nawl

In the basement here, in the internet room, I run into the last stragglers of BSM. Those who didn't leave immediately after classes ended are leaving this week. We greet each other, chat about upcoming plane trips and future plans, and part with "Have a nice life."

Cooking. Yesterday, American cole slaw, an Asian sauerkraut with ginger, potato salad, rice pudding.

Every day when I come home I stop at the fruit and vegetable stand by the bus stop and buy a bag of goodies to take home and cook. Shopping for produce here has given me an entirely different conception of in and out of season. Potatoes and onions actually show signs of having been stored for a long time. The potatoes are full of purple spots, and if you're not careful you end up buying potatoes and onions that have already sprouted. But now that it's summer, a whole new range of options are available. You can buy the cheap, gnarly ugly dirty carrots, or the expensive new ones in perfect conical shapes, gathered together in attractive bunches with greens still attached. You can buy the gnarly old potatoes full of eyes, or the shiny new little ones, for a whole lot more. You can buy garlic with the green still attached. (Who knew that garlic was a plant?) There are green onions of all different sizes, some big enough already that the white bases are nearly the size of a small onion. Celery is now available at the fruit-vegetable stand (and not just in the stands in the nagycsarnok that are full of expensive imported vegetables) but in a narrow bunch of narrow stalks, huge yellow root bulb still attached. Stand owners offer to trim your scallions and celery for you.

Reading. Finished Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography, The System of the World, and Reading Lolita in Tehran and am now well into Robert des noms propres.

Last night I was introduced to Budapest's summer party scene, in the form of the outdoor clubs that spring up along the Danube. Buddha Beach was there all along, I think, but it had these charming little raised wooden huts with a table inside that patrons sat in, with a view of the sidewalk and the tourist boats on the river below, and I'm sure those weren't out in the winter. Zold-something, on one side of Petofi hid, and Rio-something on the other. Zold-something was charging a 100 ft entry fee, apparently a new development as of two weeks ago, and therefore had 10% of its normal attendance. The scene: young club-bunny types; the music: generic top 40 dance mix. I appreciated the outdoor cafe party scene, though, which I've seen incarnated elsewhere, in Berlin and Juan les Pins, something that the bay area utterly lacks. Rio-something, the apparently more grown-up and snooty twin across the street, was totally deserted. It was a bit sad to see the entirely empty dance floor and blaring house music, a handful of well-dressed patrons staring at us as we passed by their tables. I'm told their bouncers are usually mean about dress codes. Later there should be some sort of real "beach" party set up nearer Margitsziget.

And because the weather here does this, the heat wave ended in crashes of thunder and lightning, some big drops of rain, and impressive winds.

Croatia on Saturday.

Wedding on the 11th.

My going-away party on the 12th.

To Oslo on the 15th.

To Newark on the 19th.