Czechmatediary

The calendar of Czech events for October is up so dig in!

CZ: Calendar ceskych aktivit je hotovy tak se do neho s chuti zakousnete!

1. Lutherville, MD

A. What: Concert - Celebration of Czech music

When: Oct. 7

B. Annual Czech and Slovak Festival

When: Oct. 25

2. New York, NY

A. What: Czech Street Festival

When: Oct. 3

B. Gathering of Czech Drummers (music performance)

When: Oct.27 (more…)

A recent study of the Czech Hydrometerological Institute concluded that “even with the modest warming so far experienced, hop yields in the Czech Republic have stagnated and quality declined”. The increasing temperatures (although very suttle) have been taking  the toll on the ‘beer plants’ which in turn could reduce their yield  by a further 7-10%. Perhaps the most worrying is the decline in the quality of the Saaz hops, which produce our good old Czech pilsners. “The “Alpha” acid content - “a major determinant of quality”, according to the team, as it’s the compound that produces a pilsner’s defining bitter taste - is likely to fall a further 13-32% if the predicted warming occurs. The study found that the concentration of these acids has fallen by 0.06% a year since 1954.” (more…)

In today’s globalized world some ‘ignorant’ soul might call this dish a vegetable tempura. But we, the experienced cauliflower-lovers know, that it is not just some kind of an appetizer. When served with a side dish - like the mashed potatoes for example - breaded (or ‘fried’) cauliflower is a delicious main course!

CZ: V dnesni globalizovane spolecnosti muze nejaka ta ‘ignorantska’ duse nazvat smazeny kvetak ‘vegetable tempura’. Samozrejme ze my, zkuseni kvetakovci vime, ze smazeny kvetak neni jen nejaky predkrm. Kdyz se totiz serviruje s brambory, je z toho velmi chutna a syta vecere! (more…)

OK, so small (or excuse me, “tall”) coffee at Starbucks in the Czech Republic costs $3.00 (50 Crowns) which is about twice as much as in the USA and do you think people are buying it? YES THEY ARE! The Seattle-based chain is in fact doing so well that it is planning on doubling its stores in the former Eastern Europe over the next 5 years. Prague has 9 stores right now and 2 in Poland. The expansion is planned for other Czech cities as well as into Hungary and more of Poland. So while Starbucks is in the process of closing 600 poorly performing stores in the US, Eastern Europe may hold the company above the water.

The whole article about Starbucks in the Czech Republic can be found here (click here).

PS: Tak si predstavte, ze male kafe v prazskem Starbucksu stoji 50 Kc ($3.00), coz je tedy dvakrat vice nez co to stoji v US. Clovek by si myslel, ze obchod prodelava…ani nahodou! Starbucksuv profit totiz primo rozvkveta.  Tento Seattlovsky retezec planuje behem 5-ti let zdvojnasobit pocet obchodu v cele vychodni Evrope. Praha jich ma zatim 9, Starbucks se ale chysta take do dalsich ceskych mest, take do Madarska a do mensich mest v Polsku. Zajimave je, ze v USA se tomuto retezci moc nevede. V pristich 18 mesicich ma zavrit kolem 600-ti neprospesnych pobocek, tedy Evropske pobocky maji tuto potapejici se lod asi zachranit. Uvidime.

Cely clanek o Starbucksu v Cechach si muzete precist zde (kliknete zde).

My husband and I went to the movies the other day and I came across this license plate that said ‘PHROGUE‘ (see image above).I instantly enthusiastically exclaimed: “Look, this person is from Prague!!”. My husband gave me an empathetic smile and said:”That means ‘Frog’, honey”.

Oh well, sometimes it’s hard to live in a body of a foreigner…..

CZ: Tak jsme se zase jednou vypravili s manzilkem do kina a na parkovisti me vpadne do oka zvlastni SPZ s nasledovnym spelovanim: ‘PHROGUE‘. Hned jsem na manzela nadsene volala, “Hele, tenhle ridic je z Prahy!!”. On se na mne pobavene usmal a pote mi vysvetlil, ze to vlastne znamena ‘frog’ a ne ‘Prague’.

No jo, nekdy je tezke zit v tele cizince…..

