Cooking in Hungary

The most interesting challenge that I have been faced with here in Hungary is cooking. First, of all I am not a cook. I boil water and use a microwave and I thought I could use an oven. So, even in America cooking for myself would still be a challenge but since I am here in Hungary it becomes a little more complicated. I have to use a gas stove and oven and the stove is pretty old. Which means I cook on an open flame. I have made many epic fails and almost ruined a pan. Then I have to use a wooden spoon to regulate the temperature in my oven because you cannot adjust the heat. On top of that I have to cook with foreign ingredients so some of the ingredients that I use at home like sugar is different here than at home. Today I took on the task of cooking dinner for couple people and make dessert. I made cookies from scratch and I was really worried about how they would come out because the brown sugar is not the brown in America and the sugar and flour are a little different and I didn't use vanilla extract but vanilla sugar. And they do not have chocolate chips here only chocolate bars. So I got a strawberry and chocolate candy bar and just a chocolate candy bar and cut it up using a knife. When I got it mix together I prayed that the oven would not ruin my cookies because I have lost many battles with this oven. But everything came out great and hopefully my the end of this adventure I will be able to cook for family and friends. Today was a fun day to play in the kitchen.