it sits unused, closed to the public.

So I went exploring some unmarked trails I've had my eyes on for a while. The plan was to reach the Valley of Avrig, descend into the town of Avrig and return home on the busy DN1 road. The trails were awesome, steady climbs through the forest, followed by smooth, fun descents. Spectacular views over the Făgăraș Mountains opened up in places.

I left the forest descending through a stream bed probably having missed a turn higher up somewhere. Return trip was uneventful, however in the future I'll look for an alternative route to avoid traffic on DN1.
For anyone interested, the GPS track is available for download from bikemap.net

Bike trip through lush green forest

We took a quick 30km bike trip early this morning. Fresh air and a beautiful dirt road through the forest make for a perfect start of the day. So far I've been unable to stop Miercuri from chasing wildlife. She does become deaf to my commands whenever she spots something in the forest. Not a big deal most of the time, she's chasing small game and she's not doing any harm, returning quite quickly. This morning it was a deer, two days ago it was a brown hare. I'm only worrying about the brown bear. Chasing it is a bad, bad idea. I could keep Miercuri permanently on leash but that takes the fun out of going downhill. If anyone knows of a good way to train a dog to not chase wildlife please let me know.

Breakthrough

Sun fighting its way through the clouds

Moments before sunset

I've been quite busy with work lately and haven't had much time to do anything else. I enjoyed a spin on my mountain bike yesterday and shot this picture minutes before sunset, after descending from Bâlea Waterfall.

Old track

Went for a bit of mountain biking this afternoon on this beautiful track. Couldn't  stay long as I had to get back to work. Weather looks good for the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to the weekend!

Flooded with color

I left the house today as soon as weather changed for the better. Mesmerizing colors everywhere. Nature's last display of color before the long winter months.

Autumn colors

It rained all day today. Mountains hid their faces in dull grey clouds. Minutes before darkness the view opened up just enough to reveal the warm colors of the forest.

Mushroom time

This morning my friend Stef and I landed in mushroom lover's heaven. We were hoping to find enough mushrooms for a stew but ended up picking more than 30kilos in less than an hour. We're now busy storing them for the winter - steamed & frozen, dried in the sun and pickled.

Cârtisoara in OpenStreetMap

Just finished adding Cârtișoara's residential roads to OpenStreetMap.

Bikejoring

We've experienced a significant temperature drop over the last few days,  kind of bad for most people but good for my husky mix Miercuri. She's become alive again, keen to put on some miles after hiding in the shadow for the past couple of weeks.

View over Făgăraș Mountains

We woke up to beautiful weather this morning. I shot this panoramic image just before breakfast. Went up to Bâlea shortly afterward. Snow was very wet and heavy so I didn't stay long. Hopefully the snow will settle over the next few days.

Sunrise over Cârțișoara

Two consecutive days, same hour of the morning, slightly different angles, dramatically different landscapes.

Snack time!

Miercuri is hunting for a little snack...

Plimbare de Craciun

Din cauza vremii nefavorabile (ploaie torentiala si temperaturi cu mult peste 0°C) traditionala plimbare de Craciun a avut loc cu cateva zile intarziere anul acesta. Am profitat de acest pui de viscol care a reusit sa astearna un strat subtire de zapada in cele cateva ore cat si-a facut de cap.

Peisaj de iarnă

Ger

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