Is going to the pub the same as TV dinners?

So I was on expats.cz, which is a daily ritual for me, and checking out the message board. I do this regularly, as this is a great source of information for those of us trying to survive without having to adapt to our new surroundings. I am sure there must be a site like this for some of the huge ethnic groups in North America. If not, I wonder why not?

Anyways, there was a post there requesting information on where to buy curry. This is a fair question from anyone, but what piqued my interest was that someone inquired about their desire to find curry when, in another thread, the same user had stated they don't like curry at all. So I kept reading further. and the user ended up replying saying that they were searching out the curry because their boss, who seems to run a pub/restaurant wants to put curry on the menu. Now I was thinking...why are they looking for a prepared curry from Tesco, or the sort, to put it on the menu in their pub? So I replied saying that it is quite simple, and much more original to find a recipe and make your own damned curry (even if using someone else's recipe doesn't seem like original, it is certainly more original than mass produced prepared foods)!

I was gracious enough to provide the following recipes:

http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/online_recipes/indiapakistan/madras_curry.php
(a curry sauce recipe that includes the full process of cooking the meat, etc.)

http://www.curryfrenzy.com/curry/html/curry-powder.html
(the mixture of spices that can be put together for a standard curry powder)

I added that "I loathe restaurants that can't be bothered to create their own stuff and get things out of a jar."

The reply I got is, "Thanks for the tip, I was planning to do it". I believe it as much as you might...possibly even less. But as long as they actually go and do it, I feel it is one more small victory in the battle against crap food.

But it did lead me to wonder: is this standard in pub fare? Do the pubs just buy the local producer's "marinara" sauce or "madras curry" in a jar and pour that over your penne or rice and call it a day? Do they even make anything with real ingredients anymore?

I remember working at Kelsey's back in Canada, and when I started working there, my friend, who was already an employee, said, "Kelsey's doesn't serve anything that doesn't come from a package, a jar, or a bag." It is terrible to think that the general public is going out to eat thinking that its "better than eating microwave dinner", when it really isn't.

I mean, at least we have crusaders out there like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, but how much of that crusading would they be doing if they weren't getting paid like bloody theives for it?? I used to think that going out for a meal in Prague was cheap for what you got. Now when I think about what you really get...the costs far outweigh the benefits. In even the best pubs I can find, they use prepared foods, even if it is only a few items. Why cheat your customers like that? It is shameful when you put together such elaborate meals for other areas of the menu that you chinse out on some bloody onion ring or smazeny syr!

If only I had the guts to open a restuarant...

Oh nuts!

So I had a hankering for some honey roasted peanuts...pretty much since November. Don't ask me why? I am not a huge peanut fan, I don't generally eat a lot of peanuts, nor snack food in general. My snack food usually consists of a bag of nachos and a bowl of salsa. What actually happened is that my withdrawal from North American availability has drawn me to think more and more about looking for all things North American when I am at the supermarket, or any food shops. So I was looking around and thought,"They don't have honey roasted peanuts." So, naturally, I wanted them more than anything else I could think of.

My friend Eric came to visit from Slovakia (he is Canadian) with his Slovak wife and Canadian cousin, who was on a Christmas break holiday romp through Europe with him. They happened to saunter into Marks and Spencer one night and found a honey roasted nut combo of peanuts and cashews. As I had mentioned to him about the peanuts, and him being a jolly good soul, he bought be a pack. They were good...for honey roasted nuts where there aren't any...but not great.

I decided to make my own. They are easy enough...my dad could probably even make them...and I am sure he would overdose on peanuts if he did. So I went to Diana's Svet Orisku (World of Nuts) at IP Pavlova, and found what I needed: fresh, unsalted, unroasted peanuts. Took them home, doused them in honey and chucked them in the oven. It was my first batch, so of course there was excess honey, and probably not enough salt (I salted them after I took them out, as you should if they are to taste finger smacking good!) but I was quite impressed. Even Maja, who was quite skeptical about mixing nuts and honey (Czechs are always skeptical about things that they didn't think of!), was all over it once she got a taste. They did last until the next day, but after that, it was another trip to Diana's in the cards for me.

In a foreign country you aren't going to find everything you want to find, but lately it seems that we are finding ways around everything...its just a difference between buying stuff ready made and buying ingredients to that product and making it yourself. You usually end up with better food in the end, anyways. That leads me to my next blog post, in which I will talk about our weekend making sausage and pasta at the in-laws!

What is Czech Kitchen?

I am an expat. I have left the safe havens of home for the wild wild East (???) of Europe, with my wife of 6 years, who is a citizen of this wild place called the Czech Republic. Now, living, and eating, in Canada has become two things...endless opportunities, and endless disappointments. The opportunities come from the world at your doorstep. You can buy what you want, when you want, and you can believe that it is going to be fresh and of a high quality. The disappointment comes from the level of service you receive in a restaurant. The recent 10 year boom that came to a screeching halt in October with the meltdown of the "American dynasty" had created a situation where restaurants were forced to hire everyone and anyone that walked through the door asking for a job. You can imagine what this did to product quality...

Now that I am in the (largely and, probably, temorarily) unaffected cocoon of the Czech Republic, when it comes to the recession, the opportunities are once again endless, and so are the disappointments. But here, it is endless opportunities to consume some type of processed pork, and disappointments in the freshness of everything but the damned potatoes and the blood dripping off that piece of pork they just dropped on your plate.

Living a culinary lifestyle - and in saying that, in no way do I mean it to be a synonym of extravagant - in Prague is difficult, even if you have a few extra ten-thousand crown bills lying around every month. The specialty shops are difficult to access, and the supermarkets just don't carry much too special except the new mayo salad with extra chunks of ham. The days of having a full service asian and mediterranean supermarket at your fingertips is long gone. The days of inventing new mediterranean-slavic fusion food has arrived!