Trip to Europe (Hungary) Fall 2012...Going Home

(Tuesday, October 23)

After 3 nights in Budapest, it was finally time to go back to LA. I didn’t want to leave!


Koroko and Ryosuke took me to the airport to see me off. They are moving to Moscow in a few weeks, so I want to visit them there next time. I will miss them until then! Koroko gave me the most generous hospitality in this stay and I can’t thank her enough.


The journey back to LA was long but pleasant again, because I got to fly first class. On the Budapest-Frankfurt flight, I had small bites from a light meal of mysterious items.


Flight going back from Frankfurt started with Vegetable spring roll and ginger prawn skewer with chili sauce. It was followed by Wild mushroom and asparagus soup, and Fresh seasonal greens.


For the main course, I normally choose fish, but the choice was tilapia, which I think is a boring fish generally. So, I picked Tenderloin of beef with port wine sauce, fried onions, asparagus-filled pasta, spaetzle, carrots and zucchini. The tenderloin turned out to be very good! To finish, I had cheese and port, then I got too full to do dessert.

Wines were pretty nice, too. I had the following selections.

2006 Nicolas Feuillatte, Champagne Brut
2008 Bouchard Pere & Fils, Beaune du Château 1er Cru Blanc
2009 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac-Medoc, Cru Bourgeois
2009 Paul Jaboulet Aine, Crozes-Hermitage, "Les Jalets"


Before arrival, there was mysterious chicken wrap...

At LAX, Jason came to pick me up. It was so happy to see my most wonderful husband in 2 weeks!

Trip to Europe (Hungary) Fall 2012...Central Market Hall of Budapest

(Monday, October 22)

After lunch, we took a tram for a few stops.


We went to Nagycsarnok (Central Market Hall) of Budapest. It’s the largest indoor market in Budapest and is like a “kitchen” of the local people there. Koroko said that since it was Monday and also a day before the national holiday (“National Day”), there were not as many venders open as on a regular day. Also, the selection of the fresh produce and meat was smaller today.


Nevertheless, I was so excited to check out all the local ingredients. They eat a lot of meat in Hungary, so there were many butchers and salami venders. And, of course, tons of paprika!


We walked around the neighbor area again and did some shopping.


We took a break at a historic café called, CENTRAL. The café is more than 100 years old, and they are famous for a variety of traditional cakes and pastries. I had a tart , it’s made of shortbread, plum jam, poppy seeds, walnuts, apple, steamed in white wine. It was not too sweet and very nice taste.


We also stopped by at another very old bakery and standing bar.


For dinner, we had dinner at home. Koroko put together a very nice meal! We had two Hungarian wines, and a variety of both Hungarian and Japanese dishes. Miso-marinated Hungarian pork was great. What a delicious fun night!

Trip to Europe (Hungary) Fall 2012...Mangalica sausage lunch

(Monday, October 22)

Another super sunny and warm day in Budapest. I’ve been so lucky with weather for the entire travel this time.


We started with the kurtoskalas we picked up yesterday evening. The bread is so popular that I even saw a delivery motorcycle of this Hungary's "national" bread.


We left home in the morning and took a bus to get to the city central.


This is the famous Szent Istvan Basilica. It was breathtaking both outside and inside. “Holy right hand” is the mummified hand of Szent Istvan I (Saint Stephen I) who was the first Christian king of Hungary in 1,000's.


We went up to the top of the cathedral to see the 360-degree view of Budapest.


For lunch, Koroko took me to try “very Hungarian” style street food. On a small street just a short walk away, there were rows of street vendors.


Since I really wanted to try Hungary’s Mangalica pork again, we tried the sausage vender!


I ordered Mangalica and herb sausage. Koroko had the same sausage, but hot dog style. The sausage was huge! The flavor was quite salty, but really good and the texture was perfect. With the sausage, I had local “Hot wine”. It was like a sweet spice wine.

Great experience.