So, confession time: while my move to Poland went pretty smooth, my new job is not quite working out the way I envisioned. My boss has been fumbling with my schedule, with work-permit related paperwork, and even with addresses of the businesses I’m supposed to teach English at. What’s a writer to do? Well, go... Continue Reading →
Product review: Amy’s Veggie Loaf (gluten-free and vegan)
I have a soft spot for Amy’s Kitchen— especially as they’ve been adding more gluten-free items to their already exclusively- veggie line-up. And there's something about the combined wonderfulness and terribleness of TV dinners that makes them intriguing. (The restaurant Tap in Detroit is even doing a "gourmet" style TV dinner.) And yes, my first post... Continue Reading →
Cabbage & rice noodle pancakes
The recipe was invented so I could enjoy the fried veggie pancakes I’ve seen in Poland, and also to deal with a surplus of rice noodles. When I first moved to the Czech Republic, I bought wayyy more rice noodles then I needed. Since I was unfamiliar with the grocery stores and what was available,... Continue Reading →
A glass of Kofola: and saying goodbye to the Czech Republic
A week before I left the Czech Republic, I impulsively bought a bottle of Kofola— (a glass bottle! makes the taste better you know)— that unique Czech brand of pop, which was meant to replace Coca-Cola when western products weren’t allowed during the communism years. The only other time I’d had Kofola was while drinking,... Continue Reading →
Final morning in Hradec Králové
I'm typing this right before I get on a train to leave Hradec Králové— my home in the Czech Republic since February— and I'm sending myself off with a gluten-free cream puff from Bazalka. Very short post— and it's almost impossible to capture that transitional moment of leaving anyhow. So, it's off to the next adventure...
Enjoying the vegan buffet in Prague
I think the all-vegan Loving Hut in Prague slowly became one of my favorite restaurants— and a great reason to hop a train to the city. Between the selection of gluten-free and raw cakes, to their simple and tasty veggie and tofu combinations, there hasn’t been a trip to Prague where I haven’t eaten at... Continue Reading →
Velvet Divorce: on drinking both fernet stock and borovička
Last night, I drank both the Czech Republic’s and Slovakia’s national drinks— fernet stock and borovička— and thought about both political history and my parent’s divorce. My folks split up in the early 1990s, the years the maps were changing— the time of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the official Czechoslovakia... Continue Reading →
Bike trip to a castle
Lovely day for a bike ride— warm, sunny, but not too hot— through woodsy paths and little winding roads in the Czech Republic. Our destination: the castle Kunětická horawhich was near-ish to Hradec Králové. We did make a pitstop at the recently opened lookout tower Rozhledna Milíř, which had a great view of the... Continue Reading →
Let’s do lunch: Hradec Králové
From the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases."For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question “How can we eat?” the second by the... Continue Reading →
Why loan words are awesome
Loan words and brand names are like tiny, one shot Rosetta stones— the keys to puzzling out a restaurant menu in a foreign language, or getting a cup of coffee when you’re tired. (The two I’m thinking of are tofu and Maggi.) And the first of this memory part starts in a classroom in Michigan,... Continue Reading →