Updated Things Not Available List

I go to my local Brněnka grocery store two or three times a week.  It is a small shop but it is totally packed with supplies and it has a pretty decent deli.  It's located next to my tram stop which is only a five minute walk from my flat.  This was perfect pre-lockdown because I could pop in to the shop and quickly pick up whatever I needed on my way home from work.  

A couple of weeks ago I was surprised to see that they now carry Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  For just 31 Kč ($1.42).  I've been able to find them at The Candy Store but this is the first time that I've noticed them in a normal shop.   

When I first moved here, more than a decade ago, I had a list of "things not available here" on the right hand side of the blog.  There was even a Tripadvisor thread about it back in 2012.  I've updated the list as things have become available here or if I could find something somewhere else in Euroland.

On the original list there was:

"Soft" Sandwich Bread.  It's now off the list.  I was able to find the equivalent but I can't remember the last time that I actually wanted it.  I'd much rather have an open-faced celebíček style sandwich.

Angel Hair Pasta.  I did find the equivalent of angel hair pasta but the noodles are short; maybe 4 or 5 cm (1.5 to 2 inches) long.  If I want a proper long pasta noodle then I just use spaghetti noodles.  

Big Marshmallows.  Off the list thanks to the Candy Store.  

Bisquick.  I found it in the UK.  I still keep this on hand because Czech flour is still confusing to me.

Black Beans.  I finally found them.  Not available everywhere or all of the time but I can find canned black beans.  When I come across them I buy extra and horde them.  

Caesar Salad Dressing.  I found it in Germany.  I also found it in the UK and Ireland.

Clam Chowder Soup.  This still isn't a thing over here but remember that this is a landlocked country.  I tried to make it using canned clams I received in a care package with some potato soup but it just didn't come out right. 

Coffee-mate Flavored Creamer.  I used to use either the liquid or powdered flavoured creamer all the time back in the USA.  My tastes have changed since living here and I no longer miss this.  I think that you can find some various flavourings here but I don't use them.  I just use milk and brown sugar.

Cooking Spray.  I still don't understand why this isn't a thing over here.  I found it in Ireland.

Corn Dogs.  They don't exist over here.  It's a hot dog on a stick that is dipped in corn batter and deep fried.  I did manage to find a corn dog last year but it was in Taiwan.

Dr. Pepper.  This started showing up here in 2011.  I can find it at the Candy Store and it's available in some grocery stores but I don't remember the last time that I bought it.  It's very rare that I actually drink a soda now and when I do it's Kofola.  

Egg Beaters/Liquid Egg Whites.  This is basically an egg mixture in a carton that you pour directly in to a frying pan.  I liked the egg white version because why take the time to separate the yolks from the whites when you can just use a carton of egg whites.  I'm sure that my Eurocrew will just think that this is falls under the category of just being incredibly lazy.  I removed this from the list because I no longer care about it.  

Enchilada Sauce.  I've never found it over here.  Luckily I have plenty of spice packs so that I can make it when I need it.

French's Yellow Mustard.  I found it in the UK and it's at the Candy Store.  

Goya Sofrito.  This is a base mix that you add to beans or rice in Latin cooking.  It's basically a mix garlic, onion, peppers, and tomatoes that were cooked down in olive oil.  I removed it from the list because it's been over a decade since I last had it and I'm sure that I could find a recipe online if I really needed it for something.

Graham Crackers.  Proper graham crackers don't exist over here.  I'm sure that there are similar products available in the kid's food section of a market.  Fortunately I received a box of graham cracker crumbs that I can use when I need to bake a pie or make a cheesecake.

Hot Dog Buns.  American-style hot dog buns aren't a think here.  Unless you go to Ikea where you can buy a hot dog with a bun.  I removed this from the list because I finally got used to just slicing open a rohlík.  Not as soft as a regular hot dog bun but it works.

Jelly Beans.  Jelly Belly jelly beans are at the Candy Store.  I've started to see other brands of jelly beans show up in stores.

Jif Crunchy Peanut Butter.  I found it in the UK.  I can get it at the Candy Store but it is expensive.  I can now find peanut butter, smooth or crunchy, in the local shop.  Jif Crunchy is my favourite brand so I just have to splurge when I'm craving a PB&J. 

