Bonnie Carroll's Life Bites - Travel Adventures

One of the very exciting features in food service on the Viking Star Ship is what is called "The Kitchen Table" a special dining area where guests are priviledges to work with chefs and experience delicious dinners containing products from the area they are cruising through.

The room has open views and is skillfully designed for viewing, talking, tasting and enjoying fabulous dishes from around the world, or specificially the countries you are traveling through.

This is a favorite destinations for people on Viking Star and the Executive Chef and his staff work to assist guests in learning replicate special Viking signarure recipes. For information visit: www.viking.com.

My first visit to Budapest Hungary was also my first visit to The Four Seasons Gresham Palace overlooking the Danube River and renowned Chain Bridge. The hotel is awe inspiring with a rich history that is fascinating. Today it is a chic art deco hotel filled with elegant and tasteful furnishings where guests savor the flavors in the Kollarzs Brasserie near the entrance, but also have the unique opportunity to enjoy their beautiful High Tea in the Lobby Lounge served on Hungarian Herend porcelain.

My first experience with the tea was clueless. I knew nothing of the basis for the name of this tea and later was delighted to learn the history behind it. I was so off the chart that I thought Herend was the name of an exotic imported tea product and unaware that it was a renowned Hungarian porcelain china used by the royalty of Europe.

Not only is their tea service served on one of the most popular Herend porcelain china designs it is a uniquely prepared tea experience spotlighting products and recipes of Budapest that are served in typically British fashion.

The finger sandwiches, containing Hungarian breads covered with signature Hungarian meats, fish and cheese are unforgettable. The serving plate also contains cookies and cakes, including beautiful lavender macarons and an original Hungarian cake that was perfect with the refreshing Hungarian Teas.

The total experience of this elegant tea is a gorgeous and completely unforgettable picture in my mind, and I always return to the scene of the delicious crime for tea when I’m in Budapest.

Herend Porcelain Manufactory (Hungarian): Herendi Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt.) is a Hungarian manufacturing company, specializing in luxury hand painted and gilded porcelain. Founded in 1826, it is based in the town of Herend near the city of Veszprem. Veszprém lies on both sides of the Séd creek, approximately 110 km (68 miles) from Budapest (via the M7 highway and Road 8). It can also be reached from Győr via Road 82 and from Székesfehérvár via Road 8.

In the mid-19^th century, it was purveyor to the Hapsburg Dynasty and aristocratic customers throughout Europe. Many of its classic patterns are still in production.

After the fall of Communism in Hungary the factory was privatized and is now 75% owned by its management and workers. As of 2006, the factory is profitable and exports to over 60 countries of the world. Its main markets are Italy, Japan, Russia, and the US

The factory at Herend was founded in 1826 by Vince Stingl as an earthenware pottery manufacturing factory; Stingl also carried out research experiments on porcelain making. Stingl ran out of funds and subsequently went bankrupt and his creditor Mór Fischer took control of the factory in 1839. Fischer, an ambitious man with new ideas, started manufacturing artistic porcelain in the same year. it was almost impossible to replace broken pieces and supply old, classical porcelain dinner-sets from the Far East and from Europe, so by 1849 Fischer's was busy selling his wares to the Hungarian aristocracy.

Some well-known patterns were named fohttp://herendusa.com/new-products/2021-winter-collection.html/r the first customers: Queen Victoria, Esterhazy Batthyany, Rothschild, Approny. In 1865 Francis Joseph I gave a noble title to Fischer, in appreciation of his work in porcelain art. From 1872 Mór Fischer Farkasházy, Purveyor to the Royal Court, was entitled to use the shapes and patterns of the Manufactory of Vienna, which had closed down.

In 1874 Fischer gave the management of the manufactory to his sons, who changed the focus of the company away from artistic creation, and sales began to decline. The factory had several owners and went almost bankrupt. At the end of the century, the grandson of the founder, Jenő Farkasházy, became the owner of the factory. Farkasházy was a trained ceramist, who had gained experience in foreign factories and began to create new designs and revive traditional patterns. He also introduced novelties in 1900 Paris and 1901 St. Petersburg.

Between the two world wars there was limited reproduction of traditional products. In 1948 the company was nationalized. In 1993 it was privatized, and in 2015 75% is owned by the management and workers.

After cleaning, decorating, and drying the porcelain is first fired at 830 degrees Celsius. The fired pieces are then immersed in a glaze and fired again, this time at 1410 degrees Celsius. This results in white, translucent porcelain. At this stage it is ready for painting by hand and then depending on whether it has been painted with colors or with gold, it is finished off with one or two more firings.

Herend porcelain has won 24 grand and gold prizes in world exhibitions between 1851 and 1937. One of the best known Herend patterns was presented at the London World Exhibition in 1851, the Chinese-style butterflies and flowery branches painted in joyful, lively colors. The British Queen, Victoria, ordered a dinner set with its gold medal-winning pattern for Windsor Castle., and so the pattern is named "Viktória".

The Herend Porcelain Manufactory was purveyor to the Habsburg Dynasty and the aristocracy, both in Hungary and abroad. The factory continues to manufacture porcelain according to the traditional methods to produce a consistent quality.

The company operates the Porcelain Museum of Herend at its site Herend, Kosseth La jos U. 140, 8440 Hungary; phone +36 88 523 197. The museum opened to visitors in 1964 and was chosen as the museum of the year 2002 in Hungary. The Museum presents the history of and the technology used by the Herend porcelain factory and working displays take visitors through the entire process of creating Herend porcelain. Visit: https://herend.com/museum-history.