A couple months ago, my friend Sanja asked me if I would be willing to accompany her on occasion when she drives to Serbia because she did not want to travel alone. Last weekend was the first time. When I showed up at 9am on Saturday a bit hungover, she was aghast and asked how I could possibly drive with a hangover? Me drive?! You are driving, no? My license expired a year ago (For some reason, Massachusetts only allows you to renew over the internet once in your lifetime). So poor Sanja had to drive, but she did well. It was her parent's 40th wedding anniversary (congratulations!) and it was good to go visit them. On the way, we had a few adventures. No, surprisingly we did not get lost. However, we saw someone hit their own stalled car on the side of the road with another car they had brought to tow it. People talk about natural selection, but I am not sure it has reached Eastern Europe yet. Soon after, we stopped for lunch at beautiful Palic Lake near Subotica. It took us 3 hours to get served and eat in an uncrowded restaurant by the lake, the last hour just to get the coffee and bill. But it was gorgeous weather, the lake was blue and shimmering, and we were not in a rush. I hope her parents don't mind, but I have to relate 2 stories. Her dad has an office at the house and had a one-way window installed in his office door - but facing the wrong way. Everyone can see in and he cannot see out! The other - Sanja went for a bottle of beer in the fridge only to discover it was flat. Her mom said, "yeah, you know your dad, he always buys stuff and forgets about it, and then it goes off. Just yesterday I found three bottles of wine from 2007 and had to throw them out." Her mom, a well-known poet, hates cooking. But she managed to cook some of my favorite vegetarian foods, including kajmak, stuffed mushrooms, roasted and grilled peppers, ajvar, white Serbian cheese, sirnica (cheese burek in another form), and a very good creamed spinach-vegetable dish. They were very nice and hospitable. In S. Palanka we got to watch and listen to a Balkan brass band playing outside waiting for the bride to come out. And a nice couple, lawyer and senior judge, rescued a sweet street dog named Marta from the pound. She is still on the street, but is pseudo-protected by sleeping in front of their building at night. I was really hoping to meet up with Sean J. in Belgrade, but even though my phone said he received my sms's, he did not get any - so much for Vodafone roaming. We did meet translator Maria Toth, who translates Hungarian books into Serbian (she also speaks English and Swedish) and makes some very smooth apricot palinka. Lastly, at the main farmer's market I bought some Montenegrin and Dalmatian olive oils, black olives, cheese and kajmak.The beer was cold, the weather spectacular, and the hospitalty great.