X-mas photos

Snow White is changing...



Martin with the traditional X-mas lunch "makos guba" - poppy seed meal



Anna on X-mas lunch!









Enjoying -20 in the garden with Anna, Martin and Aszu the dog. :)





Jet lag



Agnes' X-mas cookies

Art and Fun

On Thursday I stopped by to see a friend and he invited me to his photo exhibition’s opening at 7:30 pm. His project was Sri Lanka!
I jumped right on it, sounded like a great thing to do and as poor Mike was still at work I went down by myself and I waited for Mike to join me after he was done.

It was in a lovely gallery down on the edge of the Chinese district, the guests were mostly Western people, but I did meet a Singaporean Chinese actress for instance.
I have not known her, but as we hardly ever watch TV I guess it is not a big surprise. : )

There were other photographers, painters…. All kinds of folks and I just kept on talking to new people. And the great extra was the free wine that is actually a special treatment in Sg as it is way overpriced. : )

There was 1 unusual photo about a jungle mountain scene placed on tables; it was 2-3 meters long. Nick used a special technique to take that particular photo, a sort of “montage” using more than 1500 photos.
He took 1500 photos of this mountain meter by meter, like a mosaic. He built a photo out of the small pieces, creating one large mega photo, with incredible details.

If you looked with the magnifying glass you could spot tiny workers harvesting tea leaves dogs running on the villages’ roads ect. It was really great,
I loved it.
They say it costs around 5000 SG (3600 USD) to purchase that single piece.
What a piece of art…?!

Here are some photos:

Christmas Wish for Andrew III. :)

Last Friday on the 4th on Dec, I was thinking to go out and do something, so I checked Esplanade cultural center at the Marina Bay because that huge durian look center has an outside open air stage where they have concerts sometimes free of charge.

I found out that jazz is the music for that might so good enough we headed down there… with some nice California white wine.

The music was so-so, actually we thought we were there for the wrong part, because only 5 members of the group played but we stayed and listened for an hour or two.

Last year on my birthday we had a boat ride over the Singapore River and we saw many floating balls, white balls on the river close to the bay. We understood that those balls carried people’s wishes, but we had no idea how they got the chance to write one them…? We missed the opportunity, oh well…

But this year we were at this open air concert and we saw a girl coming with the same type of balls and this time were jumped on them. We wished to my sister to have a healthy cute little baby, Andrew, whom is going to be born in the beginning of March.
We will be his “God Parents”, not that we would be religious, but my sister likes to think that this part is important for the child. : ) Let it be then!

Singing... but where? Enekles, no de hol?

I'm nowadays try to get down to the gym 3-4 times a week and I have my favorite place, it is nearby, nice, new, clean, so great works out just fine for me.

Mostansag megprobalok lejutni az edzoterembe 3-4x egy heten, mar megvan a kedvenc helyem, szep, uj, tagas, megis kicsi es meg kozel is van, szoval ragyogoan bevalik.

Usually I go in the mornings, one of the reasons is that there are just less people in the gym.But not this time, there were about 6-8 people in the gym including old aunties. (in Sg 'auntie' stands for older ladies and the usage is wildly spread in the country as a legitimate way to address family members, strangers anybody who looks old to you) - here not to mention that once I was even addressed as "auntie" to my friend's kids, I almost go a heard attack!!!
I could not stop complaining to her!

Altalaban reggelente jarok, mert szeretem, ha kevesebben vannak, de ezen jeles alkalommal legalabb voltak lent 6an 8an, beleertve egy idosebb holgyet is.

Kulturalis sokkom azon reszen mar tulestem, hogy 60hoz hajazo holgyek, urak minden gond nelkul jarnak konditeremben, nincs is ezzel semmi gond, csak javukra valhat.
Viszont ez a bizonyos kinai holgy, fuleben i-Poddal, elkezdett majd szopran hangon kinaiul enekelni, vagy tan a kantalas lenne kifejezobb...?

