an amazing weekend in Budapest

So this was one of my first weekends in Budapest for a few weeks in which I wasn't either sick or busy with obligations. So Lyla and I planned a lovely one. It started out on Thursday evening when we went to our friend Magda's home for dinner, drinks, and great conversation about our funny expat lives.

sleepy Bencelita emerges from her peanut butter jar bed

On Friday after work I headed back to Avicenna, where I happily got some lessons. I taught some funny kids about auxiliary verbs with the background of graphology. I tooled home on my bike and then headed out to see District 9 with some friends, which was a great movie, if quite heavy and violent. It was just splendidly executed (and apparently with almost no budget) and a new and interesting take on the whole "alien" concept. After the movie we grabbed a few drinks and chatted about our jobs, laughing a lot and coughing from the crazy smoke.

Saturday Lyla and I went to the Palace of Wonders with Balint, Mate, and Laci. We played with the various science experiments and games of skill. The boys got caught up repeatedly in male competitiveness with balance competitions, reaction time testers, running trials. Lyla and I laughed at them and blew bubbles and smacked up the games that tested patience.

Mate trying to balance while staring at moving lines.

Laci gets ready to knock Balint off the balance-testing machine.

After arriving home we cooked an amazing dinner. I made squash soup and Mexican bread pudding. Recipes to follow:

Butternut Squash Soup
1 large shallot, finely diced+parsley+basil+cinnamon+curry powder, cooked in a bit of oil
1 liter chicken broth
1/2 medium butternut squash, cooked and diced
blend all the ingredients together
add about a cup of cooking cream, blend together
add salt, butter, garlic to taste
serve with seasoned croutons

Mexican bread pudding
2 cups of water, 1 and 1/2 cups sugar, lots of cinnamon-- bring to a boil, simmer to a syrup
melt 2 tablespoons of butter, melt in
add hearty splash of rum, stir
add 1/2 loaf of diced toast, handful of golden raisins, handful of large diced plums, stir well
pour into a well-oiled pan, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes
serve with a splash of heavy cream


Today we spent the day wandering the city's touristic sites with some Polish house guests and relaxing with season 3 of Dexter.

Bencelita with Dagmara

St. Stephen's square

the Holocaust memorial near the river

a pretty building near freedom square