Heading down again to Szalonna this weekend, my friends Jeroen and Lennard were thrilled to hear I was on antibiotics still and could not drink alcohol. This meant that they had a designated driver for their planned excursion to nearby Szakacsi . Some of you will have met Elisabeth Van Aerde this January when Bitch Moan and Wine did a wine, whisky and Dutch cheese tasting.  The vineyards included  two Tokaj vineyards;  the Lenkey Pinceszet and Karadi & Berger; Scottish whisky from The Kaledonia Pub; and Dutch cheese from Table Tom.  Elisabeth is the Dutch woman that helped Table Tom at the event. Elisabeth has opened an amazing establishment in the village of Szakacsi, in Borsod County. The village is almost 100% Roma, in the poorest <!-- pagebreak -->region of Hungary, and at the end of a dead-end road – the worst road I have ever been on. It seems a strange place to open 5 beautiful guest houses with swimming pools, a jacuzzi, and a gourmet central kitchen – soon to be restaurant. However, Szakacsi means “village of cooks,” since the royal cooks used to come from this village. We arrived at 7pm to the bright sight of red-painted trees in the courtyard. Lennard went to open the gate and was immediately set upon by the guard goose. The goose and the dog have a kind of chorus going on – the dog barks, the goose honks, the dog barks and the goose honks. One would think they are arguing, but they sleep curled up together at night.

The spacious kitchen, largely fitted out by IKEA, would be heaven for anyone who enjoys cooking, and includes extra goodies such as an Italian pasta machine, an ice machine, two gleaming stoves and several fridges. But even if I did not know that it was a Dutch home, I would have identified it immediately by the aromas of Indonesian spices.  Filling out our table last night was Elisabeth’s son and Table Tom.  Even though I was suffering slightly by the alcohol ban, and conversations swirling around me mostly in Dutch, it was made up for in the quality of the food and the pleasant company.  The appetizer consisted of a pile of crispy chicken shavings, chicken in aspic, a parsley-garlic-? paste and homemade rye bread.  Everything was great; especially the crispy chicken shavings, but I did not like the aspic. In fact, I hate anything in aspic. It did not taste badly at all, but aspic as a food preparation repels me. Hungarians love everything in aspic, and even have a festival in Miskolc dedicated to it – the Kocsonya Fesztival.  The next one will be in February, 2010. The appetizer was accompanied by a Simon Vineyard (Eger) Pinot Gris 2007 , labeled as a dry Szurkebarat . This surprised me because szurkebarat is normally half-sweet. But I was in for more wine surprises later.  I love tomato soup, and this next course did not disappoint.  I was afraid the tomato soup would be the surprisingly sweet Hungarian version. The main course though was the gem, large tortellini-like pasta stuffed with local goat cheese in a mushroom sauce, and a side of spicy Indonesian-spiced cabbage.  The pasta was made from local spelt flour (tönköly liszt)  from a nearby producer.  The main course was accompanied by a Villa Tolnay (Csobanc) Rajnai Rizling 2004. Having just read the raves about Rheine Riesling in Jay McInerney's book, A Hedonist in the Cellar, where I learned that whereas most dry whites can turn nasty and bitter with Asian cuisine, German Riesling is “the most food-friendly wine on the planet.” Meaning, you can drink it with almost anything. McInerney says that the 2004 is like “inhaling a small electric eel.” After this big send up, I tried to locate a bottle to try among the 1000 on our Bitch Moan and Wine list, but was disappointed not to find any. So, I HAD to try a sip. While not an electric eel, it was a very refreshing and delicious wine, and it better be for a retail price of over 4500 huf.  The desert was two types of homemade ice-cream, home-made whipped-cream, slivers of prunes, and a dribbling of dark bitter chocolate on top. Our desert wine was another Simon Vineyard offering, a Pinot Noir 2002. Pinot Noir is normally dry, but the label said it was half-sweet. In any case, I chalked up another Pinot Noir I did not like.

The total cost for 3 people was 20000 huf, which is not bad at all if you consider the wine and coffee was included. If you are looking for a luxurious and relaxing weekend in the Cserehat, contact Elisabeth at: 06-48-349-343, v.aerde@move2hungary.com. http://www.move2hungary.com. You can go horse riding, hiking, explore Aggtelek National Park, go wine tasting, or just put your feet up on the veranda.

The journey home with two singing squiffed Dutchies fighting over the music, and driving over terrible roads went better than expected. It was pretty fun actually, especially when I could tease them about their hangovers all the next day.

 If you are coming through Szendro, you get the horrible road, but if you go through Lak, the way is much easier.