What to do when the Pope won't make time for you

Last weekend the Pope came to town.

He arrived on Friday afternoon & headed straight to visit the Infant of Prague- in a modest church which sits almost directly on the road- causing the re-routing of all the trams & traffic that head down that side of the river.  People love that.  Lily really thought we should head out to see him, but, sadly (?), after we promised her that we would, he left for other parts of the Czech Republic.  I guess we dodged a bullet there- the crowds were ridiculous everywhere he went, with people getting there at 4:00 am for an afternoon appearance.  Just like Madonna.  Or the opening of a Wallmart.

So, to alleviate the crushing disappointment, we decided to take the kids skating in Letna- a big park at the top of the city with beautiful views-  which connects to one end of the castle grounds.  The day was sunny & warm (one last hurrah before in came the cold & the wet that we are now enjoying) & we are able to get there with one tram & very little pain- always a good start to an outing.










(And lastly, of course, one should end any successful outing by doing Burpees on the tram...)

Some of the best things come in a Bundt

Monkey Bread.

The. Best. Thing. Ever.  Everyone loved it "better than cinnamon rolls".  Lily declared that it would be her birthday cake this year & Antonin was sad that his birthday was already over & therefore, too, his chance to have a Monkey Bread birthday cake.  I'd never made it before & so, having very little white sugar in the house & unable to make cookies (but needing to bake), I thought I'd give it a shot.  It was a little  bigger job than I'd first anticipated, having to make a batch of "simple dough" & then go forward with the recipe- but not hard.  (I made more than the intended 36 uniform balls & I believe that just made it better- more ffrequent caramelly goodness.)  I used the recipe from my favorite baking book (thank you Erin) "The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book"- the cookbook put out by the Cook's Illustrated people.  I love Cook's Illustrated- so interesting & informative- but my only complaint comes with their assumption that I have every appealing cooking tool on hand.  I'm happy to hear about these tools & machines that would make my life easier.  I'm not happy to be following recipes that assume I have them & don't even allow for the thought that I may be doing things by hand- ie without this fabulous tool you'll need to use more flour/time/etc...  Humph.  Like recipes that give me "a box of cake mix" or a "can of soup" as ingredients.  (Although that is an unforgivable crime.)

Procházka

If you set off in one direction from our apartment, you can walk to the castle.  Last weekend, we decided to walk the other way- & between our place & Hvězda, there are places almost village-like (probably at one point were villages, now, simply, Prague).

We wandered until we found a sweet playground & settled there for awhile.

Everyone was exhuasted by the time we returned home- Miss Lily, of course, rallied in time to go out (as the boys prepared for War).

It was the 007 40th anniversary party &, as we didn't have a sitter, Lily got to go instead of me.  She had a great time (& I watched much of season #1 of Dexter) & so everyone was happy.

Creepy Aside:  At 007 when someone offered our Lulu a beer, Zdeněk explained that she's his daughter & only 12 (so, no beer).  Creepy Beer Offerer:  "Oh, I didn't think that she looked like your wife."

Toothsome update

Still have the tooth.  After (finally) locating the suddenly-missing tooth on the floor near the bed, Antonin was, once again, unable to part with it just yet.  He is considering writing a very nice note for the Tooth Fairy, explaining how much he'd like to keep the tooth- but that he'd also really like his gift- & seeing if she'll be understanding.

Riverfront

On Tuesday Lori & I spent the last part of a beautiful, sunny afternoon enjoying a few beers down at the river, directly below the National Theater.  It was nice to get out for awhile & appreciate our setting.
 From there we walked up to U Sudu, where neither of us had been for a very long time- from a tiny little wine bar it has really grown into something of a monster- we were a bit apprehensive.  As soon as we walked in, we ran into Olda, the owner, he recognized us immediately (couldn't believe we'd been back already two months & we haven't been by (Zdeněk hasn't been by!) & showed us out to the "garden".  (Lori: Is this new (To je nové?) Olda: Five years (pět let)).  Okay, so it's been awhile.  It's a large, lovely courtyard, full of candlelight.  When our initially abrupt waitress returned, she suddenly started speaking to us in English & told us that we were VIPs & she'd been "told all about us" & she heard that Zdeněk used to work up the street at the Ice Cream Store.  Yes, she wanted us to know, she used to go there as a child.
We had ourselves a little pitcher of Burčák (young wine).  All in all, a successful evening.

Toothsome

Antonin lost a tooth last night. 
He decided not to put it under his pillow because he wanted to spend another day admiring it.  Tonight he is going to say goodbye to the tooth (although he is a little uncertain, not having have any firm evidence that the tooth fairy comes to Prague).

