What Santa brings..

I tried to introduce a gift free Christmas this year or at least to limit consumption. Early in October I wrote an email to my family to propose different solutions – such as only giving one, to collect money for a common trip, etc etc.. Maybe I should have written directly to Santa Claus because finally we were having gifts :) Maybe a bit fewer, but all so very nice and thought through!

The best of the best, was the dress made in silk that my sister had knitted for me. I almost cried of happiness when I saw what she had prepared for me.

Designed by K.

Other nice gifts
I will not list all the gifts, but just mention a few because even if I wrote they were fewer there were still quite a lot :)

My sister brought yarn from Argentina, which was also a very nice gift for my other sister and mother. They are very creative so I'm sure they will make something nice out of it. There were also other very nice handmade things in wood prepared by my sister's boyfriend.

I was most pleased with the gift I had for little V. It was a handmade train, not made by me but from the Christmas market in Budapest. It was very nice and also pedagogic and he seemed to like it, and his mother did as well...:)


So I was receiving so nice gifts, that mine, even if they were selected in India felt a bit poor.. :) So for next year, I will not propose not to have gifts. It's so nice to find out what to give, and to see the happiness of the one who receives it. So, next year I'll also make my own gifts at least some of them. If people only get half as happy as I got, it's already great!

coming home..

This year I actually for once had some Christmas feelings already in Budapest with Lucia celebration, some you tube clips with Christmas songs in different languages and I even prepared Christmas cakes and chutney. So, I was well prepared and really looking forward to going home for a couple of weeks. It has been an intense year with lots of happiness but also some sad and difficult moments, so being home for a while is probably good for me. Anyway, it's always good so I try to go once in a while.

Same procedure as last time...

Every time coming home follows more or less the same procedure. I always arrive just in time to the airport in Budapest, then I always sleep on the flight and I wake up in Denmark. At Copenhagen airport, the visitors are always welcomed by the smell of Røde pølser. Then I catch the train to Sweden, I’m always surprised how expensive it is and I always think of how good it would be to follow my mother's advice to refill the discount-travel card before leaving next time and remember to take it with me....

Correct, informative and user friendly..

These adjectives are quite well describing how things are generally working in Sweden. The train is no exception, it's clean and modern, and will most likely be in time. This time it stopped twice for couple of minutes and a friendly voice informed us that „We have now stopped for a stop sign, and we are waiting for permission to continue” I smiled a bit, of course it's very nice of them to inform the people so that they wouldn't worry but I'm also sure that most people didn't even realised that we had stopped before they announced it. And once they finished their sentence, the train started to move again. Anyway, a small thing like this makes me realise that I'm home again so it's time to re-adapt to Scandinavian way of doing things , for the good and for the bad..:) At the train station, my parents will come to meet me and it’s always a very happy moment and we always go home to have a cup of tea.

Alla talar svenska

Arriving in Sweden, there is one sentence always popping up in my head “Alla talar svenska” This is the text for Disney movies to inform that everybody speaks Swedish in the film. It’s also a bit strange to me, and in the first few days I add some English words here and there. I’m sure some people believe I do that to be snobbish or interesting…:)

So until here it's always the same, and then it will depend on if I'm staying for longer or only for the weekend. If it’s only for a few days normally there is a reason like a celebration so time is passing really fast.

If I stay for longer, I'll get a little restless quite soon. I’m used to much higher tempo, and even if I know it’s good for me to slow down and relax, I need a few days to find the good rhythms, to adapt to the silence and calmness. And even when I feel little restless, I enjoy to have some time to think, and also to knit together with my sisters and mother. It's very inspiring and I become much more creative at home. The first two evenings I made a pair of sandals while enjoying to spend some time with my parents. And now, I'm already half way with the next project :)

Sandals, made of the left over yarn from the hats I prepared for me and some friends last year, posing in the snow

So, for the next few days, I will continue with having a good time, playing with little V, spending time with family and friends and do some knitting and reading. After those first little restless days, I know that time will pass very fast. It always does, and when the day to go back arrives, I'll surely have the feeling that time at home was not enough... like always. Time is such a strange thing.

sauteed apples better than appels cooked in butter

Sauteed apples is one of the ingredients in a new recipe for cakes that I just learnt to make. It sounds quite sophisticated, right?? It also sounds French and it's not a secret that I'm fascinated by all that is French. Actually before moving to France I kind of thought that everything was good there, and to me it sounded like everybody speaking French is really intelligent (hehe, actually it still does to me.. :) Now I know that not ALL is good and great there, and also not all French people are very clever, but I keep my fascination and still think that everything can get little improved by adding something French :) :) If so only the name...

Sauteed apples would normally have scared me a bit, but with the new inspiration from the cooking course, I was happy to give it a try. And, after a quick search on Internet I realised that it is very easy to prepare. I tried several versions, each time little different but still very good. One good piece of advice would be to choose sweet apples, and then not adding any sugar (or only very little).

Sauteed apples

1/4 cup butter
4 apples
2 teaspoon corn stand
1/2 cup cold water
some brown sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

How to make it..
Melt the butter, cut the apples in pieces and add them to the butter. Stir until tender (approximately 5 min). Dissolve the flour in the water and add it together with (the sugar) and the cinnamon. Stir while it's cooking together for a couple of minutes

Ready..

