Lunch at Csenge's house

Wednesday afternoon we had a lunch date at Csenge’s house. She is my 5 year old student, and her mother Viki invited the three of us over for a late lunch after school. My parents had picked out some books in English for the three kids and brought them with them to Hungary. There was a “Cars” (the movie) book for the 3 year old boy, one about Kittens for the 3 year old girl, and two princess books for Csenge. They were a total hit! My mom also got some beautiful Euro-flowers and some chocolates for the family. We gave them two books about Minnesota so they could see where I am from also. After opening gifts, Viki invited us to sit down. I was a bit worried when there were only three places set at the table. What about Viki, what about the grandma? UGH. How awkward. She assured us that they had already eaten and had to tend to the kids so we were to eat and enjoy the food ourselves. Viki’s mom made a gulyás soup which was different than any I had eaten before, but still really good. Then we had paprikas chicken – the real thing this time. It was served with an interesting pasta that the mom made herself. The pasta was really good also and after asking about it, grandma vowed to make some more, dry it out and send it with me to take home. Hungarian hospitality at its finest! We finished with a delicious coffee-cake type desert with a vanilla pudding that went on it. As we were eating the dessert, the neighbor man came over. Well, let me clarify – he doesn’t actually live next door, but his wine cellar and farmland is next door to them. He sat and chatted with us for a while, and was more interested when he learned that I was not in fact Hungarian, that I was American and that is how I had American parents. He is 80 years old and told us some stories of being captured by the Russians at the age of 15 and how he was forced to work and be a soldier.

After about 20 minutes of chatting, he decided he wanted to show us his wine cellar that was next door. So we made the trip across to his land and he served us wine and more wine and fruccs (a Hungarian drink where they mix wine with charged water – it’s more popular in the spring and summer time, but it was interesting for my mom and dad to try). The other thing you have to know about Hungarians is that when you finish anything, food, drink – whatever – they fill it up again. So, we’d already gone through some wine at lunch and now we were drinking more. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of our visit here because I didn’t bring my camera along, but my mom has some of the cute next door neighbor man and his cellar.

The cellar itself had a low ceiling and was rounded, as all the Hungarian wine cellars I’ve seen have been. There were two rooms, one where the wine was stored, and one where they pressed the grapes. There were old creative tools that had been made to aid in the growing, processing and drinking of wine. He was so proud to share all this with us, you couldn’t help but enjoy yourself. I suppose the free flowing wine didn’t hurt either J

After a significant amount of wine was consumed, we headed back home to fall asleep early. When we walked back into my apartment it was 4:40 and we were exhausted, loopy and ready for bed. I had some packing to do so I stayed up a bit and we ended up watching a movie, but we were tired out that’s for sure.