Jamming session

Got a basket of totally ripe peaches, so they had to be preserved quickly. For a total novice of jam making and even more totally novice handling peaches, I'm pretty satisfied with the results. 4 jars or organic and ecological jam with my own mint, lime and ginger. 2 jars of chutney with sweet'n'sour spices.

Pretty day at the beach

Weekend heat really prepared me to be heat resistant: we spent a lazy day at THE BEACH. Me! On a beach! Dear readers who know me IRL may be astonished, but you know people can change. My skin is tingling&glowing from the warmth and I think I got sand in my shoes.

Zlute lazne is probably the closest it gets to a mediterrean beach in Prague area with beach volley, beach bar (genuine white sand) and angry birds as in swan family with an overprotective dad. Swimming takes place in Vltava which was a bit suspicious but refreshing, I was told. On a Monday afternoon it was relatively empty and nice, started to fill up as the afternoon turned to evening. They got DJ's, summer movies showings and lots of niceties. Could go again, maybe next weekend.

Dealing with the heat, #2

 More pics from Kromeriz last weekend, even though it's effing hot it is much easier than the heat in June. Lots and lots of ice tea, shade, sunscreen, new minimal dress (no pic), fan, ice tea, home made lemonade, more ice tea... At the moment it's still +30 outside and it is 21:36 in the evening.

Weekend trip

 This was the hottest weekend so far this summer. Unluckily / luckily it was also the weekend for a trip to Olomouc and Kromeriz. Some of the trains were air-con'd, some definitely not. Guerrilla garden and cat street art in Olomouc was charming, Poets' Corner Hostel with plant-in-a-teapot was charming, the flamenco festival was charming, Tibet jazz club was charming, Kromeriz chateau and gardens were charming. And the balloon over Olomouc! Charrminngg. Sorry, my brain melted in heat, can't think of anything rational to say. But it was a nice weekend, despite of the weather.

Life, like in the movies

Last months it has been like in feature films. From The eternal beauty of spotless mind to Stranger than fiction via One hundred years of solitude (dunno if there's a film done of it).

And latest, from a specific time and specific realization a non-published movie called "The meandering pathway of wish and anticipation". We'll just have to see whether it'll turn as slapstick farce, larger-than-life drama or pure tragedy. Speculative it is, for sure. O'boy how speculative.

Airborne in dream again

Yey! Flied in my dream last night. Not very high, just above the ground surface but anyway. The trick was to lift hands into specific angle to make an aerodynamic posture. Then off we go. I could feel the wind in my face and I could look down and see the earth beneath me. Felt so good.

I also dreamt about my high school sports hall locker room, which was a place for serious makeout  a long long time ago. A need-to-know basis dream, this one.

Both dreams were lucid ones, so I realized in awe having these wonderful dreams.

Picnic at Stromovka

I wonder if it's possible ever to grow tired of having picnic?? Doubt it. It is such fun.

Today we went to Stromovka, picnic basket included cucumber salad sandwiches (and crab salad for the carnivore, grr), apricots, peaches and nectarines. And finnish salmiakki. Picnic book Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 part 3 but I have to browse 1 and 2 before moving on. The thick book doubled also as a pillow, micronapping in wild-ish nature is so cool. Notice the bubbles, there was a bublifuk too  :D

One happy camper does BBQ

Weekend filled with lighting fluid, coals and fire. 2 set of bbq, first at a park again and the following day at my garden.

Oh I was happy to be the vegetarian when saw those carsinogen-charcoaled chicken breasts on the first pic. The skewers were fine, more oil or other marinade maybe needed.

Second pic girls toasting to the magical setting sun of Prague. Third pic my garden bbq.  Breaking garden news: my chili plant has at least 8 baby chilis! They are so green I never noticed them before!

Theme week: farewell supermarkets

Because I have all the time in the world, I've decided not to use any supermarkets this week. 

