Lavender in the Village Festival

So today was an event that we have been looking forward to for many weeks now: The Lavender in the Village Festival. We (John, my Mom and I) were volunteering for the Los Poblanos Organics tent selling produce, memberships, t-shirts etc. This is the program that we get our weekly box of fresh fruits and veggies through, I know I've mentioned it before. So when the opportunity came up to volunteer for them, we thought what we usually do when faced with such a decision- why not? We have been trying to fill our time with interesting events so that it goes by faster (7 1/2 weeks and counting!) but that's a different post altogether...

This festival is an annual event, all about the wonders of lavender (plus a few other fun things). There were a lot of interesting tents- lavender crafts, goat cheese, wildlife/bird rescue, yurt living, massage, henna, a beer garden and live music. We also played with, petted and oohd and ahhd over the most amazing, adorable 1-week-old baby goats.

We went an hour before our shift so that we could look around and participate in some of the festivities. Unfortunately we missed out on the free massages, but we did get to pick our own lavender and check out the yurt. For lunch we had bratwurst (made on the premises) with green chile relish. We sampled and bought red chile raspberry jam (unbelievable, tongue-tingling goodness) and lavender honey goat cheese. This was a "special edition" goat cheese, just for the festival. It's safe to say it is the most interesting, delicious goat cheese I have ever had. It was amazing to see little kids, adults, everyone go crazy over the organic fruits and vegetables. Organic does taste better, and it's great to see people being so enthusiastic about it.

We were working alongside of LPO interns all day, including one guy who is studying in Montreal. We mentioned to one of the other interns (who makes beautiful clay honey pots) that we were moving to Budapest but want to intern on the farm in the meantime. (Why not?) As we were leaving this intern said to us "Well, we'll see you on the farm, or if not- have fun in Budapest", which caused the Montreal guy to stop in his tracks, "Wait, what, Budapest? Are you guys Hungarian?" Us: "No but we speak a little" Him: "Oh well, Viszontlatasra!" Us: "...." We were so flabbergasted that we didn't even ask him why on earth he speaks Hungarian (he's from New Jersey) but it was a great/strange end to our day of hard work. Well- to reward you for reading this novel (is anyone still reading?) here's some visual aid:

Some of the beautiful produce we were peddling:


Yours truly, working the cash box!:


Outside of the yurt, plus a very nice solar oven:


Inside of the yurt:


Me, cutting lavender in the field:


My mom, winning over the crowd:


Lots of lavender hanging to dry:


Bunch of lavender:


John cutting himself some lavender:


John replenishing the carrot supply:


A beautiful crow:


Darling baby goat:

Have you ever heard of Scrapple?

Well, I hadn't either. But today at our local hangout, one of the waitresses brought back a bag of it from her trip to Pennsylvania. It caused quite a stir among the staff, and it wasn't long before a plate was brought out for us to try. Our waiter googled it and found this from Wikipedia:

"Scrapple (Pennsylvania Dutch) is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then panfried before serving. Scrapple is typically made of hog offal, such as the head, heart, liver, and other scraps, which are boiled with any bones attached (often the entire head?."

Congealed pork "mush" didn't really sound like anyone's idea of a good meal- the cooks brought out an old pan so as not to "scrapple-up" the restaurant's.

I must admit, the taste wasn't awful- it wasn't particularly good either - but the texture and the appearance was what really took the cake:



Somewhere between cat vomit and a smushed turd. I think I could learn to like it, if I could just blindfold myself while eating it.

Vizum and You're Going WHERE?

After several weeks of worrying, we got our visas today. I'm so happy to be in possession of our passports again, and they have just become all the more valuable. Having had my passport stolen in the past (which, 5 years later - a month ago - a detective found in a storage unit of a woman arrested for 200+ counts of identity theft) I am always slightly nervous about it- I protect it *slightly* neurotically. And now I have even more reason, due to this official-looking visa:



In other news, I've noticed a funny phenomenon lately. Whether due to not really caring, or faulty knowledge of geography - people can NOT for the life of them remember where it is that we are moving to. Today was a new one from my dentist: "So when are you going to... *looks confused* Belgium?" "Hungary, August 18th" (a date that I repeat what seems like 50 times a day.) We've also heard Turkey, Bucharest, Bulgaria, Bangkok and a myriad of other cities/countries starting with a "B" (i.e. Budapest). This usually happens when the news of our impending move is second-hand, but still, it never ceases to amuse me.

