Last Thursday was mostly spent by making petit fours and truffles for the planned Christmas baskets for Laci & Márti and Bozsa & Árpi. We actually started buying things for them weeks ago, like the baskets, wrapping paper, marzipan, dark chocolate, nuts etc. This time we got round to making them up. I was doing most of it, but Roy frequently helped out when I asked him to.
Truffles in front, petit fours at the back 
Close up of the petit fours
Laci and Márti's basket had all the usual stuff, like jam, compote, pálinka, petit fours and truffles, but in their case was also included a bottle of Jagermeister, as we knew Laci liked it. In Bozsa and Árpi's case, we left the pálinka out, but included a bottle of wine. Both were wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bowed ribbon.
We decided not to go to Laci and Márti on Friday night, which was just as well, as it turned out that I promised Edit, my friend, that she could stay the night, after her office Christmas do. She arrived quite late, but it was very nice to see her after quite a long time.
The askets
The cache was in the tree covered in ivy
On Saturday morning we visited the Budapest St. Nicholas geocache, which was in the same place as last year, en route to Csobánka. We got to Laci & Márti's about 11:30 am, which was pretty close to lunch time. Márti is a great cook and lunch was great. They marinaded a piece of pork over several days in balsamic vinegar and garlic. It was roasted afterwards and served with potatoes and gherkins.
Márti and Laci
As Roy usually has a nap after lunch, the three of us went for a little hike up on one of the mountains behind their house to get a fairly new geocache. We left quite late, so we had to get going fast to get back down before dark. The approach was a bit hairy on a boulder strewn mountain side, as it was getting dark while we were trying to find the cache, but eventually it turned up near the lookout places on tops of some cliffs, which were quite impressive.
Laci on top of the rock wall
Our return was facilitated by a narrow path, (which we managed to miss on the way up), so we got back to the house just before it got completely dark. In the evening we chatted a lot, caught up on several happenings and managed to put away a fair amount of wine, Jägermeister, pálinka and rum. Laci is definitely one of those typically Hungarian hosts, who fills your glass up immediately you have finished it. 
Their house at dusk
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| Roy, Márti and Laci in front of the Stube |
On Sunday we all slept in, although eventually Márti was the last to the breakfast table. After some more lazing about and chatting, the two of them invited us to lunch in a German restaurant in Pilisvörösvár. To us Stube was a new place, which we were very pleased about, as we do like discovering new restaurants. Well, it was a fantastic find, the food, the service, the atmosphere were all first class, and we had a lovely time.
Roy and Márti had pink duck breast, Laci had a pork shank and I went for an old traditional favourite, a Wiener Schnitzel. They were all absolutely delicious. I chose to have it with a mixed Bavarian salad, which was great, although I would not have minded if there was more of the potato salad in it.
Roy and Márti's duck breast
My Wiener Schnitzel
Once we were back at their place, we said good bye and popped over to Bozsa & Árpi for a short while and gave them the basket. Unfortunately, it turned out that they have both gone down with the flu, so we could only hand over the present outside and send our best to both of them for a quick recovery. It is really nasty this winter how many people have caught this new lurgy, apparently it is not Covid, but an A strain influenza, which is really nasty.
On Monday we had a relaxing recuperation day in BP, after which we departed for Bér via Lidl in Aszód. The weather turned rather cold in the last few days, so I was looking forward to firing up the pottery stove. Well, the house was about 11 degrees Celsius on our return, so we put the central heating on full blast, and after we put away £500 worth of Christmas food shopping, I got about firing up the stove.
Laci + his pork shank
The pottery stove
Absolutely amazingly, it got really hot well before the evening, unlike in the last many years, when both this new stove and the old one took at least a couple of days to warm right through. We believe that the new one really took a full year to dry right out, while the old one was probably of an unfortunate design, which was never as efficient as this one.
Close up of the flames
After spending 9 months out of use, it lit up easy peasy, with no smoke or any other hassle. The flames were high and furious within 15 minutes. I played around a bit with the settings and ended up with a large log on it just before we went to bed, which kept it going until morning. This morning I fired it up in about 5 minutes and that is how it went all day. It is not only beautiful, but it is a fantastic source of heat and we both love it a lot.
We have got this far this week, and do not have too many plans for Christmas this year. Stephen isn't coming and we are not going anywhere either. It will be an intimate Christmas for just the two of us, which doesn't bother us whatsoever. We did buy a large fillet steak for about £50 at our favourite market, (10% of the price of our Christmas food), plus a nice bottle of Talisker malt whisky for about £35, (dirt cheap by UK standards), no presents as such, although I can count my e-bike, which was £750, as a combined birthday and Christmas present. With all the above we should be happy as Larry, (whoever he was), right through Christmas, I hope. Next post should be coming your way next Wednesday, aka Christmas Day.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!💖💖
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