Speaking of Croatia

Pierrot and Pierrette. “It is truly unlikely that the occasion for this masquerade had anything to do with Halloween. This holiday has no tradition that I know of in Croatia.”

Just cause a place was a point of your origin, does not mean you haven’t overlooked some of its finer points.

For Instance, I never heard of a dessert called the bayadere which apparently is a specialty from my mother’s neck of the Balkans. I encountered one at Les Gateaux de Marie and have to admit it’s very addictive. I am a huge chocolate mixed with nuts fan.

The coffee at this little French bakery Cafe is far from solid. It’s the bajadera I come back for from time to time.

Speaking of La Bayadere, it’s also the name of a classical dance. While I never fully understood its virtues when I was the audience, it is an elaborate and much admired work. I think my imagination is stymied by the appearance of ghosts.

Marius Petipa conceived this dramatic tale of exotica and eternal love set in ancient India for a large troupe of his dancers. The title refers to the Indian temple dancer, Nikiya, whose ghost returns to seek vengeance and be reunited with her noble lover, Solor.

How the name for an Indian temple dancer came to grace a Croatian sweet, I cannot tell you. I will attest that the pastry is, like an Indian Temple Dancer, an exotic treat.

The ghost or a wraith of some sort is an oft seen character in ballet, from Giselle, Les Sylphides to the apotheosis in Swan Lake.

Thus closes this Halloween-themed episode….