How many pancakes do you want for brunch?

Already feeling a little weighed down by the hearty, heavy Czech fare, we decided for brunch we'd go much lighter, to the land of crepes.

We were off to Cukrkavalimonada. Literally translated as Sugar Coffee Lemonade, it is actually roughly equivalent to Eeeny Meeny Miney Mo for Czech children.

Before we got to the food, however, we had to have our drinks. The place was well known for a refreshing elderflower beverage that had elderflower syrup, soda water, and mint. It lived up to its billing and was an incredible relief from the already present heat.

With the spritzer I needed some caffeine and headed for the hazelnut latte. Garnished with actual fresh crushed hazelnuts, this was a rustic and delicious way to make flavored coffee. After the pistachio version in Turkey and now this, I am ready to wholeheartedly recommend nuts with coffee to all comers.

Of our selection of crepes, the sweet came first. This was a forest berry crepe, with blueberries, strawberries, and little red berries all making an appearance. It was pretty good, completely satisfactory but a little too sweet and a little too disparate.

The other sweet one was a fresh strawberry crepe. This was very simple and pretty good too, though the imperfection of the strawberries, which were not yet fully ripe, let down the dish.

Moving to savory, there was a brie, walnut, tomato, and rocket crepe. The brie on this plate had reached an excellent stage of meltiness and was the highlight of each bite. The other elements didn't quite blend flavors; the walnuts were too hard, the tomatoes not ripe enough.

Finally, we had an Old Prague crepe, which had egg and bacon. The presentation was interesting, essentially an unscrambled omelette on top of a crepe. The bacon and egg combo worked well, as it has for centuries.

A good but not great brunch, with a refreshingly light approach to meals.

The king of Czech beers has an "original" pub

Sometimes it seems this whole town is owned by Pilsner Urquell. The logo is everywhere: on umbrellas, walls, trucks, ads, and most bottles of beer. Fortunately, it is also pretty tasty, especially in the heat of summer. We had heard good things about Kolkovna, an "original Pilsner Urquell restaurant." We went there to try some of the Czech standards.

To drink, I had the dark version of the standard beer. This was more like a porter, with serious coffee notes. Not bad, either.

As my first foray into Czech eating, I went with the rabbit legs in garlic cream sauce with forest mushrooms. This was very good. The rabbit was nicely cooked, tender and rich with flavor from the bones. The sauce throughout was even better, with a handful of different ingredients mingling together. The sautéed mushrooms were also superb, as they avoided the pitfalls of too dry or too slimy and retained their earthy, original flavor.

Kevika went for the beef goulash with bread and potato dumplings. This didn't work out so well. The meat was dry and a little off. The bread dumplings were dry and not fluffy, a little stale. And the potato dumplings were old, having been fried awhile ago and then reheated for the plate. Unsuccessful.

Carolyn got the delightfully named "Moravian sparrow," which is not a sparrow but may originally be from Moravia. It is actually pork cooked with garlic and other spices, in this case served with sauerkraut, red cabbage, and bread dumplings. Better than the goulash but nowhere near the rabbit legs. So, with two dishes with some serious mistakes, the restaurant did not quite live up to our expectations.

The sun is melting my cheese, as it sets

We arrived in Prague and it was hot. Really, really hot. Walking around at 7pm was treacherous and we needed to avoid the sun, remaining in the shade wherever possible. That even became too much, so to cool down we went to a little cafe on the riverbank and had some beers.

We also had the local specialty of grilled cheese. A round piece of cheese, breaded and herbed, wrapped in foil, is placed on a charcoal grill until soft and gooey. We ate it at our table with rather plain rye bread. But the cheese itself was excellent, a little charred and with a lot of flavor from the crust. The inside of the cheese was nearly liquid and fantastic.

With cheese on the plate and beer in hand, we watched the hot, hot sun descend across the river.

The "SF ferry building on steroids" leads to a great picnic

Quickly, it was time for us to take our departure from Munich. We had grown fond of the parks, plazas, and beer gardens, but the Czech Republic was calling. Our last stop in Munich, en route to the train station, was one we were all excited for: the Viktualienmarkt, a permanent farmer's market that had a wide range of produce and German specialties. There, huge rows of delicious foods beckoned to us.

