Can you name the place where 2 of my favorite treats, palatschinken and palinkas, are from?

The World
Palatschinke, sprinkled with sugar.

Adam Pushkas, who listens to The World on 91.5 OPB in Portland, Oregon, sent us this Geo Quiz about a place he used to live and where his parents were born and raised.

This country is so dear to my heart that I gave daughter her name, which originates in this country, which is Emese.

Emese has never been there. My son Oliver has and I'd love to show Emese the country so she can meet all her cousins, and try one of my favorite foods that's made there.

It's fried Camembert with Lingonberry jam and rice, as unhealthy as that sounds, it's spectacular.

With Emese and Oliver already loving Camembert cheese as it is, its gooey and melty coming out of the nice fried crust, they'll love it, as well as the visits to the country where you can get all this great homemade, homecooked food. So can you name this country in Central Europe?

The answer is Hungary, the capital of which is Budapest.

I imagine the first time we go back and visit, all of our relatives will get together in a countryside homes in Biatorbágy or Szentendre (on the outskirts of Budapest), and we'd all get together in one of these 200 year old homes and every cousin would be there.

As well as aunts and uncles, and grandparents, and there would be a large feast, too much food.

We'd have a fire and the kids would go down to the Duna River and swing from a rope into the water and we'd drink palinka which is fruit distilled alcohol, homemade usually, illegally, and we'd make Palacsinta (Hungarian crêpes) for dessert, and just sit around and tell stories and have a good time and just be together for as long as possible.

Eat and be merry and be around family.

Family is very important to Hungarians. That's The Hungarian way. After a couple of palinkas, everybody usually breaks into an old traditional Hungarian song, which unfortunately I can't name any, but if I get enough of the palinka in me, I can sing them.

It's usually a lot of oompah! and hey!

So long from Portland, Oregon. - Adam Pushkas

Here's a recipe for making those Hungarian Palicsintas:

Ingredients:
1 cup (125 grams) all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) of water
1/4 cup (67 ml) vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) of milk
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda (optional)

  1. Add filling of your choice: Lingonberry,  apricot, strawberry, blueberry jam, vanilla or chocolate pudding, apple sauce with cinnamon, ground walnut and banana.
  2. Blend dry ingredients and mix them into the wet.
  3. Heat a frying pan on medium heat, you might need a drop of vegetable oil in it before every palacsinta you make. Add more drops depending on how soft you want it.
  4. Pour enough of the mixture into your frying pan so you'll get a nice thin and round palacsinta. It should just barely cover the pan.
  5. When the top of the palacsinta dries up, (less than a minute) take a look at its bottom, it should be a little darker than the original shade of the mixture. Be careful so that you don't make it too crispy, but not too soft.
  6. Flip the palacsinta and fry it on the other side for almost as long.
  7. Use up the rest of the batter then, choose your filling and smear it on the top of each palacsinta, than roll them up one after another. You'll get 15-20 rolls of palacsintas when you're done. (you can fold them in half or quarters too if you'd like it that way)
  8. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, and enjoy while it's hot!
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