Merry Christmas!

More to come later this week, but for now, Donut and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Vesele Vanoce!

Nomnomnomnomnom

In honour of all those Czechies who claim to hate peanut butter (until they've sampled a Reeses' after someone's business trip), I've been whipping these up for lucky coworkers...

Peanut Butter Bits

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter
123g powdered sugar
180g smooth peanut butter (use Skippy, it’s the yummiest annnnnd you can even buy it in Albert!)
60g unsalted butter
90-100g chopped chocolate (go crazy)

Directions:

1.    Line an 20x20cm square pan with foil, leaving enough to hang over the sides, then butter the foil. Set aside.

a.     If they do not make 20x20cm pans, then I don’t know what to tell you. I’m converting everything from our ridiculous imperial system. Just use common sense. Also, I forgot to butter the foil, but it’s nonstick anyway, so I feel like this is just unnecessary. Don’t bother with it.

2.    In a medium saucepan, melt the 125g of butter over low heat. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter until completely combined and smooth. Spread the peanut butter mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Lick the spoon. And maybe the pot, as it needs to be cleaned out anyway.

3.    In the now-empty saucepan (because you licked it clean), melt the 60g unsalted butter over VERY LOW heat. Add the chocolate and stir until almost completely melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until completely melted. Pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer and smooth into an even layer.

4.    Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set. Remove from the pan using the foil overhangs and place on a cutting board. Use a pizza cutter to slice into 16 bars. If you don’t have a pizza cutter, I’m pretty sure you’ll still be able to manage. If not, I think we have bigger issues to tackle than your cooking skills. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Or just eat it all, then you don’t have to worry about storing anything.

Please note that I accept no responsibility for weight gain or dentist’s bills. Dobrou chut!

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

                                                                        -Julia Child

Tuesdays are just the worst, aren't they?

Listening: Inexplicably, I have Coco Jamboo stuck in my head. Now you will too.

You're welcome.

Eating: For dinner, I had italian breaded chicken strips and, as a side, a plate of cheese. My diet is deplorable, I'm aware. (I had a salad for lunch though, so back off.)
Feeling: Confused - reading Mad About the Boy and cannot fathom how Bridget Jones is in her fifties, as book must surely be written in some time warp as not that much time has passed since I first began my obsession. Oh god, it has. Very soon will go less from image of BJ as typical adult to more like being her - pudgy, questionable hair and counting alcohol units. Sums it up about right.
Loving: It's Peej's birthday!!! This gorge Lilly Pulitzer print. Mail from Steph! Living room furniture comes tomorrow! Super easy peanut butter fudge - recipe coming!
Hating: It is very, very cold. (This will be my stock answer for, ohhhh, the next six months.)
Wanting: slinky, super tall black suede boots... still. Really, any lovely black boots.
Needing: Hmmm... I wouldn't say no to another cup of tea. Donut, if you'd be so kind?
Thinking: I should really dye my hair this weekend. 
Planning: This week is all about the birthday celebrations and parties! And Tin Mouth, the annual chilli eating competition, so fingers crossed for no repeats from last year. Yowza!

As we're halfway through Movember, it's high time I share the link for our work Movember team. Donate what you can (your dollars go far here!) and help safeguard futures - men, so you don't get sick, and ladies, so we don't have to take care of them. Help a Mo Sista Out!

Wine Snob

Svatemarintsko... The Czech version of Beaujolais. Having been here for this time of the year for my 3rd time (what?!? How?!?), I finally partook in some festivities... A wine tasting at Noelko. Ten wines, approved and certified by some fancy Czech wine board, agreed that these bottles fit the bill. They certainly fit my bill for a cold and gloomy Tuesday.

Surrounded by one Serbian and eight Czechs, I nodded along, feigning comprehension as the connoisseur described each bottle in detail (would I have understood much more in English? Probably not), happily guzzling away and munching on cheese that tasted alarmingly like broccoli (didn't stop me). 

I wanted to screenshot for you my notes, so that you could also enjoy my slide from "if it tastes good, I drink it" to pseudo-wine snob asshole. However, and this may not surprise you, I lost them. Generally, they started out with just stars and emoticons next to the ones i liked and finished up with things like "Burnt umber coloring", "a hint of plum in the nose", and "I do detect a whiskey undertone?" Told you. Insufferable. Luckily, I wrote these all very messily so no one could understand and mock me for it. 

Looking forward to picking up my bottles this week, so I can as our that whiskey finish from the comfort of my own home.

For those of you lucky enough to be in Prague, ask for Olda at Noelka.
Vinotéka Noelka, Slavíkova 3, Praha 2, Prague 120 00

I'm baaaaaaaack

I'm not even going to bother with excuses. I have none.

Just a quick post as am clearly out of practice and need to ease into things slowly.

