Thursday, May 28, 2009

A Roll of Cottage Cheese, Covered in Chocolate

PORTLAND, ME – It is the most unique candy bar imaginable. I am not even sure I can call it a candy bar. It is a roll of sweet, lemony cottage cheese – smooth and fluffy, none of that weird, gritty, rubbery stuff – covered in a layer of crunchy milk chocolate. It’s about the size of my middle finger and it’s wrapped in a red polka-dot foil. It’s “Turo Rudi.” Literally translated: Cottage Cheese Roll. Or “rollie,” if we want to be accurate.

It is only for the Hungarian palate. I have never met an American who enjoyed it. I think you have to grow up with it to appreciate its weirdness. You have to have eaten enough to know how to open the package so that the chocolate doesn’t brake off and how to fish the last bits of chocolate crumbs out of the foil. You have to have crushed enough rollies in your backpack on hot school days to appreciate the way it tastes when it’s melted and to not be too surprised when it comes to represent your entire personal history and identity.

Because of course, it is more than just a roll of cottage cheese, covered in chocolate.

More on The Nervous Breakdown...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Spring is here

It's been a while since I felt bloggy. There is plenty to write about, but somehow I've gotten out of my blogging groove. I promise to get back into it... At least for myself.

Not much new has been happening. Spring is finally here and I've been having a lot of fun watching what will sprout out of the ground. We have tons of tulips, a lilac bush, two honeysuckle bushes, wild strawberries and I also think we have a raspberry bush. Our garden went from bare and brown to lush, green, a real Garden of Eden.

We are hopefully buying some porch furniture - and a grill! - this weekend, so I am planning on moving my books and other essentials to the porch for the rest of the summer. I never realized how much I missed being outside when the weather is nice. It's sort of weird, because I grew up in an apartment and this is the first time I have a garden and I just can't help staring at it and walk around every half hour when I am working from home. Sitting outside is one of my favorite things to do - I loved it even as a child when we went to our summer house and even during huge storms I enjoyed sitting on the covered terrace, wrapped in a blanket. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.

Here are a couple of pics of what's been happening outside my window: