août 2014

(Image source) The other evening, I was having dinner with friends and at some point, we got onto the subject of pălincă. As you do. When you're drinking it. "Do you know the origin of pălincă?" Radu asked me. I thought I did in terms of the 'firey plum brandy claimed by the Hungarians as theirs which angers Romanians no end.' "Nope," said Radu. "Pălincă comes from the word pelin, a plant - and the original drink was made from this." Da? I didn't know. This calls for a blog, I thought, always a sucker for lesser-known facts. And... [Lire la suite]

In 1850, Barbu Dimitrie Stirbey, ruler (voivode) of Walachia (1849-1853 and 1854-1856), began the building of his palace at Buftea as a stronghold with its two exit tunnels should a quick get-away have been deemed necessary. Such were the times. It was completed by Stirbey's son, Alexandru (1837-1895), in 1863. But it is Alexandru's son, Barbu (married to Princess Nadèje Bibescu in 1895) who really gave romantic atmosphere to the palace through his gentlemanly escapades and historic adventures and, when I visited Buftea two weeks... [Lire la suite]

(Image source) Dumitru Furnica-Minovici (1897-1982) was born into an influential Aromanian family legendary for their crusade in the name of Romanian medicine. His Brasovian father was a merchant and his mother, Elena, one of the sisters of the famous Minovici brothers. Dumitru had three fascinating uncles: The first, Mina (1857, Braila-1933, Bucuresti), founded the world's first morgue in Bucharest in 1892 (imagine the conversations at dinner!) and created the term "legal medicine" as a way of organising research, teaching and... [Lire la suite]