Sunday, February 8, 2009

Mangalica and other culinary mishaps

Yesterday, we ventured out to the Mangalica festival, an event that Michael has been excited about for weeks, given his propensity for bacon. This perverse festival celebrates Mangalica - a curly hair hog native to Hungary and the Balkans -by bringing live and cooked Mangalica to Budapest. It was held inside the city park castle area, and it was completely teeming with people. There was stall after stall of Hungaricum crafts and all the best fried food and spirits this country has to offer; and of course, there were pigs roasting on spits and cooked in every form imaginable. So first, we admired the pigs, remarked on how cute they were (especially the babies with their curly locks), and then we proceeded to eat them. The latter step was a mistake, as Michael and I both ended up with the worst stomachaches that lasted until we went to sleep. I think that was my first and last time eating this Magyar pig.

In other culinary disasters, we still haven't been able to find baking powder, but have tried two different alternatives, which were definitely not baking powder. This morning, we had the worst pancakes ever created. Michael went to the store and bought what he thought was baking soda, but it turned out to be "volatile salt" which is ammonia carbonate. This made the entire batch of pancakes smell like ammonia. It was truly horrible. I think I give up on baking here.

Next weekend we are FINALLY getting out of Budapest, and are going to Salzburg, Austria for the weekend, the beautiful city where the Sound of Music was filmed. This will be the first V-day Michael and I have ever been together for.

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