Jo Reggelt! (means Good morning! in Hungarian)

Got up pretty late today after a tiring trip to Budapest yesterday (will blog more on that later!). This is my brunch for the day.

Leftover fried rice & tiny portion of leftover stirfried chicken&potatoes.

Team dinner

Today, my manager here invited me over for a dinner at Calico Jack, which according to them is one of the best restaurant in Hungary that serves great food! The best part is that the restaurant is within walking distance from my apartment, so I took a 15 minutes walk there.

This is how it looks like from the outside. It is actually built to look like a ship.In the interior there's a lot of pirates decor, and on the top floor, there's even a big steering wheel or helm on the "ship", with a Captain Jack lookalike figurine. Too bad I could not take any photographs since the top floor was closed.

This is the rustic looking menu that resembles a treasure chest,perhaps? :P

The drink I ordered, the lemonade. Love the lemonade here, it's a mixture of lemon and orange slices with fizzy water! So refreshing!

I ordered a soup as entree. This is Norwegian crab soup with salmon. It tasted sooo good!! I simply love to eat fish!!!

Of course, the next on the menu is a must have for any Hungarian events, so Palinka it is. (Palinka is a popular Hungarian brew made from fruit juices, basically if you can make jams with it, you can make Palinka!) . This time the Palinka I took is made of pear and I took 1 shot of it..To me it tasted very much like Tequila..surprisingly, I kind of like it! haha! For your information, this drink contains at least 45% alcohol!!

Lastly, my dessert of the day. I did not plan to order this, but my manager insisted that I should try as it is a Hungarian specialty..and the mere mention of the word "chocolate" made me changed my mind quickly! haha..And this is soooooo gooodd!!!It's a sponge cake topped with warm chocolate melts with a hint of rum, together with whipped cream on the side! Soooo fattening but it's too delicious and too hard too resist!!

Alright, you must be wondering what happened to the main course right?? Hahha, actually I have forgotten to take a picture of it! I must be too hungry then! :P Anyway I ordered a pork dish. Basically it was fried pork with breadcrumbs stuffed with bacon and cheese, with potatoes and onions as side. This was yummy too!!!

In conclusion, two thumbs up for this restaurant!! hehe

Finally, a group photo!!! :)..I learnt to say "yum seng" in Hungarian but it was too long for me to remember! haha

After the meal, I walked back home again..A good exercise as I was too stuffed!! I need to shed off some weight too!!

When I reached home, I decided to cook some rice for tomorrow's lunch consumption.

And this is what happened... :(

My burnt rice!! :( A failed attempt to cook rice with my microwave oven..sigh. In my previous attempt, I added too much water and my cooked rice became too soggy. This time around, I reduced the amount of water slightly, but now all I got is this overburnt rice!! Gosh, I really need to improvise my rice cooking formula! Anyway, my shipment is still stuck at the customs at Budapest..and I'm highly anticipating my rice cooker!! When can I get it?? sigh...

HK trip with parents-Outdated post

On 9th to 13th March 2011, I was lucky to be able to explore Hong Kong and Macau with my parents. Myself as the tour guide, this is a diary of our experiences in HK as a reminder to myself. I'll be back one day, for sure :)...Overall, it's an enjoyable trip although tiring at times. I hope my parents enjoyed it as much as I do too...This is a brief account on what we did in HK.,

Day 1 :Bound for HK..in the flight with mom and dad :)


Our Hotel Room, YMCA Salisbury Tsim Tsa Tsui..a highly recommended stay!!


Day 2: Macau, here we come!!
We took a Ferry from the China-Macau Ferry Terminal.


Enjoying the Portuguese Egg Tart outside Koi Kei Bakery. We have bought many boxes of the yummylicious almond cookies too, a popular snack here.


A must visit in Macau is none other than the many casinoes that dotted the area. Reminded me of Las Vegas.


Day 3: We're at Ngong Ping 360 Deg Cable Car ride!. Heading towards the big Buddha statue at Tung Chung.


After climbing so many steps upwards, we manage to reach the top of the Buddha statue! Good job to mom and dad!


Again, my landmark jump! hehe..


After we got down from the cable car, we managed to do some shopping at the Outlet Mall at Ngong Ping called Citigates mall.


At night, we decided to stop by Mongkok. Mongkok, is well known for its many food stalls and the various streets selling unique items..Apart from that, it's also the place where the famous Ladies' Night Market is located. To me, there's nothing special on this market, it look something like our Petaling Street.


Day 4: Wong Tai Sin temple!

