I don’t know about you, but home doesn’t feel like home until you’ve had people over. This past weekend, my cousins from Budapest came to visit; they wanted to look around Debrecen a little and see us and our apartment-get an idea of how we live.
One of the nice things about having 3 rooms is that even if you clean from top to bottom, it doesn’t take too long. Our apartment doesn’t have a lot of furniture either, so there’s not a lot of clutter. We did the white tornado and then we got down to the important stuff…the liquor store, the pastry shop, and the farmer’s market for this homemade Hungarian cheese spread (kurozott), fresh Debreceni smoked sausage, crackers, and of course, lots of fresh green peppers.
We have gotten friendly with the local wine merchant who is located on Simonffy Street. We went there before we went to Budapest for orientation and he recommended some local palinka which my cousin Tibor really liked. Palinka, in case your not familiar with it, is a clear alcohol distilled from fruit, typically apricots, pears, or plums. It’s about 40% alcohol and it is potent. It’s a particular favorite of many Hungarians. I’m not crazy about it–I had an unfortunate incident with something similar in Switzerland (pomme) during my junior year abroad and I don’t think my system has every fully recovered. Please don’t ask me to go into detail. (Irene, if you are reading this, keep quiet!) At any rate, I wanted to be able to offer it to our guests. This little shop also sells end of bin bottles, so we have been able to try a variety of really nice wines for reasonable prices. We also discovered this great little pastry just down the street from us. They specialize in all manner of retes (strudels)–plum, apple, poppyseed, honey and walnuts, just incredibly light, flaky, and DELICIOUS. They sell it by the slice and wrap it in brown paper.
I enjoy cooking, but since my cousin Tibor was coming with his wife, Csini and his daughter Orsi, as well as my other cousin, Mariann, we decided to book a table at a little corner pub at the end of a pedestrianized street near our church on Szent Anna Utca. Before we moved in, our landlords bought some household dishes and utensils to stock the kitchen. This means we had exactly 4 cups, 4 saucers, 4 plates, a few odd glasses, and 4 juice glasses (which we were also using to drink our wine). Not nearly enough to serve an entire meal to 6 people. Part of my mission was to try to find a flea market or some used goods shop to buy a few wine glasses, maybe a wooden spoon, and a couple of other items that would make cooking a little easier. We finally found the flea market on the outskirts of town (according to our guide book, it is frequented by all manner of Poles, gypsies, Romanians, and the like). By the time we found it, it had already closed down, except for a used tool kiosk. Alas, we didn’t see any gypsies or Romanians either. I did find two coffee mugs, some wooden spoons, and some wine glasses at a the mall near the grocery store…nothing fancy, but it does the trick.
Anyway, all was ready and we went to the train station on Saturday morning to meet them. After days of grey, damp, chilly weather, the sun started to break through just as they arrived. I interpreted this as a good omen. They wanted to stop at the apartment first, because they came laden with gifts: a bottle of wine, a flowering hyacinth, a box of chocolates, and a runner with bridge cards and designs for our table. (Those of you who know us well know that we love to play bridge!) Of course, no one said no to the palinka and the party started!
To be fair, we did go sightseeing. In fact, not only did we go inside the Great Church, but Csini and I climbed all the way to the top of the tower. Orsi got dizzy, Mariann wasn’t so sure about all those stairs, and Tibor and Bernard decided they would rather stay outside in the nice warm sunshine. By the way, the church, which is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, is quite simple and stark. (Because it’s Protestant, I was constantly reminded. Although there are no kneelers, the backs of the seats were still curved…I guess the Calvinists were also worried about their flock falling asleep during services!)
We made our way over to the pub where we had a leisurely lunch. I felt very virtuous having climbed all those stairs. We all went back to the apartment for dessert and coffee and more conversation. We ended up using just about every dish we own, polished off most of the box of chocolates, and generally had a wonderful time. We were able to contact some of my brothers and sisters in the US using the skype on my laptop…the technology enabled us to expand the circle of family just a little bit more.
As we waited at the tram stop, they were still enthusiastically planning our tours and side trips here in Hungary. For example, Tibor will accompany us on the train to Nyiregyhaza (the town where our fathers were born). He will show us the family cemetery plot. He and Csini have also volunteered their daughter Rita and her husband, Bandi, to be our hosts for a trip to Esztergom and Gondollo…these are all sites to the west of Budapest, and according to them, “must-sees” for anyone who wants to see the real Hungary. (Both Rita and Bandi like palinka, so I guess our friend, the wine merchant, will be doing a good business).
After all the anticipation and preparations, the visit flew by. Even though we are far from our children, our friends, and our family in the States, being able to have our Hungarian friends and family over to our home makes it feel more like home.
Thanks for tuning in and best regards,
Marcsi
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