Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Growing up in Klotildliget, Hungary

Klotildliget, the small village where I was growing up, was subdivided from the properties of Habsburg-Lotaring Prince Joseph Karl in the late 1880's (as the more than 100 years old map illustratating above) at the area of the forested Pilis mountains, and was named after his wife, Klotild.

It was an ideal place for game hunting which activity was continued by his son, Prince Joseph Agost in the first half of the 20th century.

The beasts must had been abundant those days, because my mother was able to buy some venison and wild boar meat at the local butcher's shop during the hunting seasons.

One has to remember that this was the time before the communist took over Hungary at the end of WWII. By the end of 1945 everything was owned by the Communist government, and wild meats was not available anymore for the households. However, because the Hungarians do not give up easily, they have substituted it with the marinated beef.

(I'm not responsible for the incorrect spelling of "Bore" on the video.)

Charging Wild Bore

This shocking short video had inspired me to post a new recipe to my Hungarian Cooking site: Vadas Hus (Hunter-style Pot Roast).

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Health Savings Accounts

The recent Newsletter of the Mayo Clinic deals with the possibility of opening a health savings account (HSA).


Basically it is an account into which you can deposit tax-free money to be used for future medical expenses.


Health savings accounts were established in 2003 and are becoming more common. The goal of an HSA is to reduce the money spent on health care by placing more of the responsibility on you to shop for it. (This part is a bit fuzzy to me.)


The choice of whether to start an HSA is not an easy one, and supporters and critics have different opinions on the pros and cons, as one can read it in the Newsletter.