On Wednesday it took me whole day to have my errands done, but hey, I can use all day for it. First had white tea and apricot cake while waiting my laundry to finish. Then went to cheese shop to buy cheese. Tasted cheeses of course before choosing and chatted jovially with the clerk in czech :)
Went to drogerie to get some toiletries. Went to veggie market to get some veggies. Went to bio potraviny to get tofu. Finally went to vegetarian indian restaurant to have a well earned lunch.

Wednesday evening met a friend at my garden (notice the use of possessive pronoun) and got lettuce, parsley and basil for salad. Specialty store of one kind too.

An epic day

Remember my tearoom dream? Well, we went to that tearoom Bílý jeřáb the day after my dream. It was japanese, calm, simplistic and we degusted green teas for hours. The kind owner explained us everything we needed to know about having decent japanese tea.

The name Bílý jeřáb means white crane. The same day I was on a homebound tram when the most beautiful man you can imagine sat next to me. Like an angel, little stoned though. When I was disembarking, this angel handed me an origami crane that he had folded for me from white supermarket receipt. How epic is that!

First Prague positioned dream

Oh wow, I had my 1st Prague dream after 4,5 months here.

There's a tearoom near Svandovo divadlo, in my dream it was situated in Asia. When the doors of the tearoom were opened, you could get a glimpse of Asian city narrow alleys, tuk-tuks, rikchas and spice bazars. After the doors were closed, it was again the plain door to a tearoom at Stefanikova.

Also I was talking to a gardener's wife, who invited me to her husband's work place at Karlovo namesti secret garden. I needed to have a special map, otherwise I would never find the garden. I told her about my tiny garden, she asked if it's possible to grow kebab there. I said I couldn't see any reason why not. Then we laughed heartily. Not because of growing kebab in a garden is impossible but because in a dream that is relatively relevant option.

Breakfast of the organic champions

Homemade abt 85% organic muesli. Oatmeal, wheat bran, sesame seed, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, goji berries and fresh cherries. Just a hint of dark sugar. Good and especially good for your self-esteem and eco-consciousness (except the gojis, maybe).

Maybe less seeds would be enough, I feel like a pigeon with full belly now. And the seeds could be soaked first to get all the good fatty acids (omegas!)

Also I've diminished my morning coffee dose from a mug to an esperesso cup. After all it is espresso that I'm drinking. No more non-productive hyperactivity after brekkie.

Front page garden news

My chili has turned red! My first chili ever! Hooray! And this is not all: there are promising flowers on the plant, so maybe, just maybe there's going to be more chilis than this precious one! Celebration!

Sorry once more for the bad pic, my hands were shaking so much I couldn't focus better. Going to get a camera from SIN, promise.

A daytrip to the countryside

Took a totally packed train on Sunday morning to Benesov, home of Konopiste castle. Walked from the train station to the castle following the most beautiful mythic old forest paths you can imagine. Saw a snake and 3 frogs on the way, perhaps a glimpse of an deer. Or maybe it was some fellow tourist. Ate one wild strawberry. Got zero ticks in my hair, I truly hope so.

The castle area was beautiful, lily pond, rose garden, castle (duh), bars... We spent the whole day there just promenading around and pretending to be noble people. Saw a phasant, peacock in a tree and a vegetarian bear named
Jiri.

Oh what a nice day it was! Back to Prague in the evening feeling drowsy but happy. Just like all the other weekend trippers.

Sorry czech language police for the missing accents, just am too tired to search them.

Test-BBQ successfully accomplished

I am a proud owner of a cute turquoise portable grill. On Saturday we planned to test drive the thingy at Holesovice garden but the garden was closed. So spatially the bbcueing took place elsewhere. A cosy little spot, if I may add. Can't give you more coordinates as the spot was basically not a very legal spot to have open fire.

The menu waz:
zucchini, grilled with mint and crumbled balkan cheese
rosemary potatos
green mojo sauce
cucumber, olives etc. salady ingredients but the lettuce itself was locked away in the garden

As for the dessert, some not too ripe nectarines were caramellized in coke (innovative!)  and sprinkled with leftover mint and vanilkova zmrzlina. The carnivore eaters consumed several sausages, but that's not the issue here.