Other versions..
In some other recipes, they also included apple cider, honey, juice from a half lemon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. I tried different versions, and it's hard to tell which one is best. Already the simple one was really good. It is melting in your mouth and if there is not too much sugar it still keeps the fresh taste.

So it sounds sophisticated but it's really basic to make. Maybe sauteed apples is a very good illustration of how everything gets improved adding some French to it. I mean, apple cooked in butter sounds already less appetizing...

Sauteed apples is delicious warm or cold, on it's own, with chocolate, with banana split, for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner or in between...:) You see I tried it all...


Dessert for Sunday brunch... Bananasplit with sauteed apples

listen to the silent crying

Once in a while for quite some time, I could hear some crying noise in the background. Some low intense almost silent crying asking for help. Actually, the complaining crying came from my back where I had some pain and I started to think of all kind of possible sicknesses that I could possible have... Now, when the pain is gone, I know that it was some of my approximately 600 muscles who were crying from the overall bad treatment and from the everyday sitting in front of computer. They tried to tell me that it couldn't go on like that, and their small initial protests got worst and worst.

They were not always crying with the same intensity, some days they even stayed quiet. Anyway, what ever they tried with, I just kept on ignoring them.

Massage Swedish style (picture from Internet)

One evening in June, I was out walking in my neighborhood and I felt terribly miserable for different reasons. Walking there feeling sorry for myself, I passed a beauty salon and I impulsively I went in and asked for a massage. Luckily, the lady was there and happy to receive me. It felt like somebody let me out of prison when her soft strong hands helped my tired and blocked muscles to relax and they stopped to cry. Since then, I'm going there every Wednesday and only being out of Budapest would stop me from that. In November, I was lucky to try massage in both Malaysia and India.

Malaysian/Chinese massage
In Malaysia, I had a Chinese massage. It was absolutely great, but would have been even greater if the girl didn't look that sad. I'm sure she wished to be somewhere else. She did a fantastic job, but afterwards I saw her sad eyes. She didn't speak any English, but her body language told that she was very unhappy. Probably she found it hard to be far from home, and likely she didn't get much of the 20 euro I paid for the one hour massage.

Ayurvedic massage in India
In Rikikesh in India, I had the most wonderful ayurvedic treatment. I combined shoriada with oil massage. You are completely naked and it's very intense and oily. In the massage, no muscles are forgotten and the pleasure is complete and really great.


Oil ayurvedic massage (picture from Internet)

The shridara treatment is a facial massage, part of the ayurvedic treatments. The dropping hot oil on the front heat makes you feel like the head is disolving and disappearing in a very pleasant way. I think you simply must try, very difficult to put in words, but when I close my eyes I can recall the feeling.

Shridara treatment (picture from Internet)

So surely next time I'm going to India, I'll try some similar treatment. But, in the meanwhile I'm still very grateful to have such a nice massagelady just a few blocks away.

She is such a sunshine, and her positive warm energy is transmitting to every muscles she touches. Writing this reminds me of my sister who use to tell speak about every-day-luxary (vardagslyx). The massage qualifies well, but I actually don't think of it as something luxary any longer. It became such a natural part of a survivial and wellbeing strategy and it is completely needed for someone who spends the days in an office. I guess I will discover what a luxary it is the day I move to a place where I cannot afford it anylonger..

My young body....
Speaking of massage always makes me think of a girl in Albania who, when I mentioned that I had an excellent massage in Tirana, told me "I hate massage, and my young body doesn't need it" Hehe, such a strange statement and maybe she meant that my old body does need it. And she didn't actually know how right she was...:) This saying "my young body.." has since then became a saying at my workplace.. It still makes me smile..

And now I know that it was not only the muscles that were crying in the summer time, it was actually me. I guess it's just easier to accept muscle pain than some psychological pain, fears and worries. But the good news is that massage is helping for both...:)

creative meditation

Knitting is creative and at the same time very relaxing. Kind of meditation. I enjoy it very much. Sometimes it goes all without thinking and sometimes full concentration is needed. In any case nothing else will take the concentration and attention, and thoughts are not wondering around, so complete peace is absolutely possible.

German/Turkish slippers made in Hungary
At the Christmas market in Frankfurt, I found some really nice wool yarn and a description of how to make slippers. The description was from a German company (http://www.coatsgmbh.de/Selbermachen/Stricken/) and the wool was from Turkey. Luckily the nice lady kindly explained the necessary steps and they were actually very few. It turned out to be really easy and actually almost too fast to make :) Also time passes so quickly in good company and a cup of tea...

How to make slippers
First of all, this may be the best for beginners to start with as possible mistakes can not even be seen...:) I used wool yarn and needles number 8. The instructions below can be followed approximately as the final size and shape will largely depend on the washing and shaping after wards..

For slippers size 38, the instructions would be as following (my free translation)

Start with 38 stitches and knit 32 rounds on two needles (1 row garter stitch, 1 row purl stitch, 1 row garter etc etc)
After having made 32 rounds, divide the stitches on four needles and continue only with garter stitches. After 26 rows, start to decrease for the toes. Stitch 1; lift the last but one, knit one, and lift the knitted one over. Stitch 2; knit together stitch 1 &2. Stitch 3 as stitch 1 and stitch 4 as stitch 2. Continue like that until there is 2 stitches on each needle.

