Eating Well in Romania
We never worried about starving in Romania. Mealtime was always a cultural feast and social treat. Every meal included homemade bread, feta cheese and dessert.
Ardei umplut (stuffed bell peppers with tomato sauce)Chicken in garlic sauce and salata de beof

Supa de taitei (noodle soup)

Nicole, Eva and Constantin shopping in a market in Resita.

Rusii (tomatoes) and cucumbers are a typical salad combination, but never any lettece.

Supa (soup)

Sarmale (cabbage rolls)

Oua umplute (deviled eggs) and salata de vinete (eggplant)

We always had a choice of Fanta, Chrystal Light, or bottled water, with or without gas (plain or carbonated) and never, ever with ice.

Sketching at Maria's
On Saturday afternoon Maria and I were alone at home and we sat together in her cool, grapevine covered courtyard. She sat at the table just outside her kitchen door and read her Bible, and I set up my art supplies to sketch. She thought I was sketching flowers, but when Maria saw my sketch was horrified. She said, oh no, Elena is going to be so mad at me. Elena is her older daughter, who lives here in Oregon next door to Nicole and Rich. Several years ago Elena had taken the green and white checked shirt away, but Maria snuck it back home.
Oops.
Maria's white cat was very curious about my art supplies and watched me intently. Before I was finished she was sitting in the kitchen doorway, so I figured she wanted to be included.
Maria
Cami is Maria's eight year old granddaughter. She was very intrigued by my artwork and asked me to draw her with the kitties. She is an artist also. When we returned to their house mid-week she had made some pictures for us. I love this orange shirt that she put on just for the sitting.
Cami
While we were relaxing in the courtyard, Ruji brought out some fresh picked cherries on a beautiful plate and I couldn't resist painting them. Cami scooted up next to the table to watch and held my paint box for me. Her red and white striped shirt was a perfect background for the cherries. She was surprised when she realized she was in the picture.
Ani and Cami have been learning English in school since kindergarden but are very hesitant to practise. Ani is very shy, but I got her to engage by having her teach me some Romanian words.
Cirese

Ruji
Eva's cousin Ruji is Maria's youngest daughter. She lives in Resita with her husband Nelu (no picture unfortunately) and her girls Cami, 11 and Ani,17. Ruji fed us fabulous meals and let us shower (douche) there several times. They also came to Gornea for the weekend to visit us while we there. Rich and Nelu got along famously. Both are outgoing and have a great sense of humor. The European Football (soccer) Cup games were going on so they were wild about that and watched several games together. Between Nelu's bit of English and Rich's bit of Romanian they didn't have much trouble communicating and laughing. Rich taught them how to play "Wizard" a card game based on bidding, tricks, and luck. We all had a ball.

Ruji and Cami in front of their house in Resita.

Cuddling up with Cami and Ani at Iovana's.

Another wonderful meal with Ruji.
Notice the tile on the walls. This is a beautiful ornamental way that many walls are finished. The buildings are typically constructed from cement blocks so the walls are very thick and provide good insulation.

Ani spent a lot of time playing with the kitties in the entryway at Maria's. Maria let us stay in her bedroom and she set up this bed for herself in the entryway.

A very fine handwork done in Romania is called macrame. Believe me this is not like the macrame pot hangers that we made in the 70's. Ruji is quite skilled at it and she gave Rich and Nicole this exquisite tablecloth for a wedding gift. It is constructed out of very fine thread in a series of complex knots creating a beautifully designed lacework. She gave me a small piece that is incredible.The entryway to Ruji's is a passage between the houses.

The passageway opens to this courtyard. Ruji's house is to the left

This is the view into the neighbor's yard to the right of the entryway.

Nelu is a fireman in Resita. He took Rich and Paul over to visit his firestation. On his days off he drives a cab. There are few jobs in Resita so he's very fortunate and hardworking.

A Litter of Kittens at Maria's

Here we are sitting with Iovana and Maria in Maria's kitchen. She's holding the litter of three kitties, two white and one grey. The brown cabinet behind me is the door to the well. Maria shares it with her neighbor so the other half of the cabinet is in their kitchen.

