My background

I like to take you on a journey to explore my cultural background, hence the title…The Hungary Soul…more specifically the home cooked ethnic meals that were once prepared by my Mom and Grandma. Cooking and baking has been a significant part of my life at a very young age and I owe a huge gratitude to my Mom and Grandma for being such loving, talented and patient role models and mentors. I love to entertain and cook for family and friends. The recipes you will find on my blog are recipes I grew up with that were past down from both of these amazing women!! I will also share recipes that I have created and adapted over the years as an educator. I will further explore my trips to Budapest, Italy, France, Spain and South Africa. My hopes are you will be inspired and learn in the process.  

My passion is cooking. I have been very fortunate to have a mother who loved the same and to see her in her element and her passion and love of cooking and baking for her nine children and extended family and friends was so inspirational and truly admired.

My mother’s family came to Canada from Hungary when my mom was very young. My grandmother was exceptional in the kitchen, and creating for her was purely instinct. My mom said she learned a lot from her and this is where I come in. Now that my grandparents and parents have passed away, I truly believe it’s in my European blood and my soul purpose is to carry on our family Hungarian traditions.

Whenever I have the opportunity to host a dinner party, it will bring back memories of my mom and the kind of spread she would put on. Our family would come home and we would be in awe and couldn’t wait to taste the exceptional meal mom prepared for us. My mom and my grandmother were both amazing cooks. I feel very blessed to be surrounded by them. 

My career

The opportunity to become a teacher came unexpectedly, but when I look back, it was all meant to be. I taught high school students Fashion, Religion, Nutrition and Hospitality, more specifically cooking and baking classes. I had many enjoyable years of teaching students to plan, prepare and create recipes, and also catering for events, serving and running a café for a lunch program. My greatest joy as a Hospitality teacher was when my students came up with a name The Good Cooks Café at a school in Ottawa and they made a three course lunch every Friday for staff members. We became very popular and we had a blast!! It warms my heart thinking about it. 

Important to me

My knowledge of food and the joy of cooking, stems from how I was raised. I grew up on a farm, where we had fresh vegetables, fruit, and raised our own meat products for many years. We made everything from scratch. I now see how it has become a lost art and so much of our food industry is focused on the fast approach to meal preparation. It is reassuring to see the ‘organic foods’ or ‘local foods’ concept returning to embracing the quality of eating fresh local foods and supporting our local farmers.

What to expect

As I continue this new adventure of blogging, I will share with you my personal experiences, my favourite foods, family recipes, my knowledge as an educator, my trip to Hungary and everything in between. As well, I look forward to hearing your thoughts, comments and sharing your family experiences. My mind has been quite active, and maybe you can relate as a blogger, as to how and what kinds of things you want to share with your audience. So with that said, let’s get started.