Saw together the heel - done!

The slipper was now 35 cm long each, and it looked really big!! Make the second one as the first one, and put them in the washing machine together with some jeans or towels. It was written 40 degrees but after the 1st washing my pink sandals were still size 48 or something :)

Luckily my mum knew the solution, so I washed them again in 60 degrees, and after this wash they were proper size for a quite small kid.. But with help some newspaper and my own feet I managed to make them bigger again and they became exactly my size :)


I guess I don't have to tell that I' m quite proud of them.. I hope to start the second pair soon. This was great fun!!

Knitting is cool not only because of the peace and calm, but also because it's such a good feeling to create something with the hands without using computers.... It’s also very nice to knit together with other people, somehow it’s good for talking…

Stuffed Salmon Fillet with Creamed Avocado

So, as promised in the last blog post Angelic cooking, I'll post the receipts so that you can also try! First one will be the Stuffed Salmon Fillet with Creamed Avocado. It was really really tasty and not difficult at all. Some of the photos repeat from the previous post as I'm speaking about the same yummie stuff. The receipt should be for 6 people.


Ingredients:
350 g white fish
150-200 g ground, skinned almonds
100 cream cheese (philadelphia or similar)
juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
1tbsp. chopped fresh parsley and chives
4 tbsp. light olive oil
2 5 inch pieces of salmon fillets
1 leek
salt, pepper

For the creamed avocado:
1 large avocado
salt, pepper, lemon juice
100 cream cheese
1 glove pressed garlic


How to make the fish:
Puré the white fish with the ground almonds, cream cheese, lemon grind and juice, green herbs, salt and pepper and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Season the salmon fillets and sandwich them together with the white fish mixture. Cut long strings from the leak and use them to tie the fish parcel together. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp. of olive oil on top and bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes.

Take out the bones in the salmon fillet with a pair of tweezers - one of the small little tips I learnt at my cooking course...:)

..and how to make the avocado cream
Skin the avocado and discard the pip. Mix the flesh with salt, pepper, a little lemon juice, garlic and cream cheese. Serve with the fish.

Enjoy!!! It's really really yummie - trust me!!



We ate it with Green bean salad and baked Fennel with Parmesan. I'll post these receipts little later

and if you have some filo pastry at home, you can easily prepare the little bags we made with the left overs of the white fish. They looked quite pretty, and it was sooo tasty!

Angelic cooking

I admire people who knows how to cook well.

A very good friend once told me that love is one of the most important ingredients when cooking. I totally agree, love and attention is absolutely needed to succeed in the kitchen. This also goes very well with what I'm currently learning with the yoga; to be present in the present and to enjoy what you are doing in the moment.

Angelic cooking course
I have realised how good food is very important to feel good. It helps to stay healthy and it is also so great to enjoy a good dinner together with friends. I have the love and attention to put into my cooking but I thought it could be also useful to get some inspiration and useful tips for cooking. So, I signed up for a reform cooking course. It's always so nice to learn new things, and to learn something useful and tasty which even looks nice is even better.

The very best thing with the course is that I get inspiration for every day cooking and I again found the great pleasure of cooking! Finally it is actually not that hard to prepare good healthy food and it is relaxing to take the time to eat at home.


We only cook vegetarian dishes, including fish which suits me perfectly. The teacher is really great and I feel so inspired every time! She gives us tips on cooking and also where we can find ingredients in Budapest.

Small useful tips on how the best way to get out the bones from Salmon fillets

The menu is very varied and yesterday we learnt to make:

• Stuffed salmon Fillet with Creamed Avocado
• Green bean salad
• Baked Fennel with Parmesan
• Florentine
• Christmas Chutney
• Spicy Christmas Cookies
• Mini Filo Baskets with dried Fruits Filling

Grean beans, stuffed salmon, Fennel and Avocado cream - yummie yummie!

Creative cooking
She makes us discover new things, and her attitude to cooking is very relaxed and creative. Also the most simply things becomes really tasty. She is not a slave under receipts but flexible and a really good attitude to food! It is more about take what you have, but make sure to have quality products at home. Yesterday we also made some kind of "bags" as the we had some fish filling left over from the fish dish and the filo pastry - so very tasty and also pretty!

what a simple but good idea: tasty bags with fish filling

Not only cooking but also learning Hungarian
It is also a good practice in Hungarian. The teacher speaks good English but as I'm the only foreigner, she explains everything in Hungarian and translates some parts for me. Maybe I miss a few things, but I don't mind at all. I also understand while we are cooking and I learn both how to cook and some Hungarian at the same time.. :) I get the receipts English and in Hungarian which has the good advantage that I can bring it to the market while doing my shopping and easily get exactly what I need.

Enjoying all tasty things we prepared

When I tell people that I attend a cooking course the reactions are different, but always positive. And, I guess I don't have to tell that I really suggest to attend a cooking course!

