Gluten Free in Prague

We highly enjoyed our trip to Prague and the experience was greatly enhanced by the fantastic gluten free food we found!  I scoured TripAdvisor, blogs, and Celiac sites for restaurant options, made a list and plotted out a number of restaurants on a map so that we could be as spontaneous as possible in our sight-seeing (a hard task with Celiac).  I was pleasantly surprised throughout the trip to see several additional cafes with gluten free options, which had not been listed on any of the sties I had searched. (I'm now adding these to TripAdvisor).

Below is a list of the restaurants and cafes we visited, along with our selections.

1.  Svejk Restaurant U Karla - This restaurant has an entire gluten free menu of traditional Czech food!  When we travel, we prefer to experience the traditional food of our destination, which can be difficult to do with a gluten free requirement, so this restaurant was awesome!  The menu was so extensive that we ate here twice, and Brandtley tried schnitzel for the first (maybe only) time!

They serve gluten free beer in addition to tradition selections

Beef Goulash with Dumplings - available gluten free

Jackson ordered an entire pork knuckle...and finished it off!  

Being goofy to show his excitement for schnitzel!

2. Al Riso - This is actually an Italian restaurant, but is 100% gluten free! We all traded bites and shared food, including pasta which was so good you would never guess it was gluten free.

Brandtley happily dipping his bread in the shared olive oil

3. Como Restaurant - A Mediterranean restaurant on Wenceslas square.  A bit more upscale, but not expensive or dressy for brunch, which was perfect for a family meal.

Lovely atmosphere with outdoor seating under the awning with heaters in the winter

4. The famous and historical Cafe Louvre - We visited Cafe Louvre for breakfast.  Does not have many gluten free options, but had a gluten free apple coffee cake on the menu.  We ordered this for Brandtley along with soft-boiled eggs and fruit - both of which are among the only naturally "safe" foods for him without having to be designated gluten free by the restaurant.  Since the eggs come served in the shell, we help him peel/crack them and the insides are gloriously gluten free!  Other than liking to eat soft-boiled eggs myself, I love love love that these are readily available in Europe, making eating out for breakfast a somewhat easy reality for us.

5. Diversion Bistro - This cafe was not on any of the sites that I searched, but they have several gluten free options on the menu.  Also, I had not found many restaurant options on the west side of the river, but we stumbled across this one and stopped in for lunch. It's a tiny place and the owner was very accommodating to Brandtley's needs when we explained that he could not eat gluten.

The fit health breakfast was easy to adjust to gluten free by ordering the hard-boiled eggs and leaving out the muesli and toast.  We also left off the cornflakes and the owner increase the amounts of the other items to accommodate the proportions.

6.  There were a number of coffee shops that have gluten free macarons or other gluten free cakes/cookies.  One that we stumbled across was right next to the Kino Lucerna (next door to Restaurant Monarchie) but I unfortunately can't find the name of it now, which had gluten free cake options.  We also went to Restaurant Monarchie one night before seeing a movie at the Kino, but Restaurant Monarchie does not have any gf menu items.  Thankfully we were prepared with a separate container of food for B.  Another was Bakeshop Cafe & Bistro where we enjoyed macarons and meringues.

The Dishwasher: In which commonplace things are surprisingly different

I've mentioned before that one of the hardest parts of international adjustment is when commonplace practice is no longer commonplace.  Suddenly you feel like a toddler as something you've done every day during your adult life becomes a challenge.  Sometimes this is expected: filling out a one page form in German can take an hour or more since I first must translate the questions, draft my answer in English, then translate my answer back to German, then try to check that my translation is close to correct so that I don't unintentionally change the meaning of my answer.

Others adjustments are unexpected but anticipated. I now have 9 different kinds of chili powder in my cabinet as a result of my quest to find something that would make a pot of American "chili".  (Side note: chili has been successfully made!)

But sometimes it hits you like a brick when you can't figure out how to perform one simple task and the answer is something you wouldn't have arrived at in a million years.

