Co mi dala Amerika (k jidlu) - California XXXV

Cechy mi daly - to si dovedete predstavit - svestkove knedliky s makem, palacinky, vepro-knedlo-zelo, bramboraky, Becherovku, zitny chleba a vypecene rohlicky, romadur a tlacenku. Anglie mi dala muffiny a scones, shrimpy, humous, chedar, sushi, caj o pate, Digestive susenky, slaninu a toast s avokadem k snidani. Amerika/California nas obohatila o belgicke malinove pivo, prohloubila naklonost k sushi, shrimpum, vinu a ovoci (mango, lichi, avocado, ananas, meloun), peanut butter & jelly toast, wafle a cerealie k snidani a samozrejme hamburgery.

Dejda chodi na karate a sensei Todd ho v nedalekem dojo nauci, krome 8 obrannych pohybu atd atd, taky stlat si rano postel a mit respekt ke vsem a vsemu kolem sebe.

Americti duchodci jsou zivi, dokud muzou ridit auto tj. dojet si pro zasoby jidla a k doktorovi. Ale obcas, kdyz vidim ty roztresene devadesatniky, jak se krok sun krok sunou s holi pres parkoviste a pak se doslova kost po kosti soukaji do auta, tak si rikam, jak je nezodpovedne (ode me), ze jezdim se svymi detmi po stejnych silnicich jako dotycni.

Mame letos velice chladne leto,  pres den je kolem dvaceti a fouka ostry studeny vitr od more, k veceru se jeste vyrazneji ochladi takze je jenom kolem 12 stupnu. Je to podle vseho nejchladnejsi leto on the record tj. od doby, co se to zapisuje.

Thanksgiving - California XXII

Tak jsme prave dovrsili mohutny ctyrdenni Thanksgiving vikend, jeden z nejvetsich svatku v USA. Jak jsem se dozvedela, je to svatek typicky pouze pro USA, ani Britove ho neslavi. Udajne tento svatk ustanovili uz prvni poutnici na zacatku sedmnacteho stoleti, aby podekovali Bohu za vsechno a za letosni urodu predevsim. Takze je to oslava konce produktivni casti roku pred uchylenim se do klidoveho rezimu na preckani zimy.

V dnesni podobe to znamena, ze se posledni ctvrtek v listopadu schazi cele velke rodiny (letenky stoji dvakrat tolik, co normalne) ci jen rodiny znamych ci sousedu na velkolepou hostinu, ktera sestava prevazne z peceneho krocana (krocani a trouby jsou tu opravdu dvakrat vetsi nez v Evrope), nadivky do krocana, omacky na krocana, bramborove kase, varenych hrasku, smazenych zampionu, varenych sladkych brambor (pataty), brusinkove omacky a na zaver musi byt pie - dynovy, s pecan orechy a pudingem ci s oriskovou nadivkou.

Vsechny osobni hovory, blogy, clanky v casopisech a porady v televizi se toci jen a jen kolem svatecniho menu a nejruznejsich kulinarskych triku. Bohuzel dalsim fenomenem Thanksgiving v dnesni Americe je kupovani predpripraveneho menu z obchodu, prodaji vam tam cele vyse uvedene menu hotove, na vahu a na objednavku, takze pak se ty hovory vedou o tom, kde je nejlepe objednat. Udajne nemaji lidi na pripravu cele te vecere cas. No nevim. V patek nato je tak zvany Black Friday, nejvetsi nakupni horecka celeho roku, kdy vsechny retezce i male obchody vyprodavaji vsechno sve zbozi az o 80% levneji. Prodej zacina uz ve ctyri hodiny rano a pred nekterymi obchody se ceka fronta uz od pulnoci, taky obcas byvaji zraneni a uslapani. Na tohle Americani cas maji.

Na 'nastence' mistniho klubu matek na Yahoo Groups, ktery ma v podstate kazde mestecko a slouzi k vytvareni komunity matek, deti, sdileni zajmu, volneho casu, k vymene veci, zkusenosti a tipu, jsem taky zahledla inzerat, ze nekdo hleda pani na myti nadobi na slavnostni veceri. Musim rict, ze jsem byla v pokuseni, se o praci uchazet, abych videla typickou Thanksgiving veceri v americke domacnosti na vlastni oci. Tady v okoli jsou nektere rodiny opravdu velmi, velmi bohate, takze by to byla urcite zajimava zkusenost a jeste by mi zaplatili 30$ za hodinu.

My jsme si nakonec uzili dlouhy klidny vikend, bylo krasne kolem 18 stupnu, takze u more jsme ani nemuseli mit teple bundy. Ve ctvrtek jsme si k obedu upekli kachnu se zelim a knedliky a vzdali tak dik nasi ceske tradici a poctivemu cesko-moravskemu domacimu jidlu.

California VIII - Food Wasting

Today I would like to give a short thought to this general IN-trend of saving, saving energy, saving sources, saving our planet. Everybody today who doesn't want to be considered a moron and a reactionary declares how she/he back-ups recycling and saving the environment and as I have Americans right now all around myself I have to be prepared to listen to a half hour speech (they call it dialog) about how they, meaning their family, live modestly and effectively and save every resource that enters there household. Water, gas, paper, tin cans, energies etc.

But then, I went to a Valentine's party at David's local pre-school. The kids were treated with ice cream with all sorts of toppings, as chocolate spread, sugar sprinkles, whipped cream, caramel sauce and cut fresh fruit. They were offered by helping parents all these goodies and they were given what they asked for. But after a while when they started to be distracted by other kids playing around or just to be filled up, they started to throw their left-overs away in a huge nearby standing garbage bin. Full plates of a very good (most likely organic) ice cream were disposed into a big black rubbish bag. No one was surprised neither trying to stop them, not even me, I just made sure that David finished his portion of his treat. They practice it at school in a similar way everyday at snack time, kids help themselves with cereals, milk, cheese, crackers, fruit or whatever they have and when they feel they want to stop they take the paper plates with rest of the food to the bin. So you can see a boy carrying a bowl filled to the rim with milk and cheerios, splattering the stuff all over the floor, heading to the bin.

I am sure that without this basic private forehanded custom these kids won't be able to save more important resources in future and act considerately to the environment. And it throws a significant shadow for me on their parents' proclamations about their responsible recycling family policy. I've just read that Americans (each and everyone) in average throw away 0.5kg of food a day which sounds surreal to me. And that more arrogant around the world are only British (hence the flourishing foxes in cities) and Japanese. On the other end of the scale, the most progressive within the Euro-American civilization are Swedish who are far far ahead in trying to handle there energy consumption vs. environment conflict in a reasonable and honorable manner. Not that I am an environmentalist fanatic or an alternative no carbon person, I just try to be as effective and moderate as possible and do have, probably because of my Central European past, my limits still little lower and, in the end it saves our family money a bit, too.