Na most, hat ez meglepett..., de gondoltam, rendben 1-2 percnel nem fogja ezt hosszabban birni, de nagyon nagyot tevedtem. Az egesz hatralevo idom alatt elvezhettem a mesterien kepzett hang hatasat a kis teremben... csak nevettem, es gondoltam, na ezt felirom a blogra. : )

So I am already done with the first cultural shock seeing elderly coming to gym and do their thing, fine, but this this auntie, she had her i-Pod in her ears and she started to sing loudly in Chinese!!!!! in the middle of the gym - every single person heard it, no doubt about that

I thought, alright 1 or 2 min but I was so wrong the "opera singer" just kept singing and singing during my last 30 min.

Have you ever heard tuneless, unmusical Chinese singing?

Magyar lakoma

Szivem dobbant meg a mai vacsoram hallatan. Vikieknel ert a vacsora ma este, amit egyszeruen csak nem tudtam kihagyni.

Today my heart was fluttering as I heard my dinner menu. I was at my friend - Viki's place in the afternoon and the dinner offer just kept me there for a little longer.

A menu:

-igazi aranysarga magyar husleves (magyar cerna tesztaval)/ real golden Hungarian chicken soup
-igazi magyar vekony palacsinta / real Hungarian thin pancakes
-igazi magyar nudli, porcukorral es sargabarack lekvarral / real Hungarian "nudli"







Oh hat a mennyei jelzo nem is eleg ra! Well it was heavenly good!

Annak idejen azt hittem, hogy a noverem terhessege alatt, annyi huslevest voltam kenyszeru enni, hogy eletemben soha tobbe nem kell majd, de tevedtem. Igy egy ev tavlataban, azert ez mar maskepp van.
Egyetlen egyszer sem keszitettem huslevest, az ertheto okbol, de ma este, hat igazan lelekmelegito volt, a finom meleg husleves.

Back in the day I thought I will never eat chicken soup again, as my sister ALWAYS asked for it while she was pregnant. So I thought I ate my fair share for the rest of my life, but I was so wrong about it.
After 1 year I feel a bit different, I have never ever prepared chicken soup since I came to Singapore but today it just felt perfect.


Illetoleg a nudli, hat nem is emlekszem, hogy mikor ettem utoljara... evek teltek el nudli nelkul.

And nudli... I dont even remember when I ate nudli the last time, years ago... for sure.

Bizony azt kell, hogy mondjam, hogy a vilag minden sarkabol van mar receptem, megbirkozom a legtobb kihivassal, azaz egy nap indiait fozok, masnap luisianai fogast, harmad nap pedig japant, de a magyar izek.

I have to say I possess recipes from every corner of the world, I accept the challenge of cooking Indian, Louisianan or even Japanese but the Hungarian flavors...!?
Olyan nosztalgia fogott el, hogy holnapra karfiol leves lesz a menu, borjupaprikassal (tejfollel). nyami... :)

Emlitettem mar...? Imadok fozni!

Such a nostalgic feeling sucked me in, I left Viki's home went into the first shop, and guess what we will have Hungarian food for lunch! Cauliflower soup with sour cream and beef stew with sour cream!!! yummy

Did I mention...? I love to cook!

Catch up

Mindenkinek Nagyon Jó Reggelt kivanok!

Csak életjelet szeretnék adni, hogy jól vagyunk és minden rendben van velünk. Mint mindig Szingapúr elkényeztet bennünket ragyogó idővel, bár néha azt gondolom, hogy a legjobb idő akkor van, amikor mi órán ülünk, igy aztán nem előrehaladott a napbarnitottságunk.

Közhely, de attól még igaz nagyon gyorsan múlik az idő és mához két hétre már utazunk is haza. Bizony be vagyunk sóza, hisz nagyon várnak már minket az otthoniak és nyilván mi is repesünk az örömtől, hogy találkozhatunk. (Ne is emlitsuk Mike utolsó amerikai hazalátogatását)

Mike még két hétig dolgozik főállásban, én pedig óraadóként. Most egy csapat gyerekkel van órám minden nap, szegények szünidős órák ezek és ráadásul 3 órásak! Szegények ez a koreai norma, azaz, hogy a szünidő értékes idő, mely alatt új tudás gyömöszölhető a kis kobakjukba.