Later I'll post the receipts here on the blog to share some culinary inspiration

my new way of learning Hungarian

I find it a bit tricky to learn Hungarian I must admit. Or not only tricky but actually very difficult. Other languages I tried I have learnt relatively quickly, but maybe I just don't match with Hungarian. Sometimes I'm thinking of how fast I would probably have learnt the language if I would have been in almost any other country.. Anyway, now I somehow feel more motivated to learn. This doesn't mean that I will learn but at least the attitude is the right one.. :)

The good places to practice..
So far I liked to practiced at the market on Saturdays. There, the topics are limited to "are the apples good" "how much does it cost" or asking for something that I cannot see directly on the table... Even if I really like to practice with these small and friendly ladies, the topics are limited however.

Lehel market - quite a good place to learn Hungarian

I also practice with the taxi drivers and the people working in my little shop down the street. and other friendly people I come across. Maybe I should take a course, I have been thinking of it, but my level is so strange. I know many words, I understand quite a bit, but my capability of putting together sentences is limited... so which level to join??

A new way of learning
Anyway, the last month I found the perfect way of learning!!! I go for manicure and pedicure every week and this is my hour to practice Hungarian. The girl is really friendly and she doesn't speak English which makes it the perfect occasion to do conversation practice and the topics are more varied than at the market. She is also very patient, and together we do communicate quite well I must say.

my nails are not as nice yet.. but soon soon! :)

Today we were speaking about my trip to Frankfurt and she asked what I bought. I didn't know the word for candle so I told her that I bought a "kis naturel lampa" :) :) and imitated how to light a candle with matches. She smiled alot and told me the Hungarian word: gyertya. I then could tell her that I found those wax candles at the market that we use to have at home when I was a child and we continued speaking about many other small things.. like weekend plans, company christmas parties, and more..

I feel very happy about this new way of learning. Of course some studying would also do good, but right now I'm quite satisfied with my little progress I'm doing at the Szepsegszalon ...:) As she is listening to me, repeating and talking in a comprehensive way I'm gaining confidence with this Magyar language. Also she is very friendly and the best is that my hands and feet are being taken care of at the same time...:) so I think 8 euro is well worth the money!!

(M) ilyenek a Finnek

Between my trips to India and Malaysia, I unexpectedly discovered Finland and it seems indeed to be a very nice country..:) This cultural experience did not involve any travel as it was at at the Museum of Ethnography just a few blocks from my place. The exhibition introduced Finland and the Finns from an Hungarian perspective.
Very interesting!!

The exhibition was entitled (M) ilyenek a Finnek" which means "How are the Finns / the Finns are like this"


Relatives but apparently quite different
Hungarians and Finns are told to be relatives, but even if the languages may sound similar they can not understand each other, for example apparently only 300 words have similar origin. And I don't think the cultures have much in common, I mean not more than other European cultures. Or, they are both in the world top-15 statistics when it come to suicide but that doesn't say much.. The mentality seems to be very different in the two countries which was clearly shown by the fact that 2 walls at the exhibition were showing the use of reflexes in Finland.. apparently it is such a crazy thought here...:)


The Finnish culture through different eyes
The exhibition was very interesting in itself, but it was even more interesting as I went there with Ugandan and Hungarian friends.

For me, everything felt so familiar, and I have never been to Finland. It became clear how much the Swedish and Finnish culture have in common. It was also nice that some text was written in both Swedish and Finnish so I could even read without problem. For my Hungarian friend I guess it was interesting as the two cultures were compared and I'm quite sure that my friend from Uganda thought that all cultures in Europe are kind of the same finally. I mean a Mumin troll could theoretically be a Hungarian or a Finnish creation, same with the sauna or any other "typical things". And I guess I was the only one among us who clearly heard the Finnish/Swedish voice of Tove Jansson telling the story about Muminmamman, Muminpappan, Filifjonk och Lilla My when I saw them at the exhibition

I felt like at home when I saw Mumin mamma in Budapest

The use of reflexes is actually such a good idea, so I'll bring back one when I go home for Christmas. I even learnt that it's mandatory by law to wear one in Finland.

happy people wear reflexes or reflexes make people happy??

So what was presented to the Hungarians...??
It was very interesting to see what and how they presented the Finnish culture, it really did feel like they presented my culture. This is for sure not because of my Finnish origin but the common features of Scandinavian countries.

• Beautiful pictures of the nature and red wood houses
• A reconstruction of a sauna
• Mumin troll
• People with reflexes in the darkness
• Marimekko
• Mika Häkkinen and other sport stars mainly skiers
  
• Arabia porcelain
• blueberry picking tool (reminded me of Vastervik and childhood)
  
• information about the country
• and many other things...

Marimekko design

Life without mobile phone.

I'm without mobile phone since a few weeks as mine decided to stay in India. Sometimes I thought of stop using mobile phone, so from that perspective it was good to loose it; to test to be without and see the consequences.

For sure there are some positive and some negative aspects not having a mobile phone. We got so use to that everyone has one, I realised that many people almost think you are a freak not having one.

