From cathedra to a wedding / Katedráról esküvőre

Well, a lot of things have happened during the past month. I started working ( which means I became a mother 150 undergraduates in a blink of an eye), I was a photographer at an amazing wedding, and fall has arrived.

Even though I work only 2 or 3 days a week, work has been very tiring - but also rewarding and full of achievements - lately. I got more than 150 students, 70 of whom are Chinese. Yup. I leave you here for a second.

Besides struggling with our cultural differences and with getting myself understood, I really enjoy working with them. It's a challenge. A huge one, to be honest.

I also have students from Syria, Pakistan, Tunisia and Portugal, which means I am finally able to practice my English. Hurray! And I have to admit something: I fucking enjoy this.

If worrying about my new job wasn't enough, I have been invited to take photos at a wedding. I was nervous, I could not eat, I could not sleep, and I almost lost my bag and gear, but I made it. And some pictures came out quite amazing. This is the first time that I post any picture of the wedding, so I hope you are all feeling very special now.

Fall has also arrived, and today I harvested the quinces. They look amazing, but I am afraid most of them will have "little" surprise worms inside, as always. Anyways, if some of them actually turn out to be good, I will make some homemade quince liquor, and some apple-quince juice for my father. So fingers crossed (I haven't tried any of them yet). And look at the grass! Isn't it amazing?

Welcome to Ancient Rome ( in our backyard)! / Isten hozott az ókori Rómában ( a hátsó udvarunkon)!

Back in the day when we bought the house, we used to have a stone wall that held our iron gates. It was robust, beautiful, and as a result of its non-existing foundation, it looked like the leaning tower of Pisa. As it was dangerous to any pedestrian passing by our house, we had to have it teared down - which means we ended up with two huuuuge piles of bricks. We have been wondering for months what to do with them - as in the meantime, we had built a concrete wall instead of the brick one.

The front of the house with the brick wall, 1 year ago

After months of thinking and planning, we have decided to replace the ugly and disgusting slate wall at the back of the house with a "new" nice brick wall, made out of our 100 year old bricks. And the result? AMAZINGNESS!

                         

The back of the house, 1 year ago

The back of the house, 1 month ago

The back of the house, yesterday

Obviously, there's still a lot to do with the backyard, but now that it's starting to shape, I love the house even more. Happiness is Harta :)

New job, new hair / Új munka, új haj

I've been chasing local hairdressers lately. None of them answered the phone - they must be crazy busy nowadays... Anyway, I decided to take things - in this case, a pair of scissors - into my own hands, watched couple of youtube videos, and cut it for myself. I know it could've been nicer, and could've been more even, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result, so it's fine. And it was for free :)

The reason I wanted to have my hair cut is because it is a kinda ritual for me every time I get a new job. And so I did!!! I'm starting next Tuesday, and I'm already pretty excited about it. So new hair, new job, and a new chapter in my life. Life is great. So is my hair :)

Saci goes to the Olympics

Peter and I have started preparing Saci for the 400 meter relay of the next Olympics. She is very determined, her only condition is that she has to be the last team member to run. The reason for that is that while she is pretty good at getting and running with the relay baton, she is not very good at giving it to anyone.

Go Saci, go! We ♥ you!

(This is a picture of her after an exhausting practice)

Lavender syrup and the story of the growing grass / Levendula szörp és a növekvő fű története

As a good atheist, I have been praying for cold weather and rain ever since I planted the hayseed in the little area in between the lavender bushes. And tadaaaaa... The weather is quite chilly, 13-15 C in the mornings, and around 25-27 C in the afternoons. Last week I had the feeling that our yard will look like a Sahara landscape by now ... instead, we now have little grasslings ( I have a feeling that this word does not exist at all) all over the place already:

I also had to cut the lavenders, which means I ended up with a pretty big bouquet of amazing lavender flowers. I already put some lavender into my cherry plum jellies, but I have never used the flowers by themselves, so I decided to make some fragrant, pink-purple jars of lavender syrup.