Azért megpróbálom elviselhetővé tenni a számukra! :) (például faladtam a “viselkedj rendesen” dirigálásomat! – ugyanis hasztalannak bizonyul)

Egyik újdonság, hogy új barátra találtunk, véletlenül futottam össze egy itteni magyarral, akivel azóta nagyon jó barátságban lettünk. Egy külföldi országban talán még fontosabb, hogy az embernek legyenek baratai, de ráadásul, hogy a saját országodból találkozz valakivel, ez még kivételesebb.

E héten szerét Karen szervezésében részt veszünk az itt élő külföldi hölgyeknek szervezett estén, ez igen kötetlen találkozó, csak beszélgetése pár ital mellett.

A hely ahova megyünk egy igen különleges pontja a városnak, olyan, mintha egy kis falu lenne a város közepén. Annak idején az angolok használták ezt a kis dombot katonai bázisként, de manapság csak éttermek és bárok láncolata van a helyén. Számomra egy gasztronómiai élmény már csak ottani bóklászni is.

Soraimat majd még folytatom…



Good Morning Everyone,

I would like to just let everyone know that we are well and being busy with life. As always Singapore is treating us well with nice weather, although somehow I have this funny feeling that the best weather is at the same time with our classes so our sun tanning is not too developed yet.

Common sense but it is true, time is flying we are only 2 weeks away from our trip to Hungary. Sure enough we are very excited as we have not seen out Hungarian family for 13 months. (Let’s not mention Mike’s last visit to the States)
Mike is still in the school as a full timer and I only have kids class, 3 hours per day. Poor fellows, it is their winter holiday and they are forced to sit in language schools, well this is the Korean way…

I try to help them survive the classes and I gave up on ordering them to behave as I find it completely irrelevant… : )

Other than that I am happy to say that I met a very nice lady accidently, she is Hungarian, living in Singapore for only 5-6 months and we became very good friends! In a foreign country having good friends is maybe even more important but how lucky that is even from my country! : )

We will have a ladies’ night get together this week, Karen our witness is always the organizer, and she is inviting all of her friends to have some drinks and dinner. This time we are going to a very nice place, it is like a small village in the city, the place is called Dempsey Hill.

It used to be an army base for the British but nowadays it is a collection of restaurants and bars offering all kinds of great Western food and beverages. For me it is already a gastronomical adventure just to walk around there. :)

To be continued...

Mike's pre-paternity experience

Sunday, wedding then! Vasarnap, akkor eskuvo!

On the 11th October we were invited to a colleague's wedding. The groom was Steve from Belgium and his fiancee Phen from Indonesia. Here in Singapore we got used to mixed marriages, not to mention that we live in one! :)

But we have all kinds of examples: American with a British Indian, Swedish with Hungarian, Chinese with Canadian Indian (they baby is a complete fun to look at), Norwegian with a Singaporean, Philippine lady with an Afro-American husband, other Hungarian-American couple, guy from Montenegro with a Punjabi Indian Singaporean.... also one of my very best friends in Helsinki, she is Ecuadorian originally and now she is dating an Indian guy.... the world is colorful!!!!

A friend told me, you know in 50 years time there will be more mixed kids in the world than "usual" ones. Well I don't know but certainly that seems to be the ruling tendency here in SG. :)

Anyways All the very best for the married couple!!!!

ps: Their honeymoon will be in Japan, pretty good!






Ok, the explanation of this rabbit face is that couple of days ago we got a sms from a friend saying that our mattress ad is on TV and she saw us. So we jumped in front of the TV and started to follow the "America's next supermodel" program, as were expected the ad being repeated during the commercial break.
Well we did not see ourselves but as we had to watch the show we just got completely puzzled by this girl, she is extremely ..., ahh well not exactly a model type. When her picture came out we were certain she is going to leave the show as the photo is not a big hit as you can see but no NO she stayed in, she will appear on TV next week too. hahaha

So this is Mike's interpretation of her "modeling face".

