These Days

These days, visits to this Blog are increasing rapidly. My counter (http://statcounter.com/) tells me that many of the "hits" result from searches for "Povitica". A recipe is included on this site. http://butterflyhillfarm.blogspot.com/2008/12/recipe-povitica.html Plus, I have often talked of my memories of this wonderful Bread. http://butterflyhillfarm.blogspot.com/search?q=Povitica

This Nut Bread was made by my Croatian Grandmother Dragica (Dora) especially around the holidays. Povitica is also called Potica and Pah-cah-TEET-sah, which is a name I cannot spell but can surely pronounce.

Making Povitica was no small commitment for the Grandmothers, taking about an 8 hour day to make, and resulting from complex skills learned from many times in the observation and making. Grandma Dora immigrated here with her husband Kazimir in 1908. They came from the region of the Austro-Hungarian empire known as Gorski Kotar. Her trunk of treasures included many foods of traditional fare, which were a part of the glue that defined them.

Perhaps the rising interest on the Blog comes from a gentle and persistent nudging of the Grandmothers for the memory of who we are and from whence we have come. Those of us in this modern frenzied world have left behind so many traditions. But some traditions just cannot seem to be denied. They surely must be encoded in our cells.

As we return to these traditional crafts in our slow and often fumbling ways, the Grandmothers would surely nod and smile. It's a coming home.