What is more tricky being without

• people is contacting you less as they think it is not possible without mobile
• more difficult to make spontaneous plans
• easily remain in contact and update friends and family (emotional or practical issues)
• society is expecting you to have one, so some services are only available for those with mobile
• even a simple mobile phone offers practical services such as alarm clock and calculator

The good things being without

• you feel more free
• plans can not be changed in last minute
• you do not send messages you regret later :)
• some people forget the company they are with because they are too busy with their phones
• loudly talking in mobile phone is disturbing for other people
• you don't risk to loose it or have to remember to charge it
• you don't think there was an accident just because you have no news
  
• there is absolutely no risk for sms loans and other similar services (I'm not really concerned but still it's a good point)
  
• probably more that I cannot think of right now..:)
  

Everybody has one...
One of the most interesting thing being without is that you realise that the society expects you to have one. In addition to all people asking for mobile number, there are also situations when you must have one. For example, at the airport in Delhi, I couldn't connect to the wireless internet which was even free of charge. reason; I needed a code to be sent to my mobile to connect. I also remember one time in Stockholm when it got really complicated to buy a bus ticket. The new system with less cash makes it really easy for people with to buy a ticket, but really difficult for those without mobile phone (as a side note, finally I found a place to buy my ticket in an old traditional way)

The mobile phone also contains lots of information. I was lucky as mine was an old one, so no photos and other data stored. I can imagine that for people with really hightech phones it is more painful to loose it.

But I did loose all the phone numbers. And I know that I'm suppose to have written them somewhere else, but of course I have not. :( Anyway, most numbers I will find again and the others maybe I don't need. There will be people that I will only meet if we run into each other by chance. But I also got the feeling that maybe it was good to loose the numbers, and some old sms, something like a detox but this is a feeling I have to explore better myself before I can explain it properly.

Even if I do find many good aspects of being without mobile phone, I think I will buy another one soon, and instead turn it off once in a while. To connect with friends and family is so important and a small sms or call can mean so much!

Of course I cannot add a photo this time. I never thougth of taking a photo of my phone and now it's gone..

I guess everything is relative

Last week coming back from Delhi, I took a taxi from the airport as I had quite heavy luggage. It was 5 PM and rush hour in Budapest. Normally the traffic in Budapest is bothering me a lot and I always wish for regulations of using cars in the city. This day something was strange and different, I felt like I was the last human on earth or something, it was so quiet and peaceful with almost no cars on the street.

I'm happy not to drive in Delhi...
Traffic in Delhi is something unbelievable with more and more cars every time (according to Indian Times there are around 2 million vehicles only in Delhi) - traffic jam, beeping and a very interesting driving logic :)


There are cars, auto-rickshaws, bikes and people everywhere. It happen to us more than once to drive with a normal car on the pedestrian road and we were not the only ones doing it. Everyone is beeping all the time but it's a friendly way of beeping, more like "beep beep", not aggressively "beeeeeep" like in many other countries, but still it does make a lots of noise. And of course, pollution is really heavy - air is full of smog and even if you see that the sky is all gray, you realise to what point it's bad only when you get out of there.

Traffic jam - an exercise in patience
Let's hope that the new metro will be ready soon and help up the situation... And anyway, once you are in the traffic jam, there is no need to get upset or worried, but just to relax and accept that you will be late - a good exercise in patience. And maybe people living there are so use to the pollution and all the noise and then waiting in a traffic jam is finally a good occasion to have a nap... :)

I guess everything is relative..
So coming back from India, I was hit by the silence in Budapest, while just 2 months ago I came back from a 2 weeks trip to Sweden, and I had bad head ace for a few days due to pollution and the noise of the city with cars, sirens, and people shouting made me really tired.

During the few days I was in Budapest before leaving again, I didn't completely get use to the silence - so I enjoyed it a lot, what a nice feeling it is to have a rest for the ears even in a big city.

Also here in Miri, it seems calm, no street noise is reaching my hotel room at the 10th floor... me and my ears are so far having a rest :)

Vera's cake - a serbian pleasure

India was a great source of inspiration, and I also got some nice ideas for blogging that I hope to share here little by little later on. But first, as not all of you are lucky enough to have dinner with Vera once in a while, I want to share a recipe of a very delicious cake so that you can also try it. I'm positive you will also love it!

Yesterday I went to an African dinner with specialties from Uganda. It was a very nice evening, and in addition to the great pleasure of meeting friends again, I also discovered how tasty a mix of peanuts, cabbage and tomatoes can be, and I finally learnt to make the famous Serbian Vera-cake.

The cake is just amazing, so I will share the receipt here. All credits to Vera, a real expert in preparing this cake and who also composed the detailed description below on how to make it.

the famous Vera-cake

Vera's Cake!
2 cups of flour mix with 1 BIG spoon of soda bikarbona (NaHCO3;) and 3 BIG spoons of cacao.
add 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of sunflower oil and 2 cups of yogurt.
mix with wooden spoon, put in baking pan which is covered by oil and a bit of flour.
bake ~30 min on 200C, carefully! it should be soft, and separate from walls of pan.

mmmm CREAM
cook 10 BIG spoons of sugar and 10 BIG spoons of water till boiling.
move the pot from fire.
add 125 g of margarine,
when it is melted put 100 g of dark cooking chocolate and 150 g of coconuts.

hot CREAM should go over HOT cake!

cool it, cut and share with family and friends :D

Cultural adjustment
This cake was the last dessert I had before leaving and the first one when I came back, so even if it is not exactly in line with the suger-free diet that I'm doing, maybe it can be justified as cultural-adjustment assistance or jet-lag cure. This explanation is also quite convenient as I will be traveling a bit more in the near future, I may need such adjustment support :) And as I feel all fine, I make the conclusion that it did work well so far..:)

when the secret language is not so secret....