Jiffy Cornbread Mix.  I can't get this over here.  I have to rely on care parcels.  In a few weeks I was supposed to fly to California for my niece's high school graduation.  Due to Covid-19 that's not going to happen.  I planned to bring back several boxes so that I have them in time for Thanksgiving.  Assuming that Thanksgiving will happen this year.

Listerine PocketPaks Breath Strips.  I love these little strips that dissolve on your tongue.  I've never seen them here.  A colleague told me that that used to be here years ago but didn't last long.  I found something similar before in Germany but just not the same thing. 

Mac n' Cheese.  The only Mac n' Cheese is Kraft Mac n' Cheese.  I've come across some British versions but I haven't actually tried them.  I normally use five boxes to make a big batch at Thanksgiving.  Last year it was the most popular dish with the kids.  I may have to do a double batch this year.

Macadamia Nuts.  I've never seen them here.  I can't even remember the last time I had one.  

Mt. Dew.  I found first several years ago in Poland.  It's at the Candy Store and I do see it every so often at the grocery store.  I don't remember the last time I had one.

Passion Fruit Juice.  Once, back in 2010, I spotted passion fruit juice at Tesco.  They had eight 1-litre boxes and I bought every single one of them.  I've spotted it in the grocery store a few times in Vienna but I've never seen it here again in Czechland.  

Pickle Relish.  For the life of me I don't understand why pickle relish isn't a thing over here.  Czechs love pickles and they are great at pickling veggies and canning fruit for the winter so I don't understand why pickle relish just isn't a thing here.  For me, I don't care if it's regular or sweet relish, either way it is a total necessity for a hot dog.  It is also a key ingredient for "deviled eggs" at Thanksgiving.  I can get it sometimes at the Candy Store.  I may actually have to breakdown and find a recipe on-line so that I can make it myself.  

Ranch Dressing.  Americans love ranch dressing.  It's a salad dressing.  We also use it as a sauce for Buffalo chicken wings.  It can also be a dip for crisps or veggies.  It's another item that you can find at the Candy Store.  I have spice packs that I can use to make up a batch when I want.  Czechs have a farmer's dressing but it is no where close to the same thing as ranch dressing.    

Red Velvet Cake.  You can find the cake mix in the UK and Ireland.  It's also available at the Candy Store.  It's not in the shops here but I have seen red velvet cupcakes for sale at many cafes so I think it's getting quite popular.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  They're available now which is what inspired this blog post.

Rocky Road Ice Cream.  This is chocolate ice cream with bits of almonds and marshmallows.  The story goes that in 1929, a guy used his wife's scissors to cut up marshmallows and walnuts which he then mixed in to chocolate ice cream. When the stock market crashed later that year the flavour was renamed as "rocky road" so that people would have something that they could smile about.  Zmrzlina is really good but I would slap someone's mama to get at some rocky road ice cream.

Root Beer.  This is a non-alcoholic, caffeine-free, carbonated soft drink.  Sometimes older people will refer to it as sarsaparilla.  It's kind of the American version of Kofola but Kofola is way better.  When we were kids it was always the biggest treat to get a root beer float.  Just vanilla ice cream and root beer in a mug.  The combination would create a foam on top.  

Splenda.  This is a sugar substitute that is popular in the USA.  In the USA it is legally able to be labeled east "zero calories".  Splenda could be used instead of sugar even for cooking and baking.  Just replace the sugar with half the quantity of Splenda.  I did find this in the UK.  I still have some in my pantry  but I haven't touched this in years.  I still have some in my pantry but I haven't touch the stuff in years. I remove d it from the list because I don't care about it any more.  

Two-in-One Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant.  It's pretty simple.  An antiperspirant helps control sweat and a deodorant protects against door.  In the USA, it is pretty common to buy one product that does both of these things.  In Euroland I can find either antiperspirant or deodorant.  Both of which are more expensive than back in the USA but I don't even care about the cost.  It's just a pain that I can't get a two-in-one.

Velveeta Cheese.  Velvet is a processed cheese product that's popular in the USA.  It tastes like American cheese.  The good thing about Velveeta is that it doesn't separate into an oily mess when you melt it so it's good for making hot cheese dips or cheese for nachos.  I've never seen it over here.  I removed it from the list because I no longer miss it.  I can't even imagine how many E's would be in this.  

