The Fourth of July. What can I say. Despite my lack of patriotism, I still enjoy the 4th of July. Any national holiday that is celebrated by barbecuing on the grill, backyard bashes, and explosives is worth celebrating in my book. Back in The States, 4th of July was a time for my family to gather, eat way too much food, swim in the pool, and a visit to the local fireworks display.

More importantly, the 4th of July marks my fiancée and I’s anniversary. For the last two years, the 4th has been bittersweet. Bitter in the sense that I have missed two anniversaries with Kyle by being 8,000 miles away from home. And sweet in regards that I have gotten to share a uniquely American holiday with my Romanian family. Last year I was in training in Targoviste during  the 4th. We tried to have a picnic for our host families, but it ended up getting rained out. Instead, Mari took me home and bought a big, ripe watermelon for us to share. She had heard somewhere that Americans eat watermelon on the 4th of July. It was a very touching gesture. Later in the evening, I tried to teach her how to swing dance and she taught me the “pinguin” dance. It was definitely one of my most memorable 4ths.

This year was a little different. On the actual 4th, I was traveling 19 hours by boat and bus with Beaver and the Lacrima Muntilor gang back to Horezu after a delightful week in the Danube Delta. The celebration would have to wait.

I wanted to do something special for my counterpart and Romanian friends at my site. I concocted the idea of hosting a BBQ for “Ziua Americii”, albeit a few days late. Vale offered up her backyard and Beav and I supplied the food. Beav and I spent the entire day fixing various American style eats (although I did most of the cooking). We fixed baked beans, coleslaw, pasta salad, the famous Romanian mici, and hamburgers. Beav dubbed our hamburger creation the “hillbilly burger” because they were mostly made of pork and had mashed potatoes in them. My local meat shop was fresh out of ground beef. Vale made a delicious potato, cheese, and cream bake. It was very tasty. We had cinnamon candy (Vale’s favorite), cookies, and the traditional watermelon for dessert.

The BBQ quickly turned into a remix of cultures. We had traditional American BBQ food made with Romanian ingredients. Instead of hot dogs, we sunk our teeth in to mici*. Instead of watching a baseball game, we dragged the tv into the yard to watch the Holland/Uruguay World Cup soccer game. George brough his guitar and we sat around the table singing Romanian folk songs. It was one of the most enjoyable 4th of July celebrations that I have ever been to. It was an honor to share an important American tradition with my closest Romanian friends and everyone seemed to have a good time. We celebrated until the wee hours on the morning; watching soccer, eating watermelon, and singing.

I will look forward to hosting another 4th of July BBQ next summer, complete with the newly created “Hillbilly Burger”** and maybe even an apple pie!

* Mici is a Romanian BBQ food. It is a ground beef/pork sausage like concoction. It is salty and served with mustard and bread. It is delicious! It was Beav’s favorite food here I believe.

** How to make Beav and Chels’ “Hillbilly Burger”

1 kilogram of ground beef

2 kilograms of ground pork

a handfull of bread crumbs

4 boiled, mashed potatoes

5-6 heaping spoons of sour cream

salt, pepper, hot paprika, condiment de drob (if in the states, any green dried herb mix will suffice)

Mix the all the ingredients with your hands. We enlisted the help of Vale’s 8 year old son to do the mixing. It maybe one of the few times when it will be ok for him to play with his food. Form into patties and chill. We topped some of the patties with slices of branza topita (a very mild white cheese) while on the grill. Serve on slices of fresh, crusty white bread.

Chels and Beav’s “Wing and a Prayer” baked beans.

Beav and I had never made baked beans from scratch before. So these were made on “a wing and a prayer”

1/2 – 1 kilos of dried white beans

1 big bottle of spicy ketchup

2 spoons of honey

3- 4 spoons of raw sugar

salt, white pepper, black pepper, hot paprika, and hot pepper sauce

a small slab of sunca (salted, smoked pork fat)

1 whole tomato diced

2 whole onions diced

1 spoon of sweet tomato paste

soak the beans! we didn’t soak ours long enough. 24 hours should be good. Boil the beans in plain water till soft. Drain. In a pot, put in some oil and pieces of sunca. sautee the onion till transparent. add all the ingredients except for the cooked beans. bring the sauce to a boil and add the beans. cook on low till the sauce thickens. Transfer the beans to a bake dish. top with sliced onion and bake till the onion browns.

BBQ Time

Delicious Food

Time to Eat