Otto update

[mrissa]

Best phone call ever.

Otto called me back Ten Minutes (=40 minutes) later and bellowed cheerfully about my order: "We got that. We got that. We don't got that, I never heard of -- oh, the plum halves. We got that. Here. I read you a list of other Christmas candies we have, not on the website yet." We interrupted the cheerful order bellowing for two other phone calls on his end, both of which were fully audible to me. One fellow: "Hello, I was wondering if you had Hungarian beer?" Otto: "No we got none of that too bad for you bye!" And the other conversation was entirely in Hungarian. From the tone of bellow, I couldn't tell whether they were saying, "THREE JARS of the STUFFED YELLOW PEPPERS WITH CABBAGE," or, "HOW COULD YOU do that to my daughter, YOU ROTTEN SONOFABITCH." It was vastly entertaining. My favorite part is when I was spelling my name for him, and he said, "Esh as in shale?" Uh..."Oh! Yes, s as in sale!"

Also: "There are only about a hundred and seventy orders before yours, so I will get it out today, maybe tomorrow!"

I have no idea whether we will get what I ordered, but I'm pretty sure we'll wind up with some wine, some fruit, some sausage, and some chocolates, and it was so much fun to bellow at Otto, I don't mind if it's a little different from what we wanted.

I am also amused at the cultural difference: I have been to at least a dozen Scandinavian markets in the US, and I'm somewhere around half that for the Eastern European ones. And no Scando grocer ever brims with the same confidence that you will have a pressing need for their entire stock. Otto, in signing off, yelled at me, "You will need chestnut puree! You call me back!" Heh. I guess if I need chestnut puree, I know who to yell at.

Comments

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

Otto is AWESOME

I want to call him! I need some decent paprika.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Phone number's on the link from the other post. He has the paprika kind peppers raw, or pickled, or as paprika paste or dried spice.

[lutin.livejournal.com]

That is so! Excellent. :D

[callunav.livejournal.com]

I want that phone call!

I know that makes no sense, but it's true anyhow.

[regyt.livejournal.com]

(rosefox linked me to this story.)

::dies::

My mother's side of the family is Hungarian. My mother once returned a cousin's call (she had never even met the cousin) after, oh, about 6 months. She apologized for her lateness in calling him back. He replied, "Oh, no, in our family, 6 months is early!" (Or something to that effect.)

My mother is also under the impression that the time at which you are supposed to arrive somewhere is actually the right time to set out on your way there.

Also, yes, chestnut puree. Absolutely critical to the desserts of my childhood, as well as the desserts I encountered in Hungary. You will totally need chestnut puree.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, but we have so many things to make without chestnut puree -- more than one kind of palacsinta, for example, and plum dumplings, and so on -- that I think we can go awhile at least. So I won't call Otto back tomorrow.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I wish we had Hungarian or Eastern European grocers around here. *sigh* I think Hungarians must have a desperate need to stuff people with food. I know everybody's grandma wants to feed you up, but my hungarian grandma is pathological about it. You will have just finished an enormous dinner--stuffed cabbage, mashed potatos, side dishes, relishes, vegetables, with a couple of different desserts, and just as you are rolling away, groaning and reaching for the antacid, she will insist that you have a donut and a soda to "settle your stomach." When my dad was growing up, the whole family would eat macaroni and cheese for dinner on Fridays (Catholic) and then stay up until midnight to gorge on a ham. They are positively food obsessive!

My husband said that one of his professors in archeology grad school did a dig in Hungary one year, and there was a vegetarian on the crew. The landlady who was cooking for them and the other staff had absolutely no concept of vegetarian. They would make up a beef stew and fish the chunks of beef out of it, shaking their heads in exasperated confusion, never understanding that the stew is still not vegetarian. They nicknamed that person "No Meat." Hey, maybe people could have Hungarian names like they do Indian names. (The Magyar are all descended from steppe warriors, which are pretty much like Indians, right?) Mine would be "potato."

Oh, wait. This is getting too stupid. My maiden name literally means "dumpling" in Magyar, so I think I already have a Hungarian name. What's yours?

Cheers,
Dumpling

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

Just checked out the web site. Neat! Did you get the hurka? It's pronounced hoo-da-kah. I might order some myself. They have lots of stuff I've never heard of, but not surprising as my Hungarianness is highly diluted.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No, no hurka here, I don't think. I ordered some things by English names, hence Otto's confusion as to whether he had them.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

The English name would be rice ring. I recall it as being rather tasty, though I've only had it maybe once or twice. It has rice and some kind of ground meat. I suspect that probing the nature of the meat would ruin my enjoyment.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My Hungarian Name is probably Weird Norwegian Girl Why Is She Here Try The Spicy Sausage Heh Heh Heh.

But Otto's is not at all local, so you can have as much good of it as I can.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I give you Hungarian name. Don't worry. You call me. I give to you. Have a donut. You look too thin.

*thinking*

Your Hungarian name is Muffin!

Go in peace, Muffin! Live in harmony with all foods.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

When I was at a conference in a Budapest hotel, a group of us decided to try the vegetarian option one lunchtime. It was an assortment of unseasoned vegetables boiled until they were definitely dead, and a hard-boiled egg. My conclusion was that this had some connection to the fact that Budapest has numerous hot springs, and 'taking the waters' quite often used to involve a 'cleansing' diet as well. So that was their frame of reference for non-meat-eating.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

When Bistro E. Europe in San Francisco was around, one could get vegetarian stuff from them. But it was, I emphasize, in San Francisco; and also we never tried, so we can't swear that Julia didn't consider beef broth or duck or something a vegetarian ingredient.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

Heh. My friend Miklos' mother was called "Anyoush" (I'm being phonetic here) by all and sundry until he confessed that his mother's *name* was actually Magdi. Miklos' Very American BIL was horrified when he found out he had been calling his sister's MIL "Mommy." I think Miklos' mom was amused that we all call her "Mommy" - at any rate, she twinkles vividly every time we talk to her (we don't speak Hungarian, she doesn't speak English - somehow, communication happens anyway when she visits. I suppose it's that the word "yum" is easily translatable. She makes some sort of cheesy biscuity things for appetizers that I could live on).

