Sugar, Spice, everything nice. Oh, and brandy and figs. Lots of figs.

This past Saturday Dean B and Professor Banac took the group on a excursion to nearby sights of importance. At 10 before 9 we loaded up into a charter bus and took a winding road up and up until we were about 45 minutes away from the Old City. Our first stop was the home of a former nobleman, Borovac. We then visited an exhibition of the work of Vlaho Bukovac, on of the most notable Croatian painters of contemporary times. We then made our way to roman remains of a temple, that were actually used as a religious space even before the arrival of Romans, and finally we found ourselves in the wine cellar of two of our guides that dates back to the 15th century. Our hosts invited us to come in, sit down, and rest a while out of the hot sun. This invitation was a treat enough itself and I was even more pleasantly surprised when the announced that we'd be trying their firewater in just a few moments (the time was 11 a.m) All of the alcohols were homemade and brewed and despite being quite strong, were again, sweet enough to enjoy despite the distinct burning sensation that accompanied swallowing them. I tried the limoncello and was quite pleased to find that not only was it much smoother that that I drank in Prague earlier this summer, but it was sweeter as well. Though I can't claim to be a connoisseur of all things alcohol, I've got to give Dubrovnik props, so far I've really liked what I've seen—er—drank.

But let's get to the point of this post. The sweets. As we sat and looked at the original photos that our hosts had of the Yugoslav army ransacking their house during the Bosnian war, and poured over a portrait of a man with a grenade in his hand standing on their property, we were offered treats galore. The sugar rush was obviously needed. We were presented with this platter.

Starting from the bottom left and circling around to end with the center we have: Pressed Carob candies. Pressed grape and almond candies, a circular pressed fig with almond candy, sugared orange peels, and sugared almonds. Guess which kind was my favorite. A: All of them. Though I hadn't heard of a Carob tree before this trip, the taste of the red candies was really quite familiar. Another group memeber, Mike and I pinned the taste down as being like a fruit leather. This was a candy I could get behind, looks healthy, tastes healthy, so you almost forget about the sugar. Both the grape and fig candies were an interesting mix of nutty and fruity and the textures were enough to keep me interested until I got to the real gems of the orange peels and almonds. The orange peels pushed me out of my comfort zone. How many times was I told to not eat the outside of the orange as a kid? More than a few. How many times had I tried it and discovered that it tasted like, excuse my harsh language, crap? Many. But these sugared orange peels were something entirely different. The rind provided interesting texture and was hardened consistently all throughout each piece of candy to get rid of the mushiness that makes eating them so weird in their raw state. Oh and did I mention the sugar, yeah that was great. It was very similar to the sugar on the almond candies, which was almost exactly like the bag o' nuts you can buy in New York City for two bucks, so there was no way they could go wrong. All in all, the entire platter was great. 

Above we have the orange peels, a bite of freshly peeled fig, and the pressed fig and almond candy in that order.

We were served raw figs as well. Those I had a hard time peeling and after peeling, really getting into. They were soft and plaint, quite moist and . . .well that's about it. I don't know if I didn't get a good one, but the taste wasn't good, and it definitely wasn't bad. I now feel about figs the way I feel about water. If you are thirst (in the case of figs hungry) drink (or eat). I won't turn to figs as my favorite food, but I wouldn't turn one down on a hot day either.

Now these babies came out next. As undelicious as these dried figs look, the were actually quite food. Yet again, I bit into one and was taken back to a childhood food, none other than Fig Newtons. You know those cookies that weren't chocolate-y so you couldn't figure out why they didn't taste bad. Well, these dried figs were sugary and fleshy and had seeds inside to remind you of the natural snack you were enjoying. Yet another snack I could, and did, really get behind. Alas, after the dried figs were tasted, it was time for us to go. With fire in our throats and sugar in our bellies we made our way back to the charter bus and continued our excursion. Before we left however, I was able to find our from Dean B that most of these goods are for sale in the daily market that takes place in one of the plazas of the Old City. You can bet I've already scoped out some orange peels to take home with me.