Breadzilla!! Or, Dear God! Did I Add Too Much Yeast?

After looking through the storage shed (see previous post on opening locks) and finding my journal from this past summer in Provence, I was reminded of something that I will never forget; eating goat cheese fougasse in an open-air market in Aix-en-Provence. I thought it would be nice to recreate this heavenly bread, and so the recipe search began. After many blog/recipe/cooking sites later, I determined that what we had was not fougasse. This was a soft, sweet bread, while fougasse is a hearth-style, crusty and savory bread.

I decided to improvise. Working in a French cafe for a year or so in early college left me with a keen taste of different french breads. I decided that the "fougasse" that we had had was more of a brioche, studded with chunks of creamy, stinky cheese. Coupled with a ripe, juicy peach? Dear God, the thought brings a tear to my eye.

Today I made braided brioche, with Roquefort cheese stuck in the cracks. It was fine at first, but the seemingly over-active yeast made me dub my creation "Breadzilla", as I had visions of the rising beast bursting from my oven onto the unsuspecting city below.

Regardless of how much it rose, it was unbelievable. Certainly different from what I remember tasting beneath the soleil Provencal (but really, could anything ever be that good again?) yet still delicious in its own right.

A truly gorgeous braided brioche, peppered with Roquefort, ready to rise for a second time:



And a shot from the oven monstrosity, ready to rise into oblivion:



And finally, the end product, barely able to squeeze onto a cookie sheet:



Bonus:

Aix market where said "fougasse" was bought and consumed:

The TB Test Saga

I have been trying to get a TB test since last Thursday. It really shouldn't be this hard. I called several weeks ago to schedule it and was given an appointment on Thursday evening. After having my blood pressure, weight, height and temperature taken (not to mention waiting in the waiting room for 20 minutes) I was told that I could not get the test since no one would be there to check it on Saturday. Ok, receptionist error I suppose. So the nurse told me to come back Friday morning and someone could read it on Monday. It was only later that night that I realized Monday was Memorial day so clearly no one would be there to read it then, either. So I went in on Friday morning and told them about this, and asked if I could come in on Tuesday instead. They were way more confused than the situation warranted and after much calling of the nurses and looking at the computer they realized yes, the nurse had indeed made a mistake.

So they scheduled me for today at 11.

After explaining to the once again very confused receptionist that they told me I only needed to see a nurse to administer the test, we waited. And waited some more. 11:30 rolled around and I decided it would be wise to check in at the front desk on the status of my nurse, in which I was told that they were all running 30 minutes behind schedule.

Finally I was called back after several more minutes and sat in triage while my nurse prepared the needle. She explained to me that there would be a "bubble" in my skin where all the fluid was. She couldn't get the needle in at first, and she asked me if I was alright. She got it in eventually and said "Ok, are you ready?" and I nodded and promptly felt a shower of cold liquid on my inner arm and an "Oops" from the nurse's mouth. She said the bubble had popped, and the liquid shot out the other side. Yum. So I held a cotton ball on my inner arm while she looked for another TB test, consulting another nurse on what gauge needle she should be using. All of this inspired much confidence in me, let me tell ya. So she preps my arm again and puts the needle in, and says in a sing-song voice, "Here comes the BUB-ble!" and I felt my skin expand. I looked over to see a giant fluid-filled pustule on my inner arm. "Huh", I managed to mutter. She assured me the bubble would go away in a matter of hours, so I made sure to take a picture as soon as I was done.

Behold, the bubble, the smaller, failed bubble and my strangely sparkly skin:



Fun stuff.

Trying to Open a Broken Lock As Told By A Seven-Year-Old

This is a list written while John and I attempted to get the storage shed open upon finding that the key was no longer able to open it. I think it speaks for itself but I especially like numbers 7-8 "think, feel", 15 "look up/ close eyes and whish" and 24, "hi five". This pretty much accurately describes everything we did.

Rain, Sunset, Singing and...Luau??

