I'm leaving Monday, It's better than Sunday, I'm leaving younger, It's better than wiser

Among my friends and I has been a long running joke about the fact that I am an old man magnet. For some reason, old men just really like me. Yesterday I was slated to learn to cook traditional Hungarian food from a Transylvanian. I have to say waking up yesterday I was not in the mood for a tutorial on anything. I had a to do list as long as my arm and knew that none of it was going to get done.

Jack and I walked to work and Steve showed up soon after. We had to go to the store because being a predominantly vegetarian restaurant I don't have a lot of chuck roasts just hanging out. He drove and showed me exactly what I would need to make a real meal, not just the Americanized slop I served up the last time we did Hungarian night. Everything from the type of meat to use to the type of peppers was laid out for me.

As we were leaving he stopped to get gas. Since he drove I offered to pony up for some gas money. He filled up and said, "Ok, $20." I was more than a little surprised and said, "But you just drove to Martin's not Budapest!" but I handed him the cash. He got back in the car and handed me $10 back, proclaiming, "I'm a Hungarian, not a gypsy!"

We spent the rest of the day chopping vegetables. The whole place smelled divine. He showed me the proper way to trim meat which is much more economic than my hack and toss routine. The Happy Hungarian told me about his life, growing up during World War II, joining the merchant marines, cooking in the Hungarian army... It was truly fascinating. I could have gone without hearing about his hog butchering technique and the proper way to make blood sausage, but everything else was really amazing. His great disdain for porridge made me crave Cream of Wheat for the rest of the day.

All in all, this day that I did not want to deal with turned into an awesome learning adventure. I must remember to start each day in a more open frame of mind, because I grow much more that way. And now I can make a killer goulash!