Anytime you move to a new country there are going to be things that you miss from home.  That's not a bad thing.  Just make sure that you give ample opportunity to try all of the new things available.  I've been here long enough that I totally love Kofola but that doesn't mean that I don't ever want to go without have a Dr. Pepper again.  However, if you can't survive without Velveeta cheese then Czechland might not be the place for you.

Update:  Thanks to Jana who left a comment below I can remove macadamia nuts from the missing list.  Thanks Jana!

First Grocery Delivery

My old assistant, Jakub, had told me about rohlik.cz before but I had never used them.  At least not before today.  Rohlik is a Czech-based grocery delivery service that offers 90 minute same day delivery.  They deliver groceries in Prague, Brno, Liberec, Plzeň, Pardubice, Hradec Králové, and Ústí nad Labem.

The website is only in Czech but on the bright side it's good language practice.  It was really easy to order online, the product was good and it was about the same price as going to the grocery store.  I received a text message letting me know how many grocery bags to expect and they were on time.  You can pay online or cash on delivery.  Super convenient!  

Tesco offers delivery service as well.  Claudia has used them for years, especially since their site has an English language option.

If I had to find a negative it would be that the minimum order is 500 Kč (~$22) but not that big a deal.  I will for sure use Rohlik again.  Thanks for the tip Jakub!

Update: The site is now also available in English.

My 1st Czech Black Friday

Today was another first.  After six years here I didn't think I would still be having "firsts" but here we are.  I experienced my first Czech "Black Friday".

In the USA, Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November.  The day after is called Black Friday. It's not a real holiday.  It is considered the start of the Christmas shopping season.  Most of the major retailers open very early and offer crazy promotional sales.  It's not unheard of for people to get in line in front of the store the night before so as to get in the store first.  Personally, I'm not a fan and have never gone Black Friday shopping.

Well today was my first but to be honest it wasn't intentional.  Tomorrow is "Czechsgiving" so Claudia and I went to Tesco at Královo Pole for groceries.  I also wanted to pick up Tünde's Christmas present.  It looks like Santa is going to bring her a keyboard and microphone this year.  It makes noise so I'm sure she'll love it.

I could not believe the line of people inside the store to buy electronics.  It was insane.  This Black Friday nonsense is definitely something that I hope doesn't really catch on over here. 

Golden Hands

There's an expression over here in Czechland about zlaté české ruce which means "golden Czech hands."  I've heard two different explanations for this phrase and, honestly, I can see the truth in both of them.

An ad proclaiming they have golden hands

The first one is because Czechs are such great craftsmen, tradesmen, and engineers.  You can definitely see this in the old architecture here.  The old buildings are absolutely beautiful.  The paneláky, prefabricated apartment blocks; not so much.

The second explanation is that due to the shortages of supplies, under communism, that Czechs learned how to make do with what they had.  Czechs became masters of "do-it-yourself" using whatever materials you could get your hands on.  This sometimes led to very inventive solutions.

This afternoon I wanted to make a dessert that requires apple sauce.  It suddenly dawned on me that I don't know if I've ever seen apple sauce here Czechland.  I know they have it in Germany but not so sure here.  And I wasn't up for a mad scavenger hunt at Albert, Billa, Inter-Spar and Tesco.  Instead, I used the Google and found an easy recipe and made some apple sauce from scratch.

I guess this constitutes my attempt at having golden hands.  Which has me wondering...maybe I can find an easy recipe for blue cheese dressing because they for sure don't have it here. 

Shop Hours

The time that stores are open is much different in Europe than back in the USA.  In America, stores have longer opening hours.   Heck, most big grocery stores are open 24/7.  Not so over here.

Stores in Czechland usually open between 7 or 8 AM and close by 6 PM, Monday to Friday.  It is not uncommon for small shops to close from 12 to 1 PM for lunch.  If small shops are open on the weekend then it is usually only on Saturdays and they will close by 12 or 1 PM.

Hypermarkets (shopping centers) are open seven days a week and usually close at 9 PM.  My local Albert is open from 7 AM to 9 PM.

