World Blog Surf Day: Try a Crunchy Warm Euro Dog

One of the top ways author Rolf Potts recommends stretching one’s dollars with the goal of seeing the world affordably in his book “Vagabonding” is to take advantage of “street” food. While wandering around Prague’s Andel metro station with a rumbling stomach one day, I saw a hot dog stand advertising Euro Dogs. I would not go out of my way to eat a hot dog in the States. But a Euro Dog…I had to try it.

There are no words to describe what an improvement it is on the American version! What is most fabulous in an American hot dog? The meat and the fixins, right? The bread is just kind of there to hold the whole thing of ketchup, mustard, chopped onions and pickle relish together. Not so with the Euro Dog!

The Euro Dog is actually vertical, rather than horizontal. Rather than laying the dog down in a trench ala American style, the Euro Dog is planted in the bun like a post in a post hole. And what bread! There are no words to describe how perfectly toasted and yummy the bread is in a Euro Dog. It’s done to a crunchy warm perfection. Because the bun is vertical, the sandwich can’t support onions (at least they weren’t offered) but there is slathered, delicious mild European mustard, not our bright yellow kind. The Euro Dog is fantastic! Cost = $3.75 or 75k.

Want to read about more expat food experiences? There are over 30 expats writing about their food adventures for World Blog Surf Day - a carnival of experiences organized by my friends Sy and Sher in Prague.

Here's the link to all who are participating in case the chain accidentally gets broken:

http://tinyurl.com/m42fvo

or if you want to keep traveling around the world to the next expat in line, a nice young woman in Prague name Sezin who shares her experiences of Ethiopian food, click here:

http://signs--of--life.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-of-gods-ethiopan-experience.html

Sher has this thing so wonderfully organized there's even an expat tweeting about World Blog Surf Day! Power to the people! Check out Anastasia, her bio and her tweets:

Twitter Home Page: Thandelike

"Anastasia Ashman (Thandelike) is an American cultural producer based in Istanbul, and is a creator of Expat Harem, the anthology by foreign women about modern Turkey. Her Tweetstream focuses on women, travel and history, and she shares resources for writers/travelers, expats, Turkophiles and culturati of all stripes. "

Missouri family's Christmas photo turns up in Prague

Your local Czech family, right? Wrong. Click below to read about how a Missouri family's Christmas photo ended up as advertising for a Czech company.

Missouri family's Christmas photo turns up in Prague

Czechs Cool to Presence of Workers From Asia

If I were Czech, one thing I would be deeply proud of is having created a free market economy in less than 20 years that attracts immigrants. Unlike some former Communist outposts, who can't employ their own people, let alone someone else's, it didn't take long for the Czechlands to adapt.

I don't know though, how it would feel to be part of a homogeneous culture like the Czech Republic, and have people from a culture so different start to populate my country. If you define your country by your ethnicity, how do you keep that going in such a globalized world? Is that even a possible goal anymore in the jet age?

In America, we welcome all those immigrants cause, at a minimum, it usually results in great restaurants. At a maximum, when we're lucky, we get Vietnamese immigrants (who create more businesses in America per capita than any other immigrant group) or Indians (dot not feather), who seem to be this generation's overachieving doctors and IT business creators. But then, the more diversity the better, IS our American culture.

I look at my Vietnamese-American friend Nahn, studying full-time in Prague to become a medical doctor while he works part time as a mechanical engineer to support his family and think "Hey Czech Republic, you don't know what you've got!" Nahn is an example of classic American immigrant ambition and the kind of person who makes my country great.

The article I've linked to in the title talks about Czech struggles with their Asian immigrants from the East. It fascinates me that all the business startups by Vietnamese immigrants in Prague seem to be created by North Vietnamese, not South Vietnamese. Isn't it ironic to see Hanoi citizens having fought for socialism and the end of imperialism then leave to practice capitalism? Click on the title to read more.

What's the Best Yummy at the Prague Food Fest?

Good food in Prague is to be encouraged! Here's the lowdown from the New York Times on the Prague Food Festival.

This has been the year of wasabi and horseradish for me; I can never get enough of those two tastes. Hence, the King Solomon's kosher restaurant offering of horseradish on matzoh wafers sounds like it would bring me back for seconds. And I've never tasted a gefilte fish but those two words are a lot of fun to say. Is it good? It doesn't sound good. If you've been to the festival already, what's been your favorite taste?

Addicted to twitter

Yikes, I've been on the thing like...a week. I'm already addicted. It's awesome. Mr. Tweet is awesome too. I'm really enjoying Jane Fonda, Jack and Suzy Welch, Ruth Reichel, Mark Bittman and a bunch of other foodies. Vaclav Havel is on there but he never updates. Who else should I follow in the Czech Republic and the EU besides my regular pals(who are already digerati w-a-y before me)?

Egg Toss

People get the government they deserve. And if "the people" are tossing eggs at their politicians, what new politician that they would respect will come forward and serve them? None that I know of!

The behavior of Czech young people tossing eggs at Jiri Paroubek at campaign appearances because he chose to bring down the National government at the moment the world's eyes were focused on the Czech Republic is misused anger.

Work in a positive way to get someone else then. Get the government you deserve through hopeful change, not nasty namecalling and violence. Now who is making the Czech Republic look bad? Readers, what do you think?

The Kundera Conundrum

Here's an interesting article that appeared in "The Nation" about the accusations against Kundera that shows the tyranny of reputation-shredding works in all political systems from totalitarianism to capitalism.

I love what Kundera was quoted as saying about Bohumil Hrabel in this piece as well.

There's also a bit in here about Cerny's Entropa. Why is it only the Czechs seem to get Cerny's humor? I think Entropa is wonderful but it seems the rest of the world can't take a joke. Geez, lighten up.

The Kundera Conundrum