It's been a while since I received a care package from the USA. I'm not complaining mind you. The cost to mail a care parcel from the USA has increased to $77 and now there's VAT due on everything. After more than a decade here I'm just not as dependent on getting things from back home. If there's something that I really need I can find in locally or at least on Amazon. Of course there are some things that I can't find. I can't remember the last time that I had Rocky Road ice cream and it's not like I can have ice cream mailed to me.
I was working from home today when the postman buzzed my door. I was surprised because I hadn't ordered anything but here was a box from my sister in California. I had to pay 120 Kč ($5.40) for VAT due which I could pay with my iPhone. It's still two weeks until my birthday so I should wait until then to open up my presents. I do know that there's a box of corn muffin mix and according to the custom's form there should be some socks. I can't wait to see what all she sent me.
Within the EU, the price of all goods that are shipped between EU-member states includes VAT. VAT is value-added tax. For Americans this is the sales tax. By including the VAT, countries know that the correct amount of tax has been collected which allows goods to ship without having to go through customs.
This isn't the case for goods shipped in from outside the EU. Things have to go through customs in order to calculate the VAT and usually some processing fees. Prior to this month goods valued below 560 Kč (€22) were exempt from VAT. Well as of 1 October 2021, that exemption is now gone.
This is a good news / bad news sort of thing. The good news is that the Czech government has somewhat simplified the customs procedure. The bad news is that now you have to pay the VAT on everything coming in from outside the EU and currently the VAT in Czechland is 21%. Remember that due to Brexit, the UK is now out of the EU so this applies here too.
This was supposed to rollout across the EU on 1 January 2021 but it was pushed to 1 July to give EU countries time to get ready for it. The Czechs needed a little longer so it didn't take effect until this month.
If you haven't paid VAT at the point-of-sale then you will need to deal with customs but you can always authorise the delivery provider to handle this for you for a fee.
So now all items under 3800 Kč (€150) are subject to VAT. Items above 3800 Kč have to go through a separate customs procedure because you have to pay the VAT and you have to pay a separate duty tax which is dependent on the type of product.
This will also impact care packages. I believe that many people would receive things from outside the EU and no matter what was sent would just declare the value as less than €22 so that they would not have to pay any VAT. This takes care of that and ensures that the government will get its share of tax revenue. Česká pošta processed 28 million VAT-exempt packages from outside the EU in 2019 and the Czech government expects this change to generate an additional 182 billion Kč (€7 billion) of revenue each year.
It's been a while since I've even received a care package from back home. Mainly because the cost of shipping increased so much in the USA. In 2013, the cost jumped up from $55 to $77. Who knows what it costs now in 2021? Plus, I'd much rather receive hand-delivered care packages.
Update: In November 2022, the postage cost of a 20 lb (9 kg) care package from the USA to Czechland is $115.70, from the USA.
A friend had a cookout today and asked if I would bring real American cheesecake. Well as "real" as possible given that the ingredients here in Euroland aren't exactly the same. I originally thought that this would be a simple post about me making cheesecake but it's going to be way more complicated than just that so bare with me.
There are two types of cheesecake, the kind you bake and the no-bake kind. I prefer the no-bake version. The key ingredient to cheesecake, at least in the USA, is Philadelphia cream cheese. Which of course you can't get over here in Czechland.
What you can get is Philadelphia cream cheese spread. First, the spread is not the same thing as regular cream cheese. I do know people who make cheesecake with the spread but it doesn't taste the same. A 125g (4.4oz) container here costs 43Kč ($2). This would be kind of pricey to use for cheesecake plus it's not the right ingredient so it would not turn out right.
In Czechland most people use tvaroh which is kind of like American cottage cheese but drier and not as milky. Tvaroh is used heavily for baking here. One of my favourite dishes are plum or apricot dumplings with tvaroh.
Tvaroh
The closest thing I've found to cream cheese is lučina. Lučina entered the Czechoslovak market in 1981. It's almost like cream cheese but a little drier and a bit tangier than traditional cream cheese
I use lučina for all of my U.S. recipes that requires cream cheese. Lučina comes in little 100g (3.5oz) blocks for 23Kč ($1.08).
In Germany, people use quark. Quark always messes with people because there is no translation for it. When you type the German word "quark" into Google Translate the English translation you get back is "quark". Quark is kind of like cream cheese but not really. It's a soft, fresh cheese that can be used for either cream cheese, ricotta, or even sour cream.
Side note...every child in the USA learns the nursery rhyme about Little miss Muffet.
Little miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider who sat down beside her
And frightened miss Muffet away
The kick is that kids in the USA don't know what curds and whey are. When kids ask what are curds and whey we just say it is cottage cheese.
OK...now back to the cheesecake. The other key ingredient that doesn't exist over here are graham crackers. A graham cracker is a sweet cracker made with graham flour that originated in the USA and dates back to the 1880s.
Graham flour is just whole wheat flour that is ground more coarsely. It has just slightly less protein than white wheat flour.
