#budapest my beloved

[aliesafenlock]

@hettie look, my IRL friend @redjade 's photo of his neighborhood 💖

Budapest Hungary District VII, Nagy Diófa utca – across from Massolit Books & Café in Budapest December 2024

» https://linktr.ee/jdpix

[littledrummerangie]

it's been one year since 5SOS had the KFC show 😭❤️

[the-examined-life]

Budapest, June 2023

[redflags-pinknails]

sometimes you gotta kiss the homies on the head to show em how proud you are

it’s the rules

[aliesafenlock]

@hettie 🚋

Underpass in front of Keleti railway station, Budapest, 1970.  From the Budapest municipal photography company archive. 

[dianashnaiders]

DIANA SHNAIDER + 2024 WINS

HUA HIN | BAD HOMBURG | BUDAPEST | HONG KONG

[dramatic-dolphin]

this is the cutest thing i have ever seen. i need several.

[maximaxstreasurebox]

it was truly our hoyo impact.

[grubloved]

successfully cleaned the whole house and survived the family zoom call so i could make cookies and popcorn and have 7 (!!!!) friends from the community house over at once to watch a movie and play games. and i knit 2 shrimp!!!! HUGE day

[crinege]

FUCK having to take the 5 am train

but thank FUCK the 5 am train exists!!!!!

[dobbiamo-capire]

I wanted to ask you about sky Italy how much does the commentators and journalists love Charles vs Carlos? Like would you say there is an obvious favouritism -I don’t blame them if they do, Charles is literally a home grown talent and the only one I believe that came from the FDA to be a Ferrari driver-

Hi anon!

So it’s a weird mix right now. Before there was Vanzini (our main comm) that was 100% a Charles fan, he’s the one that gave the predestinato nickname so he really was in love with Charles. But we also have Marc Gene (spanish Ferrari persona) as a comm too (and he of course cheers for Sainz), so now the narrative is more pro-Carlos (when Vanzini talks about Charles too much, Marc is there to say “look also at Sainz that…”). But still let’s say 70% Ferrari oriented anyway

[noctarcanum]

piac core

[immediatebreakfast]

I love how Renfield is the oldest (59) and Mina is very likely the living youngest, and yet they bond so well. (It reminds me how well Mina befriended the 99 year old Mr Swales that he sought her company and felt care for her.) It probably contributed that Jack may have experience with interacting with "madmen" and studying, Mina had lived with and loved a "madman".

It's truly incredible how a simple conversation between an old man in physical cell, and a young woman in a mental cell put such a dent in the Count's plans that he had to flee to Transylvania once it was clear that nothing would stop the crew.

Even if the repercutions were huge in the narrative, in between the horror and the action it was just a visit (probably the first visit that Renfield had in a long time) to talk.

Reading again the entry I noticed how hostile Renfield is towards Mina at first,

"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, you know, for she's dead." - R.M. Renfield, september 30.

and even with everything one can say about sexism, and the building infantilization of Mina, let's remember that this is the first time Renfield meets someone that is specifically associated with Jack. Renfield's remarked abuser in both authority, and personhood in general. Also by probably being informed by Dracula himself that both Mina and Jonathan are the key players in this continuous attacks against his plans in England, on top of just almost correctly assuming that Mina must share the same opinion towards the mentally ill that society has.

Three strikes against Mina that she switfly defeats by treating Renfield like the person he is, and talking to him in a normal manner. After taking care of her beloved Jonathan, and being at Lucy's side most of her life Mina is aware of how the Other is viewed. Maybe as she saw Renfield, Mina thought of a worse reality where the man on the bed was her Jonathan in Budapest, maybe she saw how Seward reacted to Renfield's words, and realized what was actually layed out in the room. Or maybe Mina just saw an old man in need of an ear, and she just listened.

This is the first time that Renfield puts a face on a victim of the Count's games, he puts a voice on the young victim whose life is going to violently end in what he thought was supposed to be eternal bliss. Lucy is a distant dream for Renfield, the revenge against these people who dared to put up a fight against this old ancient evil that goes beyond all of their years combined.

Renfield never knew Lucy, but he knows Mina now.

Renfield sees the young Mina Harker, entering life with her equal young husband in hand, and trying to solve the murder of what he knows now was her best friend, and he reflects. He reflects on everything he has done, on what has passed, and what he can do tomorrow.

Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be miserable if he knew I had been crying. - Mina Harker, october 2.

And the man is devastated to see how he is helping orchestrate the murder of another young lady to please the Count. He becomes desperate to leave (a request that is denied by both Seward, and Van Helsing), so the Count can't have access to the inside of the asylum. It doesn't matter if he looks like a coward by the time's literary standards because if the only way to at least save that young lady is by acting like one? Then Renfield might as well do it, he has nothing to lose sans his life.

I think that the key difference between Mina, and Jack when it comes to Renfield is empathy, and the ability to simply treat the other person with the same humanity you should be treated.

Jack may have studied, and climbed until he got to be the head of an asylum, but his own biases, mental problems, and ableism blurred the lines between patient and doctor so hard that he made Renfield's life a boring hell. From when their dynamic was introduced, to Renfield's death, the narrative dictated how Seward was putting both into a deep spiral in which, not even with Renfield's manipulations, none of them were going to come out in victory.

In contrast, Mina has cared for Jonathan without any restrain, and has lived in service of what the situation demands of her at all times. She knows, as a young victorian lady, how to balance herself without trying to compete, or win the other person in the room with her. Mina only needed to genuinely talk to Renfield to break his heart because she gave him the respect, and honestly she expects for herself when talking.

[aliesafenlock]

@hettie I miss the old style 4-6 trams

Nyugati station, Budapest, 1986. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.

