Books - The Cellist of Sarajevo

I just finished a wonderful book a few days ago - the Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. The book itself was very thought provoking - told from the perspective of three different protagonists, one of whom is a sniper for the defenders army. There is not much plot - instead the book focuses on the day to day lives of it's three characters, giving a real sense of what it must have been like to live in a city under siege. I first came across the story of the siege of Sarajevo when I was 11 or 12 and I read a book called Zlata's Diary. As the diary of the life of a girl my age living through the siege it made a huge impression on me, and later on I ended up specialising in modern Eastern European history for my degree.

However, what really caught my attention in the book, and what has often crept into my thoughts since, is the story of the man the book was based on. He is not a main character, rather he is a character each of the protagonists hear of - the cellist. what is so extraordinary is that his story is based on that of a real man, Vedran Smailović, a cellist who lived through the Sarajevo siege. At 10am on the 27th May 1992, 22 of his neighbours and fellow citizens, including women, children and the elderly, were killed when a shell hit a bread-line they were waiting in. In honour of their memories he risked his life by playing his cello in the crater left by the blast for 22 days, starting May 28th. Each day he played Albioni's 'Adagio in G minor' which had been found in pieces after the bombing of Dresden. This small act of defiance brought him fame, and has, I'm sure, inspired many who have hear about him.

Smailović himself is furious about the book, and what he sees as someone making money from his suffering. I'm torn - on the one hand I think he ought to have been consulted or warned about its publication by the author, as a matter of respect. On the other hand I'm thrilled to find someone showing the human aspect of warfare which so often gets overlooked, andam always happy when someone challenges our preconceptions as the author does. Overall I think this would be a wonderful novel for someone looking to learn more about the 1993 Bosnian war, or even just to gain an insight into human nature and survial.

P.S. For a brilliant look at human survival in wartime Janine di Giovanni's book "A Place at the End of the World" is really brilliant...

Banana Split Pudding Brownies...

A few days ago I finally got the chance to try out a recipe I've had my eye on for quite a while now - the banana split pudding brownies in Vegan with a Vengeance. I'm a huge fan of any baking which includes banana - I love the texture it gives all things cake-y - and I'm also a huge chocoholic. In fact it's the only thing I've worried about missing since I became vegan, and as a result many of the first vegan recipes I tried were chocolate-based in some way.


Anyway, these brownies turned out really well, especially as I've had disasters with brownies before... Not necessarily the prettiest of desserts (in the photos I've layered one on top of another, not just because I'm greedy when it comes to chocolate, but because I think it looks better if you are serving to guests), but they definitely soothed my chocolate cravings, and the hint of banana is strong enough without ever being overpowering. I didn't have any arrowroot powder so I substituted the 1 tablespoon called for in the recipe with 1 and a half tablespoons of cornflower. I also always use vanilla paste instead of extract as I find the flavour a bit more complex and at the same time softer. Having said that, I've never used very good quality vanilla extract so that may account for the difference.



And so to the recipe...

For the brownies:
4oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 large bananas)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the topping layer:
1 cup mashed very ripe banana
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder.

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with nonstick coocking spray or lightly grease with oil.

To make the brownie batter:
Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool. Combine the banana, oil and sugar, beating together until the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix into the banana/chocolate mixture in batches until it is all smooth.

Prepare the banana topping:
Combine all the topping ingredients and mix thoroughly until smooth (a hand-mixer is really handy for all the mixing in this recipe!)

To assemble and bake the brownies:
Spread the brownie batter evenly into the baking pan. Pour the banana topping over it and spread evenly. Bake for 30 mins. Remove and let cool for 15 mins before transferring it to the fridge until it has fully cooled. Cut into slices (should make about 12) and serve.

Incidentally, I skipped the cooling part and served it hot with vegan icecream made by Booja Booja. It was loved by all the family alike, even though they are all carnivores.

Even my dog joined us at the table and put on his best "I'm so underfed and neglected" face in a bid to get a slice...

A bit of an explanation...

I thought it'd be worth explaining a little bit about the blog before launching into anything substantive. I'm doing what every blog-expert says not to do - writing about a variety of things under one blog heading. But for me the subjects of this blog are interconnected, and since no-one is one-dimensional, a one-themed blog seemed pointless when there's so much I want to write about.

I came to veganism in a rather round-about way. I was trying to live in a sustainable way, largely in terms of leaving enough food for the rest of the earth's population (when I support the right to development and the right to freedom from poverty and hunger it seemed a little hypocritical to be an avid consumer) and of course in terms of the environment. Working in human rights made me very aware of the effect one person's use of the earth can have on another's, and I became determined to tread as lightly as possible. Hence becoming vegan. I made the straight switch from bacon for breakfast, chicken for lunch and steak for dinner (all helped along by chocolate snacks and large cream-based deserts) to vegan. It has been far far easier than I ever expected, and though I still get the odd longings, they pass fast. As for the literate part - a lot of my outlook on life has been shaped by the books I read. I love Latin American and African fiction, and can lose many days in a row to a favorite book. I believe the insights my reading has given me into how other people live their lives, particularly in situations of poverty, led to a career in human rights and a wish to do my bit through becoming vegan. Where poverty and climate change can feel overwhelming, being vegan allows me to do something very tangible, and very manageable, every day.

And so this blog will be a record of the things I've cooked, books I've read, and anything of relating to human rights that might give be of interest to people who would usually not go out of their way to read about such things. I find some of the things that have made the greatest impression on me have been found in the most unexpected of places.