Poo-free

It has been one week, three washes.  And no poo.

Months ago I read an article posted on Facebook about using baking soda and apple cider vinegar to wash and condition hair.  Right away this appealed to me.  I like the idea of DIY.  I like the idea of thumbing my nose at the chemical beauty industry.  I have had a series of ah-ha moments about things I have been sold.  Boxed macaroni and cheese.  Peanut butter in a jar.  This is one more in that batch.  

I mixed 1 tablespoon of baking soda with enough water to make it liquid.  Then I dumped it on my scalp and gave myself a first-rate massage.  Very granular.  Bubbles are overrated.  Then rinsed.  Then I poured a apple cider vinegar mix on my scalp and ran my fingers through my hair from roots to tips--tangles melted away.  I used 1 tablespoon vinegar and three tablespoons water.  Done.

Number of compliments on my hair from people who did not know about my my lack of poo:  2.

Someone do the math:  number of shampoo and conditioner bottles made and put into landfills.  Not to mention the chemicals produced and rubbed into your scalp.  Not to mention the cost to transport all the raw materials to the poo factories and then transport them to the store and then transport them to the landfill.  

I love DIY.  That doesn't mean I embrace the lifestyle.  I admit that I have colored my hair for around 15 years now.  The baking soda seemed to strip the color from my grey roots.  The vinegar rinse, on the other hand, seemed to brighten my colored hair.  So.  This experience has convinced me that it is time to ditch the dye and embrace the natural color of my hair, whatever that may be.  

Curtain

Saturday, 23 February, 19:00. We will perform István Örkény's In Our Time and Ernő Szép's Kávécsarnok in one piece. 

Cast:
Alajos..............Stefan Schwach
Alizka..............Serafina Anttila
Egy vendég......Nicky Burt
Fanny..............Janet Kelley
Magda..............Nina Leeke
Rozi.................Florina Illés

Directed by Anikó Kelemen

If girls can wear pants, why can't boys wear dresses?

I have been instructed by our nursery school teacher that my 3.5 year-old child, who has boy parts, should wear boy clothes and not come in dresses. I am pretty sure one teacher told me that it would cause "problems" for him later in life. (Perhaps I didn't understand the Hungarian. I could swear that she said it might even cause dyslexia!!??) The other teacher said it would cause confusion in the classroom for the other boys. Thoughts? I have LOTS of thoughts about this issue, but don't want to color your responses. I would love to hear your responses, experiences, etc.

First Words

On the way to nursery school today I was telling Iza about her birth.  Tomorrow is her fifth birthday and she was thrilled to hear that she was born during a snowstorm.  Then she asked me what her first word was.  I was able to answer with full confidence, Ball.  Leo then asked what his first word was.  And, well, I had no idea.  A blank.  So I said that his first word was Tata.  "No, mama," he laughed.  I remember.  It was, Iza!"

New Year's Day Menu 2013

French Meat Pie
by Sister M. Concepta Mermis

31/2 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef

I managed to purchase .6 kilo pork and .6 kilo beef at the large market this year.

2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. celery salt
1 c. dry bread crumbs (or more)
1 onion

After cooking the meat with two small onions, I measured it and found that I had 8 cups of meat.  I roughly estimated that I started with half the amount of meat called for in the recipe.  So I divided the meat into 4-cup amounts.  For the French pie I added a bit less than half the prescribed spices.  Omitting celery salt because I couldn't manage to find it.  Instead I food-processed a stalk of celery and cooked it with the meat.  For the Hungarian pie I omitted the cinnamon and cloves and added 1 teaspoon paprika and 1 minced clove garlic.  

Cook meat and 1 onion in water to cover meat, simmer about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Remove onion and discard. Set aside to cool.

Skim off grease (use to make pastry). Add bread crumbs and seasonings.  Put meat mixture into pastry shell, top with crust. Slit the top of the crust to allow steam to escape. Bake on cookie sheet or foil in case the pie bubbles over. Bake about 35 minutes or until brown in 400 degree oven. Let stand about thirty minutes before serving.

I have never yet managed to make a decent pie crust and usually buy store-bought shells.  I could only find phyllo dough.  So.....this year it will be meat strudel!  I added a lot more than one cup of bread crumbs to eat mixture because I feared that that strudel could not handle too much liquid.  It was deemed more elegant than a pie and tasted not unlike an Cornish pasty without the vegetables.  

Search my blog for "meat pies" to see how I cooked this in previous years.

Christmas 2012

This was our first Christmas in Budapest at our new apartment.  Grandma lives with us and the entire Christmas feast was in  her hands.

A lovely snow fell on the city on the 23rd, setting the Christmas scene.