A večerka is a small convenience type grocery store that is open late night.  Or if you're lucky there will be a local nonstop that is open 24/7.  In Brno, there's even one Tesco that is open 24 hours.

Czechs (and Slovaks), traditionally, tend to start work early in the morning and stop early enough to still make it to the local shops before they close.  It must come for the days of Franz Joseph and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Limited office hours are a leftover from the days of communism and make bureaucracy so much worse here.  Most government office are open to the public on Mondays and Wednesdays, and may have limited hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Don't even think about trying to renew your driver's license, visit city hall or go to the Foreign Ministry on a Friday.

Optician's opening hours M-F

I just don't get why shops aren't open longer here.  There's this very cool antique store in Brno which I would love to spend some money in.  Too bad  it's only open Tuesday - Thursday, from 10 AM to 1 PM.  It's like some stores are afraid to be open longer because then the employees would have to work more.

In the USA, the prime time to buy a car is on the weekend.  Not so over here because that's when the car dealerships are closed.

One of the great things that I like about Christmas time over here is that almost all shops stay open longer.  At least until 7 or 9 PM. 

As much as I may complain at times about limited shopping hours in Czechland or Slovakia, it's even more restrictive in Austria and Germany.  In Austria and Germany, Sundays are meant for family time so nothing is open on Sundays.  Not even the mall.  Unless you want to do your grocery shopping at a gas station mini-mart then you had better get your Sunday supplies on Saturday because nothing will be open on a Sunday.

Flour

Flour is very different between the USA and ČR.

In the USA, flour is sold by its intended use: all-purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour, etc.

Over here, flour is sold according to how coarsely it has been ground.  Wheat flour is the most common type of flour but there are several textures.

For pastry flour you need to look for Hladká mouka výběrová.

Hladká mouka, "smooth flour" is the equivalent to all-purpose flour.  It's used for thickening soups and sauces, as well as, for pie crusts, Czech pancakes, and Christmas cookies.

Polohrubá mouka, "semi-course" is the equivalent of high gluten flour.  Czechs use it for making coffee cake and Christmas or Easter sweet breads.

Hrubá mouka is "course" flour and is the equivalent of first clear flour.  Czechs use this as the main ingredient for bread dumplings or noodles.  It can also be used in some cake recipes.

Pšeničná Krupice is the coarsest flour.  Very similar to semolina; white whole wheat.  It's normally used to make dumplings.

To make self-rising flour you combine 150g (1 cup) of flour, ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of baking soda (bicarbonate soda).  The baking powder is sold in 12g or 20g sachets in the market.  The only place to buy baking soda is at a pharmacy.

American Bisquick

This is all way to complicated for me.  I love my Bisquick.  It's a boxed mix of flour, salt, baking powder and shortening.  I've received a few care packages which has kept me from having to deal with the Czech flour situation.

British Bisquick

Bisquick isn't available here but it is available in the UK.  Nat normally grabs me a couple of boxes every time she's back there for work.  The UK Bisquick comes in a different box but it's more or less the same.  Except that the American version is bright white while the UK version has a beige tint to it.

Here's a recipe I found online for fake Bisquick.  Combine 1 cup of flour, 1½ teaspoons of baking powder, ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of oil or melted butter.

EDIT:  Natalie found 100g sachets of baking soda at Tesco. 

Cranberries

A couple of weeks ago, I was telling one of my colleagues how I missed not having cranberries here.  Well apparently, every so often, you can find them at Lidl.  I was surprised at work today with the first cranberries I've seen in almost four years.  You've got to love the "American Quality Cranberries" on the packaging.  

Now all of a sudden everyone is telling me that you can find them at Kaufland and Tesco too.  Why hasn't anyone told me about this before?  At least now I'll be able to put some cranberries in to a salad and I'll finally be able to make some cranberry bread.  Yum!!!

Hemet, California

Hemet is a small city in California.  It is 315 miles (507 km) from Prescott and about 80 miles (130 km) southeast of Downtown Los Angeles.  From Prescott it's about a 5½ hour drive.  My grandparents retired here back in the early 1980s and this was the first stop back in Cali in order to visit my uncle.

