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There's been a lot of wine drinking in Croatia this year for me and after two months, sampling the entire coastal productions, I have a really good idea of what I like and what I don't like. The title of this post really gives away the meaning, so I just wanted to share with all the rest of you my favorite reds coming out of Croatia this year:              5. Kiriđija - Dingač       An older fellow on Pejlešac, he makes a very good and deep Plavac Mali grown in the Dingač region of that peninsula.              4. Demian - Barrique       The only Istrian member to the group because while I haven't tried every wine from Istria, this is a mighty fine vintage of Terran.              3. Bibich - Mantra       A finely crafted wine. The newest vintage blows away all previous editions.              2. Baković - Plavac Murvica       A real surprise, since I tasted the wine so long after meeting the maker. I call it the 'perfect plavac'.              1 (tied). Zlatan Plenković - Zlatan Plavac Grand Cru       I don't know what wine could knock this out the number one spot and I suspect it will be there for some time to come. It's a beautiful Plavac Mali that is barrel-aged to be one of the tastiest wines in the country. Try and find it if it doesn't sell out before you can.              1 (tied). Svirče - Ivan Dolac Eko       Brilliant, just like the Grand Cru and it makes sense, seeing as how they're maybe 15 kilometers from each other on the same island. This wine has all the sophistication of the Grand Cru, but in different ways that let it be just as tasty a Plavac Mali, while being its own wine.

After traveling The Europe for three and a half months, I got a little taste of the superior everything that's waiting for me back in the US America. I realize that this is "old" news having broke a few days ago, but I got out my map (oh yes, I have one) and I feel comfortable enough to post it.       

Okay, I admit it, I've written a bit about toilets here and there. Some would say that I might have a fixation with them, but if that's true, then so do some friends and other friends as well as most of Catalonia.       Regardless of this, I must write about the "shelf toilet". I have heard it talked about and even seen diagrams of its operations, but I never thought I would be confronted with one in person, but did at Hotel Park. When looking down at this new porcelain friend I thought, "To say that this is 'not right' is to say that the war in Iraq was a boo-boo." These are evil and if you don't believe me, take a glance down at the photo below and come back for more.       You see, how this works, and really, I wish I didn't know was that whatever you do sits on that little shelf you see there. There is a little bit of water from the last flush there, but really, it's quite dry and thusly, your leavings are just left out to breath until you flush. Yes, it's not healthy. Yes, it's really the last thing most of us want to be confronted with when doing basic bodily functions.       But, there is the next mechanism in this whole thing and that is the flush. When you pull the handle, a delightful splash of water comes down the shelf and gleefully whisks your leavings off the shelf with a fun sliding action, taking them down in to the part of the toilet where they should have been in the first place. But, because of the water action, things don't always completely flush, requiring more gentle dousing of the shelf by the ineffectual water. Joy. Joy.       Perhaps for those who are fascinated by their own leavings, this is a dream come true. In which case, these people should form a society and have any of these contraptions left in the world sent to them. In fact, I would propose doing this, ripping out these contraptions from daily use. They are foul and whomever came up with this (I suspect Germans) should be put in a forced labor camp with nothing but a trench latrine.

I nearly stayed at the Park last year because it was rather affordable, but ended up staying at the City Hotel instead, which was considerably more expensive, but as I found out, considerably more nicer.       The Park is well, functional. It's relatively cheap accommodation in the center of Ljubljana that can be relied upon to put a roof over your head. What it is not is a particularly great experience. The downfalls that I found were that the rooms were incredibly basic. The beds were okay, but arranged as two sets of bunk beds in each room. So, if you're staying there as a couple, it's not terribly romantic. There is no air condition in the rooms. The bathrooms leave much to be desired. The one I stayed in stank to hell and the shower was very slow to drain, requiring just a trickle out of the shower so that you wouldn't flood the floor of the bathroom. I think the bathrooms were clean, but the ones that I knew were clean were those in the lobby, so they were much better for basic functions short of showering. Beyond all this, there was a massive ant problem. Coming in with any kind of snack is a big problem, because the ants will find it and I was shocked, staying on the 13th floor!       On the upswing, the staff were okay. The breakfast was surprisingly decent. You can stash your luggage there if you need to check out or in earlier or later than your room is available. Lastly, there is both free wifi (which is hell to get working unless you really know how to set up wifi) and free computers for checking email.       If you take all this in to account, I think the hotel is a decent choice for the very budget conscious if only staying 2-3 nights at most. Anymore than this and I would look in to other options in the area.

