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.