Hemet was founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1910.  It's a small city with +78,600 people.  It is basically a working-class retirement town.

The biggest claim to fame that Hemet has is "The Ramona Pageant".  It started in 1923 and is California's official outdoor play.  In fact it is one of the longest running outdoor plays in the USA.  Aside from the play, Hemet also now has the new Diamond Valley Lake.

For my Euro crew, everyone knows that Tesco is the UK's largest retailer.  Is is actually the world's 3rd largest retailer.  Well, despite the fact that the U.S. market is tough for UK business, Tesco opened its first "Fresh & Easy" in Hemet back in 2007.

Fresh & Easy is modeled after Tesco Express so it is meant to compete with convenience stores.  The stores are 75% smaller than the average American supermarket.  Today, you can find +185 of these stores in California, Arizona and Nevada.

My visit to Hemet was really nice because I finally got to meet Francis.  She was a very good friend to my grandmother.  After my grandmother passed away last year, I started sending her postcards to Francis.  She is just the sweetest person.  It's nice to finally be able to put a face to a name.

2012 New Year's Brunch

Everyone has been really busy over the last couple of weeks so I decided a New Year's brunch was long overdue. Especially since many of us were all traveling at New Year's. So this morning everyone came over to my flat for an American style breakfast.

Miran was here this weekend and went with me yesterday on my scavenger hunt for maple syrup. Note to self...bring back maple syrup when you visit the USA this September. The only syrup we could find at Tesco was imported from Canada and, at $12 for 375 ml (12.8 oz), it was pricey. But a necessity for American pancakes.

Yes! American pancakes. Here in Euroland what they call "pancakes" aren't really pancakes. In the USA, we would call them crepes and they are usually filled with cheese, fruit or chocolate. Don't get me wrong. These paličinky are very good but they are definitely not pancakes. Anyway...we had plenty of food, great company and it was wonderful to have everyone together. Now to keep up the momentum of getting everyone together at least once a month.

Dr Pepper

One of the things that I miss about living over here in the ČR is Dr Pepper. I never drank it hardcore but I would enjoy the occasional soda. I think that I may miss it more simply because it's not available here.

I've had Dr Pepper in the UK but they don't sell it here. One of my colleagues found it at Kaufland and brought me a bottle to work. I went to Interspar and they actually have Dr Pepper in stock. I almost cried with happiness.

Too bad I can't buy it at Albert or Tesco. A few of my Czech friends have said that I need to remove it from my blog's list of things not available here in Czechland. Not so fast! I'm first going to wait and see if this is just a passing fad. I got all excited last year when I saw passion fruit juice at Tesco. I was so happy that I bought all 8 liters they had on the shelf. And I've never seen it since then. But here's hoping that I'll now be able to enjoy a cold Dr Pepper whenever I feel like it.

Pre-Thanksgiving Prep

Since it isn't a holiday over here and peole had to work, we decided to have our Thanksgiving on Saturday . So that just meant Thursday would be a prep day for me.

Originally we thought we'd have to cook 4 or 5 of these small, frozen Hungarian turkeys from Tesco for our feast. Until a couple of weeks ago, when one of my friends, Tomáš, offered to call a farm to see about ordering us a fresh turkey. Brilliant idea!! Then the fun (and a lot of laughter) began. First I had to let them know if I wanted a female or a male turkey. Then what size of a bird did I want? I did not want it alive. I wanted it chilled; not frozen. I did not want to pluck the turkey. I wanted it cleaned and without all of the insides. I wanted it weighed, but without the head or the feet. In the end we placed an order for a 13 kg (28.6 lb), which would be the largest turkey I ever cooked.

Claudia drove me to go pick it up on Thursday. There was no way I was going to ride a tram and a bus while carrying around a huge turkey in an IKEA bag. We were a little nervous when we went to pick it up because we just knew that something would be not quite right...like maybe the neck would still be attached or something. But everything was perfect.

We got it back to my flat and we were really happy when we knew for sure that it would fit in to my oven. Barely!!

Marcus came up that afternoon from Bratislava to help me get ready for the weekend. On Friday morning we cleaned the flat and made several trips to the grocery store. Claudia and Janelle helped us with the cooking Friday night. After baking pumpkin pies I got to bed at around 1:45 AM but had to be up at 5 AM to get the turkey ready and in the oven by 5:30 AM.

