říjen / rambles

goodness, i needed a day like today. when half of your classes cancel and so does your czech class, it was a godsend on a day like today when i just couldn’t wake up for several hours. i got in some good paris research (so excited to head there soon!) as well as research for day-trips and slight updates here on the blog, like the destinations page updated with all of the greece pages!

you may have caught that i said czech lessons. yep, finally cynthia (and alex) have enrolled in private czech lessons. let’s hope this experience goes better than the first one, but i have every reason to think it will! there just comes a point where…. i’m still here. there’s still no expiry date on our time here, so it just makes sense. knowing a bit more czech (and i promise, it still is quite meager) helps boost my confidence even the tiniest bit. good for morale.

it has been a crazy couple of weeks getting into the swing of things. october always hits hard with the class-load feeling heavier than ever, so our weekly spooky movie series has been helping a lot with adding a bit of fun into the every day. (post on this coming soon!)

very much looking forward to the upcoming october holidays (czech statehood day next week) and halloweeeeeen. you know how much i love it! we’ve got still a bit of costume research to do and some pumpkins to carve. it bothers me that i am seeing displays of christmas candy already. i do miss that halloween candy! even with lack of halloween candy, it appears that czech republic seems more and more on board with the idea of celebrating or at least acknowledging this “holiday” (for better or worse!). a couple of my students are even dressing up, and i have seen cardboard “pumpkin patches” in a few different chains of supermarkets! i can tell you, i certainly did not see this the last few years.

i would know… i’ve been looking!

otherwise, i’ve been doing pretty well with making use of random vegetables that appear in our CSA vegetable box that we started receiving two months ago. here is a few things i’ve been making when i have an overload of one particular vegetable…

too much spaghetti squash? curried squash fritters & squash shakshuka! roasted seeds!
too many zucchinis? asian stir-fries with perfectly cooked and seasoned zucchini (i use soy sauce, rice vinegar, a touch of fish sauce, and chilis to get the right flavor) i used to dislike zucchini before i used it in stir-fries! now i’ve actually been purchasing them when they’re not in the box.
too many carrots? curried chickpea carrot salad! carrot ginger apple soup! (so good) my favorite healthy carrot cake cookies. curried lentil soup with carrots.
too many pumpkins? no such thing! okay, homemade pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cookies, this delicious pumpkin chocolate tart i made during the bake-off, and coconut curry pumpkin stew. (what can i say… curry is good.) roasted seeds!
i’ve only been stumped by radishes. i only really have ever eaten them in salads or crudites so i’m not sure how else they can be used. greens give me a bit of trouble as well because i’m not often in a salad mood this time of year.

let’s go quietly and mindfully into that weekend! have a great one… i am wishing for some good movies and some autumnal forest walks in the upcoming mild weather.

and check out my recent expat interview guest post on snow in tromso! it’s pretty neat.