There was the olive seller, who had small buckets filled to the brim with 30+ different types of olives.

There was the fruit juicer, who had very fresh looking liquids of all types. We were lured to try the special, which had orange juice, passionfruit, and kiwi. Very tasty!

And, among others, there was a cheesemonger, who had done their work sourcing cheeses from all around Europe.

We soon began to create quite the little stockpile for our lunch. We would eat the picnic in sections, over the course of the six hours in which we were traveling via train to Prague.

The pastry bags brought, top to bottom, Quarktasche (cheese Danish), Apfel Strudel (apple strudel), Johannisbeer-Streusel-Taler (tart berry coffee cake-like bear claw), and a Schinkel-Kase croissant (ham and cheese croissant). Winners here were the johannisbeer, which had a tart, small red berry that was excellent when surrounded by crumbly and sweet coffee cake. Would've been even better with a cup of coffee. The apple strudel was also quite good, striking a great balance of pastry, apple, and cinnamon.

Then came the olive selections. On top, wrinkly kalamata olives, in the middle, cheese-stuffed mini squash, on the bottom, green olives stuffed with orange zest and soaked in herbs and garlic. The green olives were a taste sensation, so many conflicting flavors all at once. Yet it worked. The squash were equally odd and equally delightful. The squash was quite tart and also very fresh, and the cheese mellowed both helpfully.

Next was bread and cheese. We had a loaf of sesame fluffy flatbread, goat cheese with figs, and soft stinky cheese. All were good. The goat cheese was repeatedly likened to cheesecake, a rich and decadent bite. Cheesecake! The stinky cheese was excellent when muted by the flatbread (and perhaps a sausage).

The final part of the meal was sausage. We had weisswurst, cured salami pate, long spicy sausage, and chunky mild sausage. The weisswurst continued to be incredibly good. The others, alas, were only ok, backing away from having quite enough flavor.

And with that, seven hours later, we finished our picnic in our hotel in Prague.

Explorations of Munich on foot

For our full day in Munich, we went on a little stroll, led by Erin, a friend's sister who was excellently serving as host to us in this fine town. Before we knew it, we had seen nearly all of Munich's wonderful central city.

The city had loads of architecture to share, mostly old but including this new and fun striped building, now home to the Museum Brandhorst.

At another stop we came to the venerable Hofbrauhaus, Munich's most famous indoor beer hall. We were in between nights of our own at various outdoor beer gardens, so only stopped to see in. The murals on the ceiling of food and beer were fabulous and the atmosphere seemed pretty lively.

Near the central square there was the Glockenspiel, a clock that comes to life a couple of times a day with moving characters and loud noises. In the meantime, it was an impressive stone building with loads of ornamentation.

In a nearby fountain there was a very victorious cherub-like creature about to drive his javelin into a trapped dragon below. Poor dragon.

One of our last stops was in the old Jewish quarter. There, a very new, very modern synagogue had been built where the one from times past had been until it was burned to the ground. It was a striking building and stood out amongst the much older buildings nearby.

Right next door was the Jewish Museum. Its facade was glass walls, inscribed with interesting quotes in German, English, and Hebrew from people then and now discussing the war and the Holocaust. Fascinating.

Throughout it all, we were largely walking on pedestrian-only streets that meandered their way through town. An absolutely excellent walk.

A brunch with a discovery: weisswurst!

Sunday on vacation, time for a nice and lazy brunch. We walked down the street from our hotel and came across a lovely place with some outdoor seating. After some time trying to dissect the menu, we got our orders.

I went for the Vienna plate, which ended up having a mix of meats and cheeses as well as an egg. Of the meats, there was peppered salami, prosciutto, and roast turkey, with the salami the clear winner due to flavor. The two cheeses were both very mild, not that distinguishable and fairly forgettable.

The egg, it turned out, was soft-boiled. Luckily my comrades warned me and I didn't end up with yolk on my lap. My first ever soft boiled experience and it was quite good. It was also fun to scoop the egg out of the shell straightaway.