Graham crackers are eaten as a snack. They are often flavoured with honey or cinnamon but they are most famous for being one of the key ingredients to make s'mores. No camping trip or bonfire is complete without s'mores. You roast a marshmallow over an open fire. You then put the marshmallow and a piece of Hershey's chocolate between two graham crackers and enjoy the ooey gooey treat. The reason that it's called a s'more is because once you'e had one you always want some more.
Graham crackers are one of the most popular pie crusts in the USA. You can even buy pre-made graham cracker pie crusts that come in a disposable aluminium pie pan.
With no graham crackers over here, people use digestive biscuits. Now comes the British English.
What we call a 'cookie' in the USA is called a 'biscuit' in the UK. Sušenka in Czech. What the USA calls a 'biscuit' is almost a 'scone' in the UK. No equivalent of either in Czechland.
A digestive biscuit is a semi-sweet "cookie" that dates back to 1839 in Scotland. The "digestive" part was that they acted like an antacid because they were first baked with sodium bicarbonate. The digestive biscuit is one of the most popular biscuits in the UK. I prefer the ones with chocolate on side. They are perfect for dunking in to your tea.
In Euroland, people grind up digestive biscuits to use for pie crusts.
The first cheesecake I made for my friend's party was a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. I used a recipe that I found on YouTube. Here's the video but to be fair I did make a couple of changes.
I didn't use digestive biscuits for the crust. I have a bag of graham cracker crumbs from a care package so I did make a proper graham cracker curst for the cheesecake.
When it came to making the chocolate layer, I didn't use regular cream. Instead, I used pařížská which is chocolate cream.
The regular cream, šlehačka, that I used in the peanut butter layer was 40% but the chocolate was only 27%. This helped make it even more chocolatey tasting.
This thing took hours to make but it turned out really well.
I also made a smaller vanilla lemon cheesecake. Whipped cream in a can here isn't the same as it is back in the USA. In the USA it is sweet but not here. Here it tastes more like air. I took the šlehačka, whipped it up, added a little vanilla and put it in a bag and piped it on top of the cheesecake.
I also used one of the pre-made graham cracker pie crusts that I had from another care package.
Both of the cheesecakes were popular but the chocolate peanut butter one was the winner.
It's been a while since I received a care package so I was shocked when the postman delivered one on Friday.
It's been a crazy year. Given the postal delays to the USA and New Zealand I didn't even mail out Christmas cards this year.
Since I didn't really get to travel much this year my niece and nephew aren't getting their annual Christmas packages with Advent calendars. Instead they're getting cash this year.
Germany is on full lock down now until 10 January so there's no going to Berlin for Christmas this year. Well since Uncle Chris can't go to Berlin then Claudia and Tünde decided to send me a few things for Christmas.
I wasn't planning on even putting up a tree this year but now I kind of had to since I needed a place to put the goodies.
So today out came the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
Today I shipped care packages to my niece and nephew in California. I always pick up something for each of them during all of my adventures and ship them over as Christmas presents. I send them to my sister and she puts everything in to gift bags.
The boxes are filled with Advent calendars, t-shirts, lots of candy, and whatever knick-knacks I can find. Sometimes it's a bit difficult because as they grow their sizes and interests change. It will be so much easier when they're older and I can just send them shot glasses. I'm sure my sister would kill me for that.
I dropped off the boxes at the post office today and had to fill out customs declarations for each. It's about 1500 Kč ($65) to ship them and the boxes should arrive in three or four weeks.
Steven and Michael were on their way to Istanbul and managed to work in a few days visiting me in Brno. I hadn't seen them since last year in California. It was so great to see them. And the first time I've seen them with their wedding rings.
It's been wicked cold every other time that they've been here before so it was nice for them to experience Brno in good weather.
On the weekend we explored the city. We even visited the ossuary at St. Jakub's which I hadn't even been to yet.
The boys also managed a couple of day trips to Olomouc and Bratislava.
It was brilliant having them here, even for just a few days, and they finally got to see my new flat.
Plus they totally spoiled me with a bag full of goodies. I must say that hand delivered care packages are the absolute best.
Saturday was my 8th annual Thanksgiving party. Eight years! Wow! After all this time it really is Czechsgiving now.
As soon as Agile24 was over on Friday I immediately went to pick up the turkey. This year's turkey was 11,6 Kg (25.6 lbs).
Tünde helping make dinner.
Then it was straight to the kitchen to start prepping for Saturday. Fortunately after seven years I've got it down to a bit of a system. The only difference was that this was the first year in my new flat and I did miss a bit of the counter space I had in the old flat.
The other thing is that this year I wanted to pull it off without any care packages from home.
Again, more kids this year. We even made a little kids play area and at night they enjoyed their very own kinder disco.
'Tis the season so my little Czech Charlie Brown Christmas tree is now up. And thanks to Natalie and her mom I know all about Christmas crackers which helps fill up things under the tree.
