Open Balkan 2026

 I am back from another amazing adventure in my home country of Serbia and the 2026 edition of Wine vision and Open Balkan culinary competition for the 5 th year in a row.

First thing is that I love the opportunity to invite judges to explore Serbian culture, rakija, history and food and this year's lineup was fantastic with Daren from Malaysia/London, Danny from Wales, Daniel from Germany, Jimmi from Sweden, Alan from France, Justinus from Lithuania and Gianluca from Italy, how lucky and fortunate I am to have chef friends like this from the global culinary scene and I feel humble that they took the time to come to Serbia.

The whole idea here is to not only compete but also to mentor young local chefs and give them feedback so they can raise the bar and become the best they can in the region and the world, many competitors have been competing several years now and you can clearly see that the feedback is paying off and they raise to the occasion this year again, excellent work and I cannot be more proud of the young Serbian chefs.

To spent time with chefs is always different on another strange level, we can talk about food, analyze, adapt and also enjoy with ease, chefs are really easy to satisfy even if people think differently and that's the power of the white jacket, like the 3 musketeers but many more. 

This would not be possible to organize without my brother Nikola from Junior chefs club Serbia who without his passion and determination non of this could happen and a big shout out to him.

Brate ti si najbolji!!

And to my lovely wife, thank you for being with me in Belgrade, love you.

Culinary team of Singapore at IKA

 I was just daydreaming and start to think of my time in Singapore and the decision we made to send a team to compete at the culinary Olympics in Stuttgart in 2020, what a fun time this was and all the preparation around it with trainings and tryouts, what a great team it was with talented chefs from my unit that put so much time on their own to stay top of things, I will always cherish this adventure and sweet memories.

Yes the team ended up with a silver medal

Majulah Singapura

My military days

Many of you don't know that I was in the Swedish military for more than 20 years, I started at 16 with the FBU young junior academy until I did my military service at T4 1984 as medic for 15 months focusing on PJ missions and trauma battle wounds, I learns so much that I still today have this in my backbone.

After my conscript time I went to do my officer training to be a lieutenant with specialty in CQC and did this for like 10 years + my ambition was never to be a high rank officer sitting behind a desk, I always enjoyed much more to be a member of the gang out in the real world, I miss this a lot.

To be part of a strong brotherhood is hard to describe but you who knows, knows what I'm talking about

Here with my beautiful wife

Vis Et Honor

Gibanica or cheese pie from Balkan

Gibanica is one of the most recognizable pastry dishes from the Balkans, whether served on festive occasions or as a comforting family snack. In Serbia, the dish is eaten as breakfast, dinner, appetizer and snack, and is often consumed at traditional events such as Christmas, easter and Slava.

Gibanica is a traditional Serbian cheese pie made with delicate layers of filo pastry and a rich filling of white cheese, eggs, and dairy products such as sour cream or yogurt. Baked until golden brown and beautifully crisp on top, this beloved Balkan pastry is known for its flaky texture, creamy interior, and comforting homemade flavor.

The name Gibanica is believed to come from the Serbian verb gibati, meaning “to fold,” “to shake,” or “to move.” The name reflects the traditional method of layering and arranging thin sheets of dough to create the pastry’s signature texture.

At its core, Gibanica is made from simple ingredients that come together to create a remarkably satisfying dish. The filling typically combines crumbled white cheese, eggs, sour cream or yogurt, and a small amount of oil or butter. Many traditional recipes also include sparkling water, which helps create a lighter filling and contributes to the pie’s soft, airy texture.

I do mine as called guzvara which means that I don't layer mine, I dip the pastry in to the egg-cheese mix and just layer and fill up the tray, faster and much easier to make.

Traditionally its made in a round large pie form but I do make mine in square, the shape doesn't matter really, take whatever you have and here is a simple recipe that I use.

4 egg

500 gram white cheese of any kind

200 gram of yogurt or sour cream

100 gram of sparkling water

1 teaspoon baking powder

salt to taste

1 pack of filo pastry

mix everything in a large bowl

Dipp 1 filo sheet at a time and arrange in the baking dish that you have

the last sheet should go on top as a cover and brush some oil on it

bake at 180 degrees for 35-40 minutes until nice color

Thai priest tattoo adventure

 A few years ago, I spend some time with a Thai Buddhist priest in his home outside Bangkok, this was on recommendation from a Thai friend who was tiered of me asking all these questions about Buddhism why, who, where, howe come, I wanted to know as I am born curios.

To spend time with him was very expiring and full of new insights not only of Buddhism but also from various religions like Taoism, Confucianism and also different aspects of Indian religions, super cool and very educating with new wisdom for myself, such an inspiring person and I could spend so much more time just to have interesting discussions around many different topics, mind blowing.

You who know me also knows that I am not religious in normal since as believing in books written by humans guided by whoever, this is no go but I do believe in higher powers and in universal power that do have impact in all human life, some people find solutions and absolutions by defining a god and some of us do not need it to still pray and believe, what is your opinion regarding religion? share with me.

One thing that I still have on me is the Thai prayer tattoo where chanting and prayers was part of the process when performed with a sharp bamboo stick and hammered into my skin- NO PAIN AT ALL and this is absolutely crazy, all my other tattoos I still remember the pain but this one nothing, I cannot explain why and how but I'm happy to have this as a reminder of this guy.

  

China adventure 1

 I travel a lot and have meet chefs from many places with their own history, challenges and future dreams but have to say that Chinese chefs are from another planet, extremely curios, knowledgeable, determinate to do their best and also very humble, I love to work with Chinese chefs and somehow wish to end my career in China, how cool wouldn't that be!

I was invited by the Chinese government to do 3 special private dinners to celebrate 70 years of peoples revolution and also some masterclasses at the culinary collage of Beijing (another story later)

This trip was amazing and even better because they invited my wife Christina to join me and explore Beijing on her own, she was really touring around while I was doing my thing, lucky her.

The venue is the former Belgian embassy property in center city that was taken over by the government years ago and is now the playground for male population where they can bring party girls nobody knows about, not even the taxi drivers know about this address, very cool indeed.

In the compound is a beautiful garden, very big manor house and other budlings for staff, security and so on, with own canteen and living quarters.

The main building has a super nice lounge areas of curse and a very nice kitchen that serves the small restaurant, exclusive table wear but in totally different style that we are used to, sometimes very tacky! 

The local team was magnificent and so nice to work with, this is my Chinese team every time I go back for more adventures.

What do you think of the menu I provided? let me know in your comments.

XieXie

Dinner last year at Capitol Club

 How time flies so fast, last year in September I did a dinner at the Capital Club in Nairobi, this is a high-profile members club in beautiful setting over 4 floors with great view over Nairobi skyline.

I was super happy to be asked to cook for a bunch of guests including my wife!! I love it and a few other persons that I know of.

The menu was created as a memory lane throughout countries that I like but unfortunately my original plan of 14 curses was cut down to 6 only, but well it turned out pretty well anyway and I gave many Kenyans a challenge with some of the flavors they are not familiar or used to,  

Overall, the dinner went well and I hope to be invited back some day

Asante