It’s now 6.6.20, almost 3 months since our last International Dinner. During April & May we, and the rest of the UK, were under Lockdown, hunkering down in our respective homes with our families.

It was… interesting. Lonely, for sure, but it also gave us time & headspace to explore other pursuits. Dorottya & Lianne, both key NHS personel, still worked (harder than ever), but the rest of our lives looked very different: Idit was on furlough, homeschooling her little girl. Bernhard was recording DJ sets and movie reviews to post on Youtube. I harnessed my kids to recreate famous paintings as part of the Getty Museum Challenge.  

But now things are easing up a bit. We still can’t do Dorottya’s original plan of gathering her fellow Hungarian expat friends for a Goulash Garden Party, but the four of us – including her new Hungarian boyfriend – would make the most of the lockdown ease. 

So, finally – H, for Hungary! And it turns out that Dorottya is a witch.

Did you know that the best – indeed, the proper – way to make Goulash is in a cauldron on a bonfire?? I certainly did not. But I LOVE it! Firstly, because it caters to my cavewoman love of an open fire, and secondly, because it turns the cooking into a group activity, where folks pitch in peeling and dicing carrots and potatoes under the leadership of the fearsome paprika-wielding cook!

As you can see in the pic, Dorottya’s witching powers unfortunately did not extend to controlling the weather, as the pouring rain drove us indoors pretty quickly. Still fun, though

For starters, she served a course-cut salad with plenty of purple onion along with excellent white bread, and her boyfriend brought amazing, fatty & spicy Hungarian Sausages from a Magyar deli in London. 

The goulash (undiluted by the rain) was rich, spicy, and comforting. Here’s an online version of the recipe she used: Hungarian Gulyas

For dessert Dorottya baked a light and fluffy poppyseed cake served with Tokaji, a sweet Hungarian dessert wine . And just in case we weren’t stuffed enough already, they pulled Hungarian cream-cheese & dark chocolate bars out of the fridge – a Magyar children’s favourite.

As for music: Dorottya, ever the hard-core purist, insisted on playing Hungarian folk music while we ate. When we all protested, she switched to Hungarian pop music. That was worse.

The next dinner will be Dorottya’s too – K – too keep the order going…