Makos Kifli, a Birthday Treat!

Yesterday was John's birthday, and so I decided to make one of his favorite desserts for him: Makos Kifli! These Hungarian cookies are made by wrapping a sour cream butter dough around a ground poppy seed filling. "Makos" means poppy seed, while "Kifli" means crescent. These are most certainly a labor of love, so John's birthday was a perfect occasion to make them! This is the recipe I used (modified slightly) along with some pictures!

Ingredients:

* Dough

1 1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
2 2/3 tbsp sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* Poppy Seed Filling

3/4 cup poppy seed, freshly ground
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, cream together butter and egg yolks. Add the sour cream and vanilla. Mix in the flour until smooth, gather the dough into a ball. Turn out onto floured surface, and roll into a smooth log. Slice the dough into 24 equal size pieces, rolling each into a ball (about the size of a walnut). Refrigerate while making the filling, it makes the dough much easier to work with. In a saucepan, combine all of the filling ingredients. Over low heat, stir constantly about 5 minutes until mixture thickens slightly. Take off heat and let cool. The filling should be easy to spread, if too thick add a touch more milk. Preheat oven to 350. Flour work surface and roll each ball out one at a time to about 1/16 inch thick. Spread some filling on the inside (one or two spoonfulls) and roll up the edge closest to you, continuing until the it is in a roll shape. Pinch the edges to seal, and curve into a crescent shape. Place on a greased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Continue until all of the Makos Kifli are rolled, and then bake until very lightly browned. Cool, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

The dough, ready to be gathered into a ball:



The dough rolled into a log. Baguette, anyone?:



The dough balls, ready to be refrigerated:



One dough ball rolled out, ready for the filling:



All finished rolling and filling, ready to bake!:



Finally, ready to be devoured!:



Happy Birthday my love!!!

The Wonder That is Byki- A Review.

You might not be surprised to know that are no Hungarian lessons offered here in Albuquerque. After realizing this slightly sad fact, I set out on a quest to learn as much as I could on my own before leaving. One of the ways that I have done this is through Byki, a free language learning software, available from their website www.Byki.com. They offer over 70 languages and unlike Rosetta Stone, actually have Hungarian as one of them.

The language is taught through drills using virtual flashcards and if you're lucky, audio and pictures too. Though the software itself does not come with many flash cards, users can submit their own "lists" that are downloadable from the "List Central Community" feature of the website. I have learned many, many useful things such as colors, fruits and vegetables, days of the week, seasons, greetings, etc etc. The only critique that I have is that it does not teach grammar, so I am left with a group of seemingly detached Hungarian nouns in my brain. But that's what books are for, and more recently- Pimsleur's Hungarian Audio Program that has taught the actual speaking part of it.

This is how it works, and what it looks like for those who may be thinking of using it.
This is the first step, where a flashcard is presented with the Hungarian and English word (and sometimes a picture) side by side. If the card has audio, the word will be said to ensure proper pronunciation:



This is the second step, where the Hungarian word is presented and the user must say the English word and later, type it in as I have done here:



Finally, the third step (which is the most difficult- this is where you can tell if you really know the word or not!) in which the English word is presented and the user must spell out the corresponding Hungarian word. Accents are made on the vowels by using the arrow keys after typing said vowel; this scrolls through all of the accent options (and in Hungarian, there are a lot!). I have written in the Hungarian word for "yellow" here:



After an entire "list" has been learned, some fun, triumphant music plays to make you feel good about your accomplishment.

There are many other features as well including, slowing down the speaker's voice (the little turtle icon), and refreshing "stale" words so that they are not forgotten.

I give Byki a 4/5 for ease of use, effectiveness and overall fun. I take off one point for no grammar lessons. And best of all- It's Free! Go try it out!

An International Order.

It is my second week of my new job, working at a flower shop. I am a "call-center" person, so I work in an office, not in the flower stores themselves. But today I did, just to give me a feel for what it's like. Today, I was working at a register helping a customer, while my coworker helped a woman who came in to send flowers internationally. I happened to glance over, and where should she be happening to send flowers to? Why, to nowhere else but Hungary of course! I could not believe it, the ONE day that I work in a store, a woman sends flowers to Hungary. What are the odds of that?? She wrote the card message in Hungarian, "Oszinte Resztuetunk. Szeretettel, (insert name) es (insert name)" I figured it means something along the lines of "Sincere (I don't know this bit) . Affectionately, (or lovingly) (name) and (name)" So there you have it, when the world thinks I have forgotten about what's coming up, something pops up to remind me.

Sweet Nothings

Apparently last night I was saying Hungarian phrases in my sleep. A half asleep John repeated them back to me. I think I can remember it if I think hard enough. There's nothing quite like sleepy Hungarian phrases muttered in the middle of the night.