Baba

Sunday day trip: short bus rip uphill from Hradčanská took us to Baba. Beautiful part of Praha 6 on a hill with magnificient views all around.  After a walk down to Podbaba, lunch at cosy restaurant Pod Juliskou with surprisingly good choices for a veggie as well. And an ice cream stall with an apt name. Not.

BBQ # infinite

Oh, I have lost count on barbeques already. Whenever the weather permits, we pack our baskets and grill and head to Stromovka. Last time we had tabbouleh (with bulgur, so much tastier than couscous) and raw cauliflower salad with grilled zucchini and sweet potatos.  NB. The bird was not on the menu.

Midsummer spell

Old Finnish midsummer spell tells you to pick 7 different flowers during Midsummer night and place them under your pillow. That way the future beau will appear in the dream. Even though that wasn't necessarily needed, here are the flowers.

Conquering a different Prague at Libeňský ostrov

We had a wonderfully different Midsummer day trip to allotment garden area at Libeňský ostrov. Although the gardens were locked and we only could have a glimpse of them, the area was very nice. Lazy, village-like and green. To my great delight, we bumped into a statue park all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere. After that, walking and cycling route between Vltava and Karlin took us through a huge wasteland with lush vegetation. Truly imagination-provoking landscapes.

On-street gardens in Berlin

Now that my eyes are open to gardens, Berlin looked like a paradise. You could see small on-street gardens everywhere. But lo and behold! Yesterday I bumped into first similar garden here in Prague on my way to dumpster diving. Yey!

Luncheon stroll

Lunch rendez-vous, vegeburger at café Na půl cesty and then a pleasant promenade in Pankrac or Podoli. They have some mighty fine villas at street Na Cementárnou, for example Vila František Lange for sale. Only 39 million czech crowns for a nice functionalist piece. One would have one's home mentioned in Wikipedia living there.

 

 I liked this rusted iron villa, it was ugly but interesting.

And as you can see, we've switched into spring shoes.

Under the bridge

Walked in Troja for 3 hours to clear my head the other day, it's hard to beat the crisp sunny days of late autumn. November showed its best character. On my way I walked through a truly cool underpass at Prague 7. Just love love love the minimalistic details.

Harvesting #1

Garden season is about over, I've been done some minor harvesting already. Coriander seeds, mint, rosemary, chili. Next weekend more. I'll  dig up the perennial herbs and guerilla plant them around. Watch out, Prague 7.

Also did some semi-illicit foraging with long-armed friend, can't tell you more details or coordinates I'm sorry. The catch, 25 almonds is drying in lukewarm oven at this very moment. Almonds! It feels so southern and exotic! I'll be self-supported when it comes to almonds for some time.

Life seems like an neverending BBQ

We've been grilling several times during the summer. Grilovaly jsme. There was an official end-of-the-summer BBQ already, but last weekend being sunny and warm it was followed by next-of-the-last BBQ. And maybe next weekend another one. Yummy things come and go, can't keep track of all the goodies we've had. Stromovka is a nice spot to grill, as they provide tables, benches, garbage bins and almost too curious dogs.

Last Sunday I made a dessert inspired by last weekend's pina colada muffins and cheese cake. Grilled pineapple marinated in rhum, lime and mint. On top of it sweet sauce from condensated milk, coconut cream and cream cheese, spiced with lime. So good. So heavy. Like combined pina colada and mojito. Cojito? Molada? Italian sweet Moscato to wash it down with. Other dishes were [sausage], chili marinated corn on the cob, guacamole and chimichurri.

Last weekend I had with me asian delicacies like kimchi-pickled radish and BBQ mock meat with a great smoky flavor.

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.

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!

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).

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.

Smooth Midsummer

Referring to my post on Friday: one can do quite a lot during one weekend if one sets one's mind to do things. Friday evening drink was Frisco, please pay special attention to bubble prophesy on the bottom of the glass. Initials of my future beau or what? A modern midsummer night spell.

Saturday drinks were smoothies, first strawberry-lingonberry and then peach-melissa. So good! So... I'd love to say smooth but that would be waste of words. So appropriate after outdoor yoga on the Karlovo namesti lawn.