Christmas here, at least for our family, is celebrated on Christmas Eve.  That morning Laszlo took the kids out to see a children's movie.  This gave me time to wrap the gifts.  It was a modest selection this year by design and due to lack of time.  We have all been sick for most of December and Laszlo as in America. There was little time to shop.  I did make a last-minute trip to the WAMP, a Hungarian Design Market.  I made a pass through the market but was a bit overwhelmed at the options. So I headed back to the nearby mall.  The mall, however, was filled with junk.  The usual mass-market, made of toxic chemicals, shipped around the world, disney-themed stuff of the toy store.  I dashed back to the design marked and made a few lovely purchases just as the market closed the day before Christmas Eve.

In the afternoon I took the kids down the block to our local church for what was advertised as a nativity. I am sure it was lovely.  But I can't report for sure because we arrived thirty minutes late and heard a few hymns but spied not one shepherd.  The kids didn't seem to mind and we explored the church until the priest had locked the front doors and started to turn off the lights.

I led the kids to a local grocery store to buy yogurt, but lo-and-behold it was closed.  Everything was closed. Luckily the hotel on the corner was open and we took our time riding the elevator, searching for the hotel swimming pool, and finally crossing and recrossing the pedestrian bridge over the main street. We found a drink of water.  Used the bathrooms.  Had a minor tantrum.  Finally, I got the call.

The angels had arrived at the house.

We returned.  The angels had dropped some candies along the hallway and lit candles making a trail to the tree and all the gifts.  Wrapping paper exploded.  The kids could read all our names and distribute the packages.  Grandma Kelley and family were in attendance via Skype.  Daniel visited virtually as well.  Not to mention Livi.  It was a cozy family gathering around the glow of the laptops.

Dinner was stuffed cabbage.  It turns out that nagymama does not add tomato paste to her dish, which I believe I did last year.  She also refrains from adding extra sausage or other add-ins.  Simple, tasty, and not too cabbagy.  Champagne and szaloncukor rounded out the evening.  I bought the handmade szaloncukor chocolates from the Aztek Choxolat Cafe, a favorite spot of mine from our days on Semmelweiss utca.

One Billion Rising: Budapest

Hello, Budapest friends, I was wondering if you might want to be involved with a project that raises awareness about violence against woman.

Hunter Roberts, an American living in Budapest, would like to organize a local Budapest event as part of the worldwide One Billion Rising campaign. Here is the link:

http://onebillionrising.org/

Eve Ensler is a well-known activist in America who works to end violence against women and girls. I have worked on her campaigns in the past.

We plan to meet this coming Wednesday, the 19th. If you are interested, send me a private message or comment below.

Epic Party

Kedves x,

Most, hogy elkezdtük be- és el-rendezni budapesti életünket, arra gondoltunk, hogy folytatjuk egy kedvenc Bostoni hagyományunk, és meghívjuk a barátainkat, kedves ismerőseinket egy kellemes estére.

Ráadásul azt is fontosnak tartjuk, hogy megismertessünk olyan értékeket, amelyekről nem biztos, hogy eleget tudtok. Így lesz ez most is. Csíkszeredai barátom Részegh Botond elhozza legújabb festményeit, Dragomán György részelteket olvas fel a Botond képeihez írott novellájából, Palya Beát pedig talán ezekből inspirálódva hallhatjuk majd.

Ha lenne kedvetek velünk és barátainkkal tölteni egy estét, gyertek el November 24-én 19.00-tól.


Várunk szeretettel,
László, Janet, Iza es Leo.


PS. Kérlek jelezzétek, hogy el tudtok-e jönni.

Thanksgiving 2012

Cancelled.

phew.

instead:  mama drinking mulled wine, then pinot noir at local cafe.  tata putting kids to bed.  mama blogging and attending to email correspondence.  eavesdropping on an ESL discussion between two middle-aged psychologists on a date. they are jotting notes on a shared napkin.  He is German, ya.

Pink Martini is playing on the radio.

grandma made kolbasz (sausage) and mashed potatoes for dinner.

thanks indeed.  i'll take it.

Theater Project

Hello, All!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We rehearsed today and decided to change our schedule.  Please give us your feedback about the following dates:

Tuesday, Nov. 27, 5 - 7 pm, at Ulysses Language School.  Characters needed:  Alajos, Franny, and Rozi.

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 5 - 7 pm, at Janet's.  All characters needed

Monday, Dec. 10, 5 - 7 pm, at Janet's.  All characters needed.  ****This date is changed to Monday because Aniko is not able to come on that Tuesday.  We could do it Monday with her OR meet on Tuesday without her.

Tuesday, Dec. 18, 5 - 7, at Janet's. All Characters needed.

Saturday, Dec. 22, 7 pm  THE SHOW!


thanks,

janet