Good EMF day at Welwyn

Andrew Birch

It was good to be at the meetings today organised in Welwyn, marking the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of EMF, the European Mission Fellowship. Steven Bowers chaired to kick us off with a little history from Omri Jenkins' book Five minutes to midnight. Andrew Birch from Malaga then spoke helpfully and stimulatingly on the changing European scene. This was followed by a session featuring Jan Habl from the Czech Republic on video, Leonidas Kollaros from Greece and Vitalii Mariash from Ukraine on skype and there in Welwyn, Xavi Patino and Matt Hill from Spain and Sandor Kelemen from Transylvania.

We were then provided with a simple lunch and in the afternoon we had three seminars - one from Hungarian speakers Isztvan and Tunde Salanki, based in London, with Sandor from Romania; one from the three Spain based brothers and a final one from a couple working in the north of England among Muslims.

The final session was introduced with a piece from Daniel Webber's address on Europe for the Evangelical Library in 1991 Robert Strivens preaching from Hebrews 13 on the things that do not change. A great day. Lovely to meet old friends and one or two new ones. The EMF is a mission well worth supporting.

Trdelnik

According to Wikipedia Trdelník is found in several Central European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, etc).

The word trdelník is of either Czech or Slovak origin. Nowadays, it is very popular among tourists as a sweet pastry in the Czech Republic. A modern version, with fillings such as ice cream, has been spreading in popularity from its origin in Prague. We had one filled with fresh fruit and ice cream with a chocolate spread topping.

The version made in the Slovak town of Skalica - Skalický trdelník was registered in December 2007 as PGI (protected geographical indication) in the European Union. The registration application with the detailed description of the product was published in April 2007 in the Official Journal of the European Union. The original recipe was brought to Skalica at the end of the 18th century by the Transylvanian cook József Gvadányi, a retired Hungarian general. The original recipe was later improved by the inhabitants of Skalica to its final form now known as Skalický trdelník.

The civil association Skalický trdelník was founded at the end of 2004 with the goal of keeping the tradition of the original open fire Trdelník production. The name trdelník comes from trdlo (originally a wooden tool for pounding or stamping materials in a stoupa, a hollowed-out log), the wooden stake the cake is wrapped around for cooking which gives it its traditional hollow shape.

HMDUK 7 Where is Spring cleaning compulsory?

Where is spring cleaning compulsory? In Hungary, where in 1937 it was made compulsory for all lofts, garrets and cellars to be spring cleaned, inflammable material removed, and cloth and paper stored in fireproof receptacles. The fine for non-compliance with the order was 30 pounds in towns and 10 pounds in county districts.

10 Hungarian/Romanian words we know

Franz Xaver Zalder (1815–?), Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

For obvious reasons

1. Biro - UK word for ball-point pen; named after its Hungarian inventor
(I suppose Rubik Cube could be included here on that basis)
2. Coach - Named after its town of origin
3. Goulash - Herdsman's meat, a type of stew
4. Hussar - Light cavalry soldier
5. Paprika - A spice
6. Sabre - A type of sword

7. Dracula - The snake. Mythical vampire figure from the Transylvanian region of Romania
8. Halvah - Sweet of sesame, honey and flour
9. Pastrami - A cured meat

I could only get 9 so I've added

10. Vampire - Witch. Mythical European blood sucking human; blood sucking South American bat. The word is apparently from Serbian.

Favourite Puns 26

Hungry in Hungary

(this is on a par with being with my nieces in Nice)