THE POPE VISITS THE YOUNG PEOPLE - GIFTED A BOTTLE OF WINE and a RUBIK'S CUBE : YOUTH GATHERING

I do realize that some people think Pope Francis I is too liberal and that Hungary is undergoing a conservative outlook. But who or what can be labeled 'liberal' or 'conservative' changes all the time. At this distance, since I live in the United States, it's my feeling that Hungary needs stability and is seeking a national identity that is always entwined with the founding of the nation as a Roman Catholic country - a Christian country. 

The message for peace and harmony is International and not dependent on religious beliefs. In recent weeks I've tried to familiarize myself with all the military actions and wars in the region of the past. I watched the Oliver Stone documentary that came out in 2018 and wonder what he thinks now that Russia has gone into Ukraine. There were and are peaceful ways to go about this, especially when you consider the economic costs as well as the horrible toll on the psyche's of the citizens.

My observations watching this : The modern Christian music feels like what is more common in Christian - Protestant churches in America, including some that consider themselves to be Bible Based Fundamentalist. It also feels a bit like what we call a "revival." The testimonial aspect also feels Christian - Protestant to me.

That said, I respect the program and the people who are testifying and the outreach to the young people, whose parents or grandparents likely lived in the Communist times.

I respect the inclusion of the Greek Catholics.

POPE FRANCIS I VISIT TO HUNGARY : ENGLISH TRANSLATION :

POPE FRANCIS IN HUNGARY - HOLY MASS AN REGINA COELI PRAYER 

He urged young people to be peacemakers.  We must all try...

He visited Saint Elizabeth Greek Catholic Church...

Cries of Papa!  Papa! can be heard...

Beautiful voices singing prayerful adorations.

In this article by BBC, it's said that Pope Francis has made this journey, his first to Hungary, as an anti-migrant stance by the government there goes against his beliefs.  However, the people of Hungary have taken in more refugees from the Russian war against Ukraine than any other country.

BBC - EUROPE : POPE FRANCIS I MASS BUDAPEST

DINNER -GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

 Magyar-American BlogSpot features 

Hungarian-American genealogy tips and resources, and posts on

Society and Culture of Hungary and the Hungarian-American Community.

WATER FAIRIES : HUNGARIAN FOLK TALES

A "happy ever after" ending, I wonder at the nature spirit of water,

VERA and DONALD BLINKEN OPEN SOCIETY LIBRARY at CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY : COLD WAR - COMMUNISM - HUMAN RIGHTS

Where have I been to not have known of this research library in Budapest?  Thanks to a YouTube video by a woman who did research there, I might not have heard of it. 

Excerpt from website:  The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) at Central European University (CEU) is a complex archival institution.  OSA is both a repository of important collections, primarily related to the history of the Cold War and grave international human rights violations....

OSA ARCHIVE START PAGE - BUDAPEST

YOUTUBE OSA ARCHIVE - PLAYLISTS - VIDEO COLLECTION

Bettina Fabos briefly tells of her use of the OSA archive in order to tell her family story.  Hardly recovered from the losses they endured during World War II by 1949 Communism was the next to persecute farmers who were independent, meaning they owned their own land.  Ms. Fabos is a college professor in the United States. She worked with police archives, newspapers, cartoons, and much more.

LARD PORK LARD - REFORMKONYHA - HEALTHY EATING : HUNGARIAN HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STERETYPES

A stereotype of Hungarians is the use of pig - hog - pork fat - LARD in every recipe. In fat, a prize pig is mostly LARD.

This item can barely be found on supermarket shelves in California.  I swear this is true.  Maybe twenty years ago you could find some in blocks.  Even the tubs of Crisco, a pure white sanitized shortening, that were available when I was first learning to cook seem to have gone missing... You can find lard on the bottom shelf of some Mexican grocers, which there are very many of.

Onions, paprika, lard... It turns out that while the die-hard traditional Hungarian cooks are using their recipes that call for pork lard, the reformkonyha Hungarians are moving towards vegetable oil and poultry.  However it is very difficult to impossible to cook authentic Hungarian meals and go vegetarian or - goddess help us - vegan.  (That said, I've tried to work it - all the spices and vegetables - in olive oil or butter.  It's tasty but I can't compare with authentic Hungarian.)

Sour cream is also an essential for traditional Hungarian cooking. That said, a significant percentage of Europeans become or are lactose intolerant. (It's true that most lactose intolerant people can eat or imbibe a small amount of cow milk product and that switching to goat milk can often work and that some people only develop this inability to digest as they age.)