It's been the normal busy holiday season. In addition to Christmas parties and the recent VUT ball, there has been the usual rush to get things done.
My Christmas season actually starts in mid-November. I always include advent calendars in the care packages that I send to my niece and nephew so I need to make sure that they arrive in the USA prior to 1 December. I also try to get my holiday cards in the mail no later than the first week of December. Not only because it usually takes about 10 days for a card to reach California from here but because the lines in the post office here in December go on forever. But at least here the main post office is open on Saturday and Sunday.
It's always a great day when you get care packages from home. Thanks Mom!!!
A box full of goodies, mostly for my upcoming Czechsgiving dinner.
But care packages do go the other way too. I've boxed up some Czech treats, plus gifts from my travels this year, for my niece and nephew. Now that it is all boxed up I just need to take it to the post office this week.
So yesterday was the 6th annual Brno Thanksgiving celebration. After six years I think it's time to start calling it "Czechsgiving".
Uncle Chris babysitting so parents can eat
But what a difference six years makes. It used to be that after the party many of us would check out the Christmas market before ending up in a pub or nightclub.
Now Thanksgiving looks more like a day care center. This year we had five kids, and one is on the way for next year.
Turkey and pumpkin soup
Unlike previous years, there was no adventure when it came to getting the turkey. This year Tomáš one of the birds from his farm. It made things so much easier.
Besides the turkey, ham, and pumpkin soup, we had all of the traditional side dishes such as cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, glazed carrots, cornbread muffins, cranberry sauce, corn casserole, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes with marshmallow, green bean casserole, broccoli and rice casserole, deviled eggs, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and red velvet cake.
Of course, much of this would be very difficult to pull off if it weren't for the very generous care packages I get from home. Thanks Mom & Dad! Thanks Steven & Michal! At some point I really do need to covert all of my recipes to metric. It would keep me from having to look at my temperature cheat sheet all of the time. It would also make it much easier when people here ask for specific recipes.
Another successful Thanksgiving/Czechsgiving celebration. Of course it's not complete without the group photo.
Steven called me about three weeks ago and said that he wanted to bring his mom to Europe and wanted to know if I would be up for some Atlanta guests. Game on! Of course my best friend and his mom are welcome anytime.
It's funny that my family spent more than a year planning their European vacation. Steven called and we sorted everything out in about a week.
On Charles Bridge, touch the plaque to insure a return visit
This is Elizabeth's first time in Europe. We've hit all of the Prague highlights and it's been a great trip so far.
We even found the best Mexican restaurant I've ever been to in Euroland. It was awesome!
One of the best things ever for an expat is receiving a care package from home. Well I'm here to tell you that hand delivered care packages are so much better than getting them in the mail. Steven and his mom went out of the their way to spoil me by bringing me all kinds of great goodies from Atlanta.
Tomorrow we head to Brno for a couple of days and then it is on to Vienna. I'm becoming quite the experienced tour guide.
Like a lot of people I find a lot of valuable information on tripadvisor. And since my family is coming in a few short months on their first trip to Europe I'm starting to plan things for us to do. Well the other day I was checking things out in the Prague Forum and found an old top thread from 2012 about my blog.
On the right side of my blog I've got a list of a few items that are not available over here in Czechland. Not that this make it a horrible place to live in or anything. It's just a few of the little things that I miss from the USA. Heck, when the day comes for me to leave here I know that I'll miss kofola.
Well, the thread started out fine saying that "it is a fun list of items." Of course, the person obviously didn't focus too much on the details because the thread is called Not available in Prague - Really?. I don't live in Prague. Of course it's easier to find things in Prague. That's where the vast majority of American expats live. I'm in Brno where, until recently, it has been much harder to get certain items.
A few comments suggested that "when in Rome, do as the Romans". Duh! A few agreed with a few items, especially the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I've never met an expat that didn't miss something from home.
My list has changed over the past five years. Black beans are no longer on the list as I've been able to find canned black beans here. Not everywhere, but I can find them.
I've managed to find "soft" sandwich bread. It's not exactly like back home but it is close enough.
I've managed to find some something close to angel hair pasta. The noodles are only an inch or two long but the texture is the same.
A few stores now carry Dr. Pepper; just not my local Albert.
And thanks to The Candy Store I no longer have to import jelly beans.
A few more things I've found in other countries. I can get Caesar salad dressing in Germany and Natalie keeps me stocked with Bisquick from the UK. Plus, when I get desperate I can always count on care packages from my best friends in Atlanta. I guess I need to start making a list of supplies for my family to bring with them.
It's been a while since I received a care package from the USA. I'm not complaining mind you. The cost to mail a care parcel from the USA has increased to $77 and now there's VAT due on everything. After more than a decade here I'm just not as dependent on getting things from back home. If there's something that I really need I can find in locally or at least on Amazon. Of course there are some things that I can't find. I can't remember the last time that I had Rocky Road ice cream and it's not like I can have ice cream mailed to me. 
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