It’s a sad truth of making the switch to paleo that the grocery store can become a minefield. That’s where the book Rich Food Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS) by Jayson and Mira Carlton comes in. Think of it as an atlas for navigating the wilds of the grocery store aisles.

Tackling each section of the grocery store — from Dairy to Meat and Baking to Snacks — it provides guidelines for assessing your choices… even recommending particular brands to make it easier for you to choose better options. The Carlton’s philosophy divides foods into rich foods and poor foods. Toss the rich foods in your cart and banish the poor.

Handy graphics help you easily identify stuff you can put in your cart with confidence (Steer Here!) and stuff you should avoid (Steer Clear!). My favorite pages, naturally, are 224-225 where they address spices. Turns out the Simply Organic brand gets a Steer Here…

… while Spice Island and McCormick get a Steer Clear (for being irradiated and non-organic).

If you’re confused about how to buy the best produce, which fish is good for you and the planet, and what the labels on meat and eggs really mean, this book can help you decipher it all. It’s a quick read, and the layout makes it a handy references with plenty of icons, headers, and charts to keep your shopping on track.

Rich Food Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS) is available on Amazon and offline retailers now. You can follow the Carltons on Twitter and visit their site Carlton Nutrition.

The fine print: I received a complimentary copy of this book, but all opinions are mine. If you use the links above to purchase the book through Amazon, I earn a small commission.

Longtime readers know that Jane Eyre is my very favorite book, and I collect unusual copies just because I love the book so very much. On the first day of my first visit to Prague in 2010, I found a copy in an antikvariat to add to my collection, and today, I found this two-volume set in Slovenian at an antikvariat here in Ljubljana.

Yes, the cover and spine are in English, but the back says this:

Zaloznistvo slovenske knjige = Slovenian publishing books.

And inside…

In English, the book opens with the line, “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.”

In Slovenian, the first line is  “Tistega dne ni bilo mogoce iti na sprehod.” … and if you plug that into the Google translator, you get, “That day it was not possible to go for a walk.”

That’s good enough for me.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind owning that jacket either — but maybe with skirt for me, no?!

The weather in Prague was rainy and cool — perfect for my black leather jacket and a bowl of fortifying Czech Garlic Soup (in Czech: česnečka) at the pub around the corner from our apartment. It’s advertised on the menu as a hangover cure, and I may have used it to serve that purpose at least once… ahem. After our grocery shopping trip to Tesco, I cooked up a bunch of meals in our apartment, including a big pot of homemade garlic soup for us to sip on to help knock out our colds.

Traditionally, this soup includes cubes of white potato and fried rye bread croutons. It is admittedly luscious with the garlicky croutons on top — but it’s very, very delicious when prepared the paleo way as explained below, too. Don’t be put off by the amount of garlic. When garlic is boiled, it grows mellow and sweet, so the broth tastes rich and comforting, but doesn’t have a hot, garlic bite.

If you’re in the U.S., you might not be experiencing blustery weather right now — and if you’re paleo, a hangover cure seems unnecessary — but this soup can be a tasty supplement to dinner and a gentle way to start the morning instead of coffee or tea, so give it a try. To make it heartier, you can also add cubes of cooked beef or pork, or some browned ground meat; just add the meat during the simmer.

Czech Garlic Soup

Ingredients:
6 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon black pepper
8 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
fresh parsley leaves, minced

Directions:
1. Prepare the garlic. Mince the garlic with a garlic press, knife, or mortar and pestle, then mash the garlic together with the salt to make a paste.

2. Place the garlic/salt in a large pot and add the marjoram, caraway, and black pepper. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine, then pour in the broth. Bring to a boil and simmer about 15 minutes, to allow flavors to meld. Stir in ghee, taste, and add more salt and pepper, if necessary.

3. Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with parsley. Slurp indulgently.

We chose Tribo, based on recommendations from Reddit. The shop was booked, but when Dave mentioned it was my birthday, the artist Lukas volunteered to come in early to mark us up, which is how we ended up getting tattooed at the thoroughly un-rock-and-roll time of 10:00 a.m.

