Hello summer!

Yey, it's the last day of school today! Just five more hours and I wont be going there for two months. This is one of the rare times that I am truly, madly, deeply happy of being a teacher-- having two months of paid holidays!

We will be going to Tišnov straight from school this afternoon, off to a town where my in-laws live. Today also happens to be my father-in-law's birthday, another reason to be in a jubilant mood. :) Then on Tuesday, at the wee hours of the morning, we will be heading to Vienna where we will take the flight for Cebu.

So I wont probably be blogging for a while. I'll be busy having sun and fun for weeks, something that I desperately need to restore my inner equilibrium.

Have a great summer, everyone!

Swamped

I've been swamped with a gazillion of things to accomplish in barely two weeks. There are several books to research on certain topics for the next school year. There are gifts to buy and a monster red bag ready to be filled with clothes and whatnot for our Philippine trip. There's a kitchen unit that needs to be installed hopefully before my girlfriends come for dinner on Tuesday. A concert to watch, meals to cook, loads of laundry to do and iron later.... Sometimes being an octopus isn't such a bad idea. Having eight arms can be quite handy.

The good news is, it's just one more week to go (not counting tomorrow and Friday) before the holiday. School will finally be over this year! Yey! No kids, no lesson plan, no waking up at 6am! And one of the perks about being a teacher here is you receive tons of chocolates, a garden of flowers, and sometimes bottles of wine at the end of school year. Such is the Czech tradition-- to give something to the teachers as a sign of appreciation for taking care of their kids.

So if you're an expat with a kid at school, don't forget to bring something for his/her teacher on your kid's last day at school. It's a great way to earn points. He-he.

Whaaat, they aren't coming tomorrow??

I think I should write the title above with three exclamation points as well. You see, all the while A and I thought his family would be coming to Prague to visit us tomorrow. Babi and Děda wanted to see our small new flat. Take note that last time they bothered to leave their comfort zone was when Yugoslavia was still intact. I wanted this trip to be special for them.

So for a couple of days I agonized as to what I would cook for them. I'm still a clueless cook in training, the very antithesis of the women in A's family. I decided to stick to what I know-- frying, that is. Not just any frying, though. I would marinate chicken and pork overnight to cook them for lunch the next day. And that's exactly what I did. Six pork chops and three chicken breasts ready to go, just chilling in the fridge waiting for their end in the frying pan tomorrow.

"What about desserts or snacks?," was my cry for help yesterday at school. Anne, my American co-teacher, readily replied "Banana bread!" So with all the begging for the universe to help me not to mess up Anne's recipe, I baked my first banana bread ever this evening.

As usual, the universe listened. A said it's yummy but I just have to go easy on butter next time. I used butter to grease the baking tin. And grease I did.

So we were both ready for them tomorrow. Past tense. One call to ask them if they were ready for us made me scream WHAAAT? silently when I overheard they are not coming tomorrow but on Sunday instead.

Now tell me, who can we invite for lunch tomorrow to eat the pork chops? Volunteers, anyone?

Revisiting Pernstejn

Pernstejn is to me by far the most beautiful castle I've visited in this country. It's more or less 35kms away from Brno. My in-laws live only 13kms away so yesterday, while we were visiting them, A and I borrowed their car and drove to revisit this awesome piece of architecture. It's my most favorite castle so far because though constantly flocked by tourists, it's been able to remain distanced from super commercialism that has plagued other castles like Karlštejn.

The entrance to the castle. So many Hollywood movies were filmed here. The latest I can remember was "Van Helsing" which was starred by the ex-future father of my children, Hugh Jackman.

Left: The castle's awesome architecture. I took this photo after the tour inside. Taking photos inside is a no-no but one French tourist went snapping away behind the guide's back. I'm a good citizen of this world so I didn't take pics though I was itching to.

Right: Ahm, excuse the apparent temporary dementia of the model when this photo was taken, people. I couldn't find a different one to best show off the castle's beauty so nevermind the "merger." (A term we jokingly used and abused for unwanted objects in the pic during my photojourn class years years back.)

Pernstejn in its magical glory. I think the best way to visit this castle is by car. Parking is for 30Kč. Guided tour inside the castle is for 90Kč/ adult. Joining the tour is recommended. It's like a labyrinth inside-- it has so many rooms, stairs and hallways leading to more rooms, stairs and more hallways. I would surely easily lose my way there. It still has several original paintings and furnitures. It's certainly a must-visit place in CZ.

Baking and bananas

The weather was so lousy yesterday we didn't go to have a stroll down Mala Strana as planned. Instead, I armed myself with baking utensils and baked my first choco-chip cookies at home. I was so happy with the outcome. My cookies looked and smelled so good, and they tasted good, too! I baked them sans vanilla, as we couldn't find it at Insterspar. It didn't make any difference at all as the coconut gave the cookies a delicious smell.

I'm not a fan of chocolates so I went easy on them. That explains why they don't look too choco-chippy. When we baked them at school before, the dough was so sticky it was difficult to roll it in small balls. Good thing I found the solution to this-- put the dough in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

On to one of my most favorite fruits in the world-- bananas. Yes, I'm a certified member of the ape family as I just love eating bananas. But there's one kind that has eluded me in Prague no matter how many Vietnamese stores I raided in search for saba. The closest substitute I found is plantain. It's not commonly sold here, though. Only Interspar near our flat has a constant supply of it, one of the delights our new place offers.

Plantain is sold at Insterspar- Park Hostivař at 49Kč/kilo. It's the closest substitute for the elusive "saba."

Fried bananas remind me of days gone by in Surigao. I associate it with my childhood when bananas were growing wildly everywhere and we ate them boiled or fried all the time. I haven't tried boiling plantain and eating it. It doesn't sound so appealing. :) But maybe, I'll make "turon" one of these days. Now that's a thought.....