Went to aldi and got a thing to put these thingies (plastic spirals) into other things (documents). And a coffee maker that was picked up at Tesco. No more HUF 320 coffee for me.

After all the troubles from the BKV strike, I found some old muffin cup liners in a box, that didn’t match but did the job.

After posting two different lemon muffin recipes on the Hungarian cooking blog my friends and I are running, I decided to actually make some lemon muffins today. That, however, meant that I needed to buy margarine, muffin paper liners and some lemons. No problem, there is a small Tesco nearby, I can hop on tram 21 on the corner, and it drops me off at the Soroksári út Tesco.

Naive thought!

You see, Budapest’s public transport company, affectionately called the fracking BKV, is on day 5 of their indefinite strike.  It has meant some extra income for local taxi companies, and some misery for the rest of the cca. 2 million people who live or work or study in Budapest. It has been nearly impossible to get on the busier buses or trams in rush hour (some buses and trams do run: tram #6 that paired with #4 normally runs every 3 minutes now runs every cca 15-20 minutes, and since the drivers have worked 5 days straight, today they can’t work at all. Some buses that also run at 3-5 minute intervals are now running hourly or so.) Those who do have cars are stuck in a permanent traffic jam.

So no Tesco for me today. There is another store in walking distance that might have the muffin thingies I need, but they cost approximately twice as much as they would at Tesco. Ditto the lemon. So I’m undecided on the muffins, though I know my family would love some.

That said, I will have to venture outside today anyway. I need to buy some lottery tickets, so I can finally win the jackpot and then get a car. So no BKV strike will eat my muffins.

…he was Casanova.

The last two nights Hungary’s public television channel m1 showed Casanova, starring David Tennant, who later became the tenth incarnation of the doctor in Doctor Who, and Peter O’Toole, who shouldn’t need an introduction, as the young and old Casanova.

It was pleasant to watch it, it has always been a favorite of mine – since way before Tennant became Ten. Possibly for the same reason I loved Sherlock Holmes.

…for TP making my evening more bearable with some NCIS and Garfield.

…for finding Russian caviar flavored bread bite snacks.

…for taxi vouchers when the Budapest public transport company is on strike.

…for people I know I can rely on even though we barely know each other, but we have a bond.

…for speaking English and having access to a pile of information that way.

…for someone asking, “Do you have your camera with you?” when a funny thing happens.

So. My ancestors a few generations back, on both sides, were farmers, peasants, etc. They lived from the land. They farmed. Some were independent, landed farmers, others were peasants belonging to a certain landlord, still others had some trade in addition to farming. But all of them had a connection to the soil, to crops and to farm animals.

I’m a city girl. I know concrete and asphalt. I only see soil in pots, and all my attempts of taking care of plants resulted in an awful failure. Just ask my mother-in-law.

Yet, I found a way to keep my farming heritage alive.

I rarely enter giveaways. One reason is that I do not live in North America, but this one giveaway is international. Oh yes.

I found it through Annie’s blog, and I think I like this blog enough to add it to my new and SHINY feedly. It’s by Ciska, and it involves tea, chocolate and a notebook! Oh, and a tea light, too. all so perfect to make my office life a little more pleasant: a tea with coworkers on the roof terrace on the floor during break, something nice to record the daily call/email handled/FUP can really make one’s day a whole lot better!

New position at work.

New sweater (Ok, bought it in 2009, started wearing it in 2010)

New show to watch: NCIS Los Angeles (Thanks, TP, for letting me get addicted.)

New ISP.

New photo challenge.

New challenge: a recipe a week on Konyhamóka. I’ll do it!

Since I would never be able to stick to a photo a day challenge,  I decided to follow a photo a week one. I also decided to start with the first full week. So here is the photo of the week:

I’d much rather not elaborate on the background story, as it involves people at work, but just to say: this photo represents the way the week turned out to be.

A way better picture is to be posted next week.

This has been the greeting of the last few days of 2009: Wishing you a happier 2010.

Now one good thing about 2010 rolling around was that this New Year’s Eve there were no stupid fake glasses made out of the two zeros in the number!

As my dad and I were putting some of the 2000+ books we own on the shelves after painting, I realized that we had a few more Woodhouse and Pratchett books that I had never read. So now it’s time to read them!

OK, so surprisingly, I found a place that sells this precious precious thing:

Not only did I find Dr Pepper in the shop formerly known as Béla Kriszta (that was for about a month 5 years ago), but they sell rootbeer. Yes. You read that correctly. I’m not sure if it was a one time thing or these things will be sold regularly, but I got excited!

While it did snow some over the weekends, the first snow to stay this season came today. Thanks to that, I was late to work: the trams decided not to run. All three of us starting at 10 a.m. live on the same tram line, so all three of us ended up being a few minutes late. Argh, snow!

But… Snow! It was pretty, it was cold, it felt like winter, and did I mention it was pretty?

On the 6th floor, where I work, is a roof terrace kind of thing, that is mostly used by the smokers. Today it was used by us to have small snowball fights. Someone even built a tiny snowman, using a cigarette stub for its nose. I know, I know. It was still funny.

Zsuzsi had a pretty yellow-orange rose that she got for her mother-in-law. To keep it alive, she unwrapped it and we got to enjoy it.

My friend Jucus came over to paint the kitchen yesterday. Jucus and I met in our 4th semester of college and we have been friends ever since.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a 10,000 word essay.

Származási hely: 2009.11.29 Festés

Származási hely: 2009.11.29 Festés

Származási hely: 2009.11.29 Festés

Származási hely: 2009.11.29 Festés Read the rest of this entry »

I remember the days when Christmas sales didn’t start till the first Sunday of Advent, and no one listened to Chrustmas music till after St. Nicholas (Dec 6).

These days, however, Christmas starts around the same time as Day of The Dead (Nov 2). Due to this fact some stores start out November with selling their overstock from last year, some cheap, some pricey. As I ran over to one of the drug stores during my break to get some Kleenexes, I found out that they were selling Christmas ornament decoration sets for HUF 99 – about USD 0.50 or ?0.40. So cheap. The sets include 6 balls, glitter, glue and other shiny ornament pieces.

Trying to be the obnoxious “godparent”, I took two sets over to my friend Jucus and presented them to her in front of her 3-year-old daughter.

You can guess what happened.

Even the cat got a little Christmas spirit. Or at least some glitter.

But the end product was worth it.