Hope Yer Hungary

Day 48: Widowville OH to Pickerington OH

We leave the farm around 2 in the afternoon. The sky is blue and full of billowy white clouds, it's about 85 degrees with low humidity. We are as enchanted with this farm as we could possibly be.

Our route takes us straight through the heart of Ohio farm country. The road is wide with rolling roller coaster hills that get you in the stomach just a little. We pass the campus of Denison College, which is where my grandmother, who I called Nan, went to school. She graduated with a teaching degree, and while there was not simply the president of her sorority, but of the pan-hellenic club as well.. My Nan was always serious business.

We roll in to the neighborhood where my aunt and uncle live right around 4, starving and looking forward to a serious feast. We are in for a treat tonight. Let me back up...we are at the home of my dad's second youngest sister, Mary Beth (I call “Meem”) and her husband of thirty something years Frank, henceforth Aunt Meem and Uncle Frank. Their oldest child is my cousin Ben, who has been following this blog. Realizing we're sort of food oriented, Ben organized for us “The Feast”. “The Feast” varies from family to family, but is usually the traditional Christmas meal that all branches of my Hungarian clan, the Nameths, prepare. It was my grandfather's signature menu. Having this feast on a random Tuesday night in August is a big deal.

First of all, this meal takes no fewer than 3 days to properly prepare. You begin by making cabbage rolls, or stuffed cabbage. There is a filling made with uncooked rice, garlic, paprika, ground beef and pork (ground once). Cabbage leaves are steamed and slices away from the head, stuffed with this meat mixture and layered in a pot with sour kraut and tomato sauce. Aunt Meem does it the way grandpa did by stuffing a green pepper with this meat mixture and placing it in the center of the pot. The pot is brought to a simmer and shaken (don't stir it) once a day for three days. Any less than this and you've messed up a good pot of stuffed cabbage.

To accompany this, there is Hungarian scalloped potatoes: boiled potatoes and hard boiled eggs sliced and layered with bread crumbs, sour cream and butter. In my family we throw some kolbasi in there too. Then, there is Uncle Frank's chicken. This is a variation of the classic “wing dings” that Grandpa made (my brother is notorious for being able to consume three or four hundred wing dings at a sitting). Uncle Frank makes cutlets, or scallopinis, instead. The breading and pan frying is done in the classic way with seasonings so secret that I'd have to kill you if you found out. Eaten mere seconds from the pan, these little fried chicken delights are served as the official first course of The Feast.

By the time we all sit, the table is groaning under the weight of stuffed cabbage with gravy, chicken, noodles and cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, Hungarian potatoes and biscuits. Around the table is Aunt Meem and Uncle Frank, cousin Ben and his beautiful wife of ten months Becky, cousin Dawn and her sons Gabe and Lukey. We eat, we laugh, we tell stories, and at the apex of our jolliness, the famous chocolate cake comes out. This time, the cake is extra special. This cakes is Uncle Frank's mother's recipe, and he usually makes it as the last course for The Feast. But for tonight, Becky has made it. This is a serious test (I'm kidding), and she nails it. The layers of chocolate cake are moistened with maraschino cherry juice to perfection. The frosting is sweet and creamy, and the cherries that dot the top of the cake are gorgeous.

We finish no less than a case of beer and a couple bottles of wine, in addition to our food. We are happy as clams, and full as ticks as we bid each other good night and waddle off to bed.