I read somewhere that the syrup loses its purpleness after heating ... and so it did. Nevertheless, I now have 15x200 ml jars of lavender-awesomeness, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result, doesn't matter if it's pink, golden or whatnot.

To make the syrup, soak 30 g lavender into 1,5 liters of water, and make sure that the little purple guys are all covered by water. Let them soak for at least 1, preferably 2 days, strain and add 1,5 teaspoon of citric acid, and 1,5 kilos of white sugar. Wait until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil and let it bubble-boil for 4-5 mins. Pour the syrup into sterilized jars, and if you don't have a cool preserving and sterilizing machine than I do, keep it in the fridge for up to 1 year.

Fresh start and a bombed backyard / Újrakezdés és egy szétbombázott udvar

It's been a while since my last blog entry. Lot of things has happened in the past couple of months, some of them were extremely heartwarming, some, extremely heartbreaking.

In March, I lost my beloved grandma, who taught me that the joy of cooking and eating is an indispensable part of a happy and long life. Her favorite cookbook and rolling pin are now the jewels of my kitchen, and remind me to keep rolling, and enjoy life as much as possible.

To begin with, Peter and I have started the reconstruction of our back and front yards. There were times not too long ago, when the yard looked like a bombing site, then a landing site on the Moon, then, like a swimming pool. Fortunately, the local experts we hired did an amazing job, and the area in front of, next to, and behind the house is finally starting to look like it is in a civilized country. The paving is finished, all we need is some soil to fill the gaps, and some rain to trigger the hayseed to grow.

Last week, the  three of us took a trip to one of the most famous lavender nurseries in the country, from where we came home with 20 pots of beautiful, fragrant lavender. So yeah, by far, everything goes as planned.

Except...well yeah, except my work on finishing my dissertation. I know it's a weak excuse that the daily activities  - canning, the garden, Saci, cooking and painting stuff - consume all my energy, but they fucking do. So by far, content done: 2%. Damn.

                                             

Traditional Hungarian Buns - Cocoa rolls

This weekend I decided to bake some good old fashioned Hungarian cocoa buns.

They are called "kalács" ( calatsch), and they typically involve some yeast, simple flour, eggs and butter or lard. Imagine something super soft that melts in your mouth and is usually stuffed with jam, cottage cheese or nuts. Yeah, they are awesome.

Cocoa buns, rolls - or how we call them, cocoa snails - are by far the most popular buns (or scones) in Hungary. They are an inevitable part of the elementary school years, as they are one of the most beloved breakfasts of kids. They are sold in every bakery (and we have a lot of them here in Hungary), but surprisingly, it is quite hard to find proper cocoa rolls nowadays. The filling usually consists of butter, cocoa powder and caster sugar, but I decided to add some home made apricot jam as well. And what a great choice it was!

For the dough (original recipe here) :

500 g flour

3 tbsp sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2,5 g fresh yeast ( or a tablespoon of active dry yeast)

a pinch of salt

250 ml lukewarm milk

100 g melted butter

For the filling:

50 g melted butter
cocoa powder
caster sugar

apricot jam (optional)

Combine all ingredients for the dough until it forms a nice and soft ball. Knead it for 5 minutes, then let it sit for about an hour, or until doubled in size. After rising, put the dough on a floured surface and roll it to form a 30x40 centimeter rectangle around half a centimeters thick. Grease it with the melted butter, then spread a thin layer of apricot jam on top of the butter. Cover it with a thick layer of sifted cocoa powder and caster sugar, then, starting with a long end, roll the dough into a log and cut it into 2 cm slices. Place the buns in a pan covered with parchment paper, and let them rise for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Once the oven is warm, put the buns in and bake them for 20 minutes. Right after removing them from the oven, pour the mixture of 200ml of warm milk and a package of vanilla sugar on top - this will make them super soft, then sprinkle the buns with caster sugar. Enjoy! :-)

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