Alimentare şi mai mult! (Food and more food!)

The other day I was told that a family of one of my students wanted to visit with me today (Sunday the 24th) and I could either go to their home for lunch or to a restaurant for dinner.  I thought that lunch at their home would be better as I didn’t want them to have to spend money on me.  Well...they must have spent a fortune on the lunch!!!  They picked me up at Noon today and brought me to their home.  From the street all you see is a narrow wall, with two windows and a gate.  Once inside the gate it was like the garden of eden!!!  After walking past the very long, lovely house, there was a flower garden bursting with roses of every color and every imaginable type of other flower.  It was a hidden oasis!  A lovely table was set outside, under an awning, with the bright blue sky above and a cool breeze in the air - it was perfect!  The grandfather was in the kitchen doing all the cooking!  The grandmother was talking to me in Romanian, a lot!  The parents were trying out their English and cracking each other up.  Their 14 year old son was being totally embarrassed by the whole thing!  

Let the feast begin!  First was a wonderful eggplant salad - basically like a baba ganoush - with fresh tomatoes on top, and fresh bread.  Then a roasted salad with eggplant, squash, red peppers, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes - and of course more bread!  After that came the ciorba - a wonderful soup with vegetables and meatballs.  (During these courses we have țuica, wine and, thankfully, some water!)  After downing the soup, it’s onto the sarmale - stuffed cabbage leaves - and some wonderful cabbage in a tomato sauce on the side.  (The grandfather was upset because he forgot to make the mamaliga!) At this point, I was pretty full, to say the least.  But we weren’t done yet!  Placed in front of me next was a plate full of roasted pork loin and fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and another salad of tomatoes and cucumbers.  Good grief...will it ever end???  The problem here is that it is all SO GOOD that you want to just eat and eat!  So that’s exactly what I did!  After chowing down some pork, et al, it was time for desert.  Out came an enormous plate of fresh fruit:  apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums and apples.  Then a HUGE piece of a two layer cake:  one layer with a chocolate type moose, and the other with a nectarine moose - covered in whipped cream and a chocolate sauce - it was heaven!!  And, of course, you have to have a big bowl of strawberry and chocolate ice cream with this, right??  I was ready for a nap at this point!  Instead we went for a drive!

We drove to Orșova, which is about 26km away, to visit the Monastery of St. Ana - as I believe it was her Name Day.  I had already been there, but was glad to go again...it is so beautiful and peaceful up there!  Afterwards we stopped at a little cafe right on the river and had a beer!  After arriving back at their house it seemed to make perfect sense that we should have ANOTHER huge piece of cake and ANOTHER bowl of ice cream.  Insane!!!  Finally, around 7pm I arrived back home...a little tired and a lot stuffed!  

Flori had called me earlier in the day to say we were going to meet for a walk at 9:30pm, so I took a small nap and then met the ladies outside, thinking I was going to walk off some of that ridiculous lunch I had eaten.  No such luck.  Instead we met up with some of their other friends and went for pizza - at 10pm!!!  Good Lord!  I ended up eating about half of a deep dish pizza and drinking yet another beer.  It’s not like you can just say, “enough!!”  This gentleman was treating and everyone pretty much expects you to eat...and eat...and eat!  The Romanians are so very generous, you just can’t say no - even if your pants are about to split!  So...I never did get that walk.  Tomorrow I shall fast!

Vladimir - a future 7th grade student of mine

The grandparents

Part of the beautiful garden

Vladimir and his parents

Our view from the cafe

More view... beautiful!