Food

Food

Such an interesting and yummy topic. And when you live overseas, it is even more interesting as the simplest things, such as grocery shopping, cooking and going out to eat become adventures.
Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping is great fun for many reasons. First, you have to pay to get a grocery cart. The carts are all locked together and you have to pay 5 or 10 crowns to unlock one. You get your money back when you return your cart. Not a bad idea really as no one leaves their cart in the parking lot. You also have to bring your own shopping bags to most places, otherwise you have to buy bags. Sure cuts down on waste. And shopping by pictures is always fun. Sometimes you guess… and sometimes your wrong. (We washed our clothes with fabric softener for several weeks before figuring out it wasn’t soap.) I am very used to pricing things to find the better deal, and as Cosco/Sam’s Club knows, bigger is cheaper. Well, not true here. I have slowly been figuring out that the big jar of jam is more expensive per gram than the little jar. I believe this is because it is more convenient to go shopping more frequently. Carrying your groceries home and small refrigerators/freezers cut down on the amount you buy. I like shopping more frequently as we can always get fresh produce, although remind me again of that when there is snow on the ground.
My favorite grocery store story… so, all three of us went shopping as we were stocking up for the week. We got in line and the checker was an older man who seemed fairly jovial. He was saying things in Slovak so I just kept smiling at him. We had gotten two different cans of beans and the first one he scanned just fine. However, the second would not scan for some reason. He tried several times before he looked up at me and asked me something in Slovak. I gave him an unsure smile and said “Ne rezumium,” – I don’t understand. He looked at me, repeated himself and I just shrugged and shook my head. He started shaking his head and mumbling under his breath “Ne rezumium, ne rezumium.” I can only imagine that he asked me something simple and he thought I didn’t understand his question. “Dumb girl, doesn’t understand, ‘How much are these beans?’ Young people these days. What are they teaching them in school.” As a last resort, he took back the other can of beans and scanned it again, mumbling the entire time.

School Lunches
So, at Oster, my school in San Jose, I never ate at the school cafeteria. The food was greasy, micro-waved and barely food like. Here, employers are required to provide discounted lunches for their employees. So, I can eat in my school cafeteria for less than a dollar a day. And, WoW, is it good food. Every lunch starts with soup, made fresh that day. There are always four choices for lunch. One is a meat dish, (usually chicken or pork) in some kind of a sauce with either rice, pasta or potatoes. The other is a vegetarian choice. This is my favorite as the vegetarians in the States would cringe. Sometime it is really good, like the broccoli soufflé. My favorite vegetarian are what I would call the kid friendly dishes. They include: noodles with chocolate sauce, bread squares with vanilla pudding and dumplings filled with jam. What a meal those are! The third choice is a vegetable plate, which is just a strange assortment of minced veggies such as peppers and carrots. The fourth is a fruit plate, which is actually a plastic bag with four or five pieces of fruit in it. The best part about cafeteria eating is that the menu is posted each day and you stamp your meal ticket with the choice you want. And, seeing that I don’t read Slovak, I try to read what little I can, and then just guess at what I’m getting. Sometimes I will ask a student to translate and get such wonderful translations such as “sliced with kakoa.” Huh? Maybe not tomorrow. Sliced with kakoa is noodles with chocolate, which I passed on. Overall though, I am thoroughly pleased with cafeteria food. And it is all served on china with real silverware, no Styrofoam trays and plastic sporks here.

Restaurants
Restaurants are also great fun. The menus, at least in old town, are often in several languages, or they have an English version. The English versions are funny , as they often don’t make sense. There is no waiting to be seated, just find a table you like and have a seat. The wait staff will come when they are ready, and often it takes a while, so plan plenty of time. Water does not come with the meal and when you order they will ask if you want it with gas or without. All of the water is mineral… umm, umm. I am learning to like it. The food is delicious, if a bit heavy. The national Slovak dish is Brynzova Hylushci, which is little potato dumplings (like small gnocchi) with a sheep cheese sauce, sprinkled with bacon. It is very delicious. After your meal, you can sit and visit for as long as you want, as your waiter will not bring the check until you ask, “Uchet, prosim.” Check, please.

Zmrzlina Prosim!
My favorite Slovak food is zmrzlina. Yes that is right, five consonants in a row, two of them z’s. It is a mouthful to say, but a good word to learn. Ice cream. Ice cream is a treat to be eaten at all times of the day, morning, noon and night. There are little shops on every corner and people walk around with ice creams cones everywhere you go. The ice cream is lighter and much cheaper. For less than a dollar you can get three little scoops. The cookies and another one I can’t pronounce, but is a kind of chocolate, are my favorite right now.
Well, with all this talk about food, I am getting hungry. I think maybe a dish of zmrzlina and maybe a cup of chaj are in order….

Mt 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.