My dad sent me a Czech newspaper essay that falls right into our political discussion about the troubled anti-missile defense shield we have been having. The author, Vaclav Vlk, named it ‘A Total Slap In the Face’ and I found his words quite intriguing. In order to share this article with the non-Czech speakers I translated parts that resonated with me the most (I apologize I could not translate the whole thing but it is really quite long). Here it is:

CZ: Muj tata mi vcera poslal dosti zajimavy clanek na tema protiraketove radarove zakladny, o ktere jsme tu pred par dny diskutovali. Clanek pochazi z Neviditelneho psa (autorem je Vaclav Vlk) a jelikoz kazdy odstavec ma v sobe neco velmi podstatneho, nemela jsem to srdce ho ‘okrohouhat’ (tedy spise zeditovat) a je tu tedy cely, od zacatku az do konce. Jmenuje se vhodne “Facka pesti pres Celou hubu”:

A Total Slap In The Face

‘What Obama did with the anti-missile defense shield is just a softer version of the Munich Agreement where the Czechs end up being the bait for the bigger fish. Or one can compare it to 1945 (5th of May) when the Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic was left out for grabs by the Soviets. In other words, if we give Russians what they want (i.e. no anti-missile defense shield in Czech or Poland) that in turn will keep them quiet for a while. (more…)

For the first time after 29 long years, the Czech Republic has gotten into the Davis Cup finals! The Czech doubles pair (Tomas Bedrych and Radek Stepanek) beat Croatia in incredible 2 hours adn 15 minutes. “This is a great victory for our country…We did not expect to win over Croatia on their own soil  with a score being three to zero,”, proudly comments the captain of the team, Jaroslav Navratil. The former Czechoslovakia won the Cup in 1980 by beating Italy with a team lead by the incredible Ivan Lendl. (more…)

US President Barack Obama decided to withdrew from plans to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. He is hoping that this move will encourage Russia to be tougher with sanctions against Iran. Russia has also promised that it will not build its missiles in the planned Kalingrad area. “I hope you understand the logic…if there are no radars and missiles in Czech or Poland, we don’t have to look for some kind of a payback,” said the Russian ambassador Rogozin. (more…)

I have seen these dogs around but I just thought they were Chihuahuas.Well,  I was wrong! As one of you guys informed me (thank you Lydia!) they are called the Prague Ratters and as you might have guessed correctly according to the name, this breed was originated in Czech sometime before the 10th century. Today it is one of  the smallest dog breeds in the world ( 7 t0 9 inches tall and 6 to 9 lbs) and it can also be trained to use a litter box! Check out this cutie-pie’s history:

CZ: Kdyz jsem jeste zila v Cechach, tito pejsci behali vsude. Vzdycky jsem si myslela, ze jsou to cuvavy nebo miniaturni dobrmanci, ale diky jednomu z vas ted vim, ze jsem se mylila! Toto roztomile plemeno se jmenuje Prazsky krysarik a jak si jiz z jmena muzete domyslet, pochazi z Cech. Je to take jeden z nejmensich psich plemen na svete (vazi 6-9 poundu a meri 7-10 inchu), ktere chodi bezne na zachod na pisek pro kocky (litter box).

Prague Ratter History

As the breed is really so old, it is practically impossible to trace its early beginnings. However, Polish chronicler Galla Anonym wrote that Polish King Boleslav II The Brave (1058 -1080) became fond of the Ratter. He had two that came from Bohemia (the Czech lands). The chronicle says: “Not only Polish blood but also purely Slavonic blood, donated blood, circulates in the veins of our dogs”. As the king of Poland valued this gift, we can presume that it was a royal gift from prince Vladislav II. The French historian Jules Michelet mentioned in his work “Histoire de France” three ratting dogs came from the Czech lands. (more…)

‘Czech’ this out! If you:

• Have Czech or Slovak heritage
• live in Canada
• Are a pretty female

This YouTube video is for you! The Miss Czech & Slovak Canada regional contests registrations for 2010 have opened on June the 1st, 2009! Watch what is in stake for you right here:
For more information about the registration process, visit http://www.missczechslovakcanada.com. (more…)