The Goulash - Stew or soup?

Pörkölt with Spätzle is not the same as the Hungarian Goulash.

Goulash is traditionally a soup. However, these days, there are two variations: mainly the stew that is thicker and the soup version, which is the true original.

Bograc

The goulash consists of the following key ingredients: Beef cubes, diced onions, vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, spices bay leaf, thyme and ground caraway seeds, seasonings. And the most important spice: the chilli powder (paprika powder).

Goulash is sometimes confused with the pörkölt. Pörkölt is a stew which means the texture is thicker and Hungarian paprika (the vegetable form which is sweet and thin skinned) is added along with tomatoes to create the gravy.

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Very frequently, people who fell in love with this dish asked 'what is the secret?'

It lies in the treatment of the paprika powder! How you handle the paprika is absolutely the key to a good pot of goulash.

First, you must fry diced onions (vöröshagyma) in szalonna which is what we called the 'lard'. Once the onion turns light golden colour, lift up the pan off the fire and quickly add paprika powder. Do not underestimate these steps because paprika powder turns bitter if you directly heat it over the fire instead of the 'hot fat'. See the difference?

A good quality base of this mixture is prepared to coat the beef chunks from fresh and well-exercised slab of beef that has muscles rich in collagen in them. Making this dish fantastic when it is converted to gelatin during the cooking process. Coat the beef chunks well and return the pan to the fire.

Dark Beer Goulash from Beef and Pork with Spaezle - Schalander Hausbrauerei, Berlin

The second secret is adding of tomatoes to this mixture. The Hungarian tomatoes are sweet and these natural juices from the vegetable makes it really delicious.

Mostly, my wife cooks it with veal (calves' meat). Very rarely from pork or lamb though some people do.

The best accompaniment is the Cucumber Salad (uborkasaláta). This salad is made by marinating thinly sliced cucumber and one small clove of garlic in a dash of vinegar. Soaking it in a water mixture with a small teaspoon of sugar. Refrigerate it for about one hour. Finally, topped it with sour cream before serving.

Other than Hungary, in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands and Italy, you can easily find goulash as one of their menu items. Goulash are also enjoyed in the North American and Slavic cuisines.

 (totally yummy!)


funny art


Hugh Jackman in Budapest, Hungary - Lipton Ice Tea commercial BEHIND THE SCENES



Hugh Jackman and the crew shot this commercial for Lipton Ice Tea in Budapest, Hungary. Sites include in Budapest: Egyetem square, Festetics Palace at Pollack Mihály square, Szabadság Bridge, Henszlmann Imre street, Jelen, Margitsziget

And here is the longer, final version of the commercial:



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Walgreens

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Not just limited to Budapest, prescriptions are getting more and more expensive nowadays. With the forints getting weaker, you will find that even to get a flu shot is costing more for the entire family in this winter season. If your family wants a good offer in prescriptions, Walgreens has something worthwhile to consider for your entire family. With $10 a year, your immediate family members like your spouse, any and all of your dependents from age under 22 are included to enjoy benefits under this Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens. Even your pets are included.

 

Basically you enjoy savings on more than 8000 brand-name and also all generic medications. Besides, you get discounts on flu shots, nebulizers, and pet prescriptions. If you have a diabetic member in your family, you can get discounts on diabetic supplies as well. Plus, if you purchase any Walgreens brand products you get bonuses. This bonuses are also extended to you should you be using any of the photo finishing services.

 

If you are interested, you can find Walgreens on Twitter and stay updated by simply clicking on the LIKE button on their Facebook page. Alternatively, you may follow Walgreens on Facebook. This club is particularly useful for any families that lack sufficient drug coverage. There are already 2 million members in this club, it is totally risk free to join. Even if you would like to join as an individual, it cost only $5 per year.

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Dohány street Synagogue

The Dohány Street Synagogue or Great Synagogue (Hungarian: Dohány utcai Zsinagóga/Nagy Zsinagóga, Hebrew: בית הכנסת הגדול של בודפשט‎) in Budapest is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world, after the Temple Emanu-El in New York City. It seats 3,000 people and is a centre of Neolog Judaism.



Synagogue, originally uploaded by zsoolt.

The synagogue is 75m long and 27m wide and was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish style, based chiefly on Muslim models from North Africa and Spain, according to a plan by Ludwig Förster, with interior design partly by Frigyes Feszl. (source: wikipedia)


The Great Synagogue in Dohány Street, also known as the Dohány Synagogue, or the Tabac-Schul, the Yiddish translation of dohány (tobacco), after the Hungarian name of the street, is located in Belváros, the inner city of Pest, in the eastern section of Budapest. It was built between 1854-1859 by the Neolog Jewish community of Pest according to the plans of the Viennese architect Ludwig Foerster. The synagogue neighbors a major Budapest thoroughfare expressing the optimism and the newly elevated status of the Hungarian Jews in the mid years of the 19th century.


Great Synagogue, Dohány Street, Budapest (1859), originally uploaded by sftrajan.