[nguyetdahuong]

They would be bestie is all im saying 🫣

Oh wait 🫷hear me out actually🤌

Cardinal Lawrence resigns, just as he wanted after ****** becomes the new pope. Now no more cardinal Lawrence, only Thomas (doubting™). He travels to Zubrowka and stays at a nice hotel for once (his friend Aldo insists "God forbid you to enjoy the luxury of a real vacation").

Thomas loves the Grand Budapest Hotel at first sight: the alluring building reminds him of some prestigious dollhouse come to life. Not to mention there's a church nearby, convenient to drop by and light some candles.

He's welcomed by a well-mannered blonde man. The man looks like in his forties and oh he aged well, in fact he aged like fine wine. Blonde hair styled neatly. Kinda makes Thomas miss his younger days with full hair on his head, oh he wishes he had those hair. The man wears a purple suit tailored perfectly to his body, really compliments his waist (thank God that waist hasn't been tampered by wine yet). The bow tie stays neatly on his neck. What can he say, "neat" is the best described word about this alluring man. There's something fresh about him, Thomas concentrates on the air. Oh right, the man uses perfume, something Thomas can't name.

"Your eminence, it's our pleasure to serve you here. I'm Gustave, if you need anything please let me know".

NOTE: Oh fuck it we ball, I'm just trying to shove some ideas for the crossover and here I am writing a ficlet 🤦 whatever here's my 3 cents 💡

Thomas and Gustave recite poems together. They become poem-friends (idk is that what they call?). Occasionally Thomas would reference something from the Bible.

Gustave accompanies Thomas to the church. They pray together.

Zero (our beloved lobby boy) sees them spend too much time together and wondering if Mr. Gustave has changed his type. Since the new guest is neither blonde nor superficial 👀

Aldo frequently calls to check on his friend, sometimes bitching about his colleagues but most of the time insinuates that he misses his friend (very much) and hope they can have juicy tea like the old time 🫖

Too bad now Thomas has a new bestie who is so charming, has a sweet mouth that always knows what to say ☺️

Do they have a fling or not? 🚬 well let's look at the canon to decide. Mr. Gustave "I go to bed with all my friends" or Mr. Lawrence who sleeps like a vampire to keep celibate 👀 idk I'm curious af too 😭

[mariacallous]

This summer, I traveled to Transylvania, on a Birthright-esque tour for young North Americans of Hungarian heritage. Almost everyone I told about the trip made some sort of Dracula joke. I rolled my eyes, knowing the region was much richer than this. But truth be told, I didn’t have too much yet to counter with. 

Here’s the history book version: Transylvania, now part of Romania, belonged to Hungary for more than a thousand years. It’s far larger than I had imagined – at around 100,000 square kilometers, the region is bigger than the whole of present-day Hungary itself, which ceded the region to Romania after WWI. There are currently around one million ethnic Hungarians who still live in Transylvania. The community speaks the language and passionately keeps their customs alive, from music to dance to crafts and, of course, food. 

And my version? It was easy to fall in love with Transylvania. From the moment I clambered off the small, tinny plane from Budapest at the small regional airport in Marosvásárhely, I was taken by its beauty. Rows and rows of golden sunflowers, framed by the verdant hills and rugged peaks of the Apuseni Mountains rolled by as we headed for our bed and breakfast. We spent a week learning about the Hungarian community in Romania, hiking, exploring cavernous salt mines and lakes, taking in medieval frescos and wandering cobblestoned streets.  

We also ate well — very well. 

Growing up, many of our cherished family recipes were very traditionally Hungarian (with a twist, to make them kosher), and the rich goulash, tender chicken paprikash and juicy stuffed cabbage we ate on the trip were familiar. Truth be told, aside from the dizzying assortment of wild blueberry and rosehip jams, I wasn’t really focused on dessert. 

That is, until I tried a pastry called somodi kalácsin a tiny village called Torockó. Lightly sweet and yeasted, with a cinnamon swirl, it’s as if cinnamon-raisin bread and babka had a baby. While every meal served by our grandmotherly hosts left us stuffed, I loved the folded bread so much that our guide got the inn to pack us a honey-glazed loaf to go. 

Transylvania was home to a sizable Hungarian-Jewish population. In 1910, according to The Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, the Jewish population numbered above 64,000. By World War I, Hungary itself had the second largest Jewish population in Europe at almost one million. By this time YIVO’s Encyclopedia of Eastern European Jews notes Jews were “fervently assimilated” to the language and culture (and, rather sadly, looking back now), “passionately identified with Hungarian nationalism.” 

Upon my return home to Los Angeles, I made it my mission to find somodi kalács. I knew that Jewish immigrants to the U.S. and Israel popularized other classic pastries from Hungary, such as chimney cakes and monkey bread (aka aranygaluska), and was hopeful I’d succeed.

While I haven’t (yet) found somodi kalácsin my city, I discovered that it’s available at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, the iconic Jewish bakery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Like me, the Zingerman team tried somodi kalács for the first time in Torockó. The recipe, they found, dates back 400 years, when the village was a flourishing mining town, whose residents could afford the luxury of cinnamon and sugar. It’s typically served for Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, and until the 20th century, Zingerman’s notes, somodi kalács was the customary wedding cake. Theirs is a pretty traditional version. However, like my own great grandmother would do often, they sub the traditional lard for butter when greasing the pans, explained Managing Partner Amy Emberling.

At Zingerman’s, Emberling told me, it’s a beloved special item that they only bake a couple days each year. “Customers order many loaves of it and stock them in their freezer,” she said. And it’s not uncommon for customers to “let us know that they have not seen this since their childhood days in Hungary.” 

It’s also not uncommon to see patrons shed happy tears. I may have felt like shedding a couple happy tears myself when she shared their recipe.