When Kris Stoner went to her grandmother’s home as a child, the sights, smells and tastes of Hungary became embedded in her soul.

Forgacs Fank (Hungarian ribbon cookies) was one of the dishes served.

“It’s like a pie-crust dough that you deep fry,” Stoner said. “It’s not the healthiest thing, let me tell you.”

They’re also fragile.

“It’s a very delicate cookie because they break really easy.”

For being so laden with calories, they taste surprisingly light.

If the kitchen lacks good ventilation, Stoner strongly suggests making the cookies during fair weather so the windows can be open.

The cooking oil smell lingers — although she doesn’t remember that, growing up and visiting grandma. Stoner recently asked an aunt why she doesn’t have a memory of the Forgacs Fank funky stink.

“I asked her, why don’t I remember grandma’s house smelling so bad? She said it was because she had a utility room off the kitchen, that she shut the door. There was a stove out in that utility room,” Stoner said. “She would do it in the winter — that’s primarily when she did it, for the holidays.”

Grandma, Theresa Farkas, also made kolache, a nut roll type of bread with walnuts and poppyseeds, and chicken paprikash.

“Because of her culture, we always had soup before every meal. That was the first course,” Stoner said.

A regular soup was a beef broth with homemade noodles. The base was made with a variety of vegetables.

It also had a parsley root, which was shipped to Farkas from Hungary.

“She grew it every year, then dug up the root and kept it in her cellar. She had a big tub … that her parsley root was in. She’d go down and grab some of it to make her soup.

“And you can’t duplicate it as much now because the parsley root is what’s hard. You can try parsnips but it’s just not the same as grandma’s.”

Stoner prefers baking over cooking, but only does a little of both at this point in her life. Her husband, Bob, loved her macaroni salad, and there were always raves for her pies.

Crafting is a favorite hobby. She recently picked up resin painting — gloss on a wood tile. A popular theme is red, white and blue and Stoner regularly changes up the decorations in her house and on a little lighted tree.

“I’m a Fourth of July baby so I like my Americana,” she said. “I decorate for every holiday. This is for Memorial Day and I’ll leave it up all summer long because you’ve got the Fourth of July, then Labor Day.

“And then I’ll decorate for fall. Everything will come down. I don’t know what I’ll put up yet, because I’ll make it.”

Stoner retired in 2008 as office manager for the Sentinel-Tribune. She was there for 33 years.

Bob died in January 2021.

She has two children, Brett and Kathy; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild and one on the way.

Kathy lives nearby and the two craft and eat meals together. They also work together.

Last summer, Stoner started working for her daughter a couple days a week at a temporary agency, helping with timecards and payroll.