We came prepared – peanut butter cranberry cookies in hand – to a true Hungarian barbeque. The Szechenyi teachers and staff threw a top notch party at a home in the suburbs. Fresh grapes draped the arbors and fuzzy apples pulled on the tree limbs. The grill (A wok on legs with a gas burner underneath) was laden with thick slices of sizzling bacon, laid out in bursts. A full sized table was covered in three liter soft drink and juice bottles put to new use for moonshine and homemade wine. There were biscuits and fresh tomatoes, grapes, pears, and apples from the garden on picnic tables under the arbor and music playing over the field.
We chatted until our noses could take the torture no longer. The juicy marinated pork, chicken, chicken liver, and bratwurst were finally ready. An enormous loaf of bread – half the size of a car tire! – was sliced into large pieces. The pieces were put on plates and served as edible trenchers for the tender meats and summer cucumbers (which were almost like pickles but only served in the summer). Cookies, bars, and yogurt fruit pie awaited us for dessert, along with an assortment of liquors.
After dinner, an electric piano was hooked up and the fun really began. The male teachers found a partner and danced everything from the waltz to the mashed potato. We heard the great American oldies, folk songs, and Hungarian favorites as we danced the night away! A deluge of wind and rain melted the party, scattering people to their cars and bikes.
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