Szilvás Gombóc and Hot Halloween

Today I got to try a very common Hungarian dish – Szilvás gombócs which are plum dumplings.  Many restaurants here have a daily menu that is posted outside.  It is generally a soup followed by a choice of one of two entrees.  These meals can be very cheap and a good way for me to try different Hungarian foods.  Often these smaller restaurants do not have the daily menu translated in English, so you can either take your pick – or try to figure out a few words.  I have learned the hard way (chicken livers with pickles – no joke) to try to figure out which choice seems better.  There is a big incentive for me to learn Hungarian “food” words. And it has worked well so far.  I have a favorite place one of my friends showed me – that has soup, salad and entrée on its daily menu – under $4. 

So today I saw a sign outside a restaurant that said    Lencseleves and Szilvás Gombóc  560 F.  Wow, I had to go in and try.  I knew from the name the type of soup was lentil.  It was a lentil, pasta, meat soup – very hearty.  And afterwards I was served a plate of Szilvás Gombóc.  I do not know if this would be a typical lunch at all, since the dumplings are much more like a dessert.  Here’s a picture.  However, despite the powered sugar on top, the dumplings are not real sweet dough.  They are filled with warm plum filling.  Like an apple dumpling, but not as sweet.  Very filling actually because it is a pretty hearty helping of dough.  And quite tasty.

I have noticed that as the weather gets cold, the cafes start to serve and advertise hot alcohol drinks – like hot wine.  I’ve had this before and love it.  And it seems very common – also in Croatia, Mike and I had a hot drink – rum punch that I liked very much.  So, today, I was passing a local coffee house and noticed they were advertising several hot drinks, so I stopped to try.  I ordered the Hot Halloween – seems appropriate – and here it is – I’m not sure what is in it – although I wrote down the ingredients to ask one of my Hungarian speaking friends.  It did have rum and an orange slice, but the other ingredient, the waitress could not translate to English.  Tasty.