Creamy Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Need a good potato side? I've got you covered!

Prague

Our first overnight stay outside of Germany since moving here was in Prague. This city has been high on my travel wish list for a while and I left feeling like we hardly saw any of it. Our three day weekend just wasn't long enough. There were so many museums and buildings to see but we just did not have time to see it all. 

We stayed at Hotel Klarov on the other side of the river from Old Town. The hotel was lovely and probably a little fancier than we normally book. Each room at that hotel is named after a famous musician and we stayed in the Joan Baez room. I was hoping for Queen, but what can you do! Breakfast was included, but it was the pretty standard free hotel breakfast so nothing exciting. A big draw for the hotel was free parking was included with our stay. 

Even though it was across the river, it was an easy walk to the Old Town. 

For our first night, we booked an hour at the Original Beer Spa. I came across this concept during my research phase and thought it sounded interesting enough to try. It was super relaxing!

When you arrive for your appointment, you can start drinking beer while you wait for your room to be ready. They had two options--a light and a dark beer. 

Once in the room, the lady put a bucket of the beer, hops and barley into the whirlpool tub. The Czechs believe beer baths are very beneficial for your skin. Mine was pretty soft afterward. It felt a little weird having the barley and hops floating around us in the whirlpool, but it was relaxing. Right next to the tub is a tap with both the light and dark beer so you can drink as much as you would like. We were also given slices of their beer bread to enjoy while soaking. Two slices had some kind of (what we think was) potato spread. We are not completely sure though. 

After soaking for about 30 minutes, the whirlpool jets turn off and you are supposed to lay on the straw bed. The smell of the fresh straw was amazing. Sheets were provided so we did not lay directly on the straw. Super relaxing! 

Overall, it was a neat experience and I am glad that we tried it out!

On our second day, we walked over to Prague Castle and walked around the grounds and inside some of the buildings. I really enjoyed the church. It had a variety of styles for the stain glass windows and I appreciated that one was the Art Nouveau style which is seen throughout Prague. 

On our way to Café Savoy for coffee and a snack, we stopped at the John Lennon Wall. It is one of those while you're in Prague you might as well see it things. It was cool to see the variety of languages, colors and styles on the wall. 

In the late afternoon we took a food tour with Taste of Prague. We took ZERO pictures on the tour (epic fail on my part), but it was really enjoyable. Our tour guide, Martin, was friendly and full of information. We were the only two on the tour and he was great to converse with. We ate delicious food. Our first stop was to a local beer hall where we tried Czech beer from Pilsner, fried cheese, sausages, bread and pickled Carp (yes, even I tried the fish... It wasn't my favorite, but I can at least say I gave it a shot). 

On our second stop we visited a local butcher that specializes in using the whole animal and local ingredients. The restaurant was in an old bank and had a really cool style. We tried some pickled veggies, pork and beef--both cooked and tartar (tartar was a first for me). There we had a dark Czech beer which was my favorite beverage of the tour. 

Our third stop was a small local restaurant with amazing food! We had tapioca chips, beef with an apricot sauce, chicken with an Indian butter sauce and a Czech rose wine. I am not normally a fan of rose wines, but this one was delicious. 

Our final stop was a huge restaurant doing everything--coffee roaster, bakery, restaurant, pastry chef, etc. It was in an old factory and the food was delicious. We tried a gin and tonic (the restaurant makes their own tonic, of course) with seasonal fruits. We're not big gin fans, so it wasn't our favorite but still cool to try. The savory dish was called burnt potato soup which Martin explained is nostalgic for Czechs as it reminds them of summer camp as a kid. The soup had smoked carp in it, but if he had not told me that I would not have known. It was delicious and creamy. We also tried their coffee and a couple desserts which were probably my favorite part because I love sweets. 

The really great thing about this tour is that they provide you a guide book for Prague with tons of recommendations on restaurants, cafes, bars, shopping and more. Plus Martin told us several times throughout the tour that whenever we travel to other European cities to reach out to them and they will give us restaurant recommendations there, as well. What a great value! 

On our last morning in Prague we decided to skip the hotel breakfast and headed to a local café called Cocovanka. It had a boho vibe. We both ordered a Café Latte. I enjoyed an apple tart and Charles had some kind of lacey cookie thing. 

As I said in the beginning, I feel like we hardly saw anything of Prague so I think we will have to visit again during our time in Germany. 

Strawberry Lemon Bars

Strawberry and lemon is a great combination for sweet and sour! It also makes a great dessert. Bring these to your next summer potluck and everyone will leave happy.

Peanut Butter Fudge Pie

We love anything chocolate with peanut butter! It is really the ultimate combination of sweet and salty. I had a recipe pinned for a Peanut Butter Fudge Pie with Peanut Butter Salted Caramel that sounded amazing. I adapted slightly out of laziness. I did not have any caramel topping and did not feel like making my own. 

The pie turned out really delicious even despite one little mishap with my ingredients. When buying roasted peanuts, I just grabbed a container that said "Golden Roast" on the label. AFTER making the pie, my husband told me that he noticed the back of the label included ingredients like paprika, garlic, onion powder... Ugh! We ate the pie for dessert and I honestly could not tell, but I would definitely double check next time I purchase peanuts for any purpose. 

Brie stuffed garlic bread

Potlucks always push me to try new recipes! I love to search Pinterest for new ideas and often come across some real winners. I hosted an event at my house and wanted to make something with brie cheese, but did not want the standard baked brie with crackers. I came across a recipe for brie stuffed garlic bread and it was perfect! So cheesy, gooey and delicious!

Blueberry Danish

I had purchased a box of puff pastry with no real plans on how to use it. With an HOA board meeting coming up (yes, I'm one of those crazy people who served on an HOA board), I wanted to bring something to share with my fellow board members. I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try because I love cheese Danish and adding blueberry and almond could only make it better! They turned out really great. I really should make these again soon...

Lemon Cream Cheese Cake

One of the neighbors on my street planned a potluck for everyone and I used it as a chance to try out a new recipe. Originally I planned to try a recipe for lemon poppy seed bars, but the grocery store on base was out of poppy seeds so I decided to try for something else instead of stressing out trying to find them at another store. I ended up grabbing some cream cheese while at the store...just in case. When I returned home and searched Pinterest for recipes for lemon desserts, I found this one for lemon cream cheese cake and thought it sounded good for a summer evening get-together. 

It is always a risk trying a new recipe for an event. I worry a bit about if it does not taste good. That was especially on my mind for this occasion because we are new to the street and I had never shared baked goods with my neighbors, so they would have no idea that I am generally a good baker. Luckily they told me the cake was really delicious and I confirmed when I tasted it! It did not have as big of a lemon punch that I thought, but that may be because instead of lemon zest I used a couple drops of lemon essential oil. I also had to bake it quite a bit longer than the recipe stated, but I am not sure if that is an issue with the recipe or with my oven. If you try this one out, just keep an eye on it and take it out when it is no longer very jiggly in the middle.