Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1989. július-december (43. évfolyam, 27-48. szám)

1989-07-06 / 27. szám

Thursday, July 6. 1989. 11. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO HUNGARIAN CUISINE SKETCHES OF RENOWNED MUSIC MAKERS BY ZSUZSI ROBOZ Slipping behind Hungary's Goulash Cur­tain couldn't be simpler. You don't have to be a Houdini - the famous Hungarian escape artist! In fact, you hardly know that you are entering an Eastern bloc country. Many consider it the most "western" of these countries and easiest to tour in a group or on your own. Most travelers concentrate solely on Budapest, that magnificent, spectacular 1000 year-old world capital city split by the Danube River into the high Buda side and the lower Pest side. Today, nine bridges stitch the two cities back together, insu­ring easy travel. Granted, Budapest offers the pursuits that travelers demand, but if at all pos­sible, see a bit of the country outside the capital. This will assist you to put Hungary into perspective. TRAVELING OUT OF BUDAPEST INTO THE COUNTRYSIDE On a recent visit, a tour delving into the vast Great Plains area south and east of Budapest took four days. On the first, we stopped in Kecskemet to sample Puszta Cocktails - Barack Pálinka (apricot brandy) and Tokaji Szamorodni (wine of dry or sweet variety) and Mecseki Bitters. Trav­elers should know this drink; it's offered on most social occasions. Next stop was at Solt for a visit to the "puszta" to learn of the rural life of cow­boys on the Great Plain. We were treated to a demonstration of macho horsemanship by "cowboys" in their distinctive garb, balancing astride two horses at full gallop, cracking big bullwhips overhead. By horse and wagon we drove to an "ét­terem" (small restaurant) for appetizers of thick dark bread spread with lard and topped with onions, all washed down with bottles of unlabeled white and red wines. Main course was "gulyásleves", a soup with chunks of beef, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, paprika, caraway seeds and garlic. What we call goulash in the U.S., Hungarians call "pörkölt" - a stew! Accompanying the soup were hot pickled vegetables, boiled potatoes and more good dark bread. Squares of apple strudel topped the meal. We continued on to overnight in Hunga­ry's second city, Szeged near where Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary meet. The second day, after a substantial break­fast, including Szeged's own special salami, we backtracked to Kalocsa, often called Hungary's "folklore capital". Upon entering the city everyone yelled for the bus to halt so we could photograph houses festooned with strings of peppers drying under the eaves. Kalocsa, a major producer of paprika, has the world's only Paprika Museum, tracing paprika's history from its origin in Mexico to Hungary's current improvements. The originally hot spice, has developed into the pleasantly piquant, bright red seasoning, paprika, now appreciated all over the world. The treasury room of St. Stephen's twin- spired Cathedral was thrown open for us to inspect ecclesiastical garments and trappings of yore; an organ recital on the Fancy footwork on horseback in Solt. 4000-pipe organ was inspirational - some­what on the order of a visit to Radio City Music Hall. It is easy to see that the Ca­tholic church still plays an important part in the lives of many Hungarians. Our guide took great pains to point out that today's lunch was in a private restau­rant rather than in a coop as was yesterday's* The menu included chicken soup, pork Budapest-style, rice, and a picturesque salad of carrots, tomatoes, plus white and red cabbages, and "somlói galuska"- a dessert of sponge cake with real whipped cream and chocolate sauce. One of Hungary's best-known wines, "Egri Bikavér" (Bull's Blood of Eger) - was served. A deep-red, slightly harsh wine, made from a combination of four grapes, it is not quite as robust as that of Spain's Sangre de Torro. Nevertheless, Hungarians highly recommend it for accompanying pork, beef, game, liver and zesty cheese. At a lace place, a young lady in a flower- embroidered dress and cap showed how lace designs were painted. For the final folkloric event of the day, a group of cos­tumed children demonstrated a number of Hungarian folk dances. A walking tour of downtown Szeged on the third day included the neo-Romanesque Votive Church. A picture of its twin towers appears on tins of "The Pride of Szeged - Hungarian Hot Paprika." Dinner in our hotel featured two chef's preparing csirke paprikás (paprika chicken). Particularly tasty was the Cheese Cock­tail - curd cheese, hot Trappista cheese, Pick and Hercz salami cut in tiny pieces, sour cream, onion, black pepper, and hot paprika. Palacsinta Gundel - a thin crepe filled with chopped hazelnuts and raisins, folded into a triangle, and crowned with a rum-chocolate sauce, then flambéed, was voted favorite dessert. The last meal of the tour came in Kecs­kemet on the way back to Budapest - in a windmill restaurant! Lemon-seasoned pork and vegetable soup was superb, as was töltött káposzta - an unusual stuffed cabbage. Wine with the meal was Kecskemé­ti Olaszri’zlihg, a slightly greenish-white Riesling - dry, with a hint of almond and a pleasant fresh bouquet. An informal survey of tour members showed that Hungary was more open than expected, that there were no restrictions ON VIEW AT NYPL AT LINCOLN CENTER Drawings by Zsuzsa Roboz, the Hungarian- born artist known internationally for her portraits of dancers and musicians, will be exhibited in the Amsterdam Gallery of the N.Y. Public Library at Lincoln Center (11 Amsterdam Ave.) from June 29 to Sep­tember 9, 1989. The exhibition, entitled "Music Makers", features over 40 of the world's most famous conductors and solo­ists, in ink and charcoal drawings. The subjects, all portrayed in rehearsal or in private studio performances, include Yo Yo Ma, Isaac Stern Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman. A new drawing of Pablo Casals will be shown for the first time. Zsuzsi Roboz was born in Budapest and grew up in London. She studied art in London and Florence. Her works are in permanent collections af the Tate Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Festival Hall, Vic­toria and Albert Museum, London and the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. TAXI TARIFF FROM THE AIRPORT At both terminals at Budapest Ferihegy Airport leaflets are handed to arriving passengers drawing their attention to the taxi fares. The Hungarian capital is very well supplied with state and privately owned taxis; the leaflet lists the fares in forints between the airport and almost 40 Budapest hotels. At the end of 1988, the fare to a hotel in the center was 150-200 forints ( $ 3.- 4,») and for the most distant hotel the fare was not higher than: 250-300 fo­rints ($ 5.-6.-). By international compari­son, taxi fares in Budapest are not expen­sive and of course there is a regular express bus service to the center every 30 minutes with a 30 forint fare. The Hungarian capital is featured in a recently published report as the least expensive city in the world. The prestigious London Financial Times car­ried a list of 68 cities, referring to the thorough study made by the P-E Inbucon firm of Britain. The prices of numerous products and services were taken into consideration, and compared with the London living standard. According to the data of the Financial Times, taking the London level as 100 per cent, the price level in Hungary last spring was 61.2 per cent. The most expensive city in the world, notes the newspaper, is Tokyo, where the price level surpassed the London one by 63.9 per cent. on where they went on their own, that hospitable Hungarians were friendly and helpful within language restrictions, that facilities, even in the country, were good, that general cleanliness merited special note, and that dining can be great, anywhere. Dave Bruce

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