Paprika is Served with EVERYTHING!

The Hungarian bus system has thrown all it has to offer to throw at me, and I am proud to report that I have emerged a champion!

Successfully spent the weekend in the city of Kalocsa, a wonderful rendezvous of people who like to speak English at a fast rate of speed. Kat, Liz, Laura and I nearly died on the way down, but the bus driver did do a good job of preforming first aid on those who were actually injured when he slammed on the brakes. (True story.)

In Kalocsa, we drank palinka, because that's what there is to do there. The next day we decided against running in the 2km Paprika Race, but did enjoy the traditional Hungarian folk dancing, as well as the "szexy teenager" booty-shaking performance. Before long we were ready for the main activity of the day: eating paprika-based foodstuffs.

I was so proud of Liz when she went straight to the scariest looking pot of brown-ness. She was all about that particular batch of potato and schlop and I wasn't about to stop her. But when the man handed her a bowl full of hearty goodness, she did a double take. It was then that she noticed what I had been thinking all along, the little strips of meat looked strangely more like octopus than beef or chicken.

Mortified, we ran back to the table. We poked at the thin green/brown strands of something, only to notice that they were all attached at one end. Small bumps covered each strand, excepting one bigger tube-like tentacle of waviness. Chad tried a bite. He complained about the texture. We speculated it could be cabbage or octopus or squid or some sort of vegetable skin. Maybe a weird fish, even. We had no recourse left but to ask Hajni by telephone.

She laughed immediately. So, too, did the old Hungarian woman next to us who could sense the punchline already.

We were staring at a bowl of cow intestine.

Needless to say, I tried a bite after much prodding. The texture was weird, as Chad had claimed, and I swear I could feel little digestive cells bursting in between my teeth as I chewed. Apparently it is a Hungarian specialty. (What isn't, though?) We were thoroughly unimpressed.