Eating To Live And Enjoying It

'mamaliga' with cottage cheese // the whole 'mamaliga'

beef patties and pickles // fish patty with carrot on top

dark sliced bread //whole white bread

stuffed pepper with meat //stuffed vine leaves with rice

stuffed cabbage leaves // dumplings (varenikis)

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In our home we loved bread with everything: with salads, with main course, dipped in some gravy, topped with various spreads. In winter, my parents liked to eat a slice of dark bread covered with butter and on top of it a slice of pickled herring or smoked mackrel - with or without onion rings or black olives. It was a real delicacy !

A common substitute for bread was the well-known roumanian "mamaliga". The mamaliga made out of yellow cornflour can be cooked soft, like porridge, or thick to the point that it can be cut in slices like bread. My parents liked the mamaliga served with sour cream and cheese, or with stuffed vine leaves ('sarmale', in roumanian).

My mother excelled in cooking the classic dishes that are known to this very day . Here are a few of them:
- Stuffed vegetables (peppers, vine leaves, cabbage leaves) with ground beef and rice.
- Beef meat balls/patties fried or baked, chicken-breast meat balls/patties, fish patties
- Dough dumplings filled with mashed potatoes, cheese, meat, or some sweet filling
- Soups; clear 'chicken soup' with rice or noodles, 'vegetable soup' with potatoe cubes and enriched with sour cream, 'borsh' - a kind of sour soup based on some optional ingredients: beetroots, potatoes, cabbage, and flavoured with leaves of lovage for a special taste
- 'Kugel' made of egg noodles (lokshn) sprinkled with raisins and cinamon. The kugel could serve as a side dish or as dessert.

אוכל - מקיים ומהנה

בביתנו אהבו לחם לאכול

מכל סוג וטעם, לבן או שחור

בחורף, פרוסת לחם מרוחה

בחמאה ,עליה פיסת לקרדה

-ובהמשך עם כוס תה חם

היה זה "אחלה" מעדן

'בל נשכח את ה'מאמאליגה

שהולכת טוב עם שמנת וגבינה

את הפירה, האורז המבושל

ונקניקיות העוף עם חרדל

בצקיות עם מילוי, מרקים

ממולאים, דגים וטוגנים

ולקינוח, קוגל אטריות

עם צימוקים או פטריות

Pofta Buna Tuturor !

Paine tare ne placea

Cu orice fel a manca

Salata, friptura, omleta

Herring marinat, lacherda

Muiata-n sos, sau unsa cu ceva

Ori ca sandwich cu o chiftea

Mamaliga foarte gustoasa era

Cand cu smantana se servea

Parjoalele mamei erau renumite

De familie cu mare pofta inghitite

Sarmalele erau si ele delicioase

Continand ingrediente valoroase