Hiking With Emma In Divoká Šárka

From our new flat in Prague 6, we can basically walk out our back door and be in the huge park known as Divoká Šárka. Emma had the day off from school, so I took the day off, too, and we went for our first exploratory hike. It was sunny and snowy and cold and crisp.

These photos were taken with my iPhone 4S, in some cases using InstaGram.

Dining In Delta's Business Elite, Redux

Daisy and Emma enjoy the good life in Business Elite.

Ever wonder how much better the food is in first class?

Daisy, Emma, and I are Delta frequent flyers, and every once in a while we cash in our miles and upgrade to first class, or Business Elite, as Delta calls it.

In September 2010, I wrote about the last time I did this, flying with my mom as I took her back home to Maryland after she fell and broke her hip in Prague. And I just did it again, flying with Daisy and Emma from Prague to Gainesville, Florida, for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

(I'm happy to report that my mom is doing great, by the way.)

What'd they serve us in Business Elite?

For an appetizer, a Mini Corn Cake With Salmon, Asparagus and Pickled Onion, and Cream of Onion Soup. I also enjoyed a glass of their house bourbon, Woodford Reserve, on the rocks.

The corn cake suffered from a classic airline food faux paus. It was too cold and dense. But the onion soup was delicious.


That was followed by a second course of Fresh Mesclun Salad, with Sweet Peppers, Radishes and Walnuts. A surprisingly good salad at 36,000 feet. The greens were fresh, the radishes and walnuts crisp.


For the