Everyone is preparing for the coming winter here in Medias. That means lots of cooking and canning in the kitchen. Viorica is making tomato sauce right now but before that was zacusca –a vegetable spread. As usual this is all new to me, the foreigner! I've never in my life seen people prepare for winter. In Texas there is no need really. To join in on the preparations I decided to try making my own pickles for the first time. The recipe is not Romanian, as their pickles have horseradish and no vinegar. They're not bad but I'm always left craving the kind I know and love, Vlasic zesty dill pickles. Hopefully this copycat recipe yeilds zesty results. I won't know until a few weeks from now though when they're ready. I'll keep you posted on the great pickle experiment. 

Below are a few photos from my name day. Yes I have a name day! My middle name is Marie so I got to celebrate along with thousands of others here in Romania on August 15th– Saint Mary's day.   In brief, if you're named after a saint then you get to celebrate yourself on that saint's day. In essence your name day is like a 2nd birthday; you can make it as big or small of an affair as you choose. For my name day we drove to Targa Mures (an hour away) to shop and go to the movies. It all felt like such a treat.  Before hopping in the car Viorica bought us each a fresh-made kurtos which made for a very sweet end to my first name day.