May 28th - Romania

This night we gastronomically traveled to Romania, and we surprisingly had a really large crowd. My guess is that it had more to do with the holiday weekend than the menu, but whatever... The crowd consisted of first, Paul Mabrey and his girlfriend Erica. I feel terrible because I don't know Erica's last name nor even if I'm spelling her first name correctly (Aagh! She's not on Facebook!). I'll have to rectify my lack of knowledge the next time I see her (trivia soon, right y'all?). Paul is an assistant debate coach and grad student at GSU where Erica is also a grad student in Communication. We were also graced by Kalpana, Vinay, and Baden Patel. I've known Kalpana since the 10th grade - we started crossing paths repeatedly at high school debate tournaments and shared a journey together via bus to Washington, D.C. She and Vinay have been married for about 4 or more years now, and this is the first time we've met him. I wish we hadn't waited so long - he was kind enough to tell me that my sweater was on inside-out. I'm telling you, looking fabulous when the guests arrive isn't easy (ha ha) - I usually cook in my pajamas or some hideous outfit consisting of paint-stained and likely holey t-shirts and shorts. I've got this one pair of jeans I like to wear around the house that have so many rips in them that it's hard to tell they're pants and not the result of some horrible paper shredder accident. But I digress - thanks to Vinay for being observant. Also, this was our first introduction to Baden, who at 10 months old is one of the most adorable kids I've ever seen! Also joining us for the evening are our lovely neighbors, Dana and Jamie Matlock. Although they are Georgia Tech grads, we still enjoyed their company and we only wish we had taken the time to know them earlier! The final guests of the evening were Illana and Jason Burkhart. Mike went to grad school at UGA with Illana, and Jason was part of the aforementioned Erskine crowd. They arrived at our house via a trip to Nashville for Illana's brother's high school graduation. They came bearing big news - Illana is expecting and due in December. Apparently Leslie knew this information the night before and had to keep it a secret. I give her credit - it's tough not to let something like that out! Illana and Jason actually live in Aiken, South Carolina now, so they spent the night and bummed around ATL with us the next day. We spent hours and hours in IKEA, and then took a quick trip to the International Farmer's Market.

But back to dinner - the menu consisted of Fleica, Sufleu de Spanac cu Parmezan, Dovlecei Prajiti in Ulei, Fasole Verde cu Rosii, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from Romania. What is all of that stuff, you ask? Well, fleica is a grilled steak that we had to broil. We ran out of propane last week, but we don't want to buy another tank because we plan to sell the grill before we move. (Anyone want to buy a grill?!?!) We didn't think there would be an issue because the grill is supposed to convert to charcoal as well, but we didn't have a bag of self-starting charcoal nor any lighting fluid, so... after a book of matches and no results we opted to broil it. Sufleu de spanac cu parmezan is a spinach and parmesan souffle. The problem was that the Romanian website I used was really vague with its directions. It said to cook the souffle at "medium heat" - what's that? I checked out souffle recipes online to see if there's one temperature they are always cooked at - the first 5 recipes I looked at all called for a different temperature. So the souffle turned into an American creamed spinach casserole. Still tasty, and more predictable to cook for a crowd. Dovlecei prajiti in ulei is basically fried zucchini rounds - very good, but thin slices are a must. Finally, fasole verde cu rosii is green beans cooked with tomatoes and herbs. And of course we bought more Romanian wine, since South Africa consumed the first batch purchased.

The real star of the night was dessert. Kalpana made a fantastic peanut butter and chocolate dessert with a chocolate rice crispy crunch crust. Paul and Erica brought a beautiful fruit torte - delicious! Dana made a wonderful homemade chocolate toffee dessert that was crisp and delectable. And finally Illana and Jason brought two dozen terrific cookies. It was a smorgasbord of sweets - and the leftovers were much appreciated!

Now Cafe Davis is on hiatus until June 6th, when there will be another big crowd for Brazil night. Stay tuned!