October 17, 2010: 9C Class Picnic

October 17, 2010: Today I was invited to the class 9C picnic that was held on the Danube River at a rather remote site not far from the bridge that leads to Szentendre. The site is owned (or managed by) the father of one of the boys in 9C and is used primarily for canoeing expeditions. Jermendi Andi (form teacher of 9C), her husband, and son picked me up at Ujpest Kozpont and it was about a twenty minute drive to get there. By the time we got there, cooking lunch was well under way. I saw parents peeling potatoes so I joined in. Shortly after the potatoes were put in a huge pot to boil in a large camping cauldron along with the beef stew, wine was poured and the owner of the site gave a toast after welcoming us there. Meanwhile the boys were playing soccer. The stew looked much like, and in fact had most of the same ingredients as the chili I make in the US -- the only thing missing was the chili powder and it would have been the same: it contained beef, onions, garlic (lots of it), marjoram, cumin powder, salt, black pepper, and red wine. The cook of the stew was a former chef at a number of restaurants and I enjoyed talking with him about cooking various foods (with David doing the translation for me since the cook did not know any English). It was obvious he had a real passion about food, and wanted to know whether we Americans enjoyed the same foods as Hungarians. Although I can't say that Americans regularly eat Hungarian foods, I'd say that our (at least my) tastes in food are similar since we both appreciate the same spices and sauces. As suspected, the stew did taste much like one of my recipes for chili (minus the chili powder). 

Then later they prepared langos which I referred to as "Hungarian pizza" in a previous blog entry. This is really not quite accurate since the dough is deep fried (in oil I think although there was no hint of oil in its taste so it may have been something other than oil that it was deep fried in). After that, one puts sour cream with minced garlic in it, and grated cheese on the deep fried dough. The taste of this is delicious, a real delicacy that I will undoubtedly try again the next time I see it.

Hungarian Beef Stew is cooking

9C parents talk

The 9C boys practice guitar

lunch is served

Hungarian langos is prepared

At the picnic, several parents tried their limited English with me but I think they were very self conscious because they would excuse themselves claiming that they could not say any more. However, there was one father who spoke English extremely well and who was extremely knowledgeable about JPL and NASA. He knew almost as much detail as I about some of the latest JPL projects. We talked for quite a time and he is quite anxious to see the JPL video I brought with me to Hungary. Eventually he had to leave because he works with NATO and they are very much involved in the cleanup efforts of the recent sludge break in western Hungary and he had to return to work. Next Wednesday is parent/teachers night at school and he indicated he'd like to continue our discussion there. That will be something to look forward to.

After lunch, a number of us teachers went for a canoe trip up the Danube. It was very pleasant seeing the Danube from the river instead of from above it. A very enjoyable trip. After the canoe trip, I returned to talk a bit more with friends. We spent much of the day at the picnic grounds, and I returned home full from both good food and a good time spent socializing with parents and students at school in a non school setting.