A Hungarian Feast!

The kids woke up ecstatic: it snowed last night! Just the lightest of dustings, but still, we'll take it.

As soon as they were dressed, the three kids ran out to dance in the snowflakes. When the boys had exhausted themselves sufficiently, Alex snuggled up to read: for whatever reason, he decided that today was the day that he'd try reading his first book. There were a couple of tricky words in there but he soldiered through, sounding out his words through to the end of the story.  Nice job, Alex Geels! And Joey sat on my lap, quietly, the whole time, gripped by the adventures of Fred and Ted, aeronauts extraordinaire.

As for the rest of our day, our family had the wonderful fun of spending a day with the family of Dennis's friend and coworker, Peter, and his dear wife Kriszta.  They have three little girls, each slightly younger than our kids, so our three were happily anticipating the day, knowing that they'd have playmates (and interesting new toys!) to enjoy.

Immediately upon entering the our friends' home, Alex sighed "Mmmm, it smells good," and so it did.  Our friends are Hungarian, and they offered to cook some of their hometown favorites for us. The kids worked up appetites over massive piles of Duplos while I watched Kriszta throw handfuls of delicious things into her stockpot.

The soup that they served us was the favorite dish of Kálmán Mikszáth, a famous Hungarian author, and also of Alex and Joseph Geels, internet celebrities, who ate two bowlfuls, each. (Ella stealthily ate bread, with a side of bread.  Silly girl: more for us!) Kriszta was kind enough to send us the recipe, which I'm going to add here, because I never want to lose track of it, ever.

Palóc Soup
Start with...
two medium onions, diced, heated on high heat in vegetable oil
1/2 kilo meat (Kriszta used pork shoulder), cut into 1-2 cm squares. Add to the onion and brown for 1-2 minutes


Next add...
1 tsp paprika 
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp delikat or vegeta (a seasoning made of dried vegetables)
a dash of ground caraway seeds
1 bay leaf
enough water to cover


Simmer, and stir whenever you feel like it.


While the meat cooks, peel as many potatoes and carrots as you like, although three of each is likely enough. Cut them into 1-cm squares, cover with water in a separate pot, add a teaspoon of salt, and cook.  When these are cooked, pour (along with the cooking water) into the meat base.


Add chopped green beans, and cook for ten more minutes.


Mix 2 dl of sour cream with a tablespoon of water, and use to thicken the soup. (Add some soup first to the the thickener, and then pour the whole thing into the soup.


Finish with a tablespoon of dill, and bring to a boil before serving.

For dessert we were given a baked apple dish, topped with an enormous mound of meringue.  The kids called it "pie," but in Hungarian, the name, Máglyarakás, translates to the pyre on which a witch is burned.  A tasty, tasty pyre.

Máglyarakás

Take about 400 grams of Butterzopf (which is similar to challah), cut it into small squares, and let it stale for two days.

Steam in a pan

1 kg apples, peeled and sliced

1 Tbs butter

1 tsp cinnamon

Next, combine

4 egg yolks

1 Tbs vanilla sugar

Separately, combine and bring to a boil

1 L milk, brought to a boil

2 T butter

Add the eggs and sugar gradually (tempering) to the warm milk mixture, and then bring it to a boil again.

Throw your Butterzopf into a big, tall casserole dish. Pour the milk over top and mix it all up. Cover the  mixture with a bunch of apricot jam, and then cover all that with your steamed apples.  Bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes

Next, make your meringue:

Whip up 4 egg whites. If you add a drop of vinegar, it will help keep your meringue extra fluffy.  Add to this 2 Tbs of powdered sugar.  Remove your casserole from the oven, cover with the meringue, and then cook for another 20 minutes.  Watch it carefully!

Although we were having a lovely time, watching the kids color and play, Dennis and I tried to leave at around 2:00, so that Peter's family could have their peace and space. Krizta looked at us like we were crazy: she had more food to give us, and it involved a dough that wouldn't even be ready for more than an hour.  Stay, stay!

Making snow globes

And so we did, for a total of seven peaceful, decadent hours, learning new card games and oogling Peter's collection of legos, making snow globes, and playing the Swiss version of Red Light, Green Light. (Here, as the rest of the kids stealthily advance, the child directing them says something that essentially translates to "Reading the newspaper, reading the newspaper, reading the newspaper....Stop!") The children all warmed up to each other so beautifully: Alex got along famously with Peter's eldest, while his middle child latched onto Ella.

Amusingly, Peter's youngest daughter found me terrifying, or odious, or both. She hid whenever she saw me, and she refused to pass me cards while we playing a game, demanding that Ella serve as our middleman for the exchange.  I'm a scary lady.

Ella and Alex used their best German, speaking with the little girls, but, interestingly, also when speaking with Peter and Kriszta, even when the adults responded back in English.  Every once in a while I reminded Ella that the parents spoke English, and she'd laugh at herself and speak a few words of English, but then unconsciously drift back to German. Fascinating.

The bread Krista had promised us was Lángos, a savory fried dough that we topped with salty oily garlic mixture, adding sour cream and grated cheese as well. Oh, so good!

Lángos

Mix together, and wait a few minutes:

1 block of yeast

1 dl warm water

Add:

1 kg flour

1.5 Tbs salt

1 tsp sugar

1 egg (optional)

Mix and kneed everything together in a bowl. When it is ready, cover,and leave on a warm place to rest. When it doubled its size, warm vegetable oil in a big pan or wok. You would need really warm oil, and you would need at least a liter of it. Rub your hands with cold vegetable oil and tear off a tennis-ball–sized piece of dough. Make it flat and round, just like a pizza, and when it is big enough fry it, about three minutes per side.

Topping:

Mix together

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed

1 tsp salt

3 Tbs oil

Add 2 Tbs water, and mix again.

Full and happy, we left a little after 6:00, although it wasn't enough for the kids, who would have happily stayed all day.

We regretted that we didn't start spending time with our new friends earlier this year, but we left with promises to stay in touch, hopefully we can lure Peter, at least, to Kirkland from time to time. And we'll think of them in January, when I try out these recipes!