Last night my niece had a performance with this little singing group that she belongs to. It was held at the house of the woman who organizes the group. I have never been there before but was told it was way out on the west side (we live in the Northeast heights). Well, after about a 50 minute drive to the far, far west side through the pouring rain, we were distraught and more than a little annoyed when we walked into a packed house: think 100 people in one living room type of packed. The performance was "luau" themed and was supposed to be outside in the backyard. Since it was raining it wasn't really an option, and it was proposed that the performance should be rescheduled to Friday evening. After such a long drive through the rain, this was frustrating to say the least. After the crowd got a little shaken at this suggestion, we decided to wait out the storm. We all set out blankets on whatever bit of carpet we could find; upstairs, downstairs, by couches, in doorways. There was something slightly ironic about drinking through an umbrella straw on a blanket, in a strange living room, in the middle of nowhere, in a giant rainstorm. Yet after the food was gone, the rain thankfully was too. It turned out to be amazing outside with no sun blazing onto us. The performance was cute, even though our niece was only in two of the songs. Since we were on the very edge of the city, beyond the backyard was just desert, nothing else. This combined with the heavy clouds made for the most beautiful sunset!



Albuquerque really does have the most gorgeous sunsets.

Ninja Warrior

John and I have been doing something very interesting lately. We have been helping a friend from my step-dad's Hapkido class make an audition video for Ninja Warrior! Hopefully once it's done I can show a little sneak-peek of it. If he gets selected, you better believe we will be front row in Japan watching him compete!

Photo credit to g4tv.com

Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage

After reading many of my American English teaching comrade's accounts of eating Hungarian stuffed cabbage, I decided I should bite the bullet and make some for Sunday dinner. I really should get used to cabbage, even though those crunchy leaves are slightly intimidating to me. I wanted to see if we would like it, and to my absolute delight, it was delicious! I found the recipe online, along with many many variations. Some had sauerkraut, sour cream, or paprika, yet I chose one that I dubbed to be for more "sensitive" pallets since my whole family would be eating it. I have no idea how traditional this recipe is, but it was amazing! Here is the recipe I used, taken from Cooks.com:

HUNGARIAN STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

8-10 cabbage leaves (lg.)
1/3 c. rice, cook until tender & drain
1 lb. hamburger
Salt & pepper
Pinch of thyme
1 lg. onion, minced
1 egg, beaten
1 c. water (saved from the pot boiled cabbage leaves)
1 c. tomato juice
1 tbsp. meat paste (or bouillon cube)
cornstarch to thicken sauce

Parboil cabbage leaves 5 minutes (just long enough to wilt, save 1 cup water for later). In bowl mix hamburger, salt, pepper, and thyme. Add rice, onion and egg; mix well. Shape into 8 to 10 small rolls and wrap each into a cabbage leaf. Tie securely with string or toothpick. Put in a good sized saucepan. In another saucepan, put tomato juice, water from cabbage leaves, meat paste or bouillon cube, parsley and a little salt. Heat and pour over cabbage rolls. Cover and simmer 1 hour. If desired, thicken slightly with a little cornstarch.



I loved being pleasantly surprised.

Taekwondo for Autism

For a few weeks now John and I have been participating in an autism-related project. I have been around people with autism and disabilities my whole life, since my Mom is the head of the Southwest Autism Network. They recently put together a "peer-group" activity for adults with autism in which they are able to work side-by-side with people who don't have autism (me and John). This particular project is a Taekwondo class. We all meet at a dance studio every Saturday afternoon and participate in an hour long class, led by Logan, a black belt in Taekwondo. We take turns holding bags so the other can punch, kick and do combinations. It is a great way for the people with autism to get into a routine, follow direction, get a workout, and have fun with peers! It has been so fun, and feels really rewarding at the end of the day.

Here is what the studio looks like:



There are curtains that can be pulled to cover the mirrors in case it proves too distracting, and a "break area" over to the left when things get a little overwhelming. You can also see a board against the wall that has Velcro for pictures showing which step is next, (Bow in, warm up, stretch, punch etc) something that is really helpful for the people with autism.

I couldn't think of a better way to spend our Saturdays, and it feels really amazing to be helping out the autism community!

Sleep?

I had another fit of Budapest-induced insomnia last night.

