Job Discussion Forums

[LMS]

Hello!

I have found this discussion board most helpful in the past in regards with teaching...and now I have come back to ask about Christmas and traveling.

In Prague, is there any way to buy a Turkey for Christmas???

Traveling from Prague to Munich, Germany, what is the best way to do so? Student Agency and Eurolines only run at night, and I was hoping to find another bus line, or cheap train to get there in the day.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Warm regards from Prague!

[Frizzie Lizzie]

Hi, I don't know about turkeys as I don't cook much myself, but I can answer your Munich question - I went there last winter by train, it's a 6-hour journey and if I remember correctly we left Prague around 8 am. The price was affordable. Check out www.idos.cz for more info on timetables.

[spiral78]

Hmmm, krocani...I'll ask. Be back shortly. The mother-in-law Knows All.

[spiral78]

The Official Mother-in-Law word is: sure.
In any big supermarket, definitely around vanoce.

Look for 'krocan' or, if you are buying some small or processed piece of the stuff, 'kruti.'

I've been here for nine years, but since I don' t like turkey much, I'd never really paid attention.

[LMS]

Thanks so much! Very helpful once again

[ITTP]

Hi Leah.
As an Englishman our family doesn't have the turkey Christmas custom and we usually opt for the roast beef.
However, I love cooking and was pleasantly surprised to find fresh pheasant 2 years ago (flamed with Scottish whisky - absolutely tasty), and from the same shop this previous Christmas I bought a fresh turkey.
The shop specializes in Game and is located on Jungmannova street, in Prague 1.
Speaking of Christmas, Tesco already have their Xmas decorations on sale and M+S have their Xmas puds and cakes on sale.
I half expect to begin seeing the carp sellers on street corners by the turn of November 1st

[ITTP]

Just wanted to add that for affordable travel you might find the following link useful:

http://www.spolujizda.cz

[spiral78]

Maybe Leah's unaware of the Czech Christmas Carp tradition?
I personally prefer karp to turkey any day!

Although pheasant sounds like a great choice as well - and I reckon you're more likely to be able to buy it fresh (as versus frozen).

[ITTP]

I had the carp twice at Xmas.
I think it is something you either endure, grin and bear, or request rizek (breaded chicken or pork steak) as an alternative
For those of you who haven't the foggiest what we r talking about, carp is the national Xmas dish in the CZ.
Ironically, for such an atheistic country a fish is consumed on this holy day.
It is a tradition that a few days before Xmas (Vanoce) the streets are filled with guys in wellies who sell live Carp (Kapr) from tubs and whack them over the head with a mullet for each customer.
It isn't uncommon apparantly for some families to buy a carp live and to then keep the carp in the bath tub until it is time to make Christmas dinner; often there is a child rebellion, to the killing of the fish who by now might have a designated name and attachment by the child(ren), and on Xmas day many a carp are thrown into the Vltava river - where they find it difficult to survive because they are pond/lake fish.
I'm also not a wild fan of the potato salad but I am a fan and lover of the tradition of making home-baked biscuits/cookies - the Czechs make incredibly intricate and detailed ones and very varied in taste and style.

[spiral78]

I honestly like the Christmas carp, fried. Our family do it with garlic and it's very good, I think.

What always amazes me about the carp is that, because it's full of small, evil bones - what a horrible choice for Christmas dinner when one has small children! Not having any, I've always wondered if you feed the little kids some alternative dish until they reach the Age of Safe Carp Eating (whatever that might be!). But I've never heard news reports focused on mass numbers of little kids who choked to death on the Christmas dinner, so I suppose it works somehow.