Corpse Flower

Ok, I confess... I've been a bad blogger lately. I missed my own birthday post- though John sort of made up for it by showing the teapot that we painted together. It was a great birthday and this week has been filled with sewing and painting- I am desperately trying to finish several projects that have been sitting idle for awhile. And there is only 3 1/2ish weeks left so...I've been busy and creatively spent.

Though here is my new obsession, as of today.

WARNING: Horticultural nerdiness follows.

Corpse Flowers, aka Amorphophallus Titanum.

These are beautiful, unique, rare and deathly stinky flowers- two of which are currently blooming in the US. One named 'Lois' is blooming at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, while another older plant dubbed 'Perry' is busy doing his stinky thing at the Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.

Native to the rain forests of Sumatra and growing up to 10 ft tall, this plant emits a corpse-like smell, in hopes of attracting flies and beetles for pollination. The deep purple-red leaf resembles a piece of meat and is the temperature of a human body, deepening the smell and fooling flesh-eating insects. The plants only bloom once or twice in 40 years, and even then just for a few days- a momentous occasion indeed.

For example Lois in Houston is expected to bring in 11,000 visitors today alone (the museum usually only gets about 1,000 visitors on any given weekday), while Perry has his own webcam set up so you can watch him bloom along with watching hordes of people holding their noses, coughing, children exclaiming- "That doesn't smell like a flower, it's so big momma! Why are there lots of flies in here?" - just heard those ones. Lois was coaxed open by a pile of rotting bananas laid nearby and here's the best bit- a couple is getting married at the museum today, stink and all. What an unexpected wedding gift, fun for all!

So while I should be getting ready for our quick trip to Denver this weekend, I'm watching a webcam of a Corpse flower bloom.

The Cooking of Vienna's Empire

While we were in Vallecito, we came upon a small bookstore called the "Book Shed". It literally was a shed outside an old woman's house, selling used books for $2-$5. We decided to check it out, as much of our vacation was spent reading. Imagine my suprpise to come upon a weathered old cookbook entitled "The Cooking of Vienna's Empire", a Time-Life book published in 1968. I picked it up, hoping to find some Austro-Hungarian recipes. I did. There is a whole chapter with charmingly outdated yet beautiful pictures of Hungary, representing the still Communist regime, though the book is about the cooking of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So I have taken to calling it, "an out-dated book of out-dated recipes"- that is, the Communist take on Austro-Hungarian cooking. It is fascinating; examining a regime examining a former regime.

I didn't buy it the first time around, choosing a historical fiction novel set in Renaissance Florence instead. Though when night rollled around, I couldn't stop thinking about the faded technicolor photographs; the sweet smell that only old book pages can exude. So in the next few days I obsessed over returning to the Book Shed, (which kept strange hours, naturally) yet finally leaving with my cookbook a mere two days later.

The cookbook is a gem, in perfect shape yet still retaining the qualities of an "old" book. After reading an entire history of Hungarian cooking (which is fascinating by the way, including Gundel, gulyas and paprika) I decided on bacon-dumplings for Sunday dinner. This is actually under the "Austrian Provence" section, yet it sounded too decadent to pass up. The book also provides a lot of information on the former Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and other Communist gems.



Here are some picture I took of the beautiful Hungarian photographs.

The cover, showing some beautiful pastries:

The opening "Hungarian chapter":

Csardas cooking:

"The country fair flourishes in a Socialist land":

Balaton fogas, curved into its traditional shape:

Traditional Hungarian dress:

Gorgeous paprika spread:

Copyright date:

The recipes all look delicious...and I am so happy to have a bit of history on my shelf.

Edit:

We have been trying to teach my 7 year old neice a touch of Hungarian. She is just learning to write in English and decided to write on my arm this afternoon:



Gotta love the adorable misspelling: "egen"

Vallecito!

This past week my family and I went on vacation to beautiful Vallecito lake in Colorado. We rented a cabin that had the most amazing deck overlooking the forest and lake. It was a much needed break from reality. No technology, no TV, just reading, relaxing, drawing and eating. Here are some highlights from the trip:

The beautiful view from our deck, the lake glinting through the trees in the morning sun:

My mom at the end of our "breakfast horse ride", which entails riding horses up a mountain, eating an amazing breakfast cooked by the wranglers in a meadow, and then riding back down:



Mango margaritas at Pura Vida, the local Costa Rican/Mexican restaurant (these were so unbelievably good, we went back for them at least three times...well that and the blackened mahi mahi sandwiches):



The horse ride up the mountain (which unfortunately was ravaged by a huge forest fire in 2002, but is thankfully exploding with aspens now!):

A particularly beautiful view on the way up the mountain, overlooking Vallecito valley. This is actually a little unnerving considering that your horse is the only thing keeping you from toppling thousands of feet down the mountain!:

The kids on the fishing boat that we rented:

John enjoying the "beach" by the lake:

Another view from our cabin:

Ahh Vallecito.. There is no better place to clear your head, relax and mentally prepare for the next few weeks...preparing for Budapest!!

Selena Gomez's "Round & Round"

Yesterday I was watching the Disney channel with my niece as I often do, trying to tune it out for the most part. But as I looked up to see Selena Gomez's new music video, I was shocked to see that the video was filmed...why, where else but Budapest?? The video opens up on a shot overlooking the city, and then does a strange fast zoom in on Parliament. Upon seeing this I exclaimed "Oh my God, that's Budapest!" No one really believed me since the rest of the video is mostly just close ups of Selena singing and walking down streets. There are some nice brief shots of the Duna, Chain Bridge and Fisherman's Bastion however, but they go by too quickly. The rest of the video was spent wondering why one earth Selena Gomez was shooting a music video in Budapest of all places. And do you really think Disney would foot the bill for one music video abroad? Well, as it turns out, no. She is filming a movie there, so I suppose it was rather convenient to shoot a music video there as well.

Here's the video, for anyone who may be interested:



Though honestly, it's best watched muted...