Someone asked me how come I and some ofmyothercommenters have various pictures next to our names, while others don’t.
The answer is: we have signed up for a Gravatar and the rest of you haven’t. So click on the link, and head on over to the site, register your email address, and upload your preferred picture! From that point on, all Gravatar using sites will display the user picture you choose, and a lot of sites use Gravatar!
I also added a plugin that will remind my commenters to sign up for Gravatar.
A while ago Christie asked her readers to share photos of some of the comfort foods they get for their kids. Some of our kids are Israeli through and through. We have two from Ukraine and Russia, three from Armenia, and four for whom Hungary is their “home” country–even if Craig wasn’t born there.
Since there are many many people living here who were born in the former Soviet Union, there are lots of shops catering for them, and we go to those places regularly. The curious thing is more the food we get from Hungary. Literally from Hungary. Most of what’s awesome we can’t find here, so it’s me, who buys the confort food whenever I’m in Hungary. Some of our non-Hungarian kids love it, too, especially the Túró Rudi in the first picture.
This is a dessert that we love! It’s sweet, dry cottage cheese covered in chocolate. There are now several variants with fruit jam and then these Guru’s with caramel or dark chocolate filling. There are several brands, but “Pöttyös” is the original. A while ago it was sold in Utah under the brand name “Dotty”, which is the literal translation of “Pöttyös”. The origin of this very Hungarian candy leads back to the Soviet Union, where a slightly different thing was, and still is produced, that was modified to Hungarian taste. When we can’t get the Hungarian stuff, we sometimes buy the Russian ones, though they are not as good, in my opinion.
Two more things that were still in shape to be photographed are the goulash paste and the Pick salami:
I might add that Pick is anything but kosher! It’s made of pork, and some of my kids won’t eat because of that. but others could live on them indefinitely. The “gulyáskrém” comes it two varieties, hot and mild. This one is mild. We use it for a lot of things, from sandwiches to adding it to an actual goulash.
There are a few more things that will come in the second volume when I’m in Hungary in February and do the actual shopping! Things just don’t survive long enough once I get home to get pictures!
Today a miracle happened. Kevin and I found ourselves having some free time together, without kids. Soem of the older boys offered to take the middle kids to a museum, the au pairs hd some fun activity with the littles, and we were just the two of us.
With this sudden freedom came the big question: What should we do? One of the things we decided on was having lunch at the park after my doctor’s appointment. Since it’s Friday and I don’t work on Friday I was wearing one of my new T-shirts and a ¾ length pair of cargo pants. We sat down to eat at the park, and a lady commented that I should dress warmer because it’s winter!
Well, it’s 16°C, that’s like 60°F and not raining… it’s like summer in Irelnd! And I’m not even exaggerating. I remember my summer vacation in Galway when the temperature never went above 17°C for the entire two weeks I was there. Plus, it was raining all the time. Kind of like the weather here right now. Because that is my “summer”, I’m unlikely to feel cold in the winter in this region of Israel. So just enjoying the sunshine and the mild weather and the company of the man I love… is like summer. Summer in the weather, summer in my heart.
You know what a new year means? That the Eurovision Song Contest is coming up! This is about the time when I should become excited about the upcoming Kdam (Israeli pre-selection show), but IBA (Israeli broadcasting authority) decided to cancel Kdam this year.
While I’ll miss my beloved Kdam, Hungary treats me to not only one, but three nights’ worth of pre-selection shows! Twenty songs! That’s a lot! And most of them by A-list Hungarian stars. Even by some, who can sing in English. It’s awful, but true, I quite like two songs that are by artists who are very uncool.
The above channel has the songs nominated for the semifinals, the first of which is airing on Saturday, live. Yes, I’ll be watching, and will have a “good will club” with my friend Andi over MSN. Anyone, who wants to join us is welcome to!
I found this photo on my phone. Taken during my last trip to Budapest, it reminded me of how happy I was when I caught a tram that went to the depot, because it took me a lot closer to my flat than the regular ones. Simple joys of life.
