As it happens, we had a bit of a party on the 30th, and a very quiet 31st. Jeroen, Lennard and I invited our friend 
Elisabeth and her family from Szakacsi via the Netherlands over for supper. We moved the big table from the 
kitchen into the living room in front of the buboskemence, and fired up the cd player with Ukrainian band Akvarium
 to put us in the mood for the Russian-inspired food. We started off with some fried pumpkin slices in cumin and 
beer batter that was so successful last Christmas. Then Jeroen's famous cold Georgian chicken in walnut sauce. 
Somwehere in there we also devoured two kinds of vereniki, one stuffed with cabbage and smoked cheese, the 
other with peas, sheep cheese, seasoned salt and roasted sunflower seeds. If this was not enough, we then had 
stuffed cabbage, and hazelnut cake doused in rum. The 11 bottles of wine I had bought for a week were guzzled
in one evening, and even though there was a designated driver, we got legless. We had a couple bottles of nice 
Maltinkszy Kuria Kekfrankos; a Meszaros Pal Merlot from Szekszard which was recommended but I found a bit
like a pinot noir in its raw beef overtones; a Rocky Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 from California which was nice
 with blackberry and black cherry tones and a steal at 600 huf; a nice Vesztergombi Kekfrankos; South African
Golden Kaan Shiraz 2007 was a bit on the sweet side, and nothing special; Takler Kekfrankos; Maltinszky Kuria
 Kadarka 2007; Kemendy Selection Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinot; Gyorgy Villa Merlot; and some others I cannot 
remember.

Given the state of our hangovers, we struggled to stay up till midnight on the 31st, but were rewarded with a Brut 
Grand Reserve Gosset champagne, from the oldest wine house in champagne. Made from 43% Chardonnay, 
42% Pinot Noir, and 15% Pinot Menunier, it was very nice and dry with a slight pear flavour, which I don't normally
like but it was fine in this champagne.