Day 25

I do not have much time to go into detail but today was such a crazy day. I will probably come back and go into more detail later when I have more time! Basically what we did today was make a 3 course traditional Romanian meal called Ardei Umpluti (stuffed peppers) well as Supa de Pui (or chicken soup) with a salata (salad).

The day started with grocery shopping from 10 am-12pm and cooking from 1:20 pm-6pm... woof! But it was so cool. Basically the jist of the peppers was you create a mixture of tomato paste, pepper, ground pork, uncooked rice and fill the pepper. You line the bottom of a stew pot with grape leaves and put in the peppers. The leaves help maintain the condition of the peppers. You then place a plate on top of the peppers to prevent floating, fill the pot with water and boil until the rice and meat is thoroughly cooked. The day got a little crazy with 7 girls and 3 Romanian helpers all trying to get the groceries and cooking accomplished but by means of turn taking and patience it was such a cool experience. Mihai, Petru and Aurelia all had different ways of cooking this traditional meal and they all had the techniques down pat. The cool thing about this recipe is that it is one that is SO delicious and I can make it at home. What a cool, unique little (ok not so little) experience we were able to have! Many thanks to Mihai, Petru and Aurelia for their patience and help today!