Praha, Pivo, Prosim

I know, I know, you might all be surprised to hear that I’m at home on a Saturday night. And I don’t even have any beer to keep me company. A serious consideration is hot tea at the moment. Yes, I am living the dream!

NEWS and EVENTS

The biggest news is that my birthday is on Tuesday and I bought an off-camera flash for my DSLR today. I’d rather focus on the latter part of the last sentence as it’s more exciting than the getting older part. But alas, I’ll address both…

The flash–it’s an off brand therefore it is less than the pricier Nikon variety. I wish I could drop some serious cash on super quality equipment but funds are tight and I can’t go spending frivolously; as much as I’d like to do the aforementioned, I have to be aware of how much I have and where it is going. Budgets suck. Boo. Thumbs down budgets! Either way, I’ll be fooling around with this new toy tomorrow so I’ll post some photos in the future. Oh, and to answer anyone that might ask–why is it necessary to buy this kind of flash when most cameras have a built-in flash? Well, that’s a simple one. On camera flashes make people look like fucking shit. Horrible. Skin tones are horrible and complexions look like hell. An extra flash option adds for the possibility of angled lighting or diffused lighting thus making human subjects look human and less like pasty beasts.

The birthday. Ah, yes. Getting older. Those of you that know me, know my age so we’ll leave it at that. However, I will say that I certainly don’t ‘feel’ my age nor do I necessarily ‘act’ my age, either. The number attached to an age is kind of arbitrary but it’s that pesky reminder of just how long we’ve been trotting the globe and making memories.

Important history lesson…. Nov. 17, 1989: The Velvet Revolution, Czech Republic. The end of Communism. As the 20th anniversary of this historical event approaches, the city is preparing many activities and celebrations to commemorate such a momentous time in this country’s history. A Czech friend (and student) told me an interesting story last night. We were out drinking wine under the Charles Bridge at a cute little bistro and she said that her university was located near Vaclavske Namesti (Wenceslas Square). Vaclavske was where much of the Velvet Revolution action happened. For fourteen days she and her fellow students were locked in their rooms. They could hear shooting and shouting but had no idea what was going on. The Berlin Wall had fallen earlier that month and now the time had come to Czechoslovakia. It was their turn.

I now know a substantial amount of locals and/or those raised behind the Iron Curtain and it’s really fascinating to hear stories about the Communist Era. Although, they certainly don’t see it as such because they were living it, there are so many little things about ‘western’ life that I have taken for granted. Things that I would never even think about were unavailable or unknown here during that time. For example….. I was talking to another Czech friend and colleague about how my sister (thanks, V!) would give me green olives but she would SAY they were green cherries. Like a fool, I believed her and ate them only to spit them out. My Czech friend then told me that the first time she had olives was when she was 15 and in Greece because olives were just not available here at that time. She also told me how everyone wore the same shoes. And how the queues (lines) for fruits were extremely long. And how they ate Cuban oranges which are more yellow than orange. Hmm, interesting–importing the other Communist oranges. How apropo.

I’M IN THE MOVIES, BEYOTCH!

I’m hopefully getting a copy of my world premiere film tomorrow. No, no, not porn. Nobody would want to see that. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all Carrie Prejean and tell Larry King he’s being ‘inappropriate’ when he asks me about it. (And as an aside…and I apologize I’m about to use this word but…. Wow, she’s quite the entitled cunt, isn’t she?) But anyway, I should be meeting Libor and Petra so they can give me a few copies of the documentary. I think there should be an official screening with a red carpet, popcorn and media. Who can I call? I wonder if Povich and Chung are available for press?

FOOD

Here’s something anyone out there could possibly help me out with… The backstory: Ok, a Czech friend (the first one mentioned above) grew up in a small village. She goes to visit her parents frequently. But, because this village is so small, many people grow crops and raise animals so as to provide for themselves. I had known that her parents have chickens and that she often brings free range eggs back to Prague. But, I did not know that there are also rabbits, goats and even friggin’ beehives. Yes, beehives! I want to get my hands on some real organic honey. Being the food geek I am, I was very excited by all this bounty she was telling me about. So, I made her a deal. If she can bring me some organic goodies, I offered to cook. It’s a good trade, really. I get to play with high quality organic food and cook and she gets some free English. The challenge: So, here’s what I’m thinking….. if she brings some awesome eggs, I would like to make a souffle. For anyone that has never had a souffle, trust me when I say they are delicious. And if you love eggs, go find a restaurant that serves them now! Souffles are just big fluffy, eggy goodness. I think cheese souffles are the most ‘go-to’ but there are various savory options as well as sweet. If anyone out there has souffle experience, I’d like to hear about it. What did you make? How did it turn out? Tips? I’m always down for making new recipes so getting feedback would be most helpful.

