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.
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.
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:
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!
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| Conjoined Cheerios about to get boiled. |
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| Forty. Go ahead and count 'em. |
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:
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| What my soup should've looked like. |
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| Sweetness to infinity and beyond. |
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