Our apartment building:



Credit to Jack and Cathie Holmes

Improptu Snail Funeral

So a snail in our pond died today. Well actually, judging by the smell, he probably died when I found him floating on Friday, but stuck him back on the side, hoping he still had some life left in him. As per most of my "insignificant" pets, he had a funeral. I made a cross out of sticks and grabbed one of our lillies from inside, and my family and I said some "words" which consisted of my 7 year old neice saying that "I only knew you today, on your death day". It is was pretty funny- as much as a snail death can be... here's his "headstone":



Have you had a snail funeral lately? I slightly suggest it.

Wine Label Spotting

I have a love for great wine label art and I have been known on occasion to buy the wine with the prettiest label (advertising sucker). My mom found this gem when shopping for wine for our Easter ham dish. Feast your eyes:



I just adore the label. Three legged disembodied head with wings? Well, why not!?

Bonus picture:
Hungarian flag Easter egg!

Makos Kifli, a Birthday Treat!

Yesterday was John's birthday, and so I decided to make one of his favorite desserts for him: Makos Kifli! These Hungarian cookies are made by wrapping a sour cream butter dough around a ground poppy seed filling. "Makos" means poppy seed, while "Kifli" means crescent. These are most certainly a labor of love, so John's birthday was a perfect occasion to make them! This is the recipe I used (modified slightly) along with some pictures!

Ingredients:

* Dough

1 1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
2 2/3 tbsp sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* Poppy Seed Filling

3/4 cup poppy seed, freshly ground
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, cream together butter and egg yolks. Add the sour cream and vanilla. Mix in the flour until smooth, gather the dough into a ball. Turn out onto floured surface, and roll into a smooth log. Slice the dough into 24 equal size pieces, rolling each into a ball (about the size of a walnut). Refrigerate while making the filling, it makes the dough much easier to work with. In a saucepan, combine all of the filling ingredients. Over low heat, stir constantly about 5 minutes until mixture thickens slightly. Take off heat and let cool. The filling should be easy to spread, if too thick add a touch more milk. Preheat oven to 350. Flour work surface and roll each ball out one at a time to about 1/16 inch thick. Spread some filling on the inside (one or two spoonfulls) and roll up the edge closest to you, continuing until the it is in a roll shape. Pinch the edges to seal, and curve into a crescent shape. Place on a greased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Continue until all of the Makos Kifli are rolled, and then bake until very lightly browned. Cool, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

The dough, ready to be gathered into a ball:



The dough rolled into a log. Baguette, anyone?:



The dough balls, ready to be refrigerated:



One dough ball rolled out, ready for the filling:



All finished rolling and filling, ready to bake!:



Finally, ready to be devoured!:



Happy Birthday my love!!!

Walking With Dinosaurs- Live!

While John and I were in Paris last summer, we saw ads in the metro for something called "Walking with Dinosaurs- Live" (though it was in French of course) and we were depressed to see that it was playing just a few days after we left. Not really knowing what it was, we forgot about it until around October, when we saw a commercial on tv for the very same thing, coming to Albuquerque! We quickly alerted my dad, who is a little obsessed with dinosaurs, and we got four tickets for March.

Well, it was last night and it was amazing! Basically the dinosaurs are giant puppets that come out into the arena while the "paleontologist" talks about them, etc etc. Each dinosaur was more amazing and more giant than the one before it! We had such close seats (4th row) that the Brachiosaurus actually reached his neck out over us. The music was great, and when the final giant Mommy T-Rex came out to protect her baby from the Triceratops and Ankylosaurus, my body started coursing with adrenaline. It was slightly embarrassing, because my mind logically knew that it wasn't real...but her roar was so loud and so intense and she was so dang huge that the survival instincts of my cave-men ancestors kicked in!

Here are some not so great pictures (cell phone) but hopefully the point gets across!

The Allosaurus:



The Raptors devouring a corpse next to the humble paleontologist:



The Brachiosauruses (whose heads barely cleared the arena ceiling!):



The amazing yet slightly terrifying T-rex:



The T-rex with her baby:



It was an amazing night. Walking with Dinosaurs Live is touring Europe, the US and Japan as we speak, so go see it!

On a side note, my Mom left for India this morning- Have a great trip Mom!

The Wonder That is Byki- A Review.

