Striking Up Conversation

You might have had a bit too much to drink when...

The lady you chat with from across the table asks three times how you met your husband. Answers? Well I will tell you. At first Mark retold the tale of two unlikely gym-rat posers hitting the universal upright row machine at the same time. Small talk and calf compliments ensued, resulting in an awkward request to grab drinks followed by pizza after an intense session of chest presses. 

On her second request, the story morphed into this: Mark saw me sprinting towards a gang plank to catch a departing cruise ship in Baltimore. He was an aspiring bartender. I, a free spirited and wealthy yoga teacher apparently late for my vacation.

Last but not least, drunk lady asked a third time to which Mark responded I delivered his friend's sister's baby in Calcutta while volunteering at the local orphanage, daring to care as registered nurses are known for doing. 

Don't worry, drunk lady had a taxi ride waiting for her and friends to keep her safe. I hope the pink wine she drank doesn't hurt her tomorrow. 

This completed an already wonderful evening of dinner and drinks at a local restaurant and bar for a random date night. As Mark is prone to doing, he also scored free tickets to Bucharest's Good Wine Expo as well as a Dinamo futbol hat. Just for being Mark.

Tale of the Drowned Martyrs

Walking through the grocery store this week, I couldn't help but to notice huge piles of packaged teeny infinity shaped cookies along with vanilla- sugar, walnuts, rum extract and cinnamon. Since Romania sailed through the early days of Martisor and International Women's Day, I asked a Romanian colleague what menagerie of ingredients were for.

Conjoined Cheerios about to get boiled.

March 9 is reserved for a day of remembrance and celebration of Christian martyrs who died for their faith. According to the story, forty Roman soldiers in Sebaste (ancient southern Turkey) were captured and coerced to give up Christianity. Forced into a frozen lake for refusing, the soldiers prayed for Gods' intervention and drowning along the way. Apparently forty flowered garlands floated to the surface instead.

Forty. Go ahead and count 'em.

Wiki's inside source said the soldiers were forced upon a frozen lake stark naked to freeze to death. One guy repented and ran, and a watchful guard decided to take his place. Unfortunately by daybreak, the bodies still alive by God's grace, were burned to ashes and cast into a river anyway.

The soldiers became martyrs, and Christians created a dessert called mucenici to coincide with their day of remembrance. Translated literally as "martyr" the dessert either cooks as a soup, or a cake if the dough is made from scratch. I ended up making the cavity-causing soup version. 

Ironically, the mucenici pieces get drowned in a sugary syrup concoction before they get tossed with ground walnuts, cinnamon and honey. I'd show a picture of the end product I made but it ended up looking like pale Hamburger Helper.  So here is a professional shot of both:

What my soup should've looked like.

Sweetness to infinity and beyond.

And thankfully I completed this task after the children went to sleep because I managed to burn the roasting walnuts, scorch the syrupy sugar, and drop an entire container of cinnamon on the ground. Then I got lemon  juice in my eye while zesting a lemon. All in a day's work!

Painting the Town Red and White

Ah, Mărțișor. One of the Romanian holidays where strange men can give women gifts without it seeming creepy. With March a time for spring and renewal Romanians and Moldavians alike take this time to observe Mărțișor for hopes for a rich and prosperous springtime.

As new birth and life often correlate with women and fertility, the holiday focuses on offering women trinkets symbolizing the continuity of life.  The trinkets, or mărțișor, usually red and white twisted threads of wool, are given to women to show respect and admiration. 

 The intertwining of red and white may represent the combination between woman and man, passion and purity. It may also mean vitality and victory, since March used to kick start the war campaign season back in ancient Rome. Whatever the symbolism between red and white, most would agree the combination should bring strength and health for the upcoming year.

Worn pinned to shirts or wrapped around the wrist, women wear the trinket for a number of days: sometimes twelve, sometimes until the end of March, others until the first blossom sighting before tying the strings to a tree for promises of wealth and prosperity. The red and white trimmed mărțișor may also come with coins, jewels and beads a modern twist to old folklore. They love Swarovski crystal around here. I wore my trinket that our doorman Lucien gave me up until Margo spit up on it.

The mărțișor threads weren’t always colored red and white. Instead they used to consist of black and white sheep’s wool. According to one version of Romanian mythology, the black and white threads were spun by Baba Dochia, a crazy-assed witch associated with spring's predictably fickle return.  She spun black and white threads called the Year’s Rope, or Funia Anului where 365 days hung by a thread. They represented the  idea of opposite forces such as light versus dark, good versus evil, the black and white colors intermingle, much like yin and yang, creating an inescapable unity.

Here's the Maury Povich version of the story: Intent to trick her hussy daughter-in-law, Baba Dochia set out to punish her by sending her into the forest to pick berries. God intervened, helping the daughter-in-law's success in finding berries which in turn caused Baba Dochia to think springtime had returned. She left for the mountains with her son and goats in tow, wearing twelve lambskins but then the rain began to fall soaking them through. One by one she shed the skins, when suddenly the frost returned leading her to freeze to death.  That's karma for you.


Whatever the intended meaning of the mixed colors, Mărțișor is a fun and lighthearted holiday meant to remember the important women in your life and the inspiration of new beginnings. Any day that focuses on that is okay in my book.