Take for example the dishwasher.  I have had a love hate relationship with this thing since we've arrived, and I think we've finally reached an understanding.  Thanks only to the help of a Jedi-master, otherwise known as another expat who has been here 2 years and knows All-The-Stuff.  She also taught me how to pay bills.  I shall now refer to her as Obi Wan.

So. Perhaps I've never paid attention or perhaps I just had a basic dishwasher in the 10+ homes I've lived in over the past dozen or so years in the U.S., but I've always just bought a box of powdered dish detergent (or individual capsules if I wanted to be fancy) at Kroger or Target, poured it in the slot in the dishwasher, and pushed the start button.  And magically my dishes were cleaned. You do that too?

When we moved into our house here, I picked up a box of what I thought was dish detergent at the store and started running the dishwasher.  Due to Brandtley's diet, I cook nearly every meal, which results in a lot of dirty dishes for a family of 4, even if I hand wash larger items. But our dishes were not coming out looking right.  I could tell that they had been sanitized by hot water, but they were streaky, filmy, and just not clean.

I read the instructions, which might as well have been in Japanese.  And in fact, when I looked up the instructions online, they did come in Japanese! And French, Spanish, Italian, and several other languages that were not English.  About that time, our shipment of furniture arrived, along with a half-full box of Kroger dish detergent, which I tried using and our dish cleanliness improved immensely.  But I knew this was not a long term solution.  The time would come when that box would be empty, and I could not run down the street to Kroger to replace it.

Come to find out, it's hard to understand a poor translation of something that you've never heard of.  The instructions kept referencing "the salts" and the "rinse aid". Both of which are necessary to use in addition to the detergent. They each have their own separate compartment to go into, and a light on the control panel reminds to you refill them when they are empty.  Who knew you needed 3 products just to run the dishwasher!?!

Now I have all 3 and my dishes are sparkly clean!  Oh. Except that eventually I will also need a 4th product to de-calcify the machine on a regular basis.  But I'll leave that for another day....or month. :)

Can anyone tell me if I should have been doing this in the U.S. too?? Confession: this was my first dishwasher manual to read, ever. So, it's entirely possible I've been using them incorrectly my entire life and it just never made much difference due to water supply/calcium levels where I've lived?

Detergent

My "Special Salt" which I originally tried to use as detergent...

Klarspüler gel

The compartments in the door for the detergent and klarspüler.  The detergent compartment looks normal enough, right? The Special Salts actually go in a hole in the bottom of the interior of the dishwasher, which I would probably have never looked at if not pointed out.

Dreikönigstag

Life has been quiet this week. Matthew has been out of town, and Jackson was still out of school. The past few days, we've stayed in and recuperated from ice skating.  I'm determined we need to go back again before the rink closes if for no other reason than the fact that Jackson would rather give up. The kid hates anything he perceives as failure, even though he can be one of the most driven people I know when he actually decides to accomplish something.

Yesterday was Three Kings Day or Dreikönigstag in German (also known as Epiphany), which signals the end of the Christmas season.  In Germany, Three Kings Day is celebrated by small groups of children (3-4) dressing as the three kings who visited Jesus as a child.  One of them usually carries a staff with a star on it, and they walk door to door.  They are called Sternsingers (Star Singers) because they will sing a song when you open your door to them.  Then ask for a small donation to a charity and then your house is blessed and an inscription written in chalk over the door.

We ran into a teacher from Jackson's school with 4 children doing this on our street a few days ago but had already left our house to go somewhere, so we were not home to have our house blessed. I had hoped more would come by, but if they did, we must have missed them.  Unfortunately, I did not think to take their picture...but to make this easier to visualize, I pulled a picture from online of what it looks like...