Rich is a real animal lover. The grey kitty is out cold in his arms.
Maria has beatiful wood cabinets in her kitchen. It looks like a dollhouse, especially with Rich standing in the middle of it. Romanians are generally shorter than Americans and Rich and Paul looked like giants in the village.

Look at Rich standing with Grandma.

The first morning at Maria's, she asked Paul if the bed was comfortable. He said, yes he'd slept well, but his feet hung over the foot of the bed. She said, you are a very big man. By the next night she had padded the foot board so his ankles could rest on a pillow.
I told Maria I'd heard roosters crowing all night long. And she said, yes, of course, they knew there were guests in the village. It is a welcome sign.

My Gift to Iovana

In the weeks before we left for Europe I put together a memory quilt for Grandma to commemorate her trip to America in October '06. I printed pictures from Nicole and Rich's wedding onto fabric and my mother helped me assemble them with velveteen fabrics so she could cuddle up with the warm memories. Grandma said, oh no it was too nice for her feet. She's going to hang it on the wall where everyone can admire it. Even though she knows no English, and my Romanian is limited to "boonahzeewah" we love each other. She's a dear.

The Blue Danube

On Tuesday we piled back into the van and took off for Muldova to get more transmission fluid. Our trail of transmission fluid yesterday was apparently due to the heavy load in the car combined with the lumps and bumps in the road. A seal was leaking but should be fine now. Just in case, we're gonna carry a backup supply. After all we can't depend on AAA in Romania.

The Danube is walking distance from Gornea. Eva and Constantin own waterfront property with a gorgeous view of the river. We pulled up onto the property and while everyone else got out and looked around I got out my sketchbook to get a quick watercolor. Of course they were done before I was, but I did get a few strokes down.

This is the spot where Constantin and Eva ran away from Romania. On a moonless night in October 1980 they held onto an inflated air mattress and floated across the Danube River to the freedom and safety of Yugoslavia. Geesh.

A Visit with Efcha
Before leaving Muldova Constantin wanted to stop and say hi to an old friend, Efcha. He assured us he'd only be 10 minutes. He may not even be home. We laughed. The last time he'd seen him was 28 years ago. Efcha was the one who helped him leave Romania. The police were looking for Constantin, and Efcha dropped them at a secluded location where the guards hopefully wouldn't spot them in the water.

Two minutes later Constantin returned smiling from ear to ear. We were all invited in for coffee. As I met Efcha and his wife, I recognized the Yugoslavian three kisses. She was very impressed with my "boon ah zee wah", and that I noticed the Yugoslavian tradition. Even though it took a lot of translating we had a great time chatting, laughing and telling jokes. It's so funny to watch the reactions to a story being told in a foreign language. Laughter is infectious and we laughed just watching them laugh. Then when it was our turn to hear it in English, the Romanians watched and loved seeing our reactions. We all got twice the joy. I can't repeat the jokes. The body language is half the fun, plus it's just funnier in Romania.

Our espresso was served in this beautiful china. I was informed that it is good fortune to have so many bubbles in my espresso. Lucky me.

While everyone was chatting I did some sketching.

Mealtime in Gornea

A long picnic bench was set up at Iovana's in the room just inside the front door. There were usually 10 of us for meals. Alex is taking the picture.
Front row: Sandy, Paul, Maria, next door neighbor (great aunt), Iovana (Grandma)
Back row: Rich, Nicole, Constantin, Sima, Eva


Sima (Eva's brother-in-law) is standing in the open front door.

outside/inside


A second set of doors in the entryway open into this courtyard. The door at the back of the courtyard enters into the kitchen, but a lot of the preparation and cleanup is done outside in the summer.


The cute building in front of the kitchen is the well.

Constantin is shaving just outside the kitchen door.

Maria and Eva are entering the courtyard from the entryway.
The bicycle on the right is Iovana's transportation around the village.
Iovana is 72 and Maria is 60.

We can always depend on wonderful meals from Eva. Everything is homemade and (in Romania) homegrown. The chickens and rabbits were raised in the backyard. Sima caught dinner in the Danube closeby. Feta cheese was made from Iovana's goat milk and was served at every meal: with scrambled eggs, soup, salad, and even fried. Everyone worked hard to keep us well fed.

Iovana in her kitchen.

Sima barbequed in the courtyard.

Eating

Relaxing

And playing cards

And eating some more.