Pizza Hut

We have McDonald's and KFC here in Brno and so far I have yet to go to either one. I'm saving them for when I absolutely need an American "fix." However, Marcus found a Pizza Hut in Bratislava so we went last weekend. Who knew I would get so excited about a Pizza Hut?!?


The pizza over here is not that great. The crust tends to be very thin and there's hardly any sauce on it. It tastes kind of like cardboard. People here normally squirt sweet ketchup or tartar sauce on it. And I have yet to see parmesan cheese or crushed red pepper on pizza here either.




Last Saturday was going to be a day of sightseeing in Bratislava but we eneded up looking for a flat for Marcus. We decided that while sightseeing could wait until next time, we still had to cross the bridge to Petržalka and visit the Pizza Hut located in a Tesco.


We started off with a caesar salad that looked really good. Until we took a bite and discovered that they didn't use caesar dressing...it was sour cream. Not the best thing I've had here in Eastern Europe. However, the pizza was awesome!!! It's probably a good thing we don't have one of these in Brno because I would be there at least once a week. But what I would not give for a Papa John's Pizza over here...

Household Goods

On Wednesday my household goods showed up. It took about 2.5 months for my stuff to go from Atlanta to Miami, then on a boat to the UK where it had to clear customs, before moving on to Prague and finally to Brno.

The agency said that the driver would be at my flat between 8 am and 4 pm...that's worse than waiting for the cable TV folks back home.

At 2 pm I called the agency in Prague and they said the driver would be here in 30 minutes. But 30 minutes later the driver called and said it would take another 30 minutes. And of course the driver they sent could not speak English. Fortunately though he spoke enough German for us to understand each other.

While he had the delviery van double parked on my one-way street, he helped unload my 22 boxes as I ran them all upstairs. My flat is on the 5th floor (a U.S. 6th) but the elevator only goes to the 4th floor, so I had to haul my boxes up 1 flight of stairs.

I had this day in the back of my mind when I was looking for flats. Going up and down a single flight of stairs is fine. But there was no way I was going to move in to a 3rd or 4th floor flat without a lift.

Getting to open all of my boxes was kind of like Christmas! I've got all of my cold weather clothes and just in time for my first Czech winter. But now I've got to go to Tesco to buy some more hangers. And eventually to Ikea for a dresser.

Albert

Albert is the closest grocery store to my flat. The chain is only found here, in Slovakia and Poland. So unlike Tesco, not much English. But it is just around the corner from me so I can just carry things home without having to get on the tram.

One thing different about Albert is that you weigh and price your produce before you get to the register. You just look for the picture of what you're buying, press the button and out comes the sticker. One time I didn't see a picture of a radish (and didn't know the Czech word for it) so I had to buy some that were prepackaged.

By chance I happened to see a guy weigh some tomatos the first time I went to Albert so I did the same. I bet the checkers would have lost their minds if I had gone to the register without having first priced my produce.

I've had requests for cost-of-living information so here's what I got today...

Tortillas, pepperoni, cheddar cheese, eidam cheese, sliced ham, strawberry jam, 3 yogurts, 3 bananas, chicken thighs, potatos, multivitamin juice, ice cream, 1/2 loaf of toast bread and 2 dinner rolls. The grand total was 335 Kč (~$18.60 U.S.).

The sandwich bread is very dense here. So far, I haven't been able to find 'soft' bread. Eidam cheese is cheap but cheddar is more expensive.

You always see people on the trams or walking down the street with a bag of rolls (rohlik) on their way home for dinner.  Kind of like a generic hot dog bun.  They are good (and cheap) but you had better eat them the same day you buy them. Try to eat one the next day and you will chip a tooth.

The potatos are tiny. You can easily fit 3-4 in the palm of your hand. But the green onions are HUGE! The biggest chives you've ever seen.

Multivitamin juice is good. It looks like carrot juice and is a blend of apple, orange, lemon, pineapple, passion fruit, grape, grapefruit, mango, guava, banana, apricot and peach juices. They sell multivitamin juice in cartons and small plastic bottles. The large plastic bottles look more like orange soda so I stick with the cartons.