Alenka was so kind and posted her own family recipe in the comment area so I am re-printing it here. It is yet another recipe for Czech Christmas cookies but once you read it you will know that it is the unconventional method. The ‘boring’ method can be found here (you pretty much make a regular dough shaped in hedgehog shape, put melted chocolate on top and sprinkle it with coconut). Alenka’s dad was a little more inventive and untraditional: [click to continue…]
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Did you folks have a good St. Nicholas day? For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, here is an update on this guy:
CZ: Jak jste oslavili v cizine den Svateho Mikulase? Meli jste besidku? A co deti? Rvaly???
Nejdrive si pripomenme, kdo ten Svaty Mikulas vubec byl:
St. Nicholas was a 4th-century Catholic Saint and a Greek bishop from Myra (today’s part of Turkey) who had a reputation for a secret gift-giving, leaving coins in the shoes for those who left them out for him. That is why up to this day many countries around the world celebrate this day in similar demeanor. The trinity of Saint Nicholas, the angel, and the devil walks in the streets, looking for little children to give them presents. Once they encounter one, the ‘victim’ is asked if he/she had been good all year. The child usually says ‘yes’ because he is a/ afraid of the scary devil who may take him to hell b/wants presents from St. Nicholas. But St. Nicholas usually checks with the parents. If the parents’ response is different from the child’s response then it’s the devils turn to scare the child for his naughtyness. He usually shakes his iron chain, makes devil noises and shows the child his big sack that he carries on this shoulders and threatens the child to take him away to hell in it. The victimized child usually starts weeping profusely. Sometimes the devil goes as far as taking the child behind the door (if the event is in the closed out area, like a pre-school class) to pretend in front of the other kids that he, indeed, took the child to hell. Pretty hard-core stuff here we are talking about…especially when you are like 5 years old. [click to continue…]
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It’s been a while since I posted but the truth is that Christmas has been really busy for me. Getting the tree ready, baking Czech Christmas cookies, sending Christmas cards, Christmas parties…..oh my! And the preparations are far from done or perfect. For instance, I wanted to make linzer cookies today but I could not find the cookie cutters!!!! I was so mad but also determined so I ended up using plato cookie cutters. That is why we have cookies in a shape of a butterfly, a pretzel, a strawberry, a horse….not very Christmasy but hey! Why not….
To put us in the mood I selected a YouTube video about Slovak Christmas this time. It is very nicely done and it allows you to see the similarities/differences when compared to the Czech Christmas. Actually, I don’t think I have even seen any kind of differences in the movie. Could any one of you Slovak folks fill us in on that? [click to continue…]
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Christmas is just around the corner (again!) and it’s time to get ready. Many, many years ago I posted a recipe for Pernik cookies which are hard, flat cookies decorated by white frosting. There is another soft-style Pernik cake, which is also very Christmasy and delicious. The problem is that the spices that go in it vary and there are a quite a lot of them. The easiest solution is to have it all prepackaged and you are done very quickly (and don’t worry, it’s all natural, no additives, no GMO, no soy lecithin…).
The pernik spices are not available in the US but behold – Czechmate Diary now has them! Also, the recipe calls for a ‘vanilla sugar’ which is very common in Czech recipes (the Czechs don’t use vanilla syrup like we do here) and that is why I added one in the gift package as well.
That’s right! This is an easy and original Pernik gift package which includes:
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It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner…AGAIN! I was listing through my old Christmas posts to see which one is worthy of re-posting. Although I was searching through them for a long time I found myself unable to decide which one is the winner. Therefore I am posting the whole link to anything about Czech/Slovak Christmas on this blog. Click on it and see what catches your eye: is it the recipes? My personal experiences with Christmas? Czech Christmas music (YouTube/free links)? Take your pick:
CZ: Vanoce jsou OPET za rohem, tak jsem si rikala, ze by bylo dobre re-postovat nejaky vanocni clanek z minula, ktery mel hodne ohlasu. Takovych clanku jsem ale nasla par, a jelikoz jsem se nemohla rozhodnout, ktery z nich re-postovat, tak vam tu nechavam cely link na cokoliv vanocniho, o cem jsem kdy v minulosti psala. Rychle temi clanky proletnete a uvidite, ze vam neco padne do oka. Bud nejaky ten receptik, nebo YouTube video ceskych koled, nebo me osobni pribehy z Vanoc (a pribehy jinych)….
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Take a pick for the most wonderful Christmas gift ever 
.
CZ:Vyberte si ten jekrasnejsi vanocni darek ze vsech .
1. Czech Christmas Carols – volume 1/ Ceske Vanocni koledy – volume 1 (28 songs)
1. Já bych rád k Betlému, k Ježíšku malému
2. Jak jsi krásné, neviňátko
3. Štěstí, zdraví, pokoj svatý
4. Narodil se Kristus pán
5. Půjdem spolu do Betléma [click to continue…]
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Czech Bear Paws are completely different from the American bear claws which I used to get at Starbucks sometimes. Our bear paws are part of the cookie selection which one prepares during Christmas time.
The only hurdle to make this delicatessy abroad is the cookie mold. But that hurdle was crossed when one of you guys (thanks Dagmar!) told me to use the Madeleine cookie pan
. [click to continue…]
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Czech Christmas carols, Czech folk music and Czech lullabies are always in a high demand and that’s why they are available again on Czechmate Diary. This year the selection is a bit different from the last year’s selection, so nobody can complain of boredom
CZ: Uz je to tady – novaVanocni selekce ceske hudby! Koledy (dil 1. a dil 2.), ukolebavky a dechovka. Tato nabidka je trosku jina, nez co byla k mani rok minuly, takze si nikdo nemuze stezovat na nudu . [click to continue…]
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Our buddy Jamie sent me yet another enticing news that I have to share with you..and it’s about CARPS again! The following video will seem to you like it is from a different planet. Perhaps it is a short glimpse of Czech heaven (especially during Christmas)? [click to continue…]
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Last night I took a long look at our fat cat. And then I started thinking about how did she become so fat (we give her the same food but then she is getting older…) and that train of thought made me ask myself: “Who eats cats?”. Certain nations eat dogs but I had no clue about cats. So I asked my smart husband and he didn’t know either. And so we started a long quest that took us days to accomplish….just kidding! [click to continue…]
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