FAMILY MEMBER OF EU CITIZEN

So the hours spent yesterday at the Foreign Police were well-spent.  I now have, once again, my Permanent Residency.

Such a relief.  With that, Zdenek was able to go today get me my health insurance (the real reason that permanent residency permit is so important).  Cost: FREE- until my kiddies leave home (& this includes dental & vision, because really, what is your health without it?).  Of course, my favorite benefit of the day was the stamp in my U.S. passport that says I belong to EU residents which should get me through the shorter line at the airport.

Yeah!  (Of course, Frankfurt International Airport is stocked with frightening people & they'd probably turn me back to the other line, regardless.  I hate to battle with scary airport-Germans.)

KitchenAid Kenny

KitchenAid Kenny delivered some devastating news yesterday: I can't use my beloved mixer here- not even with converters or transformers. : ( 

According to Mr. Kenny Running 60 Hz appliances in a 50 Hz environment forces the motor in your appliance to run at a slower speed, and can potentially cause immediate motor or operational failure.  Then there was some chatter about fire.  

I've already lost one KitchenAid (my beautiful yellow one) to over-taxing the motor; I don't think I could handle the loss of a second.  Damn.  It will now have to live, for a time, next to the vacuum cleaner & box of onions.  The wrongness of it all.

Oh, Gym, it's about time!

Yes, it appears that we've finally found a gym space (well, it once again appears to be so;  let's hope this time it happens).  This is actually a space that we looked out almost two months ago- if only we had known we wouldn't have wasted all this time! 

Alas, doesn't work like that.  Unfortunately, the building cooperative turned off the power/gas etc (because why wouldn't you, when you're trying to rent it out??!) & so first off we have to go through all of the drama of inspections & then having things turned back on before we can have it cleaned/ get the flooring & the pull-up bars installed.

As soon as that gets done, we're in.  I am already feeling so relieved that we're moving forward- really, what is more exhuasting than spinning in circles?

I Hate My Kitchen Sink (or, some days are harder than others)

Why, I ask you, would someone put a shallow sink- a sink that doesn't fit pots or cookie sheets or large pans/bowls (a sink that would, at the most, be at home in your van remodel) into a kitchen?  A shallow aluminum sink without a sprayer, so that when attempting to wash aforementioned larger-than-a-cup & saucer items, water will, inevitably, douse the kitchen (as well as unfortunate dish washer)?  Could that be good for the kitchen?  My annoyance levels?  Hmm.  I think not.

The Kids hate school lunches.  Getting up early.  Music class.  The milk.

Roztoky

Yesterday we were all settled in for a lazy day (the plan of walking to Hvězda was being met with resistance)- Antonín on the Wii; Nikolaj the computer; Zdeněk dozing after his early-morning bootcamp instruction & Lily & I watching yet another episode of Fringe (thank you, Minna!)- when Honza called.

He was driving by our house & wanted to take us to his cottage for the day. He has a lovely little place only about 15 minutes from us (by car)- it took Zdenek closer to 30 minutes because he had to ride Honza's bike there as we all didn't fit in the car.

It was a beautiful fall day which we spent playing badminton & Petanque (the French version of Bocce).

Then we went home & watched a few more episodes of Fringe.

Antonín had to memorize this little poem/nursery rhyme for school (illustrating the difference in pronunciation between the long & the short A, in theory).

Pizza, We Love You (or try to)

We finally decided it was time to step out &  begin our search for the pizza we can all love (it's been over two months!). We chose Grossetto's in Dejvice, as it's been there a long time, gives a nice "Italian restaurant" impression & is relatively close to home.

Of course, the fact that we've been there a few times (albeit many years ago) & didn't recall the food one way or another, should maybe have tipped us off.  The food was fine.  Expensive.  The atmosphere was very pleasant.

The pizza,  was, of course, not exactly right.  Too many odd ingredients.  The "pepperoni" wasn't pepperoni at all- more of a bacon with a lot of bell peppers & chilli.  The "margarita" was okay- the mozarella came in odd little plops but at least the basil was in large enough leafs to easily remove.

Lily was unhappy that she couldn't find an alfredo sauce & turned her nose up at the green pasta with mushrooms that she did order (although it was fairly tasty).  The crust was nice & thin. The lemon beverages that the kids had tasted like fresh-squeezed lemon juice (& about as sweet).  It was fun to go out, the place was nice, but, in the end, will be crossed off our Pizza Quest list.  Pizza is, after all, a serious business.

dismissal

We're still trying to sort out the picking-up of the kids from school. They all get out at different times- & the times they're out vary from day to day (perhaps by spring, we'll have sorted it out)...

September 11th- the part to celebrate...

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Thank you for being such a wonderful mother & grandmother.

Have a lovely time today- we miss you!

