Ion Popescu was a true Romanian patriot…he thought aloud, “How do I let the King down, Romania needs me, I must do my duty; but poor Maria and the baby also needs me!”
The frightening thought of losing Maria was too much for the close families on both sides, especially Ion Popescu, the husband. It was purely co-incidental that stressful emotion, fear of family separation and possible conscriptionwere the psychological factors that affected his self-esteem, thinking and patriotism. There were mixed feelings amongst the members in the Popescu household.
The need for additional soldiers to back up the forces on the continent, especially in Eastern Europe, was averted as most of the belligerent warfare was fought on the frontiers of France, Belgium and Germany. Fortunately for the young and ailing Maria and Ion himself, the draft policy for conscription remained unaltered…there was no need to send out the males who were married.
The baby was born on the 10thOctober 1916…a baby girl. She was christened Elena Popescu. The bottomline and final analysis…Ion Popescu was saved…he remained with his young family, as he escaped conscription and was never called up!
*****
CHAPTER 2a
ELENA – THE GROWING UP YEARS
The Culinary Art
The day following Elena’s tenth birthday...Maria’s paternal grandmother started a very special and intensive programme whereby Elena was inducted into a hands-on course in the art of culinary skills. The food academy was more than a decade in existence and was a former Jewish merchant’s house. It stood in the centre of Bucharest amongst similar old homes and its architecture was modelled and constructed in the design of “Little Paris.” The head of the school was a lady by the name of Felicia Curtica and Elena’s immediate mentor was a lady named Annamaria Iasco. The food menus compiled in the curriculum were made up of appetising dishes from the different areas of Romania. In essence, it portrayed and showcased the appealing influences of the Balkans.
For young Elena the course was to become a magical journey which included the following practical training programme. The initiation from ten years to twelve years of age commenced with an entry-level junior cookery syllabus. It was a very rudimentary preliminary programme with a potential to escalate and promote girls who offered that extra bit in terms of passion and dedicated skill.Elena’s training paid-off. Coupled with her personal talents she was soon able to, quite easily, make the following items:-
Goat cheese and olive homemade bread
Cranberry homemade pate
Caramelised onion and cumin homemade bread
Seasonal salad stuffed focaccia
Rolls with main ingredient turkey – stuffing included red cabbage salad with apples and quince and prunes
Apple nests stuffed with salty caramel.
By the time Elena was fourteen years of age, she had learnt to prepare more advanced items. They included the following specialities:-
Cozonac: A type of bread prepared with either nuts or raisin. It was usually made during festive occasions.
Placinte pies: Its ingredients included cream and sweet cheese.
Pasca: Similar to placinte, a traditional Easter pie topped with cream, sweet cheese and raisin.
Papanasi: Donuts prepared with cottage cheese and topped with chocolate, fruit or even sour cream.
Elena graduated from the entry-level junior cookery level and, from the age of fourteen to sixteen, she matured into a seamless young professional chef in the advanced level and, as a consequence, she could safely source, clean and cut and manage to prepare a variety of Romanian and East European dishes, such as the following:-
Sarmale: A Romanian dish prepared with rice, mince and cabbage and served with mamaglia. Eaten during the festive season.
Salata Boeuf: The ingredients included chicken, carrots, potatoes, parsnip, mustard, salt and pepper. The final dish was served with a dash of mayonnaise and the presentation was decorated with diced carrots and olives. It was an auspicious occasion dish and was usually had during New Year’s Eve, Easter and Christmas.
Chiftelute: It was a meatball dish, made out of chicken or pork. Other ingredients included potatoes and onions, garlic, carrots and eggs.
Mici: The ingredients included pork meatballs, beef and mutton. The dish was usually served with chips and mustard sauce.
Ciolan afumat: A Romanian dish made out of pork. The knuckles were smoked and served with beans and onions preferably red onions.
Moldavian Stew: Its ingredients consisted of polenta and cheese, eggs, sausages and pork. Suggested serving was usually with onions.
Drob de miel: Its ingredients were lamb offal and the dish was presented as a cake.
Racitura de porc: Its ingredients consisted of pork trotters, gelatin from the animal feet and rind. A much-liked winter season jelly-dish.
Ciorba: It was a Romanian sour soup. The ingredient make up was one of beef, pork or chicken prepared with vegetables and cream.
The Dressmaking Programme
Elena did not have a break when she was at finishing school. Between the ages of seventeen and eighteen Maria’s wily paternal grandmother never relented. Therefore, the best use of time after the main academic schooling was put to very good use, in that, she wanted Elena to become a woman who accepted any and all challenges and won!
Her great-grandmother then enrolled Elena at a highly-acclaimed garment design and dressmaking private academy. The academy was called the Ebenbutt Clothes Designer. There were staggered classes, such as the mainstream morning classes, afternoon classes and even special evening classes for those who were passionate in becoming qualified and skilful artisans. In those early days, even the capital city of Bucharest fell far short of boasting a sewing scene. Female garment patterns were scarce. The early years of the 20thcentury saw some of the changes in technological advancements, in that, the working class could only purchase sewing machines which were affordable. This then lead to an increase in the demand for sewing patterns.
However, thanks to her wealthy great-grandmother, Elena had a head-start in comparison to the less fortunate women and girls of her time...the private academy had it all.The resources of sewing machines, the dress-patterns, cotton, knitting wool, related technical gadgets and above all, the mentorship teachers who were acclaimed top-class professionals! In essence it was a dream, come true for Elena.
The art of sewing for Elena commenced with a very basic syllabus in order to grasp the bare essentials. In other words, skills test for Elena, as a novice, included the following:-
Essential tools of the Sewing-Trade
Elena was shown and given the very basic tools in her induction phase of sewing. The items were the following:-
Measuring tape,
Needles,
Cotton or thread,
Sewing shears, and
Material as in cloth,
Rotary cutters (in the more advanced phase),
Cutting mat,
Seam rippers,
Special marking pens and chalk,
Tailor’s iron,
Seam roll and tailor’s ham, and
A leg-pedal sewing machine.