Listening: I just rediscovered GrooveShark, my local answer to Pandora. Thank goodness, although I'm not entirely sure what I was listening to last as all of my recommendations seems to be ABBA, Disney and EDM. This is a strange combination, indeed.
Eating: Donut made tuna salad for breakfast. Is this normal breakfast food? I think not. But I am hardly about to complain when I get to sleep in and wake up to a ready made meal and hot cup of tea, am I? (Well.  Normally, I might complain a little. But I didn't today.)
Feeling: That awful feeling when you have a lovely 3 day weekend, you know you should be out taking advantage of what's very likely to be the last bit of sunshine you see for months and months, but all you really want to do is lounge on the couch in your bathrobe, drinking tea, eating your way through a tin of Quality Street, catching up on Downton Abbey and scrolling through Pinterest. 
Loving: We are in the final countdown to Centrum Krakov opening down the street, which I thoroughly expect to completely change my life, to say little of my bank account. That vacation is booked. Lovely watercolors from Elizabeth Cadd. My very Joan Holloway (nee Harris) new dress for work. 
Hating: Winter is coming. (Semi-related, it's absolutely ages until Game of Thrones starts up again.)
Wanting: slinky, super tall black suede boots. I realize they will last approximately one day before they're covered in slush and look totally beat up, but what a glorious day it will be. 
Needing: a personal trainer. I will kill Donut if he keeps trying to be one for me. And a mixer - it's almost Christmas cookie season! Looked yesterday as found the most perfect green KitchenAid, but if you think that they're expensive in the states, think again. They will run you about $1000 here. So..... no. Will just mix all my cookie dough by hand, possibly erasing need for personal trainer (until have eaten all of said cookies). 
Thinking: What can I possibly put on this canvas? How necessary is it that I clear off all the clutter that has become a mountain of books, papers, chocolate wrappers (damn you Quality Street) and papier-mache pigs on my desk? How can I get Donut to stop flying his toy helicopter so near my head short of cramming it...
Planning: Living room re-do as we've completely rearranged the apartment, how to stay in London for two days without spending more on a single room with twin bed and shared toilet down the hall that I did on a week in Croatia, my next masterpiece, to be less of a blogging delinquent.

A Functioning Adult

A month of silence is not so bad. I've probably been much worse in the past. It's just that guys, real life is busy.

A year and a half of teaching, with crazy hours and long midmorning breaks meant I had a lot more time to be productive watch tv. Now that I'm back in a regular office job, the days fly by so quickly and by the time I get home, I feel like it's almost time for bed and to start again. Or take advantage of the nice weather and go have a beer. That seems much better than coming home and banging out a blog post. So that's what I've been doing.

It's an adjustment phase. I fully plan to not be so useless fairly soon. It's just that being productive means tackling the massive (and growing!) pile of ironing, which, quite frankly, seems duller than dirt. Oh, how I miss the days of jeans and leggings.

But it hasn't been all just work and bumming around. Donut and I (well, mostly Donut) spent the weekend repainting the apartment, changing it from the manic bachelor pad red that was on the walls to a nice, calm blue-grey (it turns out, not entirely surprisingly, that I'm pretty crap with a paint roller). My desk is finally all set up and organized (contained!) so my crafty things aren't in an overflowing mess in the corner. We made some adorable little Sharpie mugs (but really, who hasn't?) and I'm currently staring at a blank canvas that will eventually go on our blank wall and filled with terror at actually doing anything to it. I've been busy supporting the local businesses via manicures and haircuts (and beer. and schnitzel.) and we got our season pass to the zoo (baby elephant, squeeeeeeeee!).

Now we're trying to figure out what to do with our bank holiday Wednesday (rather unsuccessfully, tbh), and my motivation level is matching the weather (read: mehhhhhh), so I better go put my thinking cap on. Will try harder in future, promise. xx

Big Changes

Massive delinquency... but it's been a busy couple of weeks. I found out the day before flying to the UK that I got a new (excellent!) job, which was fantastic (albeit rather unbelievable) news. Week in England spent shopping for new professional wardrobe and all of those essentials that can't be found in Prague (although I feel Donut perhaps would not say that my mugs or giant spice rack constitute essentials, though they've been very heavily used since my return). Returned home to begin final moving phase - aka, pack up everything, massive scrubdowns of apartments, and frantic list-making, all while Donut sipped wine and ate cheese and enjoyed the sunshine of the lovely French Alps. Then moving, transformation of flats into makeshift IKEA warehouses, part-time carpentry gigs, running around with last minute errands before real life begins again anddddddddd here we are. New job starting on Monday, things finally starting to look a bit less chaotic, and still not enough hours in the day. Have lots of little bits to share with you, but can't manage to find the time. Hopefully things will settle down slightly and I can clue you in on what's been going on. Phewwwww...