Thanks to the over 100 people who came out last Thursday night to help Treehugger Dan's and Discover Budapest celebrate our grand re-opening. Special thanks to Frank Zsigo (music), Maki Stevenson (food), Patrick McMenamin (whiskey), and White Peacock (photos). Also to our great staff Lajos, Margo, Gica, Fanni, Tunde, and Petra for keeping it all together and flowing.

With comfortable seating, proper heating, a real coffee machine, more space for events, an excellent location, open 7 days a week with extended hours, and over 10000 books on the shelves, the move offers a lot of advantages. Treehugger Dan’s is now not just the heart of the city, we are now geographically located there too. Cooperation with Discover Budapest means we can also offer our customers convenient and environmentally friendly tourist services such as bike rental and bike tours.

Our wine sponsor was up-and-coming Pastor Vineyard (Szekszard). Tibor Pastor brough 6 of his fine wines for us to taste:

• Cserszegi fűszeres 2011 - The grapes are harvested fully ripe from the Leányvár area. Fruity and fresh. Wine Alc.: 13,5% vol.
• Rosé 2011 - The Blaufränkisch (Kekfrankos) grapes from the Decsi vineyards were harvested earlier, to make a fruity, fresher Rosé wine with crisp acidity. Alc.: 13,5% vol.
• Medito 2009 - One of the predominant cuvées of our wine cellar. A blend of carefully selected Blaufränkisch, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It is a very versatile wine, fantastic to drink with friends during party, yet also great wine to accompany serious conversations. Alc.: 14% vol.
• Cabernet Franc 2009 - After one of the longest ripening phases, the grapes were harvested from our vineyard located on the Benedek mountaintop. The wine was aged in French barrique barrels for 16 months before bottling.
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 - The grapes were harvested from the best vineyard sites for Cabernet Sauvignon, situated on the Előhegy plateau. Carefully selected by hand and aged for 18 months in different barrel types before bottling. Alc.: 14,5% vol.
• Merlot 2009 - Harvested from our vines located in Sauli Valley, the wine was then aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. Alc.: 15% vol.

Patrick from the Caledonia Restaurant and Pub (Mozsar u. 9, 1066 Budapest) offered us a a little taste of Scotland in Budapest with 2 whiskeys. Drop in and see them to watch the sport or for haggis or a whiskey tasting. Or go for a Belhaven Best on tap or something from their bottled range. 15+ cider, 100+ Scotch, Irish and even Japanese whisky that you can either taste at the bar, or take home from the shop.

Makifood Cooking School was our food sponsor, and provided a delicious vegetarian menu:
•Dried apricots with mascarpone and walnuts
•Mini langos with beet&sheep cheese cream
•Caramelized apple and winter vegetables
•Vegetarian sandwiches
• and black sesame doughnuts (I especially liked these)
Makifood uses Fair Trade organic herbs and spices from Treehugger Dan's. You can also purchase tickets and gift certificates for Makifood courses (basic knife technique, medicinal Chinese cooking, Japanese, chocolate making, Mexican...) at Treehugger Dan’s.

Mookie Brando kept us all entertained with a wide range of his own tunes and covers, many of us singing along.
Mookie is a Canadian-raised singer-songwriter. He is one of the founding fathers and sole survivors of the alt.country scene in Budapest of the mid-2000s. His dozens of fans span the globe from India to Brazil and other emerging markets. You can regularly hear him play solo, and with Mookie Brando and the Second Cousins or The Poosta Ramblers at venues around Budapest. Next concerts: This Thursday, March 1 with the Poosta Ramblers at Treehugger Dan’s, and at Gondozo on March 31.