I was finally able to make it to Ari Kupsus's famous monthly Salon a couple nights ago. Ari is a Finnish art dealer living in Budapest. He holds classical music and art salons on a monthly basis at his flat to help fund scholarships for young Hungarian musicians and artists.This Thursday he hosted world famous clarinetist Mark van de Wiel with accompanist Hilda Hernádi, Hungarian artist Edit Dunai , and a wine tasting provided by the Sumegi Vineyard in <!-- pagebreak -->Szekszard. Admittedly, I am not a big classical music fan. If I listen to anything it would be the popular classical stuff like Vivaldis Four Seasons, Bachs flute sonatas, Pictures at an Exhibition, Mendelssohns Hebrides Overture, and “New Age” artists such as George Winston and William Ackerman. However, I am always looking for other composers and pieces I might like, so was open to going to the event for this reason, and not just the wine. I am not one to judge someone's virtuosity, but even I could tell the clarinetist and accompanist were pros, and the audience gave them a standing ovation. They played the following:

-Brahms      f-minor piano clarinet sonata
-Baerman    Adagio
-Rossini       Introduction Theme and Variation
-Stravinsky  3 pcs for clarinet (encore)

Of the two red Sumegi wines on offer, I slightly preferred the Szekszard Cuvee to the Cabernet Sauvignon.Umm, and there were these delicious mini chocolate cakes/brownies for which I am going to have to find out the source.

Next is a world class Gala Salon February 14 at the Finnish Embassy. for more info: ari.kupsus@kainternational.hu

On another note, over Christmas, my friend Jeroen invented something yummy with a pumpkin. I tried to recreate it this weekend, with less success than Jeroen, but still quite nice, especially with some of my homemade fig chutney on the side. Here is his Fried Pumpkin in Beer Batter:
Ingredients:
some salt
3 teaspoons of cumin seed
2 hot chillis
250 grams of flour and some baking powder
2 eggs
0.125 l milk
0.125 l beer
oil for frying
kitchen paper
1 small pumpkin

Grind cumin and chillis together. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and chilli-cumin mix in a bowl. Add milk and eggs. Use mixer to make a lump-free batter. Mix in the beer halfway. Cut the pumpkin in smallish pieces, not thicker than 0.5 cm. Heat oil in frying pan or skillet to 180 centigrades. Dip pumpkin pieces in batter and fry until tender.