People, including myself, tend to think that being in another country means that you can speak your language and tell what ever you feel like loudly - forgetting that many people around can actually understand. Foreigners are almost shouting in their "secret" language thinking that as they cannot understand people - people cannot understand them.. I've seen (heard) it so many times already, but this weekend a girl really made me laugh!

Saturday we were selling bio - sandwiches at a Climate - party, most people really liked them and I must say myself that they were really tasty! We had prepared around 600 of them that we sold for 350 forint for 2 - great success!

Scandinavian guest workers in Hungary - sandwich experts (Foto: Marta)

Skitsmörgasar..
The story goes: I recommend a guy an eggplant-cream sandwich and he grabs one for him and one for his girlfriend. She gets the sandwich and tells really loudly with strong Stockholm accent: "Haaar du beeeetalat for den haaar jaaaakla skitsmörgasen????" (translation: "Did you pay for this fucking shitty sandwich") I was so surprised - by hearing Swedish and by what she told so I couldn't say anything, I just stared at her, so the guy said "hmm, it seems like someone understands Swedish...". My Finnish friend who was next to me answered him something in Swedish and he was so surprised, that he could only say "ööhhh, du ar fran Finland!" ("ööhhh you are from Finland"). The girl who still didn't try the sandwich started to tell how great the sandwich was and how much she liked it blabla..before she quickly disappeared

It was really funny to see how embarrassed she was when she realised that the two sandwich sellers were both Scandinavian, that's probably not what she expected at a pool-party in Hungary.

I don't like to see people embarrassed but this time she deserved it - we should all think before telling so negative things about good things or about any things...

special things are made with love

Today one of my mittens decided to not to come with me so it jumped out from my pocket just outside the office entrance. It didn't care that it was little wet and cold on the ground, or maybe it didn't know before jumping. Anyway, I guess it wanted a little adventure on its own, it's normal as since it was born it was always together with its sister left-hand mitten.

the adventurous right hand mitten on its own

special mittens

Loosing my mitten for half an hour made me think of the value of/in different things. This pair of mitten is special to me, special because it was the first pair I made on my own (ok, with kind support of my mother.. but still). I invented the pattern, I made it all even the mistakes I made them myself. I remember how I patiently (more or less atleast...) knitted them, and how proud I was when they were finally ready.

So the value of those mitten is much higher than any mittens I could ever buy anywhere. Handmade personalised things have a meaning that mass produced goods can never get.

why handmade things feels better
To use handmade things feels good for many reasons. It is unique. It is selected and not bought as a dozen-thing. It was made by someone and not by a machine, so it has its own charm. It carries love from the person who made it. Normally it is not replaced that hastily which is good also from an environmental point of view. It looks pretty. The soul and body feel better wearing something handmade; cold hands and fingers in handmade mittens will not only be warm but also happy hands and fingers.

Luckily the adventurous glove didn't go much further, so we (me and the left hand mitten) found it again on our way back! I think also the wild mitten was happy to be found again, it seemed a bit lonely there all alone. From now on I will pay much more attention to not to loose it again, mittens are happier when they are two...:)

two happy mittens together again

the dancing tree

In a few days the temperature decreased with some 15 degrees and it is now autumn here; windy, a bit rainy and quite cold. Somehow it makes me feel like at home.

The big tree outside my balcony is dancing in the strong wind. It is shaking its branches, like telling to the leaves; thanks a lot for decorating me so nicely during the spring and summer, let’s have a goodbye party with lots of fun as it’s time for you to leave soon"

a dancing tree

Leaving party

Still the leaves are green and strong, enjoying the party and managing to stay dancing to the rhythms of the wind and rain. People in the neighborhood fall asleep and also wake up to the sound of their party, Nobody tell it to calm down, as we all know that a few nights of noise is the price to pay for having a nice green tree around for several months. And the music they play is loud and wild but not aggressive. Soon the leaves will get beautiful yellow and weaker and weaker before they one day will give up one by one and fly down to the ground. The leaves at my tree are a bit unlucky because they will fall on asphalt and not softly on a field, that's the price they pay to live in the city center. Hopefully somebody will collect them and bring them to the leaf - cemetery, more known under the name compost.

The wind is not only fun for the tree and the leaves, it is also good for people. My mind and body are completely windy, light and free after some biking in the morning in the wind. I imagine that the leaves feel the same after dancing in the wind the whole night... little tired but happy!

How trees and people are different but still alike

Trees unlike people prefer fewer clothes during wintertime and gets nicely dressed only for spring and summer time. Trees unlike people follow the same fashion every year, so I already know which green color my tree will choose for next year. Trees unlike people stay where they are.

But trees like people need fresh air, light, water and proper nutrition to feel good.

to have or not to have a guidebook ??

I love books, but there is one type of book that I cannot decide if I like or not; guidebooks.

