The latest installment of BUDSUCS (Budapest StandUp Comedy Show) on October 14 opened a new era for the event. Held at the very posh Cotton Club, tickets included a very nice buffet dinner which also included  vegetarian options. The standout of the standup was UK-Based US comedian Scott Capurro. Scott was hysterically funny.Read more »

Treehugger Dan's and Discover Budapest created the Bitch Moan and Wine Society last month, with an introductory tasting of the wines of the Badacsony Region. The second of our monthly Bitch Moan and Wine tastings was another resounding success, and featured the wines of the Villany Region. The featured wines included:<!-- pagebreak -->
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A Day at the Hopp. I am not a huge fan of museums. The lines, the crowds, the lack of places to sit and water fountains, everything boringly presented in glass cases. There are of course exceptions, such as the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. Located on 360 green acres, the Burrell Collection is a gem of a museum.Read more »

A Night on the Town at 4Play Lounge. This week I received an invitation to the 4Play Lounge for an informational evening for partners about their services. I am not sure how I qualified for this except for being friends with the owners, but I was happy to go check it out.Read more »

September 23, 2008  Last week I had the pleasure to attend the latest installment of Budapest's monthly English stand-up comedy show, Budsucs. The event is the brainchild of Kinga Kremer. Locals Bret Schaffer and Scott Court warmed us up for Henning Wehn, a German comedian living in the UK. Scott's routine about those selfish sperm and <!-- pagebreak -->eggs was particularly funny. Henning Wehn's whole routine was very funny, and I would look forward to seeing him again. Next show is October 14th.Read more »

Last night Dutchman Table Tom in cooperation with the Boregyetem (Wine University) held a huge wine and cheese tasting. Table Tom has been working in Hungary since
1986 promoting Hungarian wines in The Netherlands and Dutch cheeses in Hungary. But most importantly, he has been teaching Hungarian farmers how to make Dutch-style cheeses! Last night rocked, but it rocked so much I had trouble walking. Twelve wines and eleven Hungarian and Dutch cheeses in the span of 3 hours. Now, I am a peasant and a hedonist when it comes to food and drink, well, life in general. It is my heartfelt opinion that we work hard so that we can eat good cheese and olives and drink good wine - everything else is just a distraction. Maybe this does not make me a food writer like M.F.K. Fisher, but I can at least tell you what I liked and disliked:Read more »

September 11, 2008 Bitch Moan and Wine Society's Kick-off Wine Tasting.  Treehugger Dan's in cooperation with Discover Budapest initiated the new Bitch Moan and Wine Society last Thursday. The society promotes high quality local wines as well as local producers of cheese and other gourmet products at a reasonable and very discounted price.Read more »

I have always complained about various Hungarian neighbors who have called the police first before first knocking on my door to speak about the noise of a party or something, so I have been quite reluctant to turn to the police as a solution. The pub I live above is quiet until 3am when they turn everyone out, which is a pain in summer with the windows open, but bearable. The bullet-heads listing to their car radio on high bass under my window at 3am is something else entirely.Read more »

If I do not go on Thursday night, I get the shakes like someone who has not gotten his fix. Now, I used to hate dancing, well, I should say I was frightened of it. Until sweet Eszter called me and said, "I am going to take folk dancing lessons and need an available man, and you are it." I told her ok, but I have the long hair so I get to do the twirly bits and she has to do the manly foot-slapping-I-am-male-center-of-the-universe bits. She agreed, until about 3 lessons into it she abandoned me and went off with the girls. Read more »

Maybe some of you have seen the scandal recently about the 3-hour lines at Keleti Train Station for international train tickets...You do not have to go to the train station your train will leave from in order to get a ticket. You can go to any train station. In my experience, the shortest, read: non-existent, lines for international train tickets are at Deli pu. In fact, I think only one person has ever been in front of me in the line there. Hungarian State Railway's (MAV) offices moved last year from the corner of Andrassy Ut/Nagymezo u. to 1051 Budapest, József Attila utca 16, Open M-F 9-18. There is now also on-line ticketing, though I have not tried it yet. It seems only to be in Hungarian for the moment. Looking for Hungarian train schedules in English? German State Railways has a good site in English for international train connections.Read more »