It was simultaneously a short intensive course to how to grill things. Next time less coals, more patience and appropriate tools. Next time skewers with  marinade, pineapple perhaps flambéed (on purpose, I mean).

Newest Dhaba Beas - cool veggie place!

Latest addition to Prague veggie restaurants is Dhaba Beas at the inner arcade of theatre Archa, Na Poříčí. It is brand new and it looks cool! Nothing like shabby threadbare eateries that veggie places - excuse me - sometimes are. It has a huge terrace facing the tranquil yard.

The food is basic tasty Dhaba Beas quality, we were there at 6 in the evening and the dishes could have been a bit warmer. I especially liked the Thai curry with coconut. Echoing emptyness, let's hope not for long. Open daily until late, nice!

Kitchen shots

How luxurious it feels to have a kitchen curtain! Never you mind it is an IKEA sheet on the wall, still it swings gently in the evening breeze. As for today's confession, apparently I'm not very handy screwing things and installing curtain rods. My thumb gets hurt, I get sweaty, angry, thirsty and make a lot of unnecessary holes in the wall.

The Kitchen is eventually going to be an Industrial one. Chrome, black, gray, white, glass, metal and a hint of turquoise (refuse to call it mint green) like on the lower photo. It is going to be Über-cool, you just wait and see.

Tomorrow I'm becoming truly böurgeöis, I'm going to have a roller blind. And cake, not as they are of any consequence.

Film festival gherkin | Festivalova okurka

Oh wow, my posts start soon to be written in czech! Not.

Went to Karlovy Vary Film Festival without any plan, accommodation, map or list of wanna-see movies. Just bought tickets to whatever was left. And it wasn't much, a lot of sold-outs. Next time I will pre-order. This year's spontaneity led to positive and negative results: I had the opportunity to see weird movies. But also I had to see weird movies. Really, sitting in the dark movie theatre without having the slightest clue what is it I'm about to see was actually intriguing.

Please observe the festival gherkin. It wasn't a veggie jubilee, no.

PS: Just found out that movie theatres in Prg show the films from KVIFF... No hassle to travel&overnight but not the same atmosphere. At least have to see  Cockneys vs. zombies and Mood Indigo.

Carnivore neighbors

They're going to have well hung lapin as dinner. Bon appetit! Apologies about the pic quality, I was being discreet. Thou shalt not photograph your neighbor's balcony.

Welcome to my boudoir

This is the beginning of interior design pics. Until now there hasn't been much to depict, unless empty rooms, temporary solutions and cardboard boxes are hip for someone. Some progress, finally.

The canopy a.k.a mosquito net above the bed is something I've dreamt of since little girl, and mostly only when being a little girl. But now that the canopy is here, it looks relevant to the atmosphere of the flat. It can serve as gazebo, too. Or retreat spot, or invisibility cloak. Of course it could provide some shelter from mosquitos as well. Not that there are any.

As a bonus, I reveal a sentence I've never said but always wanted to say, preferably in a posh british upperclass accent: Darling, shall we have the afternoon tea at gazebo? Now I'm half through making it real.

Sunday confession

Ok, let's face it. I may not be as urban as I tend to think. Even though I really enjoy all the metropolis has to offer, I seem to need trees, forest, water and some nature around me every once in a while. Not like jungles or huge forests or hiking for days but anyway.

Went hiking to Kunraticky les on Sunday. Situated at Prague 4. Nice forest, a stream and some hills. Place a bit like at Divoka Sarka but not as dramatic sceneries. Even high pines and enormous trees as the stump in the pic shows. Walked about 3 hours, ended up

on the other side of the area and 30 min. bus ride away from nearest metro station. So it felt like a genuine day trip to countryside.

Then again, I'm urban enough that after a day in the woods, I feel a bit relieved reaching paved streets, public transport and city center. Had nealko Mojito at Cajovna U Kostela, nice labyrinthine tea house nearby. Definitely going to visit it again, trying some teas.