it's been a while.

so. let's be perfectly honest. keeping this thing updated? not something that i'm great at. in the next days and weeks and months, i will try my darndest to post more often and to hopefully catch up on all the wonderful places i've traveled to and all the amazing things i've seen.

with that said, here are some photos from our trip to vienna a few weeks ago. we went to celebrate lydia's 21st birthday in style and (of course) to experience the culture, history, and beauty of this wonderfully vibrant city.
among our many adventures we...
-paid 3 euros for standing-room tickets to the state opera house. it was mighty warm standing amongst the other opera enthusiasts (i'd like to think, the most extreme out of all those in the audience...who else would STAND for a two hour opera but those who are truly hard core?) in the cozy, non-airconditioned balcony but the performance was worth the sweat and the sore feet.
-enjoyed deliciously giant "slices" of pizza from road-side stands. viennese "slices" are actually quarters of a pizza. who knew?
-spent time at the Belvedere palace and saw many a Monet, Degas, Manet, and a room full of Gustav Klimt after marveling at the beauty of the architecture and grounds of the palace itself.
-sipped on delicious wine at one of the many wine gardens throughout the city.
-rented bikes and went exploring the sunny, cobblestoned streets. We strumbled upon green parks and giant cathedrals and ancient roman ruins.
-walked up a giant hill to our hostel many, many times. ok, maybe 5 times total, but that hill was HUGE.
-missed our bus back to Budapest and spent the night in a classy mc donalds before catching a train back home at 5:35 in the morning. a life experience, really.


the trip was wonderful. here are a few photos. enjoy!

delicious and.... not.

for those of you who are also apart of "since you've been gone," this is a repeat. my b, yo. my b.
...


when traveling to far-off, foreign lands you must be open to new experiences or, some may say, new "opportnities". while the four of us have been in budapest, our hungarian instructor kati has been an incredible tour guide and general source of helpful information. for things like grocery shopping, buying the best and most inexpensive champagne and finding the most delicious restaurants in the city, kati is the woman to know. this past weekend, kati decided to share one of her favorite childhood foods with the calvin group. this childhood fave is, what jenna likes to call, "meat spread." mmmm. delicious. let me explain. this non-vegetarian-friendly "treat" consists of ultra-lean, double-ground, soaked-in-oil-over-multiple-days beef. mixed with the beef is one raw egg, a chunk-o-butter, worstershire sauce, yellow mustard, chopped onion, paprika, salt and pepper. mix it all together and you got one giant chunk of raw meat spread. spread on toast and enjoy.

here's a few visuals to help understand.







on the other hand....
kati also brought a vegetarian dish for the non-meat eaters to try. it was delicious.

here is the recipe:

lentil and mushroom au gratin

ingredients for 4-5 people:
-70-80 dkg mushrooms (yup, decagrams....deal)
-50 dkg red lentils
-3 medium sized onions
-2 cloves of garlic
-1 bunch of parsley
-1 carrot
-a stalk of celery
-salt, pepper, 2 bayleaves (optional)
-oil
-grated cheese (parmesan is best but any other hard cheese will do)

cook the lentils with the carros, celery, garlic, 1 chopped onion, bayleaves in 2-2.5 portions of water until tender. season it and add some more water if needed. when tender, mash the carrot, celery and onion with a fork and remove the bayleaves.

chop 2 onions, saute in hot oil. add chopped mushrooms and chopped parsley. season and cook until liquid evaporates (or, drain some liquid from the pan after the mushrooms have softened).

oil or butter a skillet (baking tin), spread one layer of lentils (half of them), add the mushrooms, finish with the other half of lentils. add the grated cheese and bake in a preheated oven until cheese is golden brown.

jo etvagyat! (ENJOY!)

.....it really is very delicious. try it.