More Than Goulash in Hungary

What is the first thing you think about when you hear about Hungary? Hungarian Goulash, of course! After spending nearly a week in Budapest, I am still not entirely sure what goulash really is! One night we went to a traditional Hungarian restaurant called Kehli where they served us hungarian goulash. It was very similar to beef stew and was served with very small noodles. They had some Hungarian guys playing music on their accordians and violins and we had a wonderful time.

Hungarians like to cook with several common ingredients, I learned. Paprika is very popular and is in shakers at tables just like salt and pepper. They also like to cook in lard and use a lot of pork and onions in their dishes. Sour cream is very common and a lot of soups and dishes I had were cream based. Strudel is popular and they have many flavors with the most common being apple, sour cherry, and poppyseed.

The last night of my conference we went to the most famous (and reportedly most expensive) restaurant in all of Budapest. It is called Gundel. We were a little bit disappointed because the menu was set and the food we were served was not as good as I think the restaurant normally serves. I heard later of the famous Gundel pancakes for dessert, but we were not served those and had some apricot with cream mousse instead. Quite disappointing, but if you are traveling to Budapest and want a nice dinner, I would still give it a try. I am convinced we had bad food because of our very large group.

My favorite place was a little vegetarian restaurant called Vegetarium. It was so yummy! The picture above is of our meal the first day I went there and it was so good I went back for lunch my last day in Budapest. The picture is of the Pumpkin Tacos and Lentil Moussaka. Both were vegan and that is a soy cream sauce on the moussaka. I also had split pea soup which was heavenly and the second time I went had a great chickpea dish with apricots in it and couscous on the side. Yummy! Oh, I almost forgot about the potato pancake we shared as an appetizer, too. It had dill and cheese on it and was mouthwateringly delicious!

I spent most of my time in Budapest, but we did go one day to Vienna, Austria. In Austria my friends and I wandered around a market for a few hours and sampled dried fruits, vegetables stuffed with goat cheese, spinach pie, and an Indian eggplant dish. We then moved on to the famous chocolate Sacher torte. We actually went to the Sacher hotel cafe and had it there. It was divine!

The market in Budapest had a lot of meat and fresh vegetables, but I did sample some yummy fresh yogurt. I just LOVE European yogurt. It is tart and thick and is not bogged down with so much sugar (or artificial sweetener) like we have here in the US. The yogurt in the market was not quite as thick as other European yogurt I have had, but it was yummy.

So that is a tour of the foods I sampled in Hungary and Austria. I ate well and enjoyed every meal!

Labels: hungarian food, market, Tara Gidus, travel

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Didn't Go Hungry In Budapest

I couldn't resist...get it? Not hungry in Hungary? Hehe.

I just got back last night from my trip to Budapest and I had a fabulous time! I had a conference over there and I learned a lot and saw lots of cool sights and ate lots of good food! I always do at these conferences. They took us out to really nice dinners every night and I spent some time in the market, too. I will talk more in tomorrow's blog about all of the culinary adventures I had. I love traveling to other countries that have such unique food with much different food than you can find in the states.

I have attached a few pictures. Both are from the market. One is of me and my friend Keri sitting on a bench in the market eating our bread and cheese that we just bought. There is a cute old Hungarian woman in the picture, too. You can see a bottle of Activia Kefir on the bench, too. My friend Bonnie who took the picture was drinking that. Activia is quite popular over there.

The other picture is of me picking out some pieces of Marzipan candy. I love marzipan and become slightly obsessed with it and brought some back to enjoy.

Tune in tomorrow for more details on the food experiences I had in Hungary (and one day in Vienna, Austria).

Labels: Hungary, Tara Gidus, travel

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Road Trip

Hello again! I have not posted in a week because I was on vacation and freed myself from internet and email. I brought my computer along intending to write posts and keep in touch with my email, but my husband convinced me to really actually take a vacation from work! It was nice to actually be free from the computer.

We traveled to visit friends in the mountains to view the fall colors. Living in Florida, I miss seeing the leaves change and the crisp air. Our first stop was in Cumming, Georgia. Cumming is about an hour north of Atlanta and is a short drive from the mountains. Even though it was rainy, we still had a nice drive and hike around a lake in Unicoi State Park. Since this blog is about food, I will have to mention all of the yummy treats I had. We ate at a fun place in Dahlonega called the Crimson Moon Cafe. I had the Kalamata Greek Salad with falafel added. YUMMY! Our friends cooked dinner that night and we had a great piece of salmon with veggies and brown rice. Nice and healthy. Then we ruined it with a rich piece of homemade tiramisu cake that their neighbor had brought over. My philosophy is life is too short not to have dessert.

We left North Georgia to go to South Carolina then on to Charlotte, North Carolina. Our friends there cooked us some tuna meatballs with pasta and a nice salad of spinach and pears. Who would have ever thought ot make meatballs with fresh tuna instead of ground beef? They were delicious!

We left our friend's house and went on to Asheville. This was our only night in a hotel and not staying with friends, so we had to eat out. What a sacrifice in Asheville. Our lunch was at one of my favorite restaurants, the Laughing Seed Cafe. I visited Asheville several years ago and remember eating there. When a restaurant sticks in your head several years later, you know it was good. The Laughing Seed Cafe is an all vegetarian restaurant with some of the most creative, tasty dishes ever! Our dinner was at a place called Rezaz. I had some yam gnocchi that came with mushrooms and cauliflower and some sauce so incredible I told my husband that if I was at home I would pick up my bowl and lick it clean.

Our last stop was in Tracy City, Tennessee, a small town outside of Chattanooga. Our friends did a lot of the cooking, but we did go to breakfast at the Dutch Maid Bakery that had really good pullapart bread that reminded me of sticky buns growing up.

I hope you enjoyed my culinary highlights of the vacation!

Labels: Tara Gidus, travel

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