You might not be surprised to know that are no Hungarian lessons offered here in Albuquerque. After realizing this slightly sad fact, I set out on a quest to learn as much as I could on my own before leaving. One of the ways that I have done this is through Byki, a free language learning software, available from their website www.Byki.com. They offer over 70 languages and unlike Rosetta Stone, actually have Hungarian as one of them.

The language is taught through drills using virtual flashcards and if you're lucky, audio and pictures too. Though the software itself does not come with many flash cards, users can submit their own "lists" that are downloadable from the "List Central Community" feature of the website. I have learned many, many useful things such as colors, fruits and vegetables, days of the week, seasons, greetings, etc etc. The only critique that I have is that it does not teach grammar, so I am left with a group of seemingly detached Hungarian nouns in my brain. But that's what books are for, and more recently- Pimsleur's Hungarian Audio Program that has taught the actual speaking part of it.

This is how it works, and what it looks like for those who may be thinking of using it.
This is the first step, where a flashcard is presented with the Hungarian and English word (and sometimes a picture) side by side. If the card has audio, the word will be said to ensure proper pronunciation:



This is the second step, where the Hungarian word is presented and the user must say the English word and later, type it in as I have done here:



Finally, the third step (which is the most difficult- this is where you can tell if you really know the word or not!) in which the English word is presented and the user must spell out the corresponding Hungarian word. Accents are made on the vowels by using the arrow keys after typing said vowel; this scrolls through all of the accent options (and in Hungarian, there are a lot!). I have written in the Hungarian word for "yellow" here:



After an entire "list" has been learned, some fun, triumphant music plays to make you feel good about your accomplishment.

There are many other features as well including, slowing down the speaker's voice (the little turtle icon), and refreshing "stale" words so that they are not forgotten.

I give Byki a 4/5 for ease of use, effectiveness and overall fun. I take off one point for no grammar lessons. And best of all- It's Free! Go try it out!

Hungary News

A lot of great news has been coming our way lately, and I have finally had the desire to blog it all. So we got our placement, and not only is it in Budapest but it is at the same elementary school! We have also been put into contact with the two very nice teachers whose lives we are essentially taking over and they have given us great advice, as well as sharing with us some photos of our apartment.
And here they are!




The balcony (which I am thrilled to have), the kitchen and the living room. Jack and Cathie have also suggested that we take over Cathie's volunteering at the local animal shelter which is just a few blocks from our apartment. She walks the dogs every so often into the wooded area around the shelter. We are in Ujpest, which is the very northern part of Budapest along the Duna. It has a very interesting history and is quite industrial as far as I can tell, but has a neighborhood feel to it.
Aside from all these great new developments, we have been playing too much WoW, studying some Hungarian and most recently doing some concept art for my Dad and Ann. Time seems to be flying and crawling simultaneously.

Church's Chicken Does Romania

Today as I was driving the long and lonely road to work I noticed something that has never caught my attention before. Wait- why is Church's Chicken flying the Romanian flag??



I quickly alerted John to the situation, and asked him to look it up. It turns out the Romanian flag has vertical stripes instead of horizontal ones like the flag I witnessed (who can keep all those vertical/horizontal stripes straight anyways??). But to me, it seems close enough to be strange, even uncanny.


See what I mean? That would be like a Japanese grocery store having an upside-down American flag as their logo.

More notable flag look-alikes:



Flag of Hungary vs:



Flag of Italy.

And next:



Flag of Belgium vs:



The Flag of Germany.

How unoriginal are these flag makers?
"Oh I know, let's take this already existing flag and turn it on its side! No one will ever notice!"

Since I'm 99% sure that the country of Romania existed before Church's Chicken (note that pesky 1% of doubt -along with the 349% sarcasm-) Shame on you Church's Chicken.

the last AIIIIRRRBBBEENNNDDEEERRR!!!

After obsessing over the series Avatar: The Last Airbender to the point of having an "Avatar night" whenever the new Dvds were released, to say that I am excited for the movie is a bit of an understatement. If you have not seen the trailers yet, go to the movie site and watch them- now! We are getting goosebumps over here. Little Aang is amazing, and the trailer even shows him going into the avatar state.
There has been some criticism that all of the cast isn't Asian but I say get over it. We will be first in line to flood the theater on opening night.