It is a monumental, magnificent synagogue, with a capacity of 2,964 seats (1,492 for men and 1,472 in the women's galleries) making it one of the largest in the world. The building has a length of more than 53 meters while its width has 26.5 meters. The design of the Dohány Street synagogue, while basically in a Moorish style, also features a mixture of Byzantine, Romantic, and Gothic elements.



Dohány utcai zsinagóga, originally uploaded by pasztilla.

The western facade boasts arched windows with stone-carved decorations and brickwork in the heraldic colors of the Budapest: blue, yellow and red. The western main entrance has a stained glass rose window above it. The gateway is flanked on both sides by two polygonal towers with long arched windows and crowned by copper domes with golden ornaments. The towers rise to a height of 43.6 meters each, their decoration features stone carvings of geometric forms and clocks with a diameter of 1.34 meters each. The facade is topped by the Tables of Covenant.


Synagogue, originally uploaded by zsoolt

The synagogue's interior, designed by F. Feszl, has wall surfaces adorned with colored and golden geometric shapes. The Holy Ark is located on the eastern wall, facing the nearby Bimah. The choir-gallery is situated above the Holy Ark, while the women's galleries, supported by steel ornamented poles, are located at the upper levels on both southern and northern sides of the synagogue. During the 1933 renovation works of the synagogue a mikveh was revealed under the Holy Ark.

The 5,000 tube synagogue organ was built in 1859; Franz Liszt and C. Saint-Saens are probably the most famous musicians that played on this remarkable instrument.

M. Friedman, A. Lazarus, Z. Quartin, and M. Abrahamsohn are among the distinguished cantors from the Great Synagogue in Dohány Street that gained world recognition. Theodore Herzl, whose house of birth was located in the vicinity of the synagogue, had his Bar Mitzvah celebrated in this synagogue.

In 1944, the Dohány Street Synagogue was included first in a military district, then in an internment camp for the city Jews. Adolph Eichmann turned it in a concentration point from which the Nazis sent many of the Budapest Jews to their extermination. Over two thousand of those who died in the ghetto from hunger and cold are buried in the courtyard of the synagogue. The synagogue was also used as a shelter, and towards the end of World War 2, the building suffered some severe damage from aerial raids during the battle for the liberation of Budapest.

After World War 2, the damaged structure became again a prayer house for the much-diminished Jewish community. Only in 1991, following the return to democracy in Hungary, the renovation works could start and were completed in 1996 when once again the building was restored to its former beauty.

In 1991 a monument dedicated to the memory of the Hungarian Jews who perished in the Holocaust was installed in the rear courtyard of the synagogue, in a small park named for Raoul Wallenberg. The Holocaust memorial, the work of Imre Varga, resembles a weeping willow whose leaves bear inscriptions with the .names of the victims and boasts the inscription Whose agony is greater than mine. 240 non-Jewish Hungarians "righteous among the nations", who saved Jews during the Holocaust, are inscribed on four large marble plaques. The memorial was made possible by the generous support of the New York based Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian Culture, with funds raised from private donors. The National Jewish Museum (Orszagos Zsido Vallasi es Torteneti Gyujtemeny) is located within the synagogue compound.

Today the Great Synagogue in Dohány Street, for a long time one of the most renowned landmarks of Budapest, is serving as the main synagogue of the local Jewish community as well as a major tourist attraction. (source)

Budapest public transportation followed by GTFS

This unique video shows one day of the Budapest Public Transportation followed by GTFS. Very amazing....:)
 

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Budapest, Tabán in the 1930's

The animation was made by L-Tér informatikai Kft with Bentley Microstation and Descartes softwares.

 
Laundry

UTCA - The Hungarian word for 'STREET'



Arriving in Hungary: You will see this 'UTCA' very often. It is the Hungarian word for 'Street'. As for 'UT', it means 'Road'

Some famous streets you might wish to check out is the Váci utca. It is the Váci street and well-known as a shopping street for the many shops and also restaurants. Brandnames such as Zara, H&M, Mango, ESPRIT, Douglas AG, Swarovski, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Nike. It also leads you to Vörösmarty Square which is a 'MUST-SEE' before the christmas season.


For Budapest fashion, click here

Széchenyi Baths



Szechenyi Baths, originally uploaded by thedays.


History


Széchenyi Thermal Bath - History of the Bath

The Széchenyi Thermal Bath is o­ne of the largest spa complexes in Europe. It's also the first thermal bath of Pest. It owes its existence to Vilmos Zsigmondy, a mining engineer. o­n his initiative, successful deep borings had been performed in the City Park, where later, in 1881 already an "Artesian bath" was in operation. However, this temporary type of bath was meeting the demands of the age less and less, so the Széchenyi Thermal Bath was built in 1913 o­n the basis of plans composed by Gyozo Czigler. The Bath was expanded in 1927 with a public bathing department for gentlemen and ladies and a beach site. In the middle of the 1960s, further transformations took place, including the creation of a group thermal section in bathing suits as well as a daytime outpatient hospital (complex physiotherapy department).

