Rainy night in Budapest

It’s been a rainy day here in Budapest.

The rain is welcome as it seems to freshen the streets and wash away some of the not so pleasant odors. Some of these are part of living beside the market on Vasar Utca. There is activity around the market night and day. There are several recognizable street people that make the market home. The building offers plenty of deep doorways and the chance to earn a few forints unloading a truck. I’m sure the refuse from the market may provide a meal now and then. With all this in mind its still a very cool area, quite diverse. There are new Mercedes parked on the same street with 1970's Russian cars. Small children walk their dogs alone and grandmothers walk to the market.

Vasar means market in Hungarian. The neighborhood businesses think the area will change as soon as the new Metro station opens, sometime in 2034.

On Sunday we walked to the ALDI. It was fun to see a short employee shooting the unwrapped loaves of dark bread into the upper bin like basketballs.

Today is Andrea Karpati’s birthday. We have invited her and Aniko over for a celebration dinner. Lisa was off to ELTE early and I headed to the market to buy fresh local trout, herbs, asparagus and watermelon. The e coli scare in Germany has prompted the vendors to post signs declaring their produce is all Magyar, from Hungary. Everything seems to be in season now; beautiful tomatoes, carrots and melons. The watermelon I bought is for gazpacho. I poached the trout in the oven and we will serve it cold with a favorite horseradish sauce. We found the horseradish by looking at the pictures. Torma is the Hungarian word for horseradish. We know that now. Marcie’s Grandmother would have served torma with the brisket.

We have enjoyed Skyping with Clayton while he was in DeKalb visiting with Dad and Diane and today we Skyped with Merrill and Art while they got dressed for a doctor’s appointment.

We are all reading a book about Jewish life in Hungary from 1937 thru the end of WWII. The story is fascinating but the references to streets and locations make it more interesting. We had dinner last night on Dohany Utca across the street from the Great Synagog. The young couple in the book were married in the courtyard. The book is “Invisible Bridges” by Julie Orringer. Available at fine book stores, if there are any left, and at Amazon.com. The book was recommended by Niece Andrea Corsun, she has excellent taste in books.

More observations…most doors swing in. Believe me it’s confusing. The little metal balls you use to make hot tea are called tea eggs. Marketing bags and baskets vary but the favorite is a a dark wicker basket with a swinging handle. Hungarians either haven’t figured out aluminum foil and other wraps or we Americans are behind the times. Foils and wraps come in bulk rolls and do not include the handy but never working metal saw blade on the lid of the box. The blade that cuts meat better than it cuts aluminum foil. I do remember the metal boxes that sat on kitchen counters with lithograph letters for foil, wax paper and saran. That was probably a better system.

Tomorrow is an ELTE day for tutoring. The party was fun, Aniko brought us a nice bottle of wine and Andrea brought homemade jam.

I’ve been shopping and cooking all day, I’m exhausted. Here is a pic of the party as well as a couple of Budapest classics. The wagon is a Russian Trabant. They look alot like the Volvo 122 Amazons.

The pictures really got mixed up.