Kürtőskalács

On a street between one of the main squares in Budpaest and a metro stop they have set up stalls for the Spring Festival.  Which means one thing to me, Kürtősklácas or chimney cakes! Anytime there is a festival there is Kürtősklácas. Supposedly these are one of Hungary's oldest and as far as I'm concerned best pastries.  They actually originated in Transylvania which is now part of Romania but was a part of Hungary at the time.  They are basically a dough that is wrapped around a cylinder and rotated as the cook over an open fire.  Then they put walnuts, cocoa, vanilla or coconut on them.  They are sooo good.  They are crispy on the outside but kind of soft on the inside but don't leave your fingers sticky at all.  They taste kind of like a flavored pancake.

So far we've seen these at the Christmas Market, the Mangalica Festival (mangalica are a Hungarian curly haired pig, very tasty as well!), Mohacs Busojaras and the Christmas Market in Prague although there version was not nearly as good.  I can't believe these have not made it to the US yet or if they have I haven't found them!

Mangalica Festival

Budapest Christmas Market

Prague Christmas Market

Mohacs Busojaras

Mohacs Busojaras

The weekend before Ash Wednesday there is an annual festival in the city of Mohacs about an hour and 45 minutes south of Budapest.  This festival has been going on for hundreds of years featuring men dressed in some sort of sheep skin costume with crazy masks.

I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the festival is.   One story I heard is that it is celebrating a time when the Turks had taken over the town and one stormy night the townspeople dressed up in crazy costumes and scared the Turks of for a little while.  Another reason I heard is that they are chasing winter away.  Whatever the reason is seems to be a reason for men to dress up and behave inappropriately!

It was a lot of fun and we'll have to go back to see the massive bonfire in the town center that we missed because we had to get back to let Midnight out.  

In the mean time these guys will be waiting!