Bravo Boris

Now is the season for two of Macedonia's most important crops, red peppers and grapes. I love catching a whiff of roasting red peppers as I walk around town these days and I am keeping my fingers crossed that somebody gifts me some spicy ajvar. And then there are the grapes, which brought me last weekend to the town of Kavadarci for their Grozdober grape harvest festival. Kavadarci's city park was transformed into a carnivore/wine aficionado's dreamland with grilled meat and wine tasting stands as far as the eye could see. Unable to turn down something so delectable sounding, I tried my first ubiach, grilled pork or chicken stuffed with cheese and bacon. The verdict? Gooood.

The three Peace Corps volunteers that live in Kavadarci were nice enough to invite us visitors to celebrate Grozdober with some of their friends, in particular a guy named Boris. Who is Boris? He's a wine maker--which was evident from a glance at the label of the wine we were drinking that bears his name and grinning face.

We all sat around for several hours talking and enjoying the fruits of Boris' labor, never paying a denar.

What a guy, that Boris, what a guy.