eG Foodblog: Rehovot - Prague: City of a Thousand Forks

[Domestic Goddess]

Advance happy birthday to you, Rehovot! I am truly digging your blog. They featured Prague on korean cable tv this week. I just pictured you walking down the cobbled streets and alleyways.

[nakji]

Everything is so pretty, it makes me sigh. Especially imagining that hot chocolate.....and beer...and cheese....

If you ever feel like going into the Korean market for snacks, I recommend the chocolate chip cookies in the yellow box. They're very fudgy, like little brownies. Yum.

[Lior]

I am enjoying your blog very much-thanks! And happy birthday!

[Rehovot]

Are the cups at Cukrarna Alchymista custom-made for the shop?  They match the ceiling!  If I were there, I'd try to buy a set.  I love them!

Now I feel the need to go back to Prague.  You're showing me so many things I missed when I visited--especially the food things!

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Yes, the cups matched the cafe's decor... Alchymista is really well put together. I'll have to go back and sample more of their cakes and other things; a couple next to me spent twenty minutes choosing teas from the menu, so they must have more than what's on offer on the pastry shelves (and that's a lot).

[Rehovot]

Advance happy birthday to you, Rehovot! I am truly digging your blog. They featured Prague on korean cable tv this week. I just pictured you walking down the cobbled streets and alleyways.

Thanks! I hope they showed some good food things (like fried cheese and other things I forgot to photograph)!

[Rehovot]

If you ever feel like going into the Korean market for snacks, I recommend the chocolate chip cookies in the yellow box. They're very fudgy, like little brownies. Yum.

I'm committing this tip to memory... Thank you!

[Rehovot]

Breakfast was poached eggs, toast, and tomatoes with goat cheese.

After breakfast, I ran to the store to get more sauerkraut, as the one I picked up yesterday leaked all over my bag... On the way back, I noticed these flyers, near our mailbox.

They're for the frozen-foods man, whom I mistakenly assumed was the ice-cream man when I first heard the truck broadcasting ice-cream-man music...until I saw him hand over a bag of green beans to someone. Twice a week or so, the "Family Frost" truck slowly roves around our apartment building and then parks for a few minutes to take orders and dispense frozen goods (including ice cream). I'm not sure if this is a European thing, or a suburbs thing, or a Prague thing...but I've never seen a Family Frost truck near where we used to live, about ten minutes' walk from downtown. If you're a working mom or dad, though, and you don't have a car, and you don't feel like paying the higher prices at the local small shop across the square, then I'd imagine that this is a good deal.

I also picked up these chocolates to take to work, tomorrow, but didn't realize until I got home that they're called "Sweet Passion." Maybe I should just make some cookies, instead.

I started pounding pork cutlets for Vienerschnitzel, after I got back from the store. Perhaps it's time to buy a meat mallet, instead of whacking at things with the risotto jar.

Schnitzel set-up...

When Mr. R's father arrived, I lost the camera among the bags of goodies, so there are no final schnitzel photos. For lunch, though, we had breaded and fried pork cutlets with lemon slices on top and sauerkraut on the side. (And by "sour," I mean "SOUR"; there are at least two kinds of sauerkraut in a jar, here: plain, pickled white cabbage (with caraway seeds) and VERY, VERY sour pickled white cabbage.) Guess which kind I got?

My father-in-law brought a very good pear tart for lunch, too. His recipe was, "It came from Paneria."

This afternoon, I still have work to do, so I'm off to Cafe Slavia, where I hope there's an empty table with a view of the river and Petrin hill.

[Rehovot]

Obligatory fridge shots...

The stuff in the red tube (in the top left side of the photo) is called "Cervene Zlato", or "Red Gold." It's Hungarian. And it's super-fiery-hot red-pepper paste. ("Stingingly hot!", the label reads, or something to that effect.) I haven't quite figured out how to use it, except to put it sparingly on quesadillas and (in a small amount) in lentil salad.

There's also goat cheese, chili sauce, and Tyrolean apple cider in there. And that's where the Vermouth lives, too.

This was taken earlier this week, and I'm not exactly sure what all is in there... A bottle of champagne, jam, cheese, unidentified bags of things... Lookin' a little bare. I should've taken it today, when it's filled to the brim.

The thing I love most about our fridge is its built in wine rack. The thing I hate is that it makes piercing whiny noises in the middle of the night, sometimes.

The freezer is on the bottom and consists of two drawers that pull out... That's where colonies of leftovers, nuts, frozen homemade stock ice cubes, and coffee live.

[therese]

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Wine rack very cool---I need to look into something like that.

Lots of ziploc bags.

[suzilightning]

happy birthday and a healthy coming year.

yeah!! now i know what is in the tube that my boss gifted me with last year - super fiery red hot pepper paste.

thank you for all these beautiful pictures. i feel like i am there.

[judiu]

Happy birthday, and thanks for a wonderful trip. Wish I were there !

[Rehovot]

I worked for a while at Cafe Slavia, this afternoon--until I realized that I was getting powdered sugar all over my work...

A REALLY blurry photo, from the entryway of Kavarna Slavia...

Their case of cakes, strategically placed about two inches from the front door. Very persuasive. I've seen grown men turn into little boys, at this very spot. There's usually a big pile-up in the doorway while everyone deals with their cake issues on the way in or on the way out...

But look how good they are--fruit-filled, cream-filled, chocolate...etc. etc.

More cakes--numbered. If, after you get to your table, you don't remember the number of the cake you saw and fell in love with, you'll be walking back to the cake case, again. It's rather embarrassing, since you have to walk all the way back to the front of the cafe, past the table with seventeen supermodels and their one piece of apple strudel... I tend not to order stuff that requires me to exercise while still in the restaurant. So I ordered babovka (Czech cake with grated chocolate and, often, nuts).