It’s about 10am here and I’m done with my first batch of laundry for the day. Hooray! Plus = I like the smell of the cheap Euro Shopper blue colored detergent. Minus = no friggin’ dryers in this country which means I gotta go old school.

Ok, I Photoshopped some stuff…..as per usual, click for bigger. *Note: these are ’saved for the web’ images and as such, they are seriously downgraded. Web images lose a lot of color and ‘pop’ but of course smaller images are easier to upload and take up far less space. Just know the originals are better than what you see here.

1. Cool metal dudes at St. Vitus

2. Pretty windows at St. Vitus

3. Stained glass reflections at St. Vitus

4. View of Prague from the top of one of the Charles Bridge Towers. The sun was out briefly that day, so it was nice!

5. This guy is at the top of the steps of the Tower from #4. I don’t know who he is or how old he is but I like how creepy he is without a face just standing there greeting everyone.

6. This is about 2 blocks from my crib. The Powder Tower is right next to it but I’ll post a photo of that at a later time.

In other news, I got a job yesterday. This is a good thing. Feel free to ask The Google about Skrivanek. Already have a seminar on Friday. Hot diggity!

Hmm… someone asked me the other day if I was still buying strange food just for the fun of it. Well, the ham roll is still the weirdest thing but I did see a new aspic-laden item at Albert yesterday. It was some kind of fish (with scales) rolled up with stuff inside and under a thick layer of aspic. Mmm, delicious! I did not buy this. I did however, get some kind of cheese spread. I don’t know what it’s called but since it had SYR in one of the words, I know that’s cheese so my awesome powers of deduction figured this out. I will report it’s delicious.

It’s our (re: MY) responsibility to take out the ‘new class’ at The Language House. I will gladly go in and tell them to meet up with us so we can all go out. However, these people will not be coming to my abode. Why? Well, I don’t think I’d invite 15 of my real friends over–not even when I had an established residence in the US. Not gonna happen. Anyway, the drawback is that I do not want to be the ‘leader’ in the actual bar crawl as I have no fucking clue where to go in Old Town. The bars are EVERYWHERE and my sense of direction is fucked here as the streets do not follow an orderly pattern. Boo! When we were given the drinking tour, we ended up following some drunken English broad that didn’t know where she was going so we got to experience our first time on the night tram. Hooray!

Ok, the sun has been out since I got up 2 hours ago. This is insanity. I must go enjoy my day!

While the world waits with bated breath as to what our new First Lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama, will be wearing to all this evening’s Inaugural Ball festivities, I prepared a very cheap dinner. Why? So I, like most other people, can watch the news coverage with joyful excitement that today is a new day. I know, that might sound a bit too optimistic or even lofty but that’s the good thing about the changing of the guard. President Obama brings a bit of youth to the office but also of course, his message of hope and change. While watching some of the coverage today I caught myself smiling many, many times. Garnering such a reaction from the populace (including me, a snarky sarcastic person!) is a great way to start a new day on a renewed sense of change and yes, optimism. No, I do not believe Obama is the Messiah, or the second coming of Christ or an infallible man. He will make his own mistakes. However, I do have confidence that he’s a really smart and motivated guy who managed do it on his own in his own way rather than buy, ass-kiss, and fumble his way through the trials and tribulations of life. So, I raise my glass to you–Mr. President, Barack Obama!

As detailed by my slightly inebriated video production posting from a while back regarding my cabinets and lack of food, I came up with a rather delicious meal tonight using the least amount of funds I could scrounge up. Yesterday, while out buying a permanent marker (yes, I made a special trip), I began thinking about what to have for dinner.

SIDENOTE: And before I continue I’ll digress and discuss the permanent marker thing a bit further. A couple weeks ago I bought some boxes and misc. moving materials from a local packing company. I incorrectly assumed that their marker would work. It was dried out and crusty which to me equals a big BOO. But, since I decided to pack stuff up, I have been sitting among open yet filled boxes. Having things out in the open just makes for clutter. Taping these bastards shut really wasn’t an option as I have no intention of mislabeling boxes or not evening labeling them at all. Bad news for a person who isn’t the most organized. The end.

