Paprika, peppers: this is what people know about us

While we Hungarians are proud of our women and wine, the rest of the word knows the Pußta (Germany), the csikós (horse rider in traditional outfit) and apparently all what Americans know about us is our paprika. Did you know, that the whole world is using the same Hungarian term for this vegetable?

Anyhoo, Americans don't know where Hungary is, but who could blame them. I have no idea where South Carolina is, and it is way bigger then Hungary. Some of them do know about Budapest, and surprisingly large number of Americans were in Budapest once, or want to go there. But when I tell them that I'm from Hungary when they're ask where my accent comes from, they just say 'Ah, I see!' or 'How lovely!'. And the next question they ask: 'And when do you plan to go back?'. I've been here for a year, for God sake, I have no plans yet! But it's a lie. I do, involving a green card ;-) There was one honest guy so far, the helicopter pilot in Las Vegas. He just simply asked 'And where the hell is that?' :-D

But back to our topic of the day: paprika!

I had a post about a year ago about how happy I was to find red paprika powder from Szeged, Hungary in the local Safeway store, but this weekend I visited the farmer's market with my wife. It is on every Saturday morning in Sunnyvale downtown (yes, that one street behind Macy's). Lots of organic vegetables and fruits, but the best we found was this one:

They look and taste just our own paprika!

And for those, who feel funny, yes, here the Californian paprika is just called simply paprika or peppers ;-) But it does taste significantly different, and one of my favorite dish, the stuffed paprika in tomato sauce cannot be made using them. But, after more than a year my lovely wife was kind enough to make me some stuffed paprika. This was her first try, and it is delicious! Just like my mum used to make! (Yeah, my wife reads my blog, too, but I do say it honestly!)

Yummie!