My Birthday(s)

I HAVE HAD THE MOST UNFORGETTABLE 21ST BIRTHDAY(S)!

Thursday, February 19th (my actual birthday)

I came back from work and class to a bed full of chocolate, wine and sweet notes from my classmates. I am still working on finishing all of the chocolate and have yet to open the bottle of wine.

Since I fell in love with falafel after trying it for the first time in Prague, my friends decided to celebrate at a Jewish restaurant (Mazel Tov). 

The restaurant was so fun. The floor was a layer of small white stones and they had a live musician; such a wonderful environment. The falafel was even better than in Prague and for dinner I ordered a meal of egg and spiced tomato sauce. It was delicious.

I had my first alcoholic beverage (Summer Fresh was a mix of many fruit juices and vodka). 

 They brought an entire gluten-free chocolate and coconut (my favorite flavor combination) cake into the restaurant and even lit the candles while singing "Happy Birthday".

*As you can see in the picture of me with the cake I still had yet to consume half of my drink by the time we were ready for dessert. Whoops...*

After playing 5 or 6 games of foosball at the bar next door we headed over to a club with the intention of dancing. Upon paying 1300 Ft. (~ $5) to enter and dance, we realized that instead we had just crashed what seemed to be some sort high school prom (even though prom is not celebrated here). We could only handle the environment for an hour or so.

Friday, February 20th

I woke up to a large birthday brunch, beautifully prepared by my thoughtful friends. We ate bacon, eggs, gluten-free toast with jam, sliced oranges and bananas and drank SO MUCH HOT CHOCOLATE. What a wonderful way to start a long day!

That night Judit, some friends and I attended Veronika Harcsa's (a trained Hungarian jazz vocalist who was accompanied by two men playing techno-like music) concert on the A38; a docked entertainment boat that sits on the Danube River with a restaurant, bar and stage.

Unfortunately, later that night while playing a game of canasta with Judit, Barnus and Rebi I got the stomach flu. Let's just say ... it was a rough night full of "sleeping" on the bathroom floor and other not so pleasant activities.

Saturday, February 21st

We had planned on having a few friends over to Judit's house for a small celebration full of food, games, talking and more. However, due to the unfortunate series of events the night before the birthday party was cancelled, in hopes of preventing the spread of my illness to the of Hungary. So I spent my Saturday sleeping, loosing 10 pounds, drinking a lot of coke/ginger ale and watching Parenthood instead; it is a must see for all people, young and old.

Wednesday, February 25th

Since Saturday's party was cancelled two friends graciously included me in their birthday celebration on Wednesday night at a pub famous for brewing their own beer in the basement. There were 19 unique beer choices, including cherry and plum beers; but, I drank lemonade instead. They crushed entire orange and lemon slices in the bottom of my mug, filled the glass with orange juice, bubbly water and a small amount of liquid sugar. Despite being more of an orange juice than lemonade I loved it.

There was one turo cake (a sweetened Hungarian cottage cheese like food), one chocolate cake and some creme pastries for me.

 I had the chance to talk to friends I have not seen in far too long.

Friday, February 27th & Saturday, February 28th

This weekend I spent some quality time with life-long family friends, the Emilék. Emil and my dad went to seminary together in Budapest in 1988 and we lived with them in Balatonfüred the year we were here. Now they live in Veszprém, the small city that Erica and I attended school. We spent special time together traveling and eating SO MUCH GOOD FOOD!

After sleeping 9 solid hours on Friday night, we left early the next morning to see Veszprém.  It is amazing how much I recognize from 10 years ago; unfortunately my school no longer is standing, but we drove past the now empty lot.

Next we drove 2 hours see how pumpkin seed oil is made. A family in the country side makes their own homemade oil in a small building on their farm. The system, designed by the father of the family, can produce 20 L of oil in 6 hours. 

They currently produce about 15 various oils from all sorts of seeds, nuts and flowers. 

 

The most fascinating aspect is that they use/sell every single product from the process, for instance the oil-less seeds/nuts are made into flour or can eaten as a crunchy snack (the animal poop looking pieces shown above). The oils come from ingredients that the family grows in their own garden. 

There are two types of pumpkin seed oils, a "warm" and a "cold". To make the warm oil, the crushed seeds first are mixed with water and salt and then fried for about 15-20 minutes before the oil is squeezed from the seeds. The cold oil is directly squeezed from the crushed seeds without frying. Both processes make the same amount of oil, but the oils they produce have different flavors. 

On our way home we drove through Balatonfüred (the town my family lived in for a year). I almost didn't recognize it because of how must it has been developed in the last 10 years ago.

Sad story.... we ran over a bunny as big as a medium sized dog. It was a rough time for the bunny, the car, the passengers and the license plate that fell off upon impact. Despite the tragic event, I have reason to believe, based on its size, that our bunny lived an enjoyable life here on earth before its sudden death.

Sunday, March 1st

Sunday's celebration was the icing on top of the beautifully crafted gluten-free cake that was my birthday week. Judit's family prepared a fantastically delicious meal of various foods including töltött káposzta (cooked cabbage stuffed with rice, meat and spices). This is THE BEST MEAL IN THE WHOLE WORLD! For dessert we made pudding sundaes with fruit, whipped cream and sprinkles. We were also celebrating Anna's, a close friend from church, 17th birthday.

I have two favorite moments from the evening:
- Tamás shared a verse from Psalm 17 and Psalm 21 for Anna. I would love to start incorporating this into future birthday celebrations; reading from the Psalm based on the age of the birthday person.
- The two gleeful songs that were sung instead of "Happy Birthday" were so much more fun than our usual tune. I have no idea what they were saying, but I trust that they were good songs.

Some other Special Gifts that I received:

- beautifully written letters from family and friends back home
- a perfectly selected floral scarf (I wear it all the time)
- a stylish yet very practical purse (wow do they know me well)
- lavender mug, saucer and tea strainer (perfect addition to my budding mug collection)
- a ticket to see The Phantom of the Opera in Hungarian with English subtitles (what an opportunity of a lifetime)

As much as I would have loved to spend this day with my family, everyone here made me feel so cared for and important and helped me celebrate beautifully this past week and a half.

Thank you to everyone involved in making it a special year!

Puszi,
Emily