Chefparade, avagy a bonbonkészítés fortélyai némi francia ihletéssel

Régóta terveztem, hogy elmegyek egy profi bonbonkészítő tanfolyamra. Nem mintha elégedetlen lettem volna eddigi „tanárommal”. Ötvös Zsuzsi Praliné Paradicsom elnevezésű blogja volt az alap, ahonnan elkezdtem tanulni ezt a nem egyszerű, de sok örömet adó tevékenységet. A másik kedvencem  a „Bonbon mánia” fantázianevű blog lett, de néztem angol nyelvű oktatófilmeket, megvettem a témába vágó könyveket, folyóiratokat. És persze utazásaim során sem hagytam ki a „csokis” helyeket. De Csiszér Dóri, a Chefparade csokiműhelyének háziasszonya tudott újat mondani, és elsősorban sok hasznost fogást mutatni. Mert bár tudjuk, az IKT eszközök használatának számos előnye van az oktatásban, egy tanár már csak tudja… de a személyes kapcsolatot, az együtt gyakorlás élményét nem helyettesíti semmi. Szóval éljen a „ learning by doing”, eddig sem tagadtam ezt az elvet. 

Chinese Tea Festival in Budapest

Tea or coffee? – asks the flight attendant when we are travelling by plane. I usually prefer coffee but I don't say no for a refreshing green tea on a gloomy day or an aromatic herb tea on a cold winter day. So I didn't say no for an invitation of a nice friend of mine to the Chinese Tea Culture Festival which took place in Asia Centre in Budapest. 

  

The programme was varied. It consisted of cultural elements and of course much information about tea. 

What tea ceremony means and how it looks like, what kind of effect it can be on one's health.

 

 There were colourful dance performances, mini concerts and Kung Fu show as well.

 But of course tea had the main role. We tasted many kind. 

Different type of green and black spiced with jasmine or just plain one.  As for me I prefer plain green or black tea. 

 The festival had commercial purpose as well. It was organised by CECZ, Central European Trade and Cooperation Zone. It is dedicated to support companies both in China and Europe. 

Father and his daughter. They are having 20 tea stores in China. Their organic tea is from beautiful mountainous areas and tastes exceptionally mellow. 

 And something peculiar: 50 years old, pressed tea: 

Last but not least: nobody is in a hurry who are having tea. They have time for chatting. Not online or offline but sitting around a table, filling up the little cups again and again with golden tea. While we were there, three languages were mixing with the music which came from the direction of the stage.  

My situation was privileged. Mircea, who invited me to go there, speaks Chinese well. Even he assembled the Chinese-Romanian dictionary. 

So we had hours for conversation with different people. Chinese who came in the hope of making business in Hungary. Hungarian people who are running tea houses in Budapest or just like tea. The most peculiar one was that middle aged guy who came to our table at around half past 8 p.m. The cleaners almost swept us out but he still was in the mood of tasting one more tea. And during that ten minutes we became the witnesses of a rich, interisting life story. 

So tea is able to bring people closer. It doesn't matter green or black one, with jasmine or without jasmine.  Anyway, please, without jasmine:)