Kevika got the newsBar special plate, which had an even broader selection of meats and cheeses. To those from my plate there was smoked pork, brie, and aged soft cheese. The smoked pork was nice if really, really smoky. The cheeses, meanwhile, continued to be mild and not that noticeable.

It was Carolyn that scored the coup. Her brezl'n mit senf (pretzel with mustard) was quite good. The sweet and sour mustard was great even in the morning. But the revelation, the true fantastic discovery of the meal and of Munich, was the weisswurst. This sausage is only meant to be eaten before noon. After it is peeled, it becomes a fluffy and flavorful delight. There is subtle meat. There is a nice range of herbs. And it all comes together in something that is very much excellent. Kevika and I kept stealing bites from hers to partake in the deliciousness.

Whole gardens dedicated to beer

My arrival in Munich has me very excited. I am meeting up with a couple of friends, Kevika and Carolyn, for a whirlwind tour of Central European cities. In one little week, we will take Munich, Prague, and Berlin by storm.

I get to our hotel in Munich and there is a cryptic note. "Head to the surfer's wave in the Englischer Garden," it reads. Surfin' in Munich. Apparently, yes.

I find them and we are joyously reunited. We make plans for a trip to a biergarten in the park called the Chinischesturm (Chinese Tower). There will be beer and there will be the third-place World Cup match between Germany and Uruguay.

When we get to the outdoor beer garden, we, especially Kevika, get to work on our large 1L steins.

But there's more than just beer and soccer here. There's food too!

They sell the largest brez'ln (pretzels) I've ever seen in my life. Perfectly cooked to have some crispy, some chewy and some salty sections, these are a very appropriate complement to the crisp Hofbrau Weissbier we are downing. To make it even yummier, there is a side dish called obazda. It is a cheese spread with cream cheese, Camembert, onions, and paprika. It is great for dunking the pretzels into. Our table goes through two orders of these lickety-split.

Carolyn also raids the sausage section. The sausage covered in sauce is a currywurst, which is a mildly spiced sausage doused in ketchup with curry powder. It is tasty, especially the sauce. We hear, though, that Berlin is the founder and king of currywurst, so we'll have to see how this one holds up over time. Next to that is a long and skinny bratwurst. Yum. A mixture of spices and braising differentiates this from any old hot dog. Finally, there was half of a roast chicken, which remained remarkably juicy and held forth with a lot of chicken-y flavor.

The game itself was a good one, though the teams seemed to be playing on half speed. Lots of goals and a late win for Germany made sure the crowd we were with left happy. But, really, everybody was waiting for the next night, the final.

And, soon enough, the next night it was. This time, we would head to the Augstiner biergarten not too far from the Hauptbahnhof. It was an excellent setting, essentially half a city block that had been turned into a leafy, tree-filled courtyard with picnic tables and lots o' beer.

We had to have more of the obazda, an instant fan favorite. And, the 1L steins came out again, this time filled with Augstiner Helles beer.

And for the obazda we would need more gigantic brez'ln. New to our table was a plate of radi, thinly sliced large white radish. That was nice, very refreshing and not too tart. We also had a freshly washed bunch of normal red radishes, a bit more tart and still lovely.

To new things! A smoked cured sausage was pleasing though not all that memorable.

However, the mackerel was unbelievably good. A whole fish is skewered and salted, then half-grilled / half-smoked over charcoal embers. The result was a surprisingly meaty fish bursting with flavor. We had little wooden pitchforks and we went at the fish with vigor, leaving only a skeleton.

A similarly bursting crowd watched the World Cup final between Spain and Holland. Though there seemed to be a fire-sale on yellow cards, and the match wasn't that beautiful, it was a great experience. Sadly, my team, the Dutch, could not find the back of the net. Even more sadly, the Spanish did, right near the end of extra time.

And, with that, a great month of soccer watching ended in a Munich beer garden. It took place in venues large and small, Turkish, Israeli, Spanish, and German, on big screens, computer screens, 8" tvs, and 10 foot projections. It was so much fun and I cannot wait for Euro 2012.