Monocle's Most Livable Cities Index 2009

City Country 2008

1 Zürich Switzerland (04)
2 Copenhagen Denmark (01)
3 Tokyo Japan (03)
4 Munich Germany (02)
5 Helsinki Finland (05)
6 Stockholm Sweden (07)
7 Vienna Austria (06)
8 Paris France (10)
9 Melbourne Australia (09)
10 Berlin Germany (14)


Since 2007 the lifestyle magazine Monocle publishes an annual list of livable cities.[3] The list in 2009 was named "The Most Livable Cities Index" and presented 25 top locations for quality of life. The winning city in 2007 was Munich, Germany and the 2008 winner was Copenhagen, Denmark.

Important criteria in this non-scientific survey are safety/crime, international connectivity, climate/sunshine, quality of architecture, public transportation, tolerance, Environmental issues and access to nature, urban design, business conditions, pro active policy developments and medical care.

In the 2009 list the subsequent ranks included Honolulu (11.), Madrid (12.), Sydney (13.), Vancouver (14.), Barcelona (15.), Fukuoka (16.), Oslo (17.), Singapore (18.), Montreal (19.), Auckland (20.), Amsterdam (21.), Kyoto (22.), Hamburg (23.), Geneva (24.), Lisbon (25.).

Odd thing

Most weird happened to us 2 days ago, on Monday I believe. Mike and I were out just 5 min far from our place looking for a food court and we saw a tent, the fabric was white maybe yellow but the look resembled a tent from a distance.

It is 100% residential area, blocks of flats, playing kids, old grandmas ect we were curious what that thing could be but as we passed by we were quickly shaken, it was a funeral!!!!!
In the middle of the building estate!!!!
We saw the white coffin and the the photo of the person and most presumably we could have seen the body as well if we step closer!!!
That was pretty shocking, we heard of Chinese odd ceremonies and I guess here you are.

Egy nagyon kulonos dolog tortent ket napja, azt hiszem hetfo este. Mike-kal epp 5 percnyire voltunk a hazunktol, vacsora utan neztunk, mikor is a tavolbol kirajzolodott valamifele sator elottunk. Kivancsiak voltunk, hogy mi lehet az, de ahogy elhaladtunk mellette igen gyorsan ert minket a hidegzuhany. Egy temetes volt!

A lakotelep kozepen, ugy lent az alagsorban. Lattuk a feher koporsot, az elhunyt kepet es valoszinu, hogy lathattuk volna magat az elhunytat is, ha kozelebb mereszkedunk...?
Sokkolo volt, az az igazsag, mert bar hallottunk mar furi kinai szertartasokrol, de most azt hiszem lattunk is egyet!

GLOBAL WARMING! / Globalis felmelegedes!

Rise you hand, who has not heard about it?

You hardly find anyone on Earth; this is the new age propaganda.

On this Saturday morning I was on my way to a NUS seminar, I was on the bus when closing up my book I gazed out from the window and an ad came into my view. It was the newest Global Warming "inspiration". I don’t know if it is local invention or international, but...

The whole bus surface was covered with the ad and there were plenty of animals in the pictures ordering you to stop G.B. by becoming vegetarian! On the back of the bus I read the punch line!!!!

STOP EATING ANIMALS - YOU CAN STOP GLOBAL WARMING!

Is it really donna stop it? Is there really something to stop?

The reason I pick on this ad, because alerted me. I know everybody knows global warming is caused by CO2 emission ect, yes; this is what I had to learn and accept too! Thanks to Mike, I became critical over mass media and truth is general!

I watched a very well made documentary about G.B. couple of months ago and it blew my mind!!! This documentary interviewed absolute professionals to acknowledge the facts of the cliches we listen to and guess what they dare to say, you are lied to!

In August over at a grill party I met an LA girl whose job was to deal with environmental issues but from the business point of view. I was daring to come up with my newly acquired knowledge, see what she’s say, with the simple question “is G.B. a propaganda (because...) ?” I questioned her whole world, right. The funny thing was she did not even answer to me, just kept on asking me back, and trying to understand me: “do you really dare to think that?!!!? These are serious studies, wow you really dare to....” : )

Crazy world we live in, you question the mass media and you are a freak, hmmm ?! Sold, I think I rather take this than... .