This issue was bound to come up sooner or later and naturally be based on the fact that those who are in charge of enforcing the law don't often understand what they're enforcing because it is beyond their scope of knowledge. I don't mean this as an insult, because you wouldn't ask a rocket scientist to make a new pair of shoes for you. Still though, these overlaps in knowledge are tricky when a person's freedoms are on the line.       It was a few days ago that the fact that a British fellow was arrested for using an open wifi network broke on El Pais, but was followed up on The Guardian and Wired. Essentially, a guy was doing what we all do these days. He found an open wifi network, popped on to it and surfed the web, only to be hauled in by the cops. There was no, "Hey don't do that." or anything like that. No, they arrested him and cited a mix of laws that I don't know about, but probably exist in some parallel form in the US. Or maybe they're even worse given the Patriot Act.       Beyond the rather broad statement of "Ah, what gives, we all do that?", I am a bit freaked out by this because I really have been doing this. I was harassed by two very cheesy undercover cops while using a laptop in a car. Thankfully, they just gave me a hard time and left me alone. But, given this recent development, I apparently need to watch myself.       An open wifi network like this guy used, is just that. Anyone can join it who has a wifi enabled laptop. Admittedly, it's a rather stupid thing to have an open network because people can surf any number of illegal sites, download porn, or hack the IRS d-base (always sounds cooler when Keanu says it.) But, you can block a good deal of all of this and if you do, then this is a rather nice thing to do because it allows people quick web access, which can be really useful when traveling.       But, let's back up a few steps and put this in to easier terms and understand what happened in this case in Britain. Say you're out on a street somewhere and there is a porch light that's illuminating where you are. You then use this porch light to read a map or check your old school analog watch. This is okay, right? Well, what happens if you use this porch light to allow you to break in to a car? This is obviously not all right, but how is the owner to know what you're going to do with that light that is there? They don't and such are the risks of putting anything out for the general public to use. Still, the law of averages are in the porch light owner's favor that nothing will happen, so he keeps it going as a favor to people.       Legalities aside, should you be paying the owner for the use of that light and electricity? And if you don't, are you stealing? The common sense answer to this is that the owner is not responsible for your actions with the light they provide and if they put the light out there, then it's yours to use.       This simple logic is being crushed by over zealous law enforcement, because using open wireless networks is pretty much the exact same thing. In fact it's even more ridiculous that someone get charged with stealing internet than stealing light because unlike a light, you can't see a wireless network. The network has to want to be found and thusly is broadcasting itself to be found. Then, once found, if not requiring authentication it is soundly and without any argument not theft. If it is undesirable to have a network open, then it is actually easier to stop people from using it than stopping people from using a porch light because with one quick change, you can put a password on it. Then, if people defeat the password (because they can be gotten around these days) they are committing a crime and breaking in to a secure network. In this instance, even if you use a dumb password like 'password', by encrypting your network you are effectively saying, "Stay out. This is private."       People need to keep in mind that network communications are two way. With wifi, it's basically like the porch light owner sees you standing out on the street and says, "Hey I have a light, would you like me to turn it in?" and if you say yes and he does, then there is no crime committed. It isn't obvious, but computers have this communication with each other every time they send data whether it be wired or wireless.       In the end, I don't know how all of this is going to shake down and I hope that in some way, some lawyer can explain this in a court of law to set a precedent. But given many peoples' general technical know how in the legal system (they do law, not computers) I fear that we may be in for a bumpy ride for the next couple of years until someone will real money or backing can fight another one of these if they continue to happen and spread to the US. Are you ready, EFF?