(The numbers on the cakes remind me of birthday candles...and who can resist a cake with candles? Very clever marketing... Actually, their cakes are usually very good. No marketing necessary.)

Deconstructed desserts are not really trendy, here, yet... I just started eating it, before remembering to take a photo. I forgot that it's not one normal slice of babovka but three slices with a mound of whipped cream. In a burst of all-out decadence, I ordered Cappuccino Libuse, named for Libuse, the "patron saint" of the city of Prague. (She envisioned the city before it existed, according to Cezch mythology.) Cappuccino Libuse is flavored with cardamom and cinnamon.

Incidentally, here's Slavia's spring menu... (Scroll down for the English version.) The rabbit is really appealing!

This lady was lost in thought, looking out at the castle. Later, a grandmother and her teenage granddaughter occupied this table and talked quietly over strudel.

Sunday-night dinners are usually haphazard affairs, at our house... Usually, we've eaten a big Sunday lunch (done) and are out if the weather is nice (which it is, this evening). If anything exciting develops concerning dinner, I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, it's been fun. Thanks for reading.

Edited April 27, 2008 by Rehovot (log)

[Rehovot]

Lots of ziploc bags.

Yes, as you know, I make anyone who comes to visit bring Ziploc bags. Or Cadbury eggs.

Ziploc is one of those things like peanut butter: if you didn't grow up with it, you might not get it... (And if you did, and then move away, you're obsessed with it. Ask me about tortilla chips.)

[insomniac]

great blog and thanks a bunch! ...just wondering as I have never been to Prague, do you really get shedloads of drunken Brit stag parties every weekend as that is the image we get from the media over here?... and it all looks so tranquil and beautiful from where you stand...must hop on Easyjet very soon (not in a hen party )

[Rehovot]

I forgot: one startling food-related moment of my afternoon came when I was walking down Na Prikope street on my way home from the cafe and I saw a well-known Czech chef, one of the guys who does the "Kluci v akci"("Boys in Action") cooking show--(I learned Czech and culinary Czech during the first few weeks we were here by watching that show). I'm not sure how I would describe their show except to say that it's like Jamie Oliver's early shows--very casual and well paced, with a complete meal (appetizers, salad, main dish, dessert) that's devoured by friends at the end. What I love most about the show is that they have a great balance of international dishes along with more traditional Czech foods updated to focus on high-quality ingredients and regional specialties.

They also run a (hobbyist) cooking school in town, and if I were more fluent, I'd sign up for a class.

[blurby]

And maybe vegetables to start, because I freak out if there's nothing green and crunchy.

One thing I noticed almost everywhere I ate was that the ubiquitous garnish of lettuce, tomato, carrot, cabbage, etc. was almost universally ignored by the Czechs. Me, I grew up on salads and this little nod towards roughage was badly needed. Still, I felt like all eyes in the room were staring that the american chowing down on the 'inedible' decoration.

[MarketStEl]

I understand that in Poland, the birthday celebrant is feted with the toast "Sto lat" -- "May you live 100 years!"

I don't know whether there's a similar toast in the Czech Republic, but if there is, imagine I'm saying it now -- may you live 100 years!

Enjoyed this blog thoroughly!

[C. sapidus]

Yes, this had been delightful. Thank you so much for the tour of your beautiful city. Way back towards the beginning, I was struck by “dobry den” – almost identical to the Russian “good morning”, but without using the Cyrillic alphabet.

[TongoRad]

Is it ending already? This has just been great. You've given me many more reasons to want to visit Prague than I already had; hopefully I'll get a chance some day. Thanks.

[mizducky]

Thank you for a lovely blog! Somehow I had never been exposed to the wonders of Prague's urban culture--yeah, I know, what rock have I been hiding under?--but now I think I really get it. Those luminous cafe interiors are going to stay with me a long time.

[KatieLoeb]

Happy Birthday Rehovot! Thanks for the window into your life and thank you so very much for the views of a city I have always longed to visit properly. It's lovely in so many ways. I hope to be able to see it in person some day. I got stuck in the airport in Prague once on the way to Vienna on a Christmas Eve. The airline management was less than helpful. Your take on the city makes it seem so much more appealing than my memory of being stuck there waiting for a flight.

[maggiethecat]

Cafe society -- I long for it. Meeting your best girlfriend at Caribou just isn't the same.

Ah, Mittel Europa. I'm going to bed with Smetena, Dvorak and Strauss as my sleepytime music. A very very beautiful blog.

[sherrid]

I'm new to eGullet but I have been reading and enjoying your blog immensely!!! It's fantastic to experience a new and exciting city and the food culture that belongs to it. My boyfriend's dad was in Prague last year and thoroughly enjoyed it and his pictures of the city looked magnificent.

Great job!

[Chufi]

I´ve just caught up - had a very busy weekend because it was my birthday, too! So happy birthday and thank you for a great blog!

[Rehovot]

I understand that in Poland, the birthday celebrant is feted with the toast "Sto lat" -- "May you live 100 years!"

I don't know whether there's a similar toast in the Czech Republic, but if there is, imagine I'm saying it now -- may you live 100 years!

Thanks, Sandy... I'm not sure what the equivalent saying is, but I'm sure it sounds almost identical to that; Polish and Czech are very close. At a dinner with Polish clients, I was shocked to be able to understand some of what they were saying... But then we were talking about food, so maybe that explains it.

Yes, this had been delightful. Thank you so much for the tour of your beautiful city. Way back towards the beginning, I was struck by “dobry den” – almost identical to the Russian “good morning”, but without using the Cyrillic alphabet.

Glad you liked it... Funnily enough, I managed to buy things in our local Russian supermarket--when we lived in Israel--by speaking Czech. (And pointing.)