Hungarian shadow dance group Attraction won Britain's Got Talent 2013

 

My Darling (Kedvesem)

ByeAlex (Alex Márta) represented Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with his nice, unforgettable song My Darling (Kedvesem), written and composed and performed by him. He won the 10th place with 84 points in the Grand Final in Malmö, Sweden yesterday. We are proud of ByeAlex and Dani Kővágó (guitar) and Helga Wéber (backing vocals) and also Zoltán Palásti Kovács Zoohacker (remix). Congratulations!

The lyrics in English:

Thanks to Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Albania, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, Sweden, Italy, Norway, Serbia and Greece for their votes on ByeAlex's song.

And congratulations to Denmark's Emmelie de Forest, the winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Happy Mother's Day

 

In Hungary, Mother's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May and has been celebrated since 1925.
Let's greet Mothers with this wonderful song performed by Katalin Szvorák:

 

And here is a funny video, an ad of an online flower shop. We so often think of other people's mother during the year, let's think of our own mother on Mother's Day.

A real Spring

Homemade Easter Bread

A good start to the month – the first day is a holiday and, at long last, no snow,  no rain. We woke up to a quiet sunny day, and cut our Easter Bread made the day before for breakfast. It’s delicious!

Here is the recipe of the ham-and-egg stuffed Easter Bread:

Dough ingredients for one loaf of bread

30 dkg (11 oz)  flour

1 teaspoon salt

150 ml (3/4 cup) lukewarm milk

1 teaspoon sugar

3 dkg (1 oz) fresh yeast

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 eggs

Stuff ingredients:

boiled eggs, boiled ham cut into cubes, grated smoked cheese, dry or fresh parsley or ramsons  to taste

If you have a kneading machine, put all the dough ingredients into it and let the machine knead the dough.

If you do not have one, follow the traditional way:

1. Heap  30 dkg (11 oz) flour mixed with 1 teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl. Make a hole in the middle of the flour.
2. Put  the yolk  and white of 1 egg and 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice into the hole.
3. Pour 150 ml (3/4 cup) lukewarm (38 degrees C or 100 F) milk into a small bowl and add 1 teaspoon sugar. Crumble 3 dkg fresh yeast to the milk and stir gently to mix it. Proof the yeast  up to 10 minutes.
4. Pour the proofed yeast mixture into the mixing bowl to the flour and work the ingredients into a dough. Knead the dough on a floured board about 20 minutes and, if necessary, add some more flour to make a soft dough that will not stick to hands. Make a round loaf, cover and put it in a warm place and let it rise double in size for about 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 F)
6. While the dough is rising, slice the boiled eggs, cut the ham into cubes and grate the smoked cheese and slice the fresh parsley or ramsons into tiny pieces.
7. When the dough ball has doubled in size, punch the dough down and roll out into a rectangular shape.
8. Scatter the ham and eggs and the grated cheese over the survace to within an inch of the edges. Sprinkle with parsley or ramsons.
9. Starting at the longest side, roll the dough up, making sure to tuck in the ends.
10. Slightly grease or oil the baking pan and put the loaf into it.
11. Beat the remaining egg with a fork and brush it over the surface of the dough.
12. Allow the loaf to rise for another 35 minutes.
13. Brush the surface of the dough again with some eggs.
14. Place the pan into the preheated oven. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Easter Bread can also be made after Easter holidays in order to utilize the remaining boiled eggs and ham.

Less sleep but more daylight

                                         (Source: http://bestsellers.hu)

Snow, snow, snow...

A never-ending winter in spring. What is the reason for the unusually cold weather? The answer is in this article. Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

Because Easter is drawing near, people are building snowbunnies instead of snowmen.

The International Day of Happiness

is celebrated first time ever in the world today. 

The root of happiness is inside us. We should never allow our happiness depend on the circumstances or other people.

Let's smile and be happy not only on this day but always!

Happiness is a wonderful experience, it lies deep down inside
It’s like a sunflower; it follows the things you enjoy in your life
Happiness recovers you from dark cloudy days
Happiness is not a secret for you to keep
It should be shared with others, so they too can feel the joy that it brings
With happiness you can make a difference in life and to others
Remember happiness can be a healer. 
(Happiness by Orane Boothe)

Slowly but surely, life goes back to normal after the snowstorm in Hungary

According to the statement of the Directorate General for Disaster Management on 16 March 2013, the situation has improved but there are disruption. The Police is still asking people to stay home, stay warm and not to go by car. And people, who left their cars on the M1 motorway, are asked to call these telephone numbers: 06-34/517-790 or 06-20/224-27-22.
Motorways are mostly passable but, due to the snowdrifts and stranded cars, not everywhere. Rescue teams of the Disaster Management as well as volunteers are digging stranded cars and trucks out of the snow. It'll take some days to clean all roads, motorways, highways in the country.

Help and the latest info can be obtained at the "Segítsünk a bajban" (Let's Help in Trouble) Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/segitsunkabajban?ref=ts&fref=ts 
(http://translate.google.com/?hl=hu#hu/en/)

Live Traffic Info: http://www.motorway.hu/ 

Hungary - Snowstorm, 14-15 March 2013 

  

Hungary had witnessed a similar snowstorm on 15 March 1962

 

Hungary is under snow on the National Day

Hungary is celebrating the 1848 Revolution on this day. Even Google is commemorating this event with a Doodle illustration

(Source: https://www.google.hu/webhp?hl=hu&tab=ww)

However, all the open-air celebrations are cancelled due to the snowstorm.
Spring arrived with mild weather two weeks ago. People thought winter was over and changed their cars' winter tyres to summer ones. As a result, there are a lot of accidents due to the unexpected snow and icy weather. Many cars and buses are stranded on the roads and motorways. The passengers had to spend the night in their vehicles in the snowstorm. Though the rescue teams, including the Hungarian Military Forces with their special vehicles, are trying to reach and help every stranded cars, hundreds of people are still waiting for help on the roads.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is now sending SMS to people "We help!  Don't leave your vehicle! If you run out of fuel, sit into another vehicle!". If they had sent a warning SMS to the citizens a day earlier, before the snowstorm hit the country, perhaps less people would have been in trouble.
But it is good to see how many private persons offer their help and home to the people in trouble, and locals from the nearby villages bring food and drink to people who have been stranded in the snow.

Almost four years have gone by

since my last post. I did not forget about gifts from life. Many things happened since then, happy and sad things, good and bad experiences but these are all gifts from life because we can learn from them.  "...all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there." (Richard Bach)

An abandoned blogspot looks like a neglected old tomb with no flowers, no visitors. So it's high time to update my blog.