Delicious

Today's Lunch Option #2:  Liver & onions- that old favorite of children everywhere (luckily they also had the refreshing beverage option of green tea, to help wash it down)...

What Doesn't Kill Us

It seems that the kids in the school (at least the older ones) are put in a "homeroom" class based on the foreign language they've chosen.  That group of kids then has pretty much the same schedule through the day.  Our kids were given teachers based on which teacher would deal best with a non-czech-speaker in their class.  Nikolaj's class has both English & French- so he gets to take English (although he thinks he'd prefer French, as his English teacher keeps using him to illustrate various points or- more distressing- write things on the board).  Lily, on the other hand (being older) was put with a wonderful teacher (who, much to Miss Lily's displeasure) has a Spanish-tracked class- & 2nd-year Spanish at that.  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger...

The 2nd-graders in this school are ahead of our La Conner brethren.  Antonín likes to gaze off into space during school.  Antonín has a lot of homework.

Yesterday was another day with the Foreign Police- this time in the distant office for long-term residency.  This office is in a remote industrial district, & we were lucky that Zdenek had been there before, as the entire street has just one number (because it's all the same business- up until the foreign police).  We were not so lucky that we had already given my photos to the Other foreign police, as we were sent away to find a place to take some more- before we could even go in.  After the return trek & the inevitable wait, it seems we didn't need the photos afterall.

policing the foreigners

Another day, another morning killed at the foreign police.  This time, it appears that we're making a little progress & someone has finally taken the lead & decided how to progress with an expired long-term residency (rather than just send us willy-nilly to another part of Prague).  Tomorrow we head to, well, another part of Prague (just not willy-nilly) to a different office of the foreign police, hopefully now with the correct paperwork to enable me to, in time, be granted (once again) my long-term residency- rather than another two years of temporary as was threatened. So we'll see.

Today is the first day that the kids get a choice of hot lunch- there are three options that they put up on the school website (the girls in Lily's class told her that #1 is, virtually always, the option to go with)- & we knew that you were supposed to order a day ahead but when we tried to do it on-line (where we thought we were supposed to) we failed.  They are supposed to make these arrangments themselves, in person (& in advance- no judging by what actually looks good), to complicate things.  Of course.

Today after school they also have their first afternoon of Czech for foreigners- a 45 minute class once a week- & you'd think they were being sent to pick up trash at the train station with all of the kicking & screaming.

re: The House Dinner

It was very nice, pan Hatle (the owner) started off with a champagne (something akin to juice it was so sweet) toast & then proceded to grill many rich pork products.  The frittata was good- although not as delicious as we know it should be- not as creamy & considerably spicier. The people are very pleasant.  Our children behaved very nicely.  The (very ill-behaved) little boys from downstairs came late & got sent to bed early.  It didn't rain on us.  All in all, a nice evening.

so kool

Last night Lori & Dean had a little party at the Sokool pub in Riegrovy Sady, to celebrate Lori's birthday (Happy Birthday, Lori!).  We left the kids in charge of themselves,  at Lori & Dean's- which is right on the park & so just minutes away (how great is it that we all have cell phones now?).  They were thrilled to be trusted to stay there & with the pop/ chips & huge collection of English-language movies & tv shows on disk for their viewing pleasure (started out with a House, moved to Spinal Tap & had just started on Batman Begins when we came for them).  I thought we'd end up having to take a taxi,  but the night was warm & everyone was still awake & in good spirits, so we walked up & took the metro to Malostranksá & then the tram the rest of the way.

 This evening the owner of our villa has decided that we're having a "welcome" party & everyone should come: the owner; his son, Vladan & his wife, Jana & their three little boys; the Ukrainian couple-
Ferda & his wife- who live in the basement & help maintain the house; the Croatian couple who live below us & their (not altogether likable) young son & daughter; &, of course, us.  We are supposed to bring some main dish (from our homeland) & something sweet.  The difficult part of this assignment is that the ingredients are often very different & so I'm not exactly sure how things are going to turn out (& I can't even get started about the horrors of the little hot & uneven oven).  We decided on lemon bars (I made some yesterday for Lori, which turned out great, but the ones today are crumbly & not as delightful) &, that old standby, a frittata.  Cottage cheese is out- so I'm using tvaroh- a creamy curd product without any visible curds. Hmm.  No mild diced green chillies, so Zdenek found some long skinny feferonky in a jar that I diced up & tried to guess how many to add- they are rather spicy (so much for mild) & I didn't want to put in too many.  No Jack cheese & so I went for "white" which ended up being a mix of Eidam & some sort of Swiss-like cheese.  So,  soon I'll put it in the aforementioned, nightmarish oven & hope for the best. If all else fails, I'm sure there'll be some klobasa on the grill.