These letters are left up over the door to the house all year.  We first noticed them while looking at apartments during our visit in early September.  The year is divided at the beginning and end of the line (this picture must have been taken in 2011). The * is for the star. The letters have two meanings: they are the initials of the Three Magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, and also an abbreviation for the Latin words "Christus Mansionem Benedicat" (May Christ bless the house). The crosses (+) represent the protection of Christ. Such a beautiful tradition.

This morning, I got up before Matthew or the kids. Well, not really...the kids were awake, but they got to stay home playing in their room while I made a trip **by myself!** to Knauber, which has become my stand-in for Target.  It felt SO freeing. 

Although I could wander in Knauber for hours, admiring the trendy dishware and pretending to myself that I could be crafty if only I had the colorful craft supplies laid out on the shelves, perhaps stopping to enjoy espresso and a pastry or sandwich at the full cafe in the center, this morning I needed to pick up a child's birthday present... AND conveniently, today was the day the print I had left for framing a few weeks before was supposed to be ready.  

On our first road trip, I found this for 35 euro in the Belgian antique market that we visited and fell in love with it. It's a large, beautifully lettered page from an old Bible.  The passage is Matthew 6:26-34, beginning in the middle of verse 26:

"[...] your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloth you, O ye of little faith?  Therefore take no thought, saying "What shall we eat?" or What shall we drink?" or "Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for you heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefor no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Now it hangs over my new old desk, which I found at a wonderful antik warehouse-style shop called Trödel Safari, which translates to Junk Safari. The little framed picture on the desk is also from Trödel Safari (for 5 euros!) and is a picture from 1904 of Drachenburg (our First Hike).  I may need a separate post just on Trödel Safari.  It's one of those great treasure houses of junk where you can find absolute gems for dirt cheap.

We also hung the painting we bought of the red roofs of Prague.  The prior tenants were kind enough to leave a nail over the fireplace and Prague fits just perfectly over it. I love the bright colors!  And also love surrounding ourselves with art that has meaning and memories for us.

  

Tschüss! 

Coming "Home"

Home. Warm, cozy, and comfortable.  Through our moves over the years, I have come to love the first time of feeling like you've come home when you arrive back in your new city from a trip.  It lets me know that I'm settling in.  Sometimes it takes many trips before this feeling hits, and sometimes it's the first trip.  You never really know.

In the past, this feeling usually hit when the skyline appeared as my flight touched down or as I drove over a hill.  But Bonn doesn't have a striking skyline like Houston or Atlanta.  I've only taken three trips since we arrived in October, and each time we returned in the dark. No skyline or view. However, this time, when we drove back into Germany from the Czech Republic, I walked into a gas station, ordered sandwiches, coffee, and bottled waters in (albeit poor) German and understood what the lady at the counter asked me. In German. After spending 5 days of reverting to English, unsure of how to ask where the bathroom was or how to order a bottle of water, I suddenly felt like I had come "home".  And walking into our house never felt more comfortable. 

It may not be a skyline, but I think this counts too.

Tschüss!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with a bang! Quite literally and unexpectedly. We were completely unprepared for the array and intensity of the fireworks here.  Although on a typical night Germany is one of the quietest places I've ever been, everyone lets loose on New Year's Eve with firecrackers, sparklers, and bottle rockets. The quiet of every day and extreme celebration on New Year's Eve seem to be in direct proportion to each other.

On New Year's Eve, we had just returned from Prague and noticed a few fireworks being shot not long after nightfall.  Bottle rockets and the like. To which I wondered if fireworks are legal in the city here. Oh. That was just the tip of the iceberg.

The sounds of fireworks increased and escalated throughout the night and around 10 minutes prior to midnight, it all broke loose.  Matthew & I were ready to kiss at midnight and go to bed when we heard what sounded like explosions all around our house.  From every window, we could see HUGE (As in, you would have to be licensed to even buy these in the U.S. and probably a city permit to shoot them) fireworks, being shot from the streets, backyards, and rooftops.  People filled the streets and stood on balconies holding sparklers in one hand and champagne in the other. It was impressive and beautiful and so fun.  Unfortunately, we didn't think to get a video until it was starting to wind down.  But you can sort of see the wide double-street that we live on and the magnitude.  And to think I had wondered if we would be able to see/hear the fireworks from the show on the river!