It’s in a more residential neighborhood of Prague than the tourist center, surrounded by buildings that look like this:

Inside, in addition to sparkling clean tattoo and piercing studiothere’s a shop with Dickies clothing; cool handmade journals; tough-guy (and girl) jewelry; piercing doodads; and tattoo-inspired art and rock posters.

We had a look around, then met Lukas, our artist. The first step was the outline. I got mine on the inside of my left wrist, right by the tail of my panther.

This is me, happily anticipating my new tattoo. This is after the euphoria of the outline, but before the discomfort of the tattoo needle.

It’s been 12 years since my last tattoo, and I forgot how annoying and pinchy it is. Here’s where I remembered…

Especially when it was time to fill in the outline…

I spent most of the time scrunching up my face in pain, but Dave caught me laughing, too.

Almost done…

So close now…

Mission “Birthday Tattoo” Complete!

Then it was Dave’s turn. He got his star on his right wrist, so when we hold hands, our stars touch and activate our super powers.

He, too, had forgotten the special kind of discomfort that goes along with getting a tattoo. I lovingly captured the moment.

But soon he was done, too!

Then we went to Café Louvre for elevensies — eggs, ham, cheese, bread, coffee, and cake (!) — because who doesn’t need second breakfast after being voluntarily stabbed with a needle?!

The end.

Like this striking couple. You know that man can’t resist giving that sassy girl anything she desires. 

Prague is known for its marionettes, and these hand-carved puppets from Prague Marionette, are quite charming.

Small memorials like this can be found all over the city. This one was on the side of a building in Mala Strana.

Street art is everywhere.

As are interesting-looking people…

I regret not buying this shirt so much. I’m pretty sure we’re going to go back because I think I must have it.

Radiating out from the square are the streets that lead to Prague’s other delights: the Charles Bridge and beyond to the castle, side streets that lead to a busy avenue called Národní that’s packed with people and lined with workaday shops that keep a city humming, and Pařížská Street, the center of upscale shopping with boutiques from Cartier, Dior, Prada, Ferragamo, and more.

Pařížská isalso the direct route to Letna Park, or more accurately, the stairs that lead up to Letna Park, a.k.a., one of my favorite workout spots in Prague.  On Monday morning, in beautifully gray and chilly weather, I suited up in running tights, heart rate monitor, and iPod for some torture on the 190 stairs that lead to the giant metronome on the hill. That spot used to be darkened by a statue of Stalin, but in 1962, the statue was (hooray!) destroyed. (You might recall my “Burn in Hell, Stalin” WOD from 2011.)

I’ll Take The Stairs WOD
5:00 warmup up walk down Pařížská Street

2 rounds:
11 bench dips
11/leg step ups
11 pushups

1X run up 190 Letna stairs (approx. 1:45) / recover 2:00
4X sprint up monument stairs (approx. :30) / recover 1:30
1X run up 190 Letna stairs (approx. 1:45) / recover 2:00
5 bonus pushups
AMRAP: Remember to look at the view

Here are some snaps of my Letna Park gym. (And a pro tip, from me to you, because I love you: Beer, Becherovka, schnitzel, and dumplings are, perhaps, not the best training fuel)…

I felt wildly under-dressed on Pařížská Street (in my “Embrace the Suck” t-shirt from CrossFit Estes Park)  when I saw the chic mannequin and doll in this Dior window (not to mention the stylish men and women walking out of the boutiques with shopping bags. “Pay no attention to my heavy breathing and CrossFit t-shirt!”

Look at how chic the doll is!

Here’s the bench where I burned out my triceps and did some prisoner step-ups to remind my legs they can lift stuff.

The stairs! The beginning of the 190 stairs.

The metronome at the top!

And the sneakers. These always make me curious… Hey, sneaker throwers! Did you walk home barefoot? Did you bring an extra pair of sneaks just in case? Friends, if you’ve ever tossed your sneakers over a wire, please lay down some knowledge in comments.

These are the stairs I used for my :30 sprints…

And in between, during my huff-and-puff recovery, I tried to remember to look at the view…

Back in Old Town Square, I paused to hold a thought for poor Jan Hus, burned at the stake for heresy when he tried to reform the church.

The end.