Truffles are strange little individuals. They look pretty funky and smell really strongly. Staring at one, you would either think that it came from outer space or a cow.       I haven't tasted the ones in France or Italy, but have recently been introduced to those in Istria in great abundance, where the market seems largely locked up by a one Zigante. Even still at any farmers' market, you'll find people selling them privately or opening up their coat to sell you some black market style because in theory, truffle hunting is supposed to be tightly regulated in Croatia, but countless hoards do it out of the bounds of the government oversight. Just listen for the sounds of dogs (or 'brek' as these type are called in Croatian) roaming the countryside in the fall when they harvest.       As for the taste, it's an acquired flavor. For those living in Europe, not so much, since they've been tasting them most of their lives. I at first didn't care for truffles due to the smell, but once you get that flavor in your mouth, it's true that they are hard to let go of. But, since they seem to be grown many places throughout the world these days, you can taste them as often as you want as long as you're willing to pay. And that's the catch because they could easily plant more trees where the truffles like to grown, but they won't because it would drop the cost of the little buggers.       Some people get crazy about truffles and imbue them with all of these holistic aspects like the fact they're in aphrodisiac. In reality, I doubt any of this and if they cost as much as the common potato, people would think a lot less of them. Still, I do enjoy them and if there is the option on the menu to get a dish with truffles on it, I'll give it a try. I just don't do it all the time, because there is great truth in having too much of a good thing.

I had something of a fond past with the Movia Wine Bar. It was a welcome little glass (or two) of wine on a rainy night in 2006. It was a wine maker that I thought well of and enjoyed the wines of. This has all come crashing down in sad ways upon my latest visit to the wine bar.       Maybe I had my expectations too high, but it really was the same place. The interior was exactly as I remember and there was even the same guy serving wine. It just seems that this spot must be something of a trophy piece for Aleš Kristančič and company. Something that they run at a loss just to keep the Movia name out there. Because, I can't see how having six people in there on a Friday night can keep them in business. Yes, that's all that there were, just six of us. Ah yes and one very snooty, rude, abrupt, arrogant guy running the place.       It was this guy that really started to ruin the place for me. Upon walking in, he wanted to choose our wine for us. He said, "Just tell me what you like" instead of telling us what some of the overblown names for the blends meant in terms of the wine varietals in them. He seemed like he couldn't be bothered to actually serve us. He spent any moment where he wasn't pouring in the back room of the place and when pried about details on the wines, the answers were dismissive single words. I didn't understand his problem, but it seemed we were to get the brunt of his angst.       Then there were the wines. I don't know what's happened to Movia, but the wines I had this year seriously dropped in any depth over what I had last year. They're to the point of flavorless. Those who get paid much more than I to write about wine would probably say that I'm missing the subtleties to which I say no, you're imagining those. I think what I'm drinking is the fact that Movia is more afraid of not having a vintage for a year and will harvest the grapes too early to make sure that there is a harvest as opposed to waiting until the optimum time for harvest in order to ensure that there is enough sun on the vines. Either that, or he is showing some form of insecurity in the wines because he is running out of gimmicks. No, I don't want to go from reds to whites in a flight just because it's different. I don't care if my champagne is opened under water because... I don't know why. And lastly, I don't care if the wine is aged for five years before selling because that is the minimum it can be aged before being released. If the damned thing is ready for bottling in three months, bottle it! Wine isn't about gimmicks, it's about tasting good. Leave the gimmicks for beer makers in the US.       But, above and beyond all this, there was the annoyance at the wine bar of being overcharged 25% on our bill and then getting hassled by the guy at the bar. He claimed that we were reading an old menu, a menu he had given us. This isn't our problem, it's his and making us feel like we're the offenders is outrageous. I can see why friends in Ljubljana don't go there. That was my last time as well and I recommend it to be avoided by anyone else who likes wine. There is another bar further down Stari Trg that seems to be lacking the pretension that I'll definitely need to try the next time I'm in Ljubljana. Or, if anyone else goes there, let me know how it.

Ljubljana is mellow. Ljubljana is cool. Ljubljana is not easily pronounced by English speakers until they realize that the 'j' is a 'y'. Once these rather simple stumbling blocks are overcome, full enjoyment of this little capital (only about 200,000 people) of Slovenia can commence.       I've visited this small remnant of Hapsburg architecture three times. The first was in 2005 and was just for about two hours on the way to a plane flight back to London, which wasn't nearly enough time. The second time was last year in 2006 and I spent several days seeing the whole place and loving it despite it being in April and the weather being less than totally awesome. This last time was now, in 2007, in the height of tourist season. Oddly enough, the weather still wasn't so great. There were some sunny days, but mostly it was overcast and unhappy. Still, it was a good time and I was happy to be there again. So happy in fact that I am pulling together a listing of my favorites of Ljubljana, so here we go:              Harambaša       While closed for holiday on my most recent visit, this Bosnian restaurant makes some of the best čevapčići outside of Sarajevo. Locals might prefer others because they're meatier, but always insist on going here. They even have kajmak!              Čajna Hiša       I practically live at this place when I'm in Ljubljana. They have great teas and great foods as well. During the warmer months, they have outdoor seating which makes for good times on Stari Trg.              Škof       It's a spot that's very close to Harambaša and they serve continental style foods that are very, very tasty. I thought it would be a bit cheaper given that it's outside the tourist center, but still it's rather reasonable given the quality of the offerings.              Ljublanski Dvor       Yes, it's just a pizza place, but I've eaten here a few times and find their pizzas to be quite good and the outdoor seating is very nice, looking out on the old town and the river.              Slaščičarna Pri Vodnjaku       It's the ice cream that first pulls you in, but it's the well-made teas and really cozy setting that keeps you. While at the very end of Stari Trg, I really like this place and spent many an hour there last year, writing and attempting to be Bohemian until I got bored of seeing others doing the same thing and went back to my hotel to watch TV. Even still, a great little spot.