After the temple visit, we went to the Central district by the high-speed train. Central district on Hong Kong island is the at the heart of the city, a bustling city with skyscrapers and great shopping malls and shops!! Definitely a shopping paradise for me! hehe. In the picture above, the ascending steps here was a familiar scene. It reminded me of some of the scenes in the HK TVB dramas. Typically these narrow paths are a popular shot for the police and thief/bandits road chase on bikes!! Why I said that? That's because at the time I was there, there's already a filming in progress. Guess who I saw? haha..it's Louise Koo and Daniel Wu!! Too bad I didn't manage to snap any pictures. There's just too many plain-clothes policeman and guards all around that prevented me from taking any pictures! :(

There..this is the best that I could capture..in case you're wondering who, that's Louise Koo with his back facing us! haha! :p


At night, we proceeded to The Peak, the highest lookout point at HK.
In the picture, mom and dad's in the tram. On the way up!


That's me posing in front of the 360 deg viewing platform!


The night view! Too bad it was slightly foggy that day :|


Day 5: Final day!!! A relatively free and easy day. We decided to walk around the HK Avenue of Stars! Actually this place is just right across the street from our hotel! :)


Once again, it's too foggy, can barely see the skyscrapers at HK Island.


The iconic Bruce Lee statue!

And here's some of the food selection we enjoyed here..

Mom and dad enjoying the selection of dim sums here!



This sums up our 5 day, 4 nights trip to HK! :)

Hungarian Snack

Turo Rudi!

Nope it's not a greeting, but a snack!!
Yep, this is one of the most popular snack/junk food here in Hungary.

Thanks to my manager here, he purposely bought one of this from the vending machine in the company to let me try it.

What's in it you may be wondering?

Hehehe..it's basically like a snack bar but the fillings consists of Cottage Cheese coated in Chocolate!!!
Eww!!!! What a weird combination! And you may be wondering, how can cheese go well with chocolate right?
My initial reaction was like this too and I'm kind of reluctant to try.
But let me tell you, this stuff is really good! Ok, it's a little too sweet for my liking actually, but what the heck, indulging in this once in awhile is still satisfying! :)


This is how the packaging looks like..actually there's many other different flavors..apart from this, you can have hazelnut choc with cheese, strawberry flavoured choc with cheese and etc etc..


This is how it looks like after a bite! The white stuff is the Cottage Cheese..

Yumm!

What's cooking?

Over here, I cook at least two meals a day. 1 for lunch, the other for dinner. Sometimes I prepare some simple meals for breakfast too.

As my shipment has yet to arrive, I have to cook with just basic ingredients. Looking at the bright side, I've realised that food taste as good in its basic form.
I've learnt to appreciate the natural taste and sweetness of the food and not to rely so much on "flavoring' like soya sauce!

Here's what's being prepared over the past 1 week.


My first meal is none other than the unhealthy Maggi Mee, curry flavor!! My favourite!Slurrp!!! Everytime I eat this,it definitely reminds me of Malaysian food as I pratically grew up eating this!


Sometimes, I'll have a complete meal. A must have steamed lettuce, black pepper chicken and the no-brainer omellete with onions.


A simple ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast + a cup of hot Milo.


The easy to cook colorful tomato and carrot omellet


Finally, a simple 1 dish wholesome meal of chicken cooked with fresh tomatoes and carrots. :)

My First Weekend!

Yeah! I've survived through the first weekend! :p
Before I came, I did not set much expectations for this country as I've been told that language will be a main barrier since not many people speak English! Also, there's nothing much to do in Debrecen, and I've already prepared for the worse..

Anyway, it's quite a surprise that there's still quite some festivals that's being held here. Not to mention, people are a very warm and friendly in general and they do try to converse in English whenever we ask for help. Well, at least they tried! It's my responsibility to pick up some basic Hungarian phrases too. Boy, this is definitely not an easy language to master for sure.

Anyway, back to the festival, thanks to the big university (Debrecen University), they organize the Campus festival every year during the summer. And one of the higlights is none other than the Music Festival! I'm so glad that we're just in time to check this annual event!

I'll let the pictures do the talking now.



Bought the tickets! It costs 4900 HUF! (approx RM80)



Posing in front of the entrance. Btw, it's held at a sports center open field.


They served some free drinks too! Btw, Hungarian ladies are really pretty! :P


They set up a hot air baloon too!!


A makeshift outdoor concert platform! They really do have some good performing acts around Europe!

Hello From Hungary!!

Szia!! (Hello in Hungarian)

At the time of posting, I've already relocated to Hungary. Debrecen to be exact.
This place will be my home for the next 9 months!...Let's just hope I could find time to note down my experiences here...in the mean time, enjoy the pics!



The Hungarian Flag on the right, and yes, it's part of the EU.


My signature jump! hehe..!


All of us, with Eva our dear HR... :)


The most famous landmark here, the Yellow Church.


Finally, I'm posing within the Debrecen University Hallway. A really nice and beautiful campus with at least 52 faculties!! :)