The recipes in The Paleo Slow Cooker: Healthy, Gluten-free Meals the Easy Way — a new cookbook from Arsy Vartanina (of the blog Rubies & Radishes) — could teach me a few slow cooker tricks.

As a tester for my review, I had Dave pick a recipe. No surprise: He chose Beef Brisket in Espresso Bean BBQ Sauce, which was kind of cool because I, too, have a BBQ beef recipe coming in Well Fed 2. It was fun to see how Arsy’s recipe differed from mine. I have to admit, hers was pretty darned good. The meat was tender, the sauce was flavorful, and the slow cooker did most of the work. Gotta love that. (Sorry… no photo! We were testing and eating this food while we were packing for Prague, so photography wasn’t a priority.)

If I’d picked, I might have opted for these Curried Chicken Wings, ’cause they look pretty tasty — and they use the slow cooker as an oven. Just the way I like it!

They look tasty, right?! Not every recipe in this book has a photo, but most of them do, and the photography is appetizing so you can easily imagine making the recipes. They’re divided into sections according to ingredients — Beef, Lamb, Pork, Chicken, Duck, Fish and Seafood, Vegetables — plus, Appetizers, Desserts, and Slow-Cooker Liquids.

Before jumping into the recipes, Arsy also provides an overview of paleo, plus tips on how to stay paleo when your partner is not, advice for dining out and travel, slow cooking tricks, and even a mini love letter to luscious fat.

The Paleo Slow Cooker: Healthy, Gluten-free Meals the Easy Way is available on Amazon and offline retailers now. You can follow Arsy on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her site Rubies & Radishes.

The fine print: I received a complimentary copy of this book, but all opinions are mine. If you use the links above to purchase the book through Amazon, I earn a small commission.

But this is one of my favorite places in Prague.

It’s tricky to find… you have to circle around the Týn Church and, when you get to the back, remember that it’s not that alley through the arch in the middle, but this alley, through the smaller arch on the left that looks like it leads to a dead end. You must pass the shop Bric a Brac, which is packed with delightful antiques. And then you must notice the name painted in unobtrusive script on the wall, next to the heavy wooden door, then handle of which needs to be turned just right to enter.

[photo]

Inside, you walk down a few steps to the front room… meander past the bar…

[photo]

… and decide which of the rooms with the arched ceilings appeals today.

[photo]

I chose a back room,  with a piano,  that looks out over the patio. I’ve got the best of both worlds: a window at my back to let in a bit of light and fresh air, and to my front, the smoky, inside-ness of the kavarna.

At the table next to the piano, a British boy in a tweed cap is flirting with an appropriately coquettish Czech girl in a striped skirt and head scarf. She’s got a slight air of gypsy about her, and he’s quite smitten, talking to her about books and movies, helping her practice her English. They just discussed the difference between comfortable and awkward silences, and then he explained what “being bored” means. He invited her to some kind of event he’s doing at Bukowski’s Bar next week (a reading? a show?), but she laughed and made some kind of excuse. But she is making a lot of eye contact, so perhaps it will eventually work out in his favor? To my right, a Czech student is drinking a beer and intently working on his computer.

And now, friends, I’m sipping chamomile tea, getting ready to write more blog posts for you. Perhaps one day, you can join me here at the Týnská for a drink and conversation.

We’re just about to take a nap (strolling picturesque squares and eating lunch in a pub can be so tiring!) to get ready for tonight’s festivities: witch parade across the Charles Bridge to Kampa Island, beer and sausage, Roma bands, and a bonfire. (Details here.) Plus, at midnight, it will be my birthday!

I got my hat,* so I’m all set.

* Our Witch Hat Quest was a fun adventure. Dave researched costume shops online and found Karneval Ptákoviny on Křižovnická Street. We had to press a button on the front of the building to be buzzed in, then followed the signs down twisting stairs to the basement shop. It was packed, floor to ceiling, with rainbow-colored wigs, board games, edible candy bra tops, bunny ears, silly sunglasses, rubber severed limbs, jelly eyeballs, fake mustaches, monocles, feather boas, glitter, face paint, and several styles of witches’ hats. It’s clearly where all the stylish Czech witches do their shopping.

To wit:
mleté maso ​​hovězí = ground beef
mleté maso vepřové = ground pork

Duly noted.

