A Very Hungarian Christmas

The Budapest Christmas Festival is magical.  Honestly, I can't say enough good things about it.  The weather is appropriately frigid (I'm talking toe-numbing cold, here), and there's even a little snow on the ground.  The little wooden stalls, the food, the mulled wine, the music, the shopping.  And on top of all this is the delightful mix of people from all over the world.  Hungarian, French, Dutch, American, German.  There was also English with an accent I can't place - maybe Australian or Kiwi?  It was amazing to exchange smiles and apologies in the crowded outdoor space with so many different people.

I munched on spicy sausage and potatoes with paprika as they cooled rapidly in the frosty air.  I ate bread topped with bacon, onions, cheese, and sour cream, and I marveled at a Hungarian funnel cake as long and as big around as my arm from shoulder to elbow!  I drank mulled wine and krampanpuli in my Festival mug and wandered among the craft stalls.

I swear that Christmas music is dosed with something to make you spend money (or maybe it was the wine?), because I found myself frequenting the ATM to refill my supply of forints.  Who knew that within this sensible person beat the heart of a spendthrift?  Leather purses and suitcases, ceramics, jewelry, and Christmas ornaments, Hungarian liquor, candies and elaborately decorated cookies, wooden toys and woolen socks, household items of every kind filled the wooden stalls.  A dizzying array of beautiful things made Christmas shopping a delight.  I also picked up a few things for myself - a nativity ornament fashioned inside a large seed-like pod, a small, painted ceramic ball ornament, a pair of earrings, and a gorgeous leather purse (my splurge).  I wish that I had gotten more photos of all the vendors, but apparently my camera was drawn to the colorfully arranged cookies and candies!

As I approach the festival - anyone need a slipper-shaped shoe scraper?

Or perhaps a tiny bathtub for your ice tongs?

Festival!

I have spotted lunch!  I believe I will pass on the testicle stew.

My spicy sausage, potatoes with paprika, and mug of mulled wine.

They are finishing a giant Advent Wreath the two days that I am there.
Too bad I won't get to see them light it!

Christmas-y music.

Chestnuts roasting over an open... grill.

Dried fruit, blocks of strange honey, and sweets.

Marzipan candies.  I buy some at a different stall before I leave, and then munch
on them as I stress about the possibility of missing my flight!

Many of the Christmas cookies for sale look like edible little pieces of art.
There are even entire cookie nativity scenes!

An example of a Hungarian funnel cake.  Hungarian women at the
festival rolled out hundreds of these for the long line of hungry customers -
the funnel cakes start as long strips of dough that are wrapped around a
fat wooden dowel, covered in sugar, and finally baked, rotating over coals
until the dough browns and the sugar crystallizes.  Lastly, they are dipped in
coconut, walnuts, cinnamon, or cocoa.  This one is about a third of the size of
the one that I enjoyed at the Budapest Christmas Festival.  Delicious!