With the documentary you basically you get the hint that G.B is just a HUGE HUGE HUGE propaganda, making millions of $ for those who are behind. I was so disturbed back then, when I first faced with it, I was re-arranging my thoughts for days because of this new point of view, and now seeing this ad, I just totally got frustrated.

Funny enough, last night, Mike just begun to say: Oh did you see some of the new bus ads ---- oh sure yeah!!!!

Well I am not trying to convenience anybody; everyone should go after the truth him/herself, and decide but there is something to dig out, just sayin’!!!!

Happy searching:

http://freedocumentaries.org/index.php
http://freedocumentaries.net/
http://www.documentary24.com/
http://freeonlinedocumentary.com/
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/Ice_Age.html

Notes:

*I’d not feel good if I’d not say that documentaries aren’t 100% accurate and not book of Dog, you have to select. We think documentaries are to awake you, make you start thinking!

**Other topics to check on: AIDS – AIDS tests, pharmaceutical companies, evergreen 9/11, Iraq war, banking and debts, African aids, price of the cheap …

***Super size me! – that is a documentary too : )



Globalis felmelegedes!

Tegye fel a kezet az, aki nem hallott rola?

Szerintem alig talalni olyat a Foldon; ez korunk propagandaja.

E szombaton epp uton voltam egy NUS eloadasra, mikor is konyvemet becsukva kibamultam a busz ablakabol, es egy reklam tunt fel. A legujabb Globalis Felmelegedes “sugalmazas”. Nem tudom, hogy ez helyi szulemeny-e vagy nemzetkozi, de minden esetre...

Az egesz buszt betakarta a reklem, egy csomo allat kepe volt fent, amelyek a szoveggel egyutt arra osztonoztek, hogy allitsd meg a globalis felmelegedest azzal, hogy legy vegetarianus. A csattano a busz hatso feluleten volt!!!!

Hus eves stop – Allitsd meg a Globalis Felmelegedest!

Ez tenyleg megallitja? De valojaban van-e valami, amit egyaltalan meg kell, hogy allitsunk?

Az ok, amiert gorcso ala teszem ezt a busz reklamot, az az, hogy annyira megutkoztetett. En tudom, mindenki tudja, hogy a globalis felmelegedes egyik elismert oka a CO2 kibocsatas es a tobbi, igen, korabban en is errol tanultam es ezt hittem! Mike-nak koszonhetoen megtanultam kritikus szemmel merni a tomegmediaban leadott informaciot, az altalanos “igazsagokat”.

Nehany honappal ezelott megneztem egy igen jol elkeszitett dokumentum filmet e temarol es a sarkabol kiforditotta a gondolkodas modomat. A film megszolaltatott abszolut szakmabeli kutatokat, hogy velemenyezzek a koztudott clichéket, lam csak lam, azt mertek mondani, hogy ezek nem igazak!

Augusztusban egy delutani grillezesen talalkoztam egy los angelesi novel, aki kornyezetvedelmi teruleten dolgozik, de az uzleti oldalon tevekenykedik. Elo mertem hozakodni, az akkor, a frissen szerzett tudasommal, hogy lassam, mit szol hozza. Egyszeru kerdesem volt “A globalis felmelegedes igaz, hogy csak egy propaganda (ez es ez folytan...)?”, szimplan megkerdojeleztem az egesz vilagot, amiben o el es mozog. A vicc az, hogy nem is valaszolt, csak azt hajtogatta, hogy te jo eg, en komolyan ezt merem mondani, wao ezek komoly tanulmanyok es en komolyan meg merem kerdojelezni....? : )

Orult egy vilag, ha mast mersz gondolni, mit amit a tomegmedia sugaroz, akkor felnotasnak vagy titulalva?! Legyen, bevallalom...

A film, alapveto indikacio, hogy a globalis felmelegedes egy oriasi, oriasi, oriasi propaganda, tobb milliardos uzlet, amely azoknak kedvez, akik a hatterbol iranyitjak. Eloszor, amikor lattam, annyira felkavart, hogy napokig csak orlodtem a hallottakon, es most latva ezt a busz reklamot, teljesen megrokonyodtem.
Vicces egybeeses, tegnap este Mike pont kerdezte: “ lattad nemelyik buszon az uj reklamot?” – hoo de meg mennyire!!!!