Next year we'll plan to join them!!


On New Year's day, we joined a group of friends for a 5k run along the Rhine.  It was SO cold!  But a great start to the year.

Brandtley rode his bike, and Jackson rode his scooter.  (Jackson's bike is now too big to fit in the trunk, and we don't yet have a bike rack for the car, so his choices were scooter or run with us. He chose scooter this time.)

Today we woke up to snow! Less than an inch, but beautiful nonetheless. The snow in Bonn doesn't usually last long.  As I write this from the chair near the radiator under the front windows, I can see families with children playing in the wide grassy area in the center of our street while our boys play in the backyard. Another beautiful way to start 2017.

We are all a little weird, right?

 Or quirky. Quirky sounds better. Either way, here are three new things I've found to confirm my own weirdness...

1. I have found that I have an endless love and amusement for the funky mix of US & European music that is played everywhere...department stores, radio stations, you name it.  You might be in a nice store and instead of elevator music, you'll hear Eminem, followed by Hey Jude, followed by a French reggae song, followed by a techno version of Jolene. Yes, that really exists.  I heard it today.  And in a bizarre way, it just brightened my day. Sometimes I almost laugh out loud while shopping. But then all of the German people would really think I'm weird.

2. Calling my friends & family who live in large cities: Please tell me I'm not some type of psycho voyeur for liking the view of all of my neighbors' windows.  It's not like I stare at them. But it's somehow comforting to look out and see their lights and Christmas trees across the back yards.  Almost like I have extra Christmas decorations that I didn't have to put up and won't have to put away.

This picture really doesn't do it justice...you can't see the Christmas trees. :)

3. I've discovered I like liverwurst.  Really!  The Germans have a love of all sorts of ...errr... interesting meat products and aspics. And they have such a wide selection sold at every meat counter, that I'm assuming that people must actually eat these on a regular basis. I have no idea what most of these are called, what's in them, or even how you would serve them.  The most interesting one I've seen so far looked like spam with a gelatin Christmas tree inserted in the middle of it.

Anyway, I digress. Today, I stopped by the butcher shop near Jackson's school to buy lamb for Christmas day.  I've avoided the butcher until now due to my lack of German vocabulary and stuck to the grocery's meat counter, which is easier, though limited. But I studied prior to today's trip.  Unfortunately, the conversation didn't go in the direction I had hoped, since they were out of the cut I wanted and then we had to discuss alternative options.  While we were discussing, a man came in and made a joke involving the words "English" and "Deutschland" which I vaguely understood.  The woman clearly felt sorry for me afterwards and gave me a free tube of their housemade leberwurst as I was leaving, saying it was their best. (Or perhaps she didn't feel sorry for me and it's just a normal thing to give out liverwurst at Christmas time??)

So, tonight the boys and I tried our first liverwurst sandwiches on gluten free bread and oh.my.gosh, we all agreed it was SO good!  Another view of the butcher shop...

4. Germany has far superior squirrels. This isn't really about my own weirdness, but sort of fit with the theme... so I threw it in as a bonus.  See the red fur and long tufts of hair coming from the ears??  I'll try to get a better picture so that you can fully appreciate the prowess of the ears.

And on that note, I'll bid you a Frohe Weinachten!  Tschüss!

Meet Vixen

I have a bike!

Notice the front light, back light, bell and reflectors needed for it to be street legal...and brakes. You know, since those are so easy to forego.

It's name is Vixen.  If you've ever seen A Year Without a Santa Claus, you'll understand.   If you've never seen this gem rotten egg of a children's Christmas movie, you're missing out.  Here's a clip:

I'm only a little less stressed to ride it than I am to drive the car.  At least it's legal here to ride Vixen the wrong way down a one-way street.  Sometimes.  

Tschüss!