“You will never prepare good gulas without love.”

This past week, all the schools in Slovakia were out on Thursday and Friday for fall break. Thank the Lord for short holidays! On Thursday afternoon, the American teachers met to catch a bus (well, really two buses) to Kokava Linia. One of the teachers at EGT was sweet enough to offer her family’s small cabin for us to use there.

We arrived at 2:45 or so, and immediately set to work trying to build a fire in the outdoor fire pit. Unfortunately, it had been raining and it took a while to get a good blaze going.

Betka and Rudy Dubrovsky met us at the cabin to give us the keys and show us how to turn the electricity on. The first thing Rudy said when he came in was, “I need something to warm me. Who will prepare the warmth? Who is responsible?” Without missing a beat, Becky crossed the liquor cabinet and took out …. And nine shot glasses. We toasted “na zdravie” and knocked back shot number one. Two minutes later, Rudy tells Becky that he would like to sing her “Happy Birthday” but he needed some inspiration first. Becky grinned and poured everyone more ….. Shot number two.

Then we headed outside to begin cooking gulas over the fire. Rudy, the gulas master, seemed a little skeptical about our ability to make good Slovak gulas so he decided to stick around to supervise. His family had been making gulas over this same fire pit for the last twenty years, and we were happy to have his expertise. He solemnly shared with us his secret ingredient: “You will never prepare good gulas without love.”

Eric was the boss of cutting the meat.

Once this was done, we tossed the meat into the bucket over the fire.

Then we peeled the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers, and when the meat was “seventy percent done,” we added the vegetables.

Somewhere in the middle of this, Rudy announces that he was running short on inspiration.

Shot number three.

We had a lot of fun stirring the gulas, and laughing and talking with each other in the cold. Towards the end of cooking Rudy announces that it’s getting pretty chilly out. “I need some more inspiration,” he said. At this point, Betka (his wife) tells him, “No you don’t. You need to stand by the fire.” We laughed, and I snuck him another shot of inspiration. (With Rudy as our ring-leader, we were the most inspired group of people!)

The gulas was specatcular. We ate it with large wooden spoons, and life couldn’t have gotten any better.

We spent the night singing.

And laughing.

And dancing.

The next morning, we woke up at 8:30 and had breakfast. We talked and read by the fire. When the outside had warmed up a little more, people went exploring in the hills and low mountains in the area. We came back together for more gulas at lunch, and then we talked Eric into reading out loud to us. So, we sat by the fire and listened to Eric read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Four Fists and O Russet Witch.

Before long, our short holiday was over and we cleaned up the cabin and headed back home to Tisovec.

I think Rudy provided us with the moral of our holiday and of this story: You will never make good gulas – or have a good fall break – without love. Thankfully, love was never in short supply.