Thursday, January 27, 2011

Bookworm: My Life in France

I love reading, cooking and traveling so when my friend A handed me a copy of Julia Child's autobiography "My life in France", I should have known I was about to fall in love. Julia was a woman who seemed to be before her time. She was independent and forward thinking and liberal and yet warm and diplomatic and caring. The ease with which she intertwines stories of food with the open road and with settling in a new place was page turning for this foodie traveler.

I related to her lament about the lose of relationship to food in our modern age. I am lucky enough to have a bakery, butcher, cheese shop and sweet shop all within meters of our flat but even with that luxury I tend to end up shopping in the big super markets for convenience.

On a political note, it was also a sober reminder reading of her husband's experiences during the McCarthy trails that the ebb and tide of right and left cycle and circle. A country drifts one way and then the other and there is never really a golden age. It's just that collective memory is colored rose by nostalgia.

There are some fabulous quotes about adjusting to life abroad. For those who have taken that plunge, they will find a kindred spirit in Ms Julia Child.

"It's easy to get the feeling that you know the language just because when you order a beer they don't bring you oysters," Paul Child, husband of Julia Child, on his French language knowledge


"Travel, we agreed, was a litmus test: if we could make the best of the chaos and serendipity that we'd inevitably meet in transit, then we'd surely be able to sail through the rest of life together just fine." -Julia Child, on her memory of moving to Paris with husband Paul

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Miniature trains and big taste


I met a friend for lunch this week. Actually, I do that often because as I have raved on this blog before the lunch specials in Prague make cooking or packing a lunch obsolete. She said to meet her "under the horse". So I dutifully went to Muzeum metro, exited to Wenceslas Square and found her standing under the statue of Saint Wenceslas, who is featured sitting on a horse.

My friend M promised a "fun" lunch. Hmm, fun? We entered a glass fronted building and walked up the wooden spirally steps. As we emerged into the restaurant, I felt a wave a childhood engulf me. The restaurant was abuzz with the sound of model trains. The tables were divided by model train tracks and small model homes and stores and trees. Vytopna restaurant was definitely themed around model trains. The child in me jumped up and down; the adult in me stood still and said, "Yes, M, this is a "fun" lunch!"

The lunch menu consists of soup for 20,-kc and then three main dishes ranging from 59,-kc to 99,-kc. Beware that the daily menu is only in Czech and the normal menu is significantly more costly. So, if your menu Czech isn't up to par then I recommend taking a good dictionary or a good Czech friend. Also, the daily menu isn't for the vegetarians out there.

We ordered our drinks, which came to the table on a little train! We had the kielbasa served with a side of spicy kidney beans. It was YUMMY! And FUN! Choo choo, all aboard for a hearty cheap lunch in the center of Prague!

www.praha-en.vytopna.cz/praha/

A Ballet Critic in One Act


Ok, I admit that I am the worst person in the world to critic ballet. Firstly, I have never been that physically disciplined in my whole life...ever. Secondly, I know nothing about ballet really. And last, but most importantly, I'm a half show attender. Yep, I usually leave early. I know that is dreadful and I don't usually go with that intention but it does seem to work out that way. Whether is is a long day of work ahead, headache, semi-interested co-attendee or impatience in general I have lots of half viewed theater productions under my belt. However, I don't apologize. Even if I don't always make it to the end I go because it is moving and stunning and surprising. And all these emotions can come in an hour and half the same as three hours.

My latest excursion was to see the National Theater's Nutcracker. Everyone knows the Nutcracker, but I can assure you that you have never seen the Nutcracker quite like this. Youri Vamos, the Hungarian choreographer, used A Christmas Carol as his inspiration for the ballet. There was a touch of Nutcracker, a hint of Scrooge and whole heap of creativity. My absolute favorite was the transformation of the Mouse King into a very camp Devil. The whole theater erupted in laughter as a red-tighted, leather-clad devil shook his stuff to Tchaikovsky's classic orchestra notes.

Why do I go to the theater? Because in Prague, it is always a thrilling adventure in experimental creation.

For photos, info and booking of tickets visit: http://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/Default.aspx?jz=en&dk=predstaveni.aspx&sb=3&ic=4598

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Cafe Amandine

If I want to try a new cafe, I call my friend A. She does the same. We've been in and out of lovely coffee and tea spots all over this city (and Budapest!). But our favorites seem to always be the ones that style themselves after the French. That could be because A was a Francophile in a former life, teaching French in high school...but I digress.

So this week we found ourselves in Cafe Amandine (http://www.cafeamandine.cz/en/), which is located between Karlovo Namesti and Palackeho Namesti. It is all about the French. The sticky sweet lovely pastries are displayed in a glass counter, the pink and green remind you of Moulin Rouge and the music transports you to Paris. The service was promt and helpful and friendly. The cappuccino was frothy and properly strong. The chocolate bomb mousse cake was...well, the bomb.

I recommend this little spot as a place to meet a friend or read the paper. It lends itself to a lazy afternoon. Two cautions for the cafe-goer: 1. It is a smoking cafe. There is a designated non-smoking area but there is no partition. Luckily no one was smoking the entire time we were there. 2. The prices are mid-range. It isn't as bad as the foreign coffee chains, but also isn't a place to grab a cheap coffee for the road.

Bon apetit! Sante!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Třeboň: Land o' Lakes


The year has begun and we have been on the road again. We spent last Saturday and Sunday driving around Southern Bohemia. We knew that we needed a bit of open road and we'd been toying with different ideas of places to go, but as the weekend got close and the weather was forecasted to be drizzly then we decided to go someplace small and quiet.

Třeboň is a small town with a big reputation for carp. The traditional Czech Christmas dinner is fried carp and potato salad. That was about the extent of my carp knowledge up until last weekend. It turns out it is a huge industry that spans hundreds of years. The modern fisheries are basically mass fish farms. The lakes that make the geography of Southern Bohemia are actually artificial. The nobility and the priests, for hundreds of years, carved out lakes in the landscape and filled them with carp. Why? For the nobility, it was extra cash and it created jobs for the people. For the monasteries it was a to stave off hunger. In the middle ages these fish farms kept the church and the state and the people from starvation.

But what I was really interested in was tasting. And that we did...and well! We went to the restaurant Šupina a Šupinka (www.supina.cz), which translates Scale and Little Scale. To say they specialize in fish is putting it mildly. Restaurace Šupina a Šupinka created a dance of beautiful flavors in my mouth. I'm not even a huge fan of fish, but every bit of the starter and main course (mine and H's) was perfect. Go see for yourself, it is worth the trip! And if you book online before March, you also get a 10% discount.

My second reason for thinking Třeboň was just wonderful was that it is also a spa town. We stayed in Hotel Zlata Hveda, right on the main square. Again, because it was out of season, we got a good deal on the room. They have a wellness center in the hotel so I booked myself a warm peat treatment with massage.

After our little adventure out of Prague, my stomach was happy and my muscles were happy and my head was full of happy Třeboň memories. Třeboň is an excellent place to slow down and enjoy the good things of life.