Ok, so I was at the shithole known as KMart (how do they stay in business?) looking around for stuff. Then the dinner thought hit. ‘Hmm alright, what can I throw together that’s super-cheap and easy,’ was my train of thought. Where did I go for food? Kroger? No. Fresh Market? No. Drive-thru? No. I really one-upped myself last night and bought some crap at the dollar store. Well, technically it’s not the Dollar Store as this place is called Deal$ and not everything is a dollar. Yes, really with the $ sign. (Edited for Glenn because he noticed.)  This place has a ridiculous frozen food section. I’m sad to report that is a true statement because of personal experience.  After combing over my options, I bought a box of fish sticks and some game hens. Random items but true. Fish sticks are a total old lady/1970’s treat but I love them; or maybe it’s just a vehicle for which I can eat Frank’s Red Hot. The jury is out on that one.

If you’ve never had/prepared a Cornish Game Hen, go buy one today. They are usually quite cheap and you cook them pretty much like a chicken. Due to my severely limited kitchen capacity, I did however, manage to make a pretty meal. Here’s what I made for about $5…

Wash the hen and pat dry

Squeeze some lemon on the chicken and stuff quarters (no, not currency) inside the bird

Rub some olive oil on the bird if you like, it will be deliciousSprinkle with salt and pepper

Roast in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 70 minutes–this time is not exact, I’m just providing a guide

Baste with a bit of butter near the end and you can make a nice pan sauce

Crank up the heat to about 400F at the end if you want more browned and crispy skin (Crispy poultry skin is one of the best food things on earth for me. So, as such, this is an important step.)

*To be fancier you can make a compound butter. Here are a few ideas for ingredients: lemon, garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, celery salt, etc. You get the idea. Rub the butter in/under the skin and baste throughout. The under skin part might prove more difficult with a smaller bird but it works fine with a full-sized chicken.

*I’ve done the garlic/thyme/lemon thing many times on a chicken and well, it’s awesome.

I made a cheap side item of boil-in-bag brown rice and canned corn. Add some salt and pepper at the end and pouring over those pan drippings also makes it tasty, too. 

This is a small dinner plate thus the squawker looking larger than reality.

Unrelated short rant about Wordpress… since I’m a bit OCD with spelling/punctuation etc., I seem to edit my posts several times after publishing. That said, each time I go to edit, the html code gets lost and I’m forced to reformat paragraphs, etc. In other words, my text turns into one big paragraph with no breaks. It’s annoying. Does anyone else have this problem? Other than comb over my post pre-publish for details, how can I avoid this in the future?

Speaking as someone who never took a journalism course, I’m fairly sure that the point of a headline is to provide a snippet of information regarding the article to follow. Most times, the headlines give accurate stats and other imperative information as to the content. Other times, article headlines (and sometimes the articles themselves) are just fucking stupid. I’m talking about the really obvious ones that, unless you are completely oblivious to the human condition, just read LAME, STUPID, and generally MORONIC. On that note, I give you this…

(click for larger)

I’m not trying to be a heartless bitch on this because it’s a really sad scenario for any family and I know they are devastated and inconsolable. But seriously, how ELSE are the parents expected to feel? Should it read, ‘Travolta & Preston Celebrate Tragic Death of Son with Trip to Disneyworld; Eat Hot Dogs and Enjoy Witch Mountain,’ instead? While this screencap is from CNN.com, they are not the only guilty party in this literary faux pas. In fact, I can’t think of any other organization that doesn’t publish similar articles. Another that comes to mind was a chyron blurb from a regular CNN broadcast. It read something like, ‘Obaba Affected by Absentee Father.’ Again, no shit. Since when does being abandoned by a parent not change the core of who one is? I realize that these types of news pieces are geared at emotion but the common-sense headlines are insulting for anyone who has more than a 3rd grade education.

For nothing other than the subject header am I posting this image…

….and you need to read both links because they rock.

Clicky for big

This is a quick image capture from Reddit (a site I frequent multiple times daily). For those unfamiliar, Reddit posts links based on popularity or ‘upmods’ so therefore, at a particular point in time, these pieces were side-by-side on the Reddit main page. It’s not really juxtaposition as the content is relevant and relative but it struck my juvenile and partly immature mind as humorous.