Sunday morning I hosted long, lazy yummy brunch at my place for a few friends. On the menu were banana-walnut muffins, American pancakes with real maple syrup, bacon and homefried potatoes. Being a vegetarian, I was not quite sure when the bacon (from Tomi the butcher at Hunyadi ter Market) was done, but no one has died yet. I think it might have even been pre-cooked...Anna even brought some nice Russian vodka, and Rich and Tara brought some Ancnoc single malt whisky from Fort William, both of which we had to try. A quick clean up, and I was off to the Anti-Valentine's Day gathering called by Claudia at the Mai Mano Kavezo (Nagymezo u. 20) for a drink amoung other disgruntled singles on the day of love. However, we did not dwell (too much) on the negatives, and had very lively discussions on the shortest date (winner: 10 seconds), longest date (winner: 6 days), worst and best dates. Participants flowed in and out all day, and late at night there was a fierce backgammon competition. Mai Mano was very friendly, especially to dogs. The photo exhibitions in the building upstairs in the Hungarian House of Photography are often quite good, as is the view from the panopticum on the top floor.

Quite a few of us in the group commented that, in retrospect, we had had a really amazingly good year - with the exception of being single. That would have been the cherry on top. Since, in the end it comes down to us, we agreed to "become the cherry." A nice philosophy I think.

"The eight-floored building was built in 1894 on the order of the the photographer, Manó Mai. In 1931, Sándor Rozsnyai (a musical director) and is wife Mici Rozsnyai (née Senger, known as Miss Arizona) bought the building from the family.They built the three-floored Arizona Club in the yard, which had been empty until then.This remained open until 1944, when the owners were probably killed by Hungarian or German Nazis. After the war, the building served a variety of purposes such as a school and a presentation hall. From the early 1960s the Budapest branch of the Hungarian Automobile Club used it over a period of 30 years. The Mai Manó Gallery opened on the half-floor in 1995 and the Hungarian House of Photography opened on the first and second floors on March 18th, 1999 (and was launched by the novelist/photographer Péter Nádas)." source