The reconstruction of the pools of the swimming section, their equipment with water filtering and circulation devices was completed in 1999. The so-called fancy bath includes a whirling corridor, underwater effervescence production, neck shower, water beam back massage installed in the sitting banks and many other services. (source)

Szechenyi Baths, Budapest, originally uploaded by ChihPing.



Szechenyi Baths, Budapest, originally uploaded by pretty one day.

Széchenyi Thermal Bath - widened range of services

Wellness Centre in Széchenyi Thermal Bath

Beside the traditional services you may choose from special healing treatments and sporting opportunities in Széchenyi Thermal Bath. Trained intsructors are awaiting our guests with a more complete range of services: fatburning, weight, body-toning gymnastics and aqua aerobic.

Gym - available services includes cardiovascular equipments, elliptical cross-trainer, dumbbells, treadmill, abench, excercise bike with backrest, different types of weight systems and stair climber.

The service fees of the gym, fitness room and aqua aerobic is included in the swimming pool entrance ticket! Our gym is equipped with the most modern professional cardiovascular and strengthening machines. Beside the strengthening and cardiovascular equipments you may find other workout equipments.

Other services: fitness room, infrasauna, thai massage, restaurants and bufets

In the framework of a daytime hospital, complex physio-therapy department
- Healing cure program
- Healing gymnastics for individuals and groups
- Underwater gymnastics
- Weight bath
- Thermal pool bath
- Dry and steam sauna
- Finnish saunas
- Ice-brew machine, shower-barrel
- Carbonic tub-bath treatment
- Tub-bath-treatment
- Salted tub-bath treatment
- Mud-packing
- Underwater water-beam massage
- Medical healing massage
- Refreshing massage
- Healing drink cure
- Swimming instruction
- Foot massage up to knee
- Foot care
- Fitness room
- Fancy bath
- Buffet
- Safe-keeping of garments and valuables
- Roof sun-bath spaces
- Bathing suit rentals
- Fat-burning gymnastics
- Weightlifting gymnastic
- Shaping gymnastics
- Securing the venue of an event, after opening hours, including, o­n demand, the use of baths


Széchenyi baths, originally uploaded by skrivanet.

Accessibility

Széchenyi Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda
H-1146 Budapest, Állatkerti krt. 11.
Telephone: (36-1) 363-3210
Fax: (36-1) 363-3210/123
Manager: Mrs. István Farkas

By public transportation: trolleybus 72 and the millennium underground train.

The thermal bath is situated in the City Park.


IMG_7485, originally uploaded by peterbausoberr.

Travel Packing List - Budapest

Packing List One for Budapest Travel

Packing List

If you scan through photographs of Budapest, you will see that the white snow covering Budapest are simply beautiful.


Prepare Your Packing List
However, it is very important to prepare yourself well for the Winter in Budapest.  Before arrival, your packing list should include some basic items.

Layering Up
One very important tip about handling the cold is with a warm sweater or lightweight fleece. Bring warm and dark colored fleece for layering up. So if you are travelling in autumn over the winter for the first snow, it is a great technique to layer up with another warmer long sleeve t-shirt or blouse for the ladies.

Jeans & Stockings
Jeans are great for winter as they are thick and warm. For ladies, it is important to wear a thick stocking or thighs beneath your jeans. So as for the summer, you can leave your jeans at home as the Budapest summer can be up to 40ºC! Shorts with pockets, which are lightweight, or zip-off legs pants are great. It doubles as swim wear for men at Lake Balaton in Summer travel.

Long Sleeves & Cotton Pants
Shirts and Pants for guys: Go for Cotton/Polyester blend of short/long sleeved shirts. And lightweight cotton pants (or super-lightweight for summer) are ideal as Churches and Basilica visit dress codes.

Swimwear in Winter?
Yes. In the winter, you might still want to explore the thermal baths, bring along your swimwear. For the summer, you can go to the infamous Lake Balaton. The other places where you still can swim in any season are indoor pools within baths or even caves.

Undergarments
Bring as many as 5 sets of underwear and socks if your travel is longer than 2 weeks. It will be wise to do some light laundry to keep your luggage light and fresh throughout the entire journey. So buy some washing detergent.

iPhonelox

iPhonelox is a professional software to unlock any apple products. It is well known that applications provided by apple are limited. You can't use iPhone with all the networks as it is usually limited to some providers in the country that are contracted with Apple.

Unlocking an iPhone seems to be illegal but it's not. You have the right for it but you will lose your warranty for your device. So its not illegal at all.

iPhonelox

When you unlock your phone with iPhonelox it will target the SIM card to allow to reach more networks. When it comes to jail breaking you will be able to download more applications.

Why is iPhonelox useful? Maybe you would prefer an other provider with more benefits for you but Apple is not contracted to this provider. Maybe you want to use much much more applications above the given limit.

iPhonelox's jailbreakme is a great yet user-friendly opportunity if you want to keep your freedom!