18 days left

[wiseheart]

I made a huge batch of Christmas candies - mostly give them away for the Naming Days of four colleagues, disguised as home-made pralines. Photos later, as they're not properly decorated yet. That took me all morning, so the planned writing didn't take place at all. *sigh*

On the plus side, Mum has a new telly now. It's a medium-sized flatscreen and she's fairly content with it, so that's good. A bit bigger than the old, non-digital one, needs some getting used to, but in the end it wasn't outrageously expensive, and Service Guy did all the shopping and installing for us, for which we are grateful. We're both a bit technically challenged. *g*

Having back the gas is a delight. We actually cooked today (well, Mum did), some very simple Hungarian dish the name of which I can't even translate. It's a specific way to serve vegetables that, I think, is quite unique to our cuisine. At least I never saw it in any other country. And we had fricadelles with it, or whatever they are called in English. They are basically fried mince-meat balls - the dish Americans turned into hamburgers, eventually, just tasty and not dry like sawdust. (Do I need to mention that I'm not a fan of hamburgers?)

That's all for today. For some odd reason I feel like I'd been very lazy today. God knows why.

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's betting down to the last few days. You must be over the top excited. And those meat balls sound yummy.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, they are. The secret is to mix the minced meat with some rolls that have been soaked in warm water first (then the water pressed out of them by hand), a bit of chopped onions and eggs. For a pound we use one large egg or two small ones. Then the mixture is seasoned with salt and black pepper, formed into balls (a bit bigger than a walnut) and fried in oil. Not in a fritteuse, though, that makes them hard and dry. Mum usually pours enough oil into a pan to reach the lower third of the meat balls, and when one side is golden brown, she turns them with a spatula and fries the other side as well. That way they remain soft and juicy, but if you keep them in the fridge for a day or two you can slice them fairly thin and use them in sandwiches, too. They are yummy, both cold and hot.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Those sound good. We tend to bake ours.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I'd be very interested in details of the specialist Hungarian cuisine, perhaps another post one day you can elaborate further. Fingers crossed!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not such a big deal! First we put on some oil in a pot, with some chopped onions and cook them until they look glassy. Then we add vegetables - beans or peas or chopped carrots or whatever comes our way - with enough water to just cover them and cook them until they are soft. Then we sprinkle a little flour over the whole thing to thicken the sauce. Most are seasoned with salt or red pepper - the sweet, ground version, not chili - but some require dill or other herbs for the right taste.

That is basically it - nothing fancy, I just never saw it done elsewhere but in Hungary and Transylvania. Germans usually simply cook or steam their vegetables, and so do the Dutch people. I haven't lived in any other countries long enough to gain deeper insight into their cooking habits.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Sounds simple but tasty, I'll try it out! (I have proper paprika from Hungary that I brought to Norway, in desperation at the bland food here.)

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I keep wanting to make candles but I am so terribly craft-impaired I'm afraid they will just be soggy lumps...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

What about buying cheap, unadorned candles and then decorate them, either with stickers or with shapes cut out of thin wax plates? That's what I've been doing for decades; I gave making candles a try but it's a bit difficult... not to mention messy. Especially when you do it with kids. *g*

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! I love this idea!

[meathiel]

That's great when you have somebody who actually sets up the TV ... I always fiddle with stuff myself. I usually succeed but it's such a pain in the a...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

In the goode olde days, when you simply had to plug the things in ő - if you happened to have a VCR, connect the two things with a simple cable, I used to do those things myself, too. But nowadays with half a dozen wires and cables and plugs... I just can't do it.