Nem probalok senkit meggyozni, mindenki nezzen az igazsag utan maga, es dontson; a lenyeg, hogy van mi utan kutatni!!!

Boldog keresgelest:

http://freedocumentaries.org/index.php
http://freedocumentaries.net/
http://www.documentary24.com/
http://freeonlinedocumentary.com/
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/Ice_Age.html

Megjegyzes:

*Nem ereznem jol magamat, ha nem tennem hozza, hogy a dok. filmek sem 100%-ig igazak es nem is szentirasok, szelektalni kell. A dokumentum filmek arra valok, hogy felnyissak az ember szemet es arra osztonozzek, hogy gondolkozzon!

** Egyeb temak, melyeket erdemes feszegetni: AIDS – AIDS vizsgalat, gyogyszergyartok, orokzold 9/11 es iraki haboru, bank es adossagok, afrikai segelyek, mi az ara az olcsonak…

*** A Super Size Me is dokumentum film. : )

Home made pasta!!!

In the beginning of the week I was finding my way in one of the supermarkets thinking of something to cook. My ambition was to please Mike as he working a lot nowadays.

Tortellini, ahhaaaa! - the answer came

Mike loves pasta but I moderately cook paste for us as I am afraid of the calories. :) (im never gonna change)
Once it can not hurt I thought, I was just about to buy a package of tortellini, buuut I hesitated for a sec and decided, "no, I'm not gonna buy plastic pasta I'm gonna make my own!"

I have never made pasta myself, but Holy Jamie Oliver assured me, it is easy and tastes great, alright I thought 600g flour and 6 eggs, does not sound racket science to me.

I tried the "old fashion" hand kneading for about 5 min and being spoiled with kitchen aids, I turned to our 70kg beast mixer. It was a joke to our industrial mixer and a nice release for me. :)

Dough done, resting in the fridge... 30min later I started the tortellini preparation.

The first ones honestly looked like a gigantic mammoth model compared to the well known supermarket sized brothers but I test boiled one. After tasting it with Mike he assured me, it is worth the effort, labor some more over that dough and we will have a feast soon.
So that is what I did and an hour later, taddddaaaaaa:








A het elejen a kozert elado polcai kozott tenferegtem azon gondolkozva, hogy mit is fozzek. A fejemben az jart, hogy Mike-nak szeretnek elsodlegesen kedvezni, mert mostanaban olyan sokat dolgozik.

Tortellini, ahaaa! - jott is a magatol erthetodo valasz

Mike imad tesztat enni, de csak ovatosan banok en tesztaval, mert felek a benne levo kaloriaktol ( :) nem valtozom)
Egyszer megsem arthat, gondoltam, es mikor epp nyultam volna a a tortellini csomagert, egy pillanatra megalltam es eltokeltem, "en aztan nem veszek holmi bolti muanyag tesztat, majd csinalok magam!" :)

Soha eletemben nem keszitettem meg tesztat, de Szent Jamie Oliverem biztositott afelol, hogy ez konnyu, mint a karikacsapas es finom is, hat rendben van, gondoltam, 600g liszt 6 tojassal nem tunik olyan ordongosnek.

Kiprobaltam a "retro" kezzel gyurt tesztakeszites otletet, majd ugy 5 perc utan elgondolkoztam, hogy en megis csak el vagyok kenyeztetve egy csepp 70kg-os mixerrel... Akkor mirol is beszelunk?
A "szorny" nevre hallgato kis ipari masineria viccnek se vette 600g lisztem altal ele gorditett nehezseget, pafff 5 peric es meg is volt Jamie tesztaja.

A teszta dedergett egy kicsit a hutoben es kb 30 perc utan nekilattam a tortellini keszitesnek.

Az elsok, oszinten akkorak lettek, mint a mammut valtozatai a boltokbol jol ismert testvereiknek, de teszt-foztem az elsot. Miutan elragcsaltuk Mike-kal, o biztositott arrol, hogy nem hiabavalo szorgalom az, amit ez az ebed kivan, csak folytassam.
Tettem is igy es egy oraval kesobb ez lett az eredmeny.