July 18 - Corn Syrup

After a morning of Spanish and laundry, Albert and I set off on a quick walk before school.  The idea was to look around in the "Taste of America" store near my school.  We don't really need anything American, but we wanted to see what they had.  I mean they have oreos in our regular market; so it is not like we don't already have a "Taste of America" if we want it.  Sadly, we arrived around 3 o'clock and the store had closed up for siesta time.  So, we just walked around the area enjoying the buildings and small alleys and interesting stores.  We did happen upon a tea shop that also sold spices.  They even had crystallized vanilla.  I didn't buy anything, but it is nice to know it is there for future cooking plans- and they even have English translations on the signs!

During the break at school, I made the short trip back to the "Taste of America" store that was of course reopened by 5:30.  They have a very small inventory mostly of things that I was not interested in - pop-tarts (yuk), hershey bars (yum, but we have plenty of great chocolate options), root beer (again, yuk), sriracha (yikes), and lots of other fun reminders of home that I don't anticipate wanting or needing.  But there was one item that I had been keeping an eye out for (we never found it in Hungary - not even in the American store) Corn Syrup.  Now I know this is not a big deal for most people, but we like caramel corn.  And although I don't make it too often, it is nice to know that I can find all of the ingredients if I decide to.  Everything else is readily available - so now we are good to go.  Of course with all of the other good desert options, I may never go back for that either.  I do, however, like knowing that I could.

Albert came back and met me after class, and we walked home together.  The decorations for next week's festival are starting to take shape.

Tents and Lights on Road By the River

Strings of Paper Lanterns Across the Bridge

We had dinner in a cafe near our house - mmmm tapas.  Then we went out for a nice walk to the Alameda (an area that used to be famous for the number of brothels, but now just bars and restaurants).  Yes there is also a bit of history to be learned there... but that is true of every plaza in the city - so I will leave that to those of you with guide books.

Tomorrow is our appointment to apply for our residency cards - fingers crossed.