A few months ago, I was pretty impressed with Biodynamic farming. It seems that a lot of people are taking to it, especially wineries that want to create that closed system that gets them all this press because they're the first to do it and it's a big deal and it's good for the environment and it's good for the food you eat and the wine you drink.       I argue with absolutely none of these points and I believe that Biodynamic is a very good thing. I just have an issue with it being bandied about like it's some kind of revelation and the people who are doing it are these gods. Yes, it does take some effort to set up, but in places like Europe, it doesn't take nearly the man hours to get something like this running as it does in the US. For, it is the case that this is really the traditional method of farming that people have been practicing for centuries and haven't left behind like we did in the US, because Big Pharma says that they have a "better ways" to farm. (As a sidenote, I didn't link to the Wikipedia article on what Big Pharma is because it just redirects to a list of the top pharmaceutical producers and not that this term of negative connotations used to describe the ever-widening umbrella of companies that saturate our lives in bad ways. It makes me wonder if it's another case of Wikipedia vandalism, but I digress...)       I return back to the example of my cousins in Slovenska Bistrica. They recycle pretty much everything they use. While this isn't the closed system you need to have for biodynamic certification, it's a massive start above and beyond that in the US. All of their organic waste from cooking either feeds pigs or gets put back in the land via composting. They save the seeds from one harvest to put back in to the next. They don't use chemicals to grow the foods on their plot of land. They have their own bees for pollination as well as delicious, delicious honey. Yes, it's not Biodynamic, but what they're doing on a home level is even above and beyond what we call Organic in the US.       It's because of this and tasting the productions made by Biodynamic producers that I'm a bit skeptical as to how the word gets used. For instance, the Slovenian wine maker, Movia seems to keep having more and more gimmicks, yet the quality of their wine seems to be dropping year after year. It's still good wine, but it seems that they're more interested in having new and exciting things happening at their winery as opposed to just producing good wine, which always and forever will speak for itself.       So just watch out for how Biodynamic is being used. I think that in the US, for most of us, Organic is all that we really need to worry about. Biodynamic producers might be making products that are "cleaner" if that's what you're most interested it, but as far as better, I think it's just a marketing blitz.

It's most likely not an area in Slovenia that not a lot of folks have heard of. I was there last year and partied a bit with some distant cousins. The weather wasn't too welcoming, so drinking was a high priority. But upon this return visit, I saw a bit more of the area and it confirmed as I suspected last year, that's it a really great place.       Yes, it's rural life. It's far from beaches and the only form of tourism that might grow more there is agritourism. But even that probably won't boom, since it's a place that a lot of people simply live and work the land, leading pretty normal lives that are relatively stress free. When staying there, you can't help but be pulled in to this as well and as long as you go willingly, life is good. This type of life is not for everyone though and if you need the buzz of the city, then stay away from places like Slov. Bistrica. Even still, if you can find a better way of life than making a salad from lettuce and tomatoes fresh-picked from the garden as you're making it, I would be shocked.       My only fear is that places like this in Slovenia are going to become bedroom communities for those working in Ljubljana. I think anyone could understand the allure. Work in the "big" city (Ljubljana is only 200,000 people or so) and then stay in the nice quite life. It's pretty ideal, the only problem is traffic. I know it well, because I did this and a great many people in the California do this currently. There is no good way to avoid this, but I'm hoping that those in Europe who are starting up this lifestyle find some way to balance it or work around it that's a lot healthier than how people in the US deal with it...