Next week three of my kids have their piano recitals. Actually, these are much like the piano exams I had when I was living in Hungary as a kid. Each of the kids gets a sight reading exercise, and then plays three or four short pieces. When they were younger one recital was done in less than 10 minutes, now it’s between 25 and 30 minutes. There is a panel of teachers from the music school, and they grade their performance, and give the final grade for the semester. Each recital is about two hours long, with the number of kids varying, and there are refreshments while the teachers discuss the grading and fill out the paperwork for the report cards.
One of the things that this particular music school does that I remember doing in Hungary, is that the students have to prepare their own program flyer… by hand. They have to decorate it, and write the program by hand and then it gets scanned and printed in a few copies for the teachers and the audience. I remember doing it as a kid in Hungary, and it was fun. So now between the three kids spending a lot of time on teh piano, they already covered most of the living room in cardstock, coloured pencils, stickers and glitter glue. With creative juices flowing, they are making several programs by hand, and hopefully by the time they actually write the inserts out, they will have decided what they will choose as their optional piece.
Not counting the morning and early afternoon that I wasted with chemo, yesterday was a fabulous day! OK, so I can’t really be all negative about chemo, either, as, you know, it’s the thing that keeps me alive, but hey, it’s still not a pleasant thing, and definitely way worse than the rest of the day. As I wrote yesterday, I was feeling exhausted during most of the morning and afternoon. I slept though most of the chemo, and then slept some at home. My stomach wasn’t well, either, but I had promised Noah a birthday treat, so I pulled myself together and met him at Hungarian Blintzes. Where else?
He and I stayed in TA after dinner, and met up with the rest of the concert-going crew around 8:15 p.m. Doors opened at 8:30, and I agreed to a new friend of mine that we would meet at the venue around the time doors open. My kids were thrilled to meet him! He was super nice with them, too. He mentioned that probably the usual post-concert hang out with Mr. Skaat wouldn’t happen, but I didn’t mind: I was already tired enough, the kids were already star struck enough at that point anyway!
The concert was superb as usual! Mr Skaat looks good in red, too!
I stole the photo from here. There’s more beauty there, and no, I own no rights whatsoever.
Everyone was hungry after the show, and while I was still not feeling too well, the next destination was a burger a place. We were joined by our new friend, and the kids went photo happy. And cheesecake happy. While there Noah got the rest of his birthday presents from the family, and he loved them. Initially he only got clothes that he actually needed, and he was happy and grateful for them. Yesterday he got the wild coloured Converse shoes I bought a year ago in Ireland on clearance, a Kindle Fire from my dad (don’t ask what my dad was doing running around in TA at 1 a.m.) and some other fun things. Yonah surprised him with a lot of chocolate covered raisins, which are quickly disappearing as I’m typing. Let me tell you, he ha some help with that!
So that was yesterday. I slept through most of the day today. I have an awful headache, and all I want to do is sleep more. Which I’ll probably just do.
I remember my father’s first mobile phone. It was slightly bigger and a lot heavier than my current lap top bag. It was more of a status symbol than usable mobile communication device. A few years later he got the first practical mobile, this time the size of a brick, and very expensive.
I bought my first mobile, a Nokia 3210 when I was 18, and used it very rarely. My flat had a landline, and that was mostly sufficient. Then, over the years I got various newer, lighter, prettier and smarter devices to the point where my phone is both prettier and smarter than me!
While sometimes I’d like to be more disconnected, I do apreciate the fact that I can blog while waiting for the concert to begin.
I have been feeling super sleepy the last two days. Whether it has to do with the last two days of regular chemo (hopefully, but unlikely, ever), or the on and off rains of the Israeli winter, or just simply having overdone it in the last few weeks, I’m not sure.
After getting home from the hospital today all I want to do is curl up under a soft, hot blanket with a up of hot chocolate and some music.. but I can’t do that too long, as soon I’l have to shower and shave, and get ready for this: Oh yes, a concert tonight…It *will* be great. It *has to* be great!
And cheesecake happy. While there Noah got the rest of his birthday presents from the family, and he loved them. Initially he only got clothes that he actually needed, and he was happy and grateful for them. Yesterday he got the wild coloured Converse shoes I bought a year ago in Ireland on clearance, a Kindle Fire from my dad (don’t ask what my dad was doing running around in TA at 1 a.m.) and some other fun things. Yonah surprised him with a lot of chocolate covered raisins, which are quickly disappearing as I’m typing. Let me tell you, he ha some help with that!
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