The Beginning

I've decided to become a blogger. My facebook addiction has become so intense that I've decided to try other e-drugs to get my high. This blog I've decided to dedicate to several endeavors; 

1) Recipes - lots of people have been asking me for my various recipes lately, so I've decided to start posting them! I like to invent new things or new ways of making things since I live in a foreign country and need Mexican food and American baked goods to survive.

2) Posts - I'm constantly seeing things I want to post on facebook, but I don't want to drive everyone crazy since all of my facebook friends are forced to see what I post, so now you can pick and choose .

3) Random Thoughts of "the traditional blogger"

So, let me begin.

Cooking Conversions:

You can do your own specific conversions here (like if you aren't too good at math) or you can just get a basic conversion, which is what I usually use, here. 

Temperature:

Fahrenheit   Celsius

250                 130

300                150

350                180

400                200

Some tips for those of us in Cz:

Butter - when a recipe calls for butter I usually buy the nicer butter that's not for cooking. I don't know what the difference is, but it mixes better for me than the baking 'maslo'. Most recipes call for 1 cup of butter, so I just buy a square of butter and cut off the an end which makes up about 10% of the butter square. I almost always melt the butter on low heat so that it mixes easily, but I let it cool off a bit first.

Brown Sugar - You can now get something that's nearly real brown sugar and it's not terribly expensive!! They sell it for sure at Billa and I think its called 'prirodne cukr' - natural sugar, which I suppose it is, but it seems like natural sugar and brown sugar's love child to me, but maybe I've just been away from authentic b.s. for too long. Anyhow, some people add molasses to make things more like brown sugar, but I've never done this. 

Flour - I always use 'Hladka Svetla' for everything.

Eggs - I always wash the eggs first and crack them in a glass before putting in something, since the eggs here are covered in nasty shit. I don't want any of that getting in my yummy sweets! I also usually use Large eggs or sometime Medium eggs if they are on sale. 

Milk - I usually use fresh milk instead of the boxed non-refrigerated stuff. It simply tastes better. It's worth a few extra koruny  (and occasionally it's actually cheaper!)

Baking Soda = Jedla Soda

Baking Powder = kyprici prasek

Vanilla = I'm lucky enough to get my supply from my mom. Traditional American vanilla doesn't exist in this country, but luckily "Vanilinovy Cukr" does. So, if you need a substitution, use this and just use the same measurements. 

Chocolate = I never use baking chocolate "Pecene Cokolada" Normal chocolate is awesome, why substitute it? However, I always just buy the cheapest normal milk chocolate I can find. Milka's too rich for my cookies. 

*For Czechs:

Tsp = Teaspoon

Tbs or Tbsp = Tablespoon

C = Cup

*I never measure anything precisely. I just have this thing about it - I want my cookies to be mine. If I follow a recipe exactly and use a knife to make sure I don't put in too much or too little of something then I feel like I've sinned and that I'm being artificial. I know it's weird. My mom always measures precisely and I love everything  she makes, but I'm not my mom. I like to taste and test. When something tastes the way I want it, then I've measured well. If it doesn't, it's time to add something. 

*I apologize for my terrible Czech spelling. I'm too lazy to look up the correct spelling or even switch over to a Czech keyboard, but I think everything is pretty clear. Feel free to ask if you don't understand something! I'll also try to put the Czech words as I write the recipes from time to time if it isn't obvious like cukr. 

and now for some recipes...