Miklos' once inquired of his mom if there are any Hungarian meals she could prepare for our Hindu friend Alicia. She thought for a bit before sadly telling him, no, there wasn't a single thing she could think of that didn't involve meat.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

We have a middling Eastern European thingie on Packard called "Euro Deli." It has cool looking fish and boxes and boxes of things I can't read... it's more Russian than anything else, though.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We have two Russian groceries within a 10-15 minute drive of my house, but they only have a few Hungarian things. Still a chocolate adventure, though.

[ksumnersmith.livejournal.com]

"No we got none of that too bad for you bye!"

Oh, this is my favourite. I think I will find a way to use this at work.

Co-worker: Karina, do you have that RFS response?
Me: No we got none of that too bad for you bye!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hee. Be sure to avoid punctuation until the very end.

[skzbrust.livejournal.com]

Must have number. Must have. I give you anything for number. My dog. You can have my dog. I trade you my dog for that number? No? My son. You want maybe my son? I give you my son for that number. And recipe for mulled spiders. Yes.

[skzbrust.livejournal.com]

Okay. Got number from other post. Good. I give you my dog anyway. Fair is fair.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Poor Harkos, being given to a skinny bossy bitch. And also to me, in the same house!

[brooksmoses]

Mulled ... spiders?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

See earlier post (http://mrissa.livejournal.com/375768.html).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Good thing you found the number promptly: from here it looks like you're swiftly running out of offspring who haven't already been given to someone else! Better call Otto quick while you still have someone left to bargain with.

Hmmm. Or maybe it works the other way, and you can call Otto in January: "Perfectly good daughter-in-law, very fresh, hardly used. Worth three bottles of the 5 Puttonyos at least. Two bottles is my final offer."

[aszanoni.livejournal.com]

-snickers- Maybe Steve could offer Otto his third-best drum. Just to sweeten the deal. How many adult kuvaszok come with drums?

Ohhhh. Between this and the spider cider, I am having much laughter.

Happily anticipating that M'ris will do further bargaining with Otto. With or without chesnut puree. These reports are GREAT.

-hugs-

- Chica

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You can't say it's your third-best drum. You have to talk about how it's your best drum and given to you by the sweetest love of your youth and could never be replaced etc. etc.

I have faith in skzbrust, that he knows how to do this sort of thing.

(What does the beast think of the drums anyway? Ista is all right with the pianos, but the didgeridoo makes her examine her butt with some chagrin: the dogly version of, oh, my, excuse me, how rude of me. I think with drums she might try to Help. She is very Helpful.)

[aszanoni.livejournal.com]

-grins- I didn't say to TELL that it's the third-best drum.

I nearly think I could call Otto about barter. I mean, I could offer him a Hungarian drummer and a Hungarian dog for a drummer's cake [doba torte]. That seems eminently fair.


I know not what Harkos' feelings about drums are. My *perception* is that Harkos just assumes this is another strange human thing. -shrug- But I can't be sure.

(Steve says Harkos just ignores him and keeps typing.)

How would Ista help with a drum? -curious and interested-

- Chica

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It would depend on what Ista thought we were trying to do with the drum. If she thought we were trying to vanquish it, she would probably leap about and bark encouragingly. If she thought we were merely enjoying it, she would try to dart in and lick our hands, our faces, and the drum to help with our enjoyment. And it's entirely possible that she would get bored with a drum should we have one, and would go back to ignoring it, but there would almost certainly be an initial Helpful stage.

She is a Very Helpful Dog.

[aszanoni.livejournal.com]

-ponders these choices with delight-

This makes me wonder whether Doc would decide to also help. Because Harkos isn't necessarily the sort of dog who tries to help in those ways - he is most interested in being petted. But Doc always feels that whatever you're doing requires a bird.

- Chica

[starstraf.livejournal.com]

Pointed to the thread by aszanoni - quite amusing.
I think that son has been bargained with many many times - you notice how skzbrust never mentions actually delivering these things he offers.

I see you spent some time in Lawrence, KS - that is where we live now (for the last 5 years) any kewl folks here I should know about besides mckitterick?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You mean Harkos and mplscorwin are not so obedient to skzbrust's whims that they will go where he tells them they have been promised, without demur? I am stunned, shattered!

I am a fan of tmseay and his roommate Lane, but mckitterick knows them already. I'm afraid I'm generally not much help, since I lived in Lawrence the year I was 11, 1989, so most of the people who were interesting then either might not have grown up to be interesting or might have moved away. I do keep in touch with one of my friends from that year -- it was the first year I knew other kids who actually read books, so it was something of a big year for me -- but she's doing geology in the west now and who knows when she'll return to Lawrence. Sorry!

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

There are only about a hundred and seventy orders before yours... That is *marvelous*.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It was. Otto seems to know four estimates: ten (as in minutes), one hundred, one hundred seventy, and one million.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

Otto. totally.

[gaaldine.livejournal.com]

My Hungarian friend Kathy (Katalin) also says that the chestnut puree is a must.