Bureks I have loved

I've never met a burek I didn't like.
A last-minute invite to a Local Beet staff meeting at Deta's Cafe in Rogers Park was more than welcome. It came after I finally posted a Farmer's Almanac update to their site, which I had put on hold after last summer's devastating tomato blight (which wiped out my entire crop as well as any residual energy I had left).
My late arrival didn't stop Deta from going back to the kitchen to get me a warm bowl of chicken soup before I dug into the spinach-filled burek (a Balkan-style savory pastry) and beef goulash. I don't know if the staff mentioned my Balkan heritage before I got there but she quickly picked up on it and Deta and I were chatting in Serbo-Croatian before too long. You have no idea how excited I am to be invited to visit her kitchen to learn how to make the hand-stretched dough used to make burek and Deta seemed a little thrilled to meet a farmer who grows a lot of peppers and eggplants. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.