Thanksgiving in Hungary

In case you're wondering . . .

We celebrated Thanksgiving in the usual way. We roasted some turkey (though not a whole one, just two thighs and a breast), mashed some potatoes and squash, baked a blueberry pie, and even made something like cranberry sauce out of red currants.

But before all that work, we invited two friends, Arpi and Kata. We tried to spoil them as best we could.

We had a great time. Arpi and Kata are fun guests to have. I met Arpi when I first came to Hungary in 1993 and learned all sorts of useless slang from him, like "belcsavaroan undorito." (Intestine-twisting disgusting)

That phrase, by the way, was not used at all during the course of the evening. Everything was delicious and tasty. To add to the feeling, we even ate on my grandma's vintage crazy daisy Correll ware.

But just three hours before dinner we weren't so sure that things would turn out so nice. We had no gas, which meant no heat, no hot water and no stove - all of which are important for an enjoyable evening.

The only thing missing, obviously, was our American family.

One more observation by Melinda who just celebrated her first Thanksgiving in Hungary. It was strange to celebrate a holiday without anyone around us being aware of it. We wanted to great everyone with "happy thanksgiving" but for them, it was just another Thursday in November.

We hope you, at least you who are Americans, had a happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for.

~Matthew and Melinda