Unlike most people I know, I have never been a fan of Prague. My most recent trip there only served to reinforce my feelings and my preference and yes, appreciation for Budapest. In the past, my criticism has been based on ambiance - a feeling that Prague was so clean and sterile it was like being in a hospital or airplane.Read more »

Gregory Maguire is turning out to be one of my favorite authors. I have already reviewed Wicked! and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and just read Mirror, Mirror this weekend.Read more »

Akos and Nori were kind enough to invite me down again to Balaton for the weekend.Read more »

With the Summer Olympics in London almost upon us, I have been trying to remember anything from past events.Read more »

To my regret, I missed Brian Higgins the last time he was in Budapest, and was not sure I would make this show in the end. But everyone who had seen him last time highly recommended him, so I shelved my work and cycled over to the panoramic Sziget Klub for the show Thursday night.Read more »

If you are American, you probably also miss the hell out of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. But I found a great ice cream place recently. There is a little hole-in-the-wall place called Fragola at Nagymezo u.Read more »

After doing my first Balaton Swim with Kevin Jackson Read more »

After 22 years in Hungary, I feel I have been able to adjust well to most cultural differences. An exception has been Hungarian pizza. With over 1000 years of civilization under their belts and in their bellies, Hungarians still cannot make a proper pizza or pizza sauce.Read more »

It is still such a rarity to have positive retail and service experiences in Hungary, so when such an event does occur, it is notable enough to blog about it.Read more »

Chris, Nora and Gabi came down to the house this weekend. It was chill-out time for them, while I also had to try to deal with the large snake I almost stepped on three weeks ago in the stables. In the morning I whipped up a batch of my famous blueberry pancakes.Read more »