15-IX-2012.

It was kind of sad - there was no maturski last year, and now that Bajče has died, it seemed like I was taking over. But this was in the making while he was still alive; Dragana, Staša and Bajlo visited some time in early august to scout our place at Čankovo, and this one was already agreed. And so it happened.

Apart from them, personae present were Baki, Mandža, Mima, Savka, Čombe, Žara and Jasmina. We set two tables in the yard, and lit a fire under the old pewter kettle, which I salvaged from dad's attic. The kettle is about 80 years old, if not older. I went over it with a wire brush on a drill thoroughly and in advance. Today we smeared it with lard and built temperature, then burned it and doused with water. Only then we started putting in the meat - as per the recipe I got from (Škrba's pal) Kunta. The recipe is among the few things we printed - the printer is mostly not used at all.

First, cook the chopped onion for 30 minutes, beef for 45 minutes, pork for 45 minutes, chicken for 45 minutes. By the time it was ready, it was later in the afternoon, and everyone was somewhat drunk (except most of the ladies). Jasmina's husband came with her daughter and her friend from France (a girl, with a strange but cute face). Made perhaps a hundred shots, and all except the last few were fine - it's when it gets kind of dark and the autofocus on eos40 fails, that I switch to manual and then forget to switch back.

Of course I didn't have a proper bottle opener, but I always have tools around, at least in the car. A proper parrot pliers and a screw will do just as well. Staša always brings a bottle of his wine, and he has proper traditional corks. Took me years until I bought a proper opener, and by that time the wine bottles with a cork became rare, almost everyone switched to metal.

There was a moment, at some point late in the evening, when Dragana and I kissed like real lovers, just because we never did and thought we should, at least this once. Interesting and memorable, those ten seconds.

Around 23:00 they all left and I stayed to sleep the booze off. Cleaned up in the morning as much as I could and drove home.

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Mentions: Branislav Bačikin (Bajče), Branislav Rade (Baki), Čankovo, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), Dragojlo Kuntić (Kunta), eos40, Gradivoj Raža (Žara), Gradivoj Škrbić (Škrba), Jasmina Vlajin, Joško Čobzanin (Čombe), maturski parastos, Merima Tabarski (Mima), Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), Savka Čajkanić, Slavoljub Mandić (Mandža), Stanoje Serdarević (Staša), in serbian