If you are adverse to animal fats of any sort, perhaps watching your waistline expand, you might be able to up your Hungarian authenticity by where you serve your meal.  An outdoor garden, a checkered tablecloth, real, not plastic, utensils, and the right attitude may make all the difference.

So the jury is out.  Is this STILL a Hungarian / Hungarian-American stereotype of not?

C 2023 Magyar American BlogSpot

FARINA MUFFINS : YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A BABY TO EAT FARINA! : FOOD BANK RECIPES by MAGYAR-AMERICAN

Hello my Dear Readers,

If you read my blog for any length of time, you know that I've done volunteer work in providing hot meals as well as doing food bank food distribution. That's a past experience now for me, but I know that budgets are strained and that many people who never thought they would need the help have gotten their families free food from one location or another during Covid-19 closures and since then, as rents, gasoline, and so much else has gotten too expensive. I know that many people are faced with ingredients they may not be familiar with. I know that there is a question of nutrition involved and that with the price of meat and seafood what it is many people are moving towards a vegetarian diet without really wanting to. I decided that I will post a FOOD BANK RECIPE from time to time to help you all. The idea is to help you use items that are often included in bags.

FARINA, usually used to make a hot, mushy, cereal is WHEAT.  These muffins are high in IRON.

FARINA MUFFINS

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line "cupcake" tins with either paper baking cups or lightly grease the bottoms to ease release of these muffins.

Dry Ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cup flour (All Purpose suggested but I've tried Unbleached and so on)

1 cup farina

1/4 cup of sugar (Or less: I've used as little as 1/6th a cup, even using sugar packets that you can get when you buy coffee out.)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (not baking soda)

1 teaspoon salt.

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup milk (plain water can be substituted)

1/4 cup of oil  (If there is no oil to be had, try using yogurt or applesauce)

1 egg

Mix the Dry Ingredients Together well, just stir around by hand.

Mix the Wet Ingredients together too and then mix into the Dry, completely moistened but not soppy.

Don't spend a lot of time at it.

Just fill the cups about 2/3rds and put them in that pre-heated oven. They will appear light golden brown in about fifteen to twenty minutes. This recipe makes about a dozen.

I like the grittier texture to these muffins which can be like corn meal muffins.

You can add some herbs to these too.

Right out of the oven with some butter, really yummy.

Also good with soup.  (I've been known to throw a farina muffin right in the soup!)

C 2023 Magyar - American BlogSpot

DEAK FERENC - THE SAGE OF THE COUNTRY - WHO WAS HE IN HUNGARIAN HISTORY?

According to Encyclopedia Britannica Ferenc Deak byname The Sage of the COuntry, Hungarian A Haza Bolcse, (born Oct 17, 1803, Sojtor, Hungarian, Austrian Empire died Jan 28/29 1976 Budapest) Hungarian statesman whose negotiations led to the establishment of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867.

THE RISEN JESUS

 

TULIP SPRING

 

PECS CHRISTIAN CRYPTS IN ONE OF HUNGARY'S MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES: WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #17

WORLD HERITAGE SITES : EARLY CHRISTIAN NECROPOLIS of PECS

Some excerpts: Pecs is very lovely town with beautiful cathedral, ramparts, pedestrian streets and traditional restaurants located in Southern Hungary near the Croaton border.

The complaint here is the glass coverings used to protect some of the tomb structures which is reflective.  I must say this is not the only place a tourist encounters glass; in museum displays in America too. These appraisals are valuable but most are pre-Covid so do check with the site to find out the latest information. 

"The Romans also brought Christianity with them and the World Heritage Site of Pecs is about this - early Roman, Christian tombs, in a condition not found anywhere else in the world.  All the Roman tombs are centrally located around Pecs' beautiful Basilica of St. Peter with its four towers.  The tombs are small and narrow and Christian symbols decorate the graves,  There are biblical frescos, Adam and Eve, Daniel in the lions den and the Jug - The Holy Sacrament.

 WHC - UNESCO : PECS CHRISTIAN ROMAN TOMBS

Excerpts: In the 4th century A.D. a remarkable series of decorated tombs were constructed in the cemetery in the town of Sopiana, in the Roman Province of Pannonia. .. The burial chambers, chapels and mausoleum excavated on the site of the Sopianae cemetery form a complex that bears witness to an ancient culture and civilization that had a lasting impact. It is the richest collection of structural types of sepulchral monuments in the northern and western Roman provinces reflecting a diversity of cultural sources.

NOTE; If you would like to bring up my curated selection of WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY, click on the label Wonderful-Hungary!

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to get to the entire series on this theme.