When I came back from Romania last time, I brought souvenirs for a handful of people. Let's call them "my real friends." Just kidding, people who didn't get souvenirs! Anyway, I brought my friend Jason some tuica, that Romanian bathtub gin. When I gave it to him, I explained what it was and told him whatever you do, for God's sake don't drink any of this. He said he was going to try some anyway. On the right is a photograph of the Lixandru dining room table after the saint day party. Those white marks are where someone spilled some tuica on the table and it ate through the varnish. Gagi had to resurface that part of the table this weekend. Still want to give that stuff a shot, J? (Gagi would like me to tell everyone that the tuica only did that because the varnish is alcohol-based, as if such a thing even exists. To which I say: Whatever. You're taking your life into your hands if you voluntarily expose your tissues to this stuff.)
The weekend's been good. We cleaned up from the party, moved some furniture out of my and Io's room to make room for future baby furniture, and then headed out to Auchan hipermart to do some errands, just me and Io. The walk was nice -- it's warmed up to above freezing, although winter is still a tough time for Romania's large population of stray dogs. The smart ones curl up on manhole covers and similar things for warmth.
Yesterday was Tania & Gagi's wedding anniversary. We were going to go out to a restaurant, but at the last second decided to stay in instead. Tania made Gagi's favorite meal, moussaka, which is a Turkish dish adapted by the Romanians. As it happens, moussaka is also one of my favorite Romanian dishes, basically ground beef and pork in a savory sauce, sandwiched between layers of potato. Yum! Tania also brought out some of her famous pickled vegetables. Yuck!
Things you can discern from these photographs: In Romania people usually don't have beverages with food. You eat, and then after the meal you have some water or whatever. During the meal traditional Romanians will have a glass of whisky or tuica that they sip from occasionally, but having a big glass of water that you're draining constantly through the meal isn't typical (although nobody cares that I do it). Also, in Romanian tradition you have white bread with the meal, and the bread is laid out right on the tablecloth, and eaten off the tablecloth. No bread plates. See how many interesting cultural tidbits you're learning from this blog?
Delicious moussaka
So we wished Tania and Gagi a happy anniversary, and then spent the rest of the night playing World of Warcraft with folks back in the New World. All in all, a very fun weekend. Next week, we are on regular schedule of Tania at work, Io at class and at the hospital, and Gagi and I pantomiming to each other while they're gone. Sometime during the week we're getting a new couch / hide-a-bed for Io and me, which will be nice, and I am going to start my regular program of daily walking.
La multi ani! Happy anniversary!
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