Meet Chef Marie

Cookies at the Street Fair

Since I've been in Budapest, I've realized how much I love eating good food.  Because I don't have my mom to cook dinner every night, or HoCo/Philly/Stillings/Wildkitty at my (greedy hehe) fingertips, I've decided not to suffer in the culinary department every night, and stick to eating bread, pasta, or canned beans as some of my peers and roommates do.

I have made a concerted effort to make meals that I actually enjoy eating while I'm here (this is in large part inspired by T, one of my best friends whom I love very dearly and who loves good food and whose family feeds me delicious meals with ridiculously large portions...)

Among my most prized creations are...

"The Best Cole Slaw Ever"
- cabbage, apples, carrots, mayo, vinegar, sugar, pepper, salt.

Butternut Squash Pasta (Anonymous's Favorite)

"Things with Butternut Squash"
- roasted butternut squash sauteed with pasta, garlic, olive oil, and grilled chicken (with balsamic vinegar drizzle of course)
- mashed butternut squash with cinnamon! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

"Sarah and Mary's Pasta Creations"
- broccoli, garlic, olive oil, grill chicken, some kind of thick and delicious hollow spaghetti, parmesan

Mediterranean YumYum

- sauteed spinach, grilled chicken, feta cheese, tomatoes, garlic, onions, avocado, penne, grana padano

"Throw It All In there Stuffed Peppers"
- ground beef, crushed tomatoes, onion, beans, brown rice in a red pepper (throw it in the oven)

Basically, I'm thinking about throwing out my college education to be a chef. I think I really have a chance...

Cooking School...Chicken Parm a la Alex

The most fun part of all of this of course has been searching for the right ingredients.  In Hungarian grocery stores they don't sell spices in little McGormick bottles or in any way that is easy to understand.  No, here, they have packets.  Packets of cinnamon and god knows what else, because I can't read the labels.

Oh, and I've maintained some of my dignity and have not reduced myself to calling sandwiches, "sammies."  I'm twenty, there are some abbreviations that are unnecessary (love you girls haha).
At least once this semester, I promise that I'll cook up some kind of family meal for all the the JSBP-ers, because I think we all deserve something nice like that.

Meat at the Street Fair!

Anyway, as grammatically incorrect, annoying, or funny as you think this post is... the point is that along with everything else that I'm doing here, I'm learning to cook for myself and enjoy it too.  I'm inspired by all the food I see here and all the things I have yet to try

(maybe Dani will be proud that I've tried some new foods)!


Love,
Mary