I think that reading in a guidebook while traveling easily takes away to much attention from the experience. Surely its nice to get to know things about the place but there are so many ways. It is of course very nice to know someone on the spot and this way of discovering is not possible when going alone, with or without guidebook. Internet offers lots of information and once there the locals and the tourist office will give good information.

Last year when we went to India, we brought a Lonely planet but actually we hardly didn’t open it. India was so overwhelming itself that I couldn’t also read about it, I was so busy just being there.

Even if I’m sure it will be the same this year, I feel more prepared as I know what is waiting for us there. I wanted to read a bit before and as I’m going once more in a few months, I thought I would get a guidebook.

I went to a second hand shop for books in English and I found a Rough Guide to India. It’s from 2003 but the stuff I’m interested in cannot have changed since then. The book is really detailed and I hesitated quite a lot; do I want or not a guidebook?? - I almost read the whole guidebook while deciding :) Finally I bought it, I decided I can always give it back to the secondhand shop when I don’t want it anymore.

Somehow, those kind of guidebooks is a bit too much for me. They give such detailed information that the traveler will know exactly what will appear around the next corner and then the pleasure and excitement with traveling is going I must say. It feels like they already did the travel for you and you just have to repeat. And it must be better to look at place in real life as it is there in front of us instead of in the book...

Anyway, I now I have my Indian guidebook, it has its temporary place at the table next to my bed and it did already offer some interesting reading. And the more I read, the more I realise that I want to learn about this crazy country and it seems like the guidebook is a good start.

So, maybe I can say that I like guidebooks before and maybe after traveling but not during...

one picture says more than...

Saturday I went with some friends to see the World Press Exhibition and we spent a very nice afternoon traveling in mind visiting different places and people all over the world. The photos were all so different with one common characteristic - they were great, catching precise moments and all the feelings involved!

I think I liked some of the sport photos the most, there were some really cool ones. There were also many great but really scary photos reminding how cruel this world can be and the exhibition also offered some amazing nature photos showing the beauty which is all around us.

It is fascinating how those artists can catch moments so well and make the pictures talk to so many people around the world. If this visit was a scientific experiment, one conclusion could be that Russian, Swedish, Canadian and French people have the same taste when it comes to photos - a clear sign of globalisation even in this matter :) and more or less the same understanding of the world. But to be honest, the test group did not include a fair representative group, (four expat well-educated girls just below the age of 30), so maybe a better conclusion is that we are likely to choose to hang out with people similar to us no matter where they are from...

Anyway, the saying one picture says more than a thousands words proved to be true...

Even if I recommend to see this live instead of on the computer screen, the pictures can be seen at: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=blogsection&id=19&Itemid=223&bandwidth=high

The photos I liked the most for different reasons includes the 1st and the 3rd one in the sport for expressing the exact moments with emotions and action, the 1st in the general news with the Brazilian women with the naked resisting against the police, the 3rd one in the Sport stories for its preciseness. The 1st in Daily Life is a really scary photo with the children watching the killed women.

There are many many more great ones, and I could go on telling about witch ones I liked but check them out your self! and have a look at the schedule if the exhibitions comes close to where you are... Tips, the exhibition is also right now in Copenhagen until 1 November...

musical energies

Earlier this week I went by metro to work, and the man next to me was listening to some very loud aggressive hard rock which I must say disturbed my morning peace at least partly, hehe I'm realising when writing this that I sound a bit old but that is not the point I wanted to make here not now..:)

Instead I wanted to write about how it made me think of how much music is a part of our identity or how we express our identity, how much it influence us and affects our mood and well being and is full of messages. Music is a carrier of memories like a box of forgotten or hidden feelings that appears with the tunes of a special melody. And it is also interesting how music can speak to us even when when we don't know the language of the lyrics

I wonder how this man felt taking out the earplugs.. but maybe it was still better than the other noise pollution in a big city. I don't know. I also wonder what that music told him, what added value it gave him but these are secrets I will not get to know. His facial expression didn't help me to guess

At my yoga I discovered so much beautiful music, perfect for meditation but not only, it's good for almost any occasion (ok, reservation for wild parties..:) and especially for mornings and evenings and stressful moments at work.

To bring some of the peace I found at the yoga with me home I decided to buy a special CD that I learnt to like a lot at the course and at the English part of the website http://www.satnam-versand.de I discovered some other nice sound samples with musical energies that I am enjoying since then. Maybe you will like it too

Precycling

Precycling

Refuse what you don't need
Reduce what you do need
Reuse what you can't reduce
Recycle what you can't reuse

Rebuy (buy recycled) when ever possible

Eco mantra researched by Liv Kaur, New Mexico, USA
http://www.3ho.org/#qom

the details and their role...

Tuesday I went back to Dorottya gallery and while the theme was the same, the exhibition was new. This time it showed "when I was adult.." instead of when "I was young.." and the link between them strengthen the message that we all have the same basic needs. The first exhibition (that I didn't visit) told - "when I was a kid I also had to live of something" It is not hard to guess what it will be for the last one..

when I was adult I also had to live of something

There were some differences between last time and this time.

last time I went for the finissage and this time it was the vernissage
last time it was easy to find by accident and this time I got a bit lost in searching it
last time there was one exhibition and this time another
last time I went alone and this time with several friends
last time the place was empty and this time it was full
last time it was all new to me and this time the artist recognised me
last time I didn't expect anything and this time I did
last time I came from a weekend of yoga and this time from work and critical mass

Both times were good, so similar but still so very different. It is fascinating how different the same situation can appear when only small variables/factors change.


