Around the World in a 192 dishes and a hand full of cockups: Destination number one Hungary.

Once again, it's been bloody ages since I wrote anything and once again, I am writing something that I have no obligation to write because I don't feel like writing something I am obliged to write if I want to complete my university degree. As most of you know reading this,  I have a pretty terminal case of wanderlust, which I largely blame being the product of two adventurous parents. As always I am broke, and wanting to travel, the simplest of ways to save money is to cut out food and live in a shack. Unfortunately, when you live in a country which is wetter than England on one side and colder than mars on the other, that doesn't really work. So on a bus ride from LA to San Francisco, I made the decision that this year I was going to travel to every country in the world through food. It's a way to develop my cooking skill, as well as my photography and slow my progression of wanderlust. Wanderlust is like a degenerative disease such as Parkinson's or Alzeimer's, it never goes away and gets worse with age, but you can consume things that slow the progression.

At least, this is the case for me and so the year of travelling the world through culinary creations starts here, in "Hungary"with the famous Goulash, a beef and paprika stew served with potato dumplings and a nice blob of sour cream. I also served it with a side of mushrooms and green beans. Some of you might be asking why I started with Hungary....well the only reason is because I had a spontaneous craving for goulash....that's about it really and so after reading a recipe about as closely as I read my assigned readings for school. I attempted to make a pot of goulash, and like all things in life it wasn't perfect, mainly because I like spicy things and underestimated how spicy adding large quantities of  paprika, cayenne pepper and chilli, which if nothing else will kick start my metabolism.

So for my friends wanting to try something new hearty and delicious, I would highly suggest cooking some goulash up. One more piece of advice I will give you, if you are making it after a busy day, buy mince beef instead of stewing beef, they both cook quickly... but stewing beef is designed to cook it for a long slow period of a minimum 2 hours of time so it melts in your mouth...... whilst i was waiting for this my appetite consumed my brain and i subsequently ended up saying sod it and proceeding to eat cooked tough beef giving my upper molars a workout they were not especially use to. My jaw line is now without a doubt the most chiseled part of my body.