You don’t even want to know the deliciously glutenous treats I’ve enjoyed over the past two days! (Ahem, beer.) But today we decided to hit the grocery store to see what it would maybe maybe maybe be like to be locals. It was a big adventure deciphering labels at the store, but we found most of what we needed, then settled in for an evening of one of Dave’s favorite dinner-at-home meals (the aforementioned hamburger salad) and a viewing of Bridesmaids on the laptop. It was just like at home, except through the open window we could hear tourists wending their way through the alley behind our apartment building and if I looked over my shoulder and out the window, I could see the Týn Church.

But let’s backtrack to the grocery store…

Our first challenge was understanding how to acquire a shopping cart. Turns out, to unlock it from its shopping cart brethren, you have to pop a 5-crown coin into a slot on the handle. First, we hit produce where I was happy to load up the cart with onions, garlic, zucchini, cabbage, lettuce, huge red bell peppers, a giant fennel, and cucumbers. They also had all the usual suspects: broccoli, kale, sweet potatoes… pretty much all of the stuff we buy on a regular basis.

Then we browsed the bakery — but didn’t buy anything… even though I was quite taken with pink-and-white-striped doughnuts and dark, crusty bread rolled in sesame, poppy, and caraway seeds. Moving on…

We entered the packaged food aisles and saw these:

No idea what those are… If anyone out there knows what’s in those little containers with the crazy illustrations, please share in comments!

Next up: frozen veggies. There were Mexican (Mexickà) and Chinese (Čínskà) blends, but I chose Mediterranean (zucchini, broccoli, green beans, carrots).

In the meat department, I bought a package of smoked salmon and lean ground beef pork since it’s not grass-fed. (Although I’m indulging in paleo-verboten foods, I’m trying to minimize damage where I can.) We traveled through the Valley of Yogurt (Seriously, there were aisles and aisles of yogurt varieties), to get to the mayo display. Who knew there were so many kinds? (I do miss my blender and homemade mayo!)

Our next detour was through the canned fish section. I almost bought some Norwegian sardines, but then I realized they weren’t filleted. I talk tough, but I just can’t choke down the sardines that include head, tails, and skin. Please don’t kick me out of Paleo Club!

Dave was kind of traumatized by these cans of smoked octopus.

And this lady did not approve. Of anything.

I was delighted when we found the spices and dried herbs. They had all the essentials except cumin. (Despite packages that say “cumin” which are actually filled with caraway seeds. It’s a trick!)

After hitting the candy and potato chip aisles (ssshhhhh…), we were ready to checkout (especially since I had my newly-purchased Reisenthel shopping bag).

I said “Dobry den!” to the checkout clerk, and she launched into a verbal paragraph of Czech, which made me feel welcome and like a dumb-dumb. “Learn Czech” is on my to-do list; better get on that! (Read this for a few reasons why learning Czech seems very daunting.)

Here’s our haul, including the non-paleo treats; avert your eyes if you’re sensitive.

Ground beef pork, smoked salmon, extra-virgin olive oil, cider vinegar, three kinds of mayo (to taste test. Verdict: none are as good as homemade; Czech brand was better than Hellman’s), dried herbs, and spices.

Onions, garlic, cabbage, fennel, zucchini, cucumbers, butter lettuce, iceberg lettuce, frozen Mediterranean veg, and red bell pepper.

Chocolate in 75% and 80%, a tiny packet of chocolate-hazelnut spread, plus Slovakian Miňonky bars, the most delicious, evil, not-dark chocolate ever, and my nemesis: flavored chips. I settled on ham & garlic and a bag with what looks like a meat-and-veg shish kebab on the front. They also had Roasted Chicken, Lemon Salt, and Cream and Onion flavors.

I stowed the groceries in our fridge, then rattled some pots and pans. First up, browning the ground beef pork…

… and eventually, after much somewhat frustrating chopping on a very small cutting board and tossing the salads in a soup pot in lieu of a salad bowl, we had hamburger (porkburger?!) salad…

We also had a side of not-very-photogenic sautéed zucchini and were feeling so virtuous, we might have shared a Miňonky bar. Maybe.

The end.