Maybe I'll go there a third time. I wonder how I will experience it then and how the variables will change..?

When I was young I also had to live of something..

Today, walking from Gellert to my place, I came across an art exhibition in the Dorottya gallery: All you can eat 100 forint and I entered by curiosity.

My weekend was concentrated on breathing so I continued with that while enjoying excellent Indian spicy food and homemade energy drink. I was also breathing while watching Simpson in Hungarian and talking with the artist cooking the food and with the man who was documenting the exhibition.

Breathing and eating clearly have something in common. Breathing is needed to survive, and the way we breath will have an impact on how we survive. The same is true for food - eating is also needed to survive and what and how we eat will also have an impact on how we survive.

When I was young I also had to live of something

At the exhibition, all visitors got food full of art and art full of food for the small price of 100 forints (not even 5 kronor, 5o eurocent) - and we all, independent of age, have to live of something, right? and we also have to live for something.

During two weeks, the two young artists are having new exhibitions continuously. One day is vernissage, then finissage the day after and it goes on like that with something new every third day. On Tuesday 19.19, I'll try to go there again for the new exhibition.

the smile of helping

I think if everybody tried to help a little bit more here and there, we would all be happier.. Last week in Holland, a short exchange of help is still causing a big smile whenever it comes to my mind so I'm sharing this little story

the art of stamping a ticket..
Arriving to a new city, my friend had kindly given me very detailed instructions on how to take the tram; where to buy the ticket, how many squares to stamp, where to find tram number 3 etc. It seemed very easy, so I bought my ticket and went to stamp it. The machine only let me stamp 1 square instead of the 3 as I had been instructed. With my mind somewhere else I tried in the same way several times without success.. Anytime I leave Hungary, I take advantage of the situation to speak a little with the people at the street, so I asked the lady standing next to the machine if she knew how to do with my ticket.

the pleasure of helping each other..
She answered with a friendly smile; "Let me see" and placed my ticket very very close to her face and started to feel with the fingers of both hands. Surprised I looked at her, and I realised that she had a white stick and a dog....! With a smile on my mind, I kept on the conversation as it is normal to ask a blind for help in checking details such as weather the tram ticket is correctly stamped or not... and she told me that I should fold it to stamp three squares. It all made sense, I just didn't think of it...:) . I thanked her and she said: "And then maybe you can help me; can you see the entrance??" I looked around and told her "we are standing next to some big glass doors, maybe that can be the entrance you are looking for?" We both smiled very much, said goodbye and split.

Thanks to the help of the other, we were both happy; me to know how to stamp the ticket, and she to know where to go...:)

Isn't it nice to help each other - we shouldn't underestimate who can help. In this case, unexpectedly a blind and a visitor could solve each other's small issues...

Going up the stairs to catch the tram, I started to laugh because the story was so nice and beautiful. The lady next to me looked at me with a smile and I had to tell her the story and we were laughing happily together

What a nice start of mine, hers and most likely also the blind lady's evening..

like a love story..

Today, coming back from Sweden, I fell asleep as usual as soon as the engines of the plane started. Then for some reason I woke up, and half asleep half awake I was listening to the neighbors' conversation for the rest of the flight.

Amazing what you can get to know just sitting next to someone..:)

Budapest - a beauty

There were four Swedish persons apparently going to Budapest for holidays. One of them had been before, and she described the city in such a beautiful way, like someone in love: What to do, what to see, what to try and also what is strange there.

Very positive adjectives accompanied the more factual information describing the baths, the view from the Margit bridge, the thermal baths, the interesting architecture which is in many cases hidden, the sunset over the Buda hills, the Danube, the flowers on the Margit island, etc etc. Of course she also added some historical stories as they are always told to foreigners; the tragic story of loosing big part of the country, the braveness of the Hungarians and how they have suffered throughout history...

Hungarian to know..

She knew Budapest so well, and the girl asked also to learn some useful sentences; The women said with a smile in her voice; "You can always learn köszönöm, kerem egy sőrt, you will not need anything else. You know, probably nobody will speak with you, and even if you try, they are likely not to understand you; it is not just that type of country, but you will get around easily anyhow."

In a love story, you accept the less favorable part of the other as well, often even turning them into something positive. Like; yes, nobody speaks with you, but they also leave you to be how you want to be..

the luck to live here..

I smiled internally, thinking that this lady and I, we have the same understanding of this place. And hearing her vision of Budapest, made me feel happy to be on my way home again after some traveling, even if it means that I cannot use my new winter coat for a while..:)

Again, I realised that I'm lucky to live, at least for a while, in this beautiful city - somehow it compensates for its small mistakes. Today, I even kept the smile when discovering that the sky today is grayer here than the one I left in Sweden a few hours earlier.

Maybe, tonight I'll go to see the view over the Margit bridge..