May 14, 2011: Lunch with friends

May 14, 2011: Several weeks ago, two of my Hungarian friends set up a date with me for me to cook for them. One of them has a great kitchen and both of them provided beverage and dessert for lunch. This time I decided to make beef stroganoff since I had already cooked my versions of chicken paprika and beef goulash for one of them in the past. I was a bit concerned about buying tender beef since in the past some of the beef I've bought has been chewy. One of my private students suggested that I purchase "borju" instead of "marha": "Borju means young beef while marha is older", he claimed. It was only after I had purchased it that I realized that "borju" really means "veal" and was it expensive! Oh well, we had veal stroganoff and it turned out fine. 


Of course we started our meal with a glass of palinka-style drink followed by Jim Beam followed by red wine while we ate. You can be sure by that time, it really didn't matter what we were eating! Actually, we did have a great meal. For dessert, one of the others had brought a delicious cake -- actually a kuchen that tasted of lemon -- that his mother had baked and it was the perfect thing to end our meal.


Here are a few more interesting observations I've noted these past few weeks:

• I seem to blend in perfectly when I blow my nose in Hungary. Ruth has always pointed out that when I do this, I tend to make a lot of noise and I've noticed for some time now from students, people on the bus, etc. that Hungarians do the same. I thought it was just me, but when we were on our trip to Transylvania, some of the other teachers commented on this to me.
• Finding things in the supermarket can be challenging when one doesn't know the language, but normally I do find things by just heading for certain aisles when purchasing fruits, frozen products, etc. However, when I went to find milk I could not find it anywhere in the cool areas where milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. are normally displayed in the US. Here in Hungary, milk is sold in boxes and it's not in cooled sections of the store but rather on shelves, say, next to dry cereals or spices, etc. The milk does not spoil in such conditions. I'm not sure what the difference is between Hungarian milk and American milk which tends to spoil if it's not kept constantly cool.
• I've noticed that not too many Hungarians, neither men nor women, cross their legs when they are seated. For me, this is the most comfortable way to sit, and I continue to sit this way but sometimes I get a curious look from others.
• Lately some of my students have taken to greeting me in rather different ways when compared to greetings made by students to other teachers. One of them shakes my hand as he walks in class. Some others salute me as they enter class. Another has taken to grabbing my hand as if arm wrestling, and then bumping my shoulder with his, and then concluding the greeting by giving me a fist bump. I wonder how many people my age greet others in this way. Oh well, whatever works.