Czechmatediary

Ever since the year of 2006 the Czech Repulic has been announcing the winner of the bravest Czech of the Year. What a great idea! This year’s winner became Filip Korostenksi, a “regular” Joe, who happened to save a life of a 9-month pregnant women. Apparently,while driving she became unconscious, her car drove onto the sidewalk and was uncontrollably rolling forward. As soon as Filip spotted what was happening, he jumped into the car through the open window and tried to put the emergency brake on. The car ended up hitting a wall and finally stopped. Filip then managed to call the ambulance to take the women to the hospital (the article does not say whether the women turned out to be all right but let’s assume so). Filip received a statue of a guardian angel, a symbol of the “Michal Velisek’s Prize“. Michael Velisek, whom the prize was named after,  died 2 years ago saving a life of a stranger – a women who was brutally attacked by some street villains. [continue reading…]

Vanocka ( = “Christmas bread”) has a long history in Czech and Slovakia and without it Christmas is simply just not complete. In the past the Czechs called it pletenice or zemle or ceplik. Before the 18th century it could only be bought at the baker store – people never baked it at home. Since preparing Vanocka wasn’t and isn’t easy, a variety of customs have developed over time to make sure that the baking process is successful. One of those customs, for example, was for the woman to wear a white apron and kerchief while she was cooking so she couldn’t talk, AND she was supposed to jump up and down while the dough was rising (I personally still do that and my Vanocka always comes out perfect; one time I wore an apron that was green and instead of Vanocka I found a baked pig in my oven! So all that to say, please make sure that your apron is WHITE!). Another tradition was (and still is) to bake it with a coin which you insert into a dough prior to baking and whoever finds it in their slice is to be wealthy the following year.

CZ: Jak vsichni vime, bez Vanocky proste nejsou zadne Vanoce. Nagooglovala jsem si jeji historii a predstavte si, ze az do 18. stoleti byla k dostani pouze u pekare! Nikdo si ji “nedovolil” pect doma. Dnes jsou ale jine casy, zeny jsou emancipovane a nejaky ten obtiznejsi recept je preci nezastavi. Tak jdeme na to! Jo, a malem jsem zapomnela; jestlize se bojite toho zapletani copu, nebojte se, je tu YouTube! [continue reading…]

I don’t know how about you but I am not much of a drinker. After a few sips of wine I get very red in the face and I get very sleepy – not very exciting. But I did get excited about an article that one of my “secret sources” sent me. The world was just recently introduced a new and exciting vodka and it comes from Slovakian Tatra Mounains! It is 7 times distilled and 7 times filtered with the use of a real diamond-dust micro-filters. Thanks to this ultimate filtration system, the taste is exeptionally pure with hints of white pepper and lemon zest.  Malcom Lloyd, the Amercian researcher who prides himself in finding this unique source, said that he looked all over the Eastern Europe until he found this 13th-century village tucked into the foothills of the magnificent Slovakian Mounains. [continue reading…]

My Czech friend forwarded this e-mail to me the other day and I thought I would share it with you – it’s pretty cool (assuming that the data are somewhat correct):

If we were to reduce the entire world population into a small village of mere 100 inhabitants and kept all of the same nationality proportions, this village would have a following structure:

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 Americans (South- and North-)
• 8 Africans
• 52 of them would be women
• 48 of the would be men
• 70 non-Caucasians
• 30 Caucasians
• 70 non/anti Christians
• 30 Christians [continue reading…]

This is the season to give….but what am I going to buy this year??? Another set of pens for my mom? And yet another electrical razor for my dad that he doesn’t really need? And a bunch of chocolate for my friends so they can blame me for their weight gain after the New Year is over? The past couple of years our family has done Christmas a little differently. I actually bought couple of chickens ($25) for my friend Jenn and 5 ducks ($35) for my other friend Leslie. Last year we bought one of our friends a goat. No, they don’t live on a farm, just the opposite.So what am I talking about? [continue reading…]

Pavel Maurer, a celebrity Czech gourmet cook, recently released his list of the best restaurants in the Czech Republic for the year 2009. This may be a very valuable information for those of us who are planning on visiting Czech next year (which is next month!!) . Prague has currently about zillion of restaurants so it is good to have a little guide:

1. Radisson SAS hotel, Alcron Prague 1
2. La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoisie, Prague 1
3. Obecni Dum, Francouzska restaurace, Prague 1 [continue reading…]

I have already revealed the “secret” recipes of Vanilkove Rohlicky and Linecka kolecka. The Christmas cookie journey is far from being over however. Czech Christmas would not be complete if one did not serve Orechove dorticky (Walnut Tarts). Many of you may know them under a completely different name such as “Grandma’s circles” or “Chocolate circles” or some other names that I am not even aware of. As you will see from the recipe bellow, this Christmas dessert truly is a chocolate suicide. But who cares? It’s Christmas – calories don’t count!

CZ: V nedavne minulosti jsem vam jiz predstavila jak recept na vanilkove rohlicky, tak na linecka kolecka; to ale samozrejmne neni zdaleka konec vanocniho cukrovi – spise zacatek! Dnes se podivame na Orechove dotrticky, ktere jsou zname take pod jmeny jako “babiccina kolecka” nebo “cokoladova kolecka” (a vy je mozna znate i pod jinym jmenem!). Na rozdil od mych predeslych receptu, zdanlive nevinne orechove dorticky jsou prakticky cokoladovou sebevrazdou, nebo-li kalorickou bombou. Nastesti jsou ale Vanoce a kalorie se v prosinci nepocitaji… [continue reading…]

December festivities are here! I couldn’t believe it but we have  12 different  St. Nicholas Day Parties located all over the States as well as other foreign countries! If you like to drink and be merry then the following calendar offers various Czech and Slovak Christmas parties as well. Take a look yourself:

CZ: Vanoce jsou za dvermi a s nimi take Cert, Mikulas a Andel  a samozrejme JEZISEK!!! Samotne USA nabizi dvanact CS Mikulasskych besidek (!!)  a nekolik Vanocnich veselic. Jestlize zijete v Kanade, Australii nebo UK tak je tu take par moznosti:

USA

MIKULASSKE NADILKY PRO DETI / Children’s St. Nicholas Parties (10 Total)

1. New York, NY

What: St Nicholas “Mikulas” Party
When: Dec. 7th at 1pm
Where: St. John Nepomucene Church411 East 66th Street (1st Avenue) NY, NY 10065
More info: info@stjohnnepomucene or conact Mrs. Henrieta Daitova at 201 – 641 – 8922 [continue reading…]

November 17th marked the first day of the visa-free status for Czechs. It sounds great, but what does this Visa Waiver Program (VWP) really mean for us? What do those relatives need to do in order for them to visit us in the US ?

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) permits Czechs (and Slovaks) to visit the USA (and other 26  designated countries listed bellow) for 90 days using their passports without getting a visa. They can also use their former valid visas to do so. The VWP works only for for business trips and short term tourist-like visits, it DOES NOT substitute for the study or work visas. For Czechs who would like to do so (study or work in the US), they still have to apply for the proper visa through the US Embassy in the Czech Republic. [continue reading…]