Home cooked České Budějovice

Here is a picture of Lukaš, I forgot that I had this one. He was a great guy to stay with, full of stories from working on the trains(he is a night conductor on international trains).



The day we left České Budějovice Lukaš's brother made a quick lunch. Actually it was quite and interesting flavor combination. It was a baked pasta dish with chicken breast and pineapple, covered in Edam cheese. Chicken and pineapple go pretty well together I just had never thought about it with pasta before.

Thanks a bunch for the home cooked lunch! I love Couchsurfing.

-NOM!

Sweet sweet České Budějovice

Once again thanks go to Lukaš for showing us his sweet tooth in the form of a wonderful bakery in České Budějovice. He ordered a Sacher torte, his favorite which is a copy of the world famous Sacher Torte from Vienna. It's a chocolate sponge cake covered in a layer of chocolate with a layer of apricot marmalade on the inside.

Supposedly it was invented by order of Prince Metternich. The head cook had taken ill and the task of creating a special dessert for arriving dignitaries fell to Franz Sacher, his 16 year old apprentice. Thus was born the Sacher cake.


I had a honey mousse cake. It was layered with crushed nuts between honey flavored mousse. It was very light and delicate.

Jessie had a banana chocolate cake mousse....tarte... thing. It's hard translating czech. Basically it was a chocolate sponge cake with bananas layered on top with a mouse over them, then the whole thing is covered in a thin layer of good chocolate. Yum.

Lucas was full of interesting stories and showed us a pretty amazing time in České Budějovice. Thanks again buddy!

-NOM!

Wild mushrooms

We stayed with Lukaš a couchsurfer in České Budějovice. He had just gotten back from a fishing trip with his dad, they didn't catch any fish, but instead a got a prize of wild mushrooms.

We were getting ready for bed and he told us that he had to go cut and dry the mushrooms so we offered to help him. He had his misgivings at first and when we went in to help him he actually said "I can't believe two Americans are helping me cut mushrooms". Apparently it was his least favorite kitchen task. We had fun cutting them and laying them out on screens to dry.

There were all sorts of mushrooms we cut. I didn't know any of their names and Lukaš had a hard time translating them. Because the names wouldn't translate directly into an American name.

Actually we ended up with some pretty patterns naturally from the shape of the mushrooms.


All I really know is that they had a heavenly aroma and filled the house with and earthy mushroomy scent the whole time we were there. I couldn't help but linger over the huge screens and breathe deeply.


Thanks for letting us stay with you Lukaš. I'm glad we could help you cut and dry some mushrooms.

Apparently mushroom hunting is a national past time in the Czeck Republic, and we say many people hauling around large baskets of wild caught mushrooms. Makes me want to buy a mycology book and go hunting myself!

-NOM!

Best indian food outside of India!

On our excursion to České Budějovice we went to an Indian restaurant on the advice of our Finnish friend Tero.


It was called Gateway of India. He said he found it in his guidebook and went the other night and loved it. I was a little skeptical of eating Indian food in a small town in the Czech Republic but man was I proven wrong. This is one of my favorite Indian restaurants anywhere in the world. I'll have to get back to you if we make it to India itself.

The naan came hot out of the Tandoor with a light layer of ghee or clarified butter on it to make it a little more crispy and out of this world delicious. The simplest things are often the hardest to perfect, but this bread was simple and executed perfectly.

  The wood smoked naan was a perfect utensil to eat Butter chicken with. This was random chicken bits cooked in a butter sauce. It's not a spicy dish or "sharp" as our Finnish friend would call it but it has a lot of spices in it. Almonds, chilies, cumin, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, garum masala, cardamom, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, onions, etc. All stewed together to make a heavenly sauce which I eagerly lapped up ever drop of with my naan.


Everyone was quite pleased with their meal and falling over stuffed after it. All over a great place to eat if you're ever in České Budějovice.