Czechmatediary

I am sure you have already seen this video but if you haven’t it is a must (video is attached below). Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, was caught ‘stealing’ a pen during a presidential meeting in Chile. Some viewers have become really angry seeing this movie, thinking that he is stealing the pen for real, which he is not. “It was a routine pen with a logo of Chile which is given to every president when he comes to visit.”, explains Radim Ochvat, president’s spokesman. [continue reading…]

BREZNICE, CZECH REPUBLIC - JULY 19: Teammates watch a colleague down a glass of Herold lager July 19, 2003 during a beer drinking competition at the Herold Brewery in Breznice, Czech Republic. Pub life and beer are an intrinsic element of Czech culture, and contribute to the Czech Republic's first place world ranking in annual consumption of beer per capita, at 156 liters, well ahead of second-place Ireland (125 liters per head) and third-place Germany (120 liters per head). (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

What a surprise that the Czech Republic was given a second place as the drunkest country in the world! But don’t worry, we still hold the world record when it comes to beer (read the caption below the image). Here is a very nice image that may give you a feel of what a second place in this ‘competition’ might look like. Notice the beer bellies :))

And who beat us? [continue reading…]

I have just finished reading a REALLY good book which I would highly recommend to anyone (both Czech and English translations are available). It’s called ‘Czechs and Balances – a Nation’s survival kit‘, written by Benjamin Kuras, a Czech-born British author and journalist. The book depicts a historical overview of the Czech lands, from the very beginning up until  20 years after the Velvet Revolution. Although I have had a Czech history lessons at school for years no one really managed to connect all of the historical events until now. And on top of that Kuras manages to do it with humor too! [continue reading…]

In a few weeks I am going to be hosting a dinner party for some of our friends. I suggested to make a traditional Czech meal and they got very excited about that idea. But now I am afraid I don’t know what to cook! There is so much (so little?) to chose from!

A regular non-Czech person is not going take a potato pancake or a stuffed fruit dumpling for a main course. No way. Or should I risk it? [continue reading…]

This is not one of my all-time favorite Czech tales (it’s kind of boring to tell you the truth)  but nonetheless it does belong to the Czech classics so let’s get it over with :).

CZ: Musim se priznat, ze tato ceska pohadka neni jedna z mych nejoblibenejsich (prijde mi z odpustenim trosku nudna); nicmene patri k ceskym klasikam, tak jsem si rekla, ze ji sem pridam.

Once on a beautiful day the egg says, “It’s a nice day today, I am going to go see the world.” On his way he meets a bull. “Where are you going, egg?” asks the bull. “I am going for a walk,” replies the egg. “I will go with you, there will be more of us, we wont be scared of the wolf or anything, ” says the bull. So they go. There are two of them when they meet a horse. “Where are you going?” asks the horse. “We are going for a walk,” says the egg and the bull adds: “Come with us, there will be more of us, we won’t be scared of the wolf or anything else.” So they go. There are now three of them when they meet a cat. The cat decides to go with them  too. So they go and now there are four of them when they meet a turkey. “Where are you going?” asks the turkey. “We are going to see the world,” answers the egg, the bull, the horse and the cat. “Come with us turkey, there will be more of us, we won’t be afraid of the wolf or anything else,” says the cat. [continue reading…]

Having two kids makes me feel like I have a hundred of them: so much to do and so little time! Which brings me to this recipe. Many times I find myself craving poppy-seed kolache but there are none. Certainly not in the store and I don’t have a whole day to bake them myself.  But I think I found a workable solution to fill my cravings! I buy  puff pastry sheets (Pepperidge Farms brand) in the store, make little pockets out of them and fill them with poppy-seed filling which is very easy to make. That way I have an imitation of traditional Czech kolache (which ends up looking like a poppy-seed turnover) in no time! Well, more like in 2o minutes…. [continue reading…]

Now I know why most Czechs don’t comment on my articles too much. They have been taught the hard way via the Czech media! Let me explain. The other day I was browsing one of the Czech websites to find something interesting to post about and I came across an interesting article. Actually it was a personal story. I liked it a lot and wanted to comment.

At first it asked me to register which is already a nuisance to me but I was determined to finished the mission so I registered. I then proceeded to write a comment under the article. When I pressed ‘enter’ this ‘friendly’ message appeared on my screen:
‘WARNING: You now have less than 300 ducats on your ducat account. Since you have less than 300 ducats you have earned the right to post 1 comment. You have already reached your one-comment limit therefore you cannot participate in this (or any) discussion anymore.”‘ [continue reading…]

At one time up to a one third of residents identified themselves as Czech. For many, many years the store signs as well as street signs were written in English and in Czech. But now the Czech community struggles to survive. Which American town am I talking about? [continue reading…]

Czech movie 'Katka'

If you live in London or somewhere in its vicinity I encourage you to check out  a couple of contemporary  Czech movies (Protektor and Katka) which were selected to be part of the new Czech Cinema UK tour called Made In Prague.

If you do go, please let us know whether you liked them or not!

CZ: Jestlize zijete v Londyne (nebo nekde v jeho blizkosti), doporucuji vam navstivit dva nove ceske filmy: ‘Katka’ a ‘Protektor’. Byly vybrane do anglickeho filmoveho festivalu zvaneho Made In Prague. [continue reading…]