The purpose of my market visit
wasn’t for shopping or sightseeing.
No, for my time in Budapest,
I requested a culinary-focused
itinerary from Kensington, and as
a result, I was learning how to make
traditional Hungarian goulash.
Certainly no expert in the kitchen,
my cooking instructor, Erik, would
have his hands full with me.
In the back of the empty Fakanál
Restaurant, my cooking stage was
set. Washed vegetables filled glass
bowls, dry ingredients were premeasured and empty pots patiently
waited on the stove. Not content
with simply teaching me to make
goulash, Erik wanted me to know
its origins. Meaning “herdsman” in
Hungarian, the spicy stew gets its
vermilion color from the Hungarian
paprika brought to the country by
the invading Turks. The history
lesson was far more difficult to
follow than the cooking process.
That felt effortless, chop, mix,
brown, pour, simmer. Certainly,
I could even replicate that at home.
Palatial Pomp
With the crush of the morning
commute, the metro was chaotic,
and without the help of Wafaa,
I likely would have never located
the RER Line. We climbed aboard and
found two seats, which was quite
fortunate. Had it been summer, the
train would’ve been packed with
tourists with our same agenda. For
the next thirty minutes, I hummed
along to the gypsy’s lively accordion
and watched a grittier part of
Paris pass by.
Initially, I was struck by the palace’s
undeniable grandeur. Priceless
Baroque furnishings fill the grand
rooms, and massive oil paintings
encased in gold leaf frames hang
from walls swathed in gorgeous silks.
ALL PHOTOS BY LEAH WALKER.
I pulled the curtains back and peeked
out the lobby window of my SaintGermain-des-Prés hotel. A light rain
fell, covering the small side street,
and I watched Parisians scurrying
around under the shield of umbrellas.
It was a Wednesday morning, and
they were going to work. I, on the
other hand, was on the lookout for
Wafaa, my private guide. For my
January trip to the City of Light,
Paris like an Heiress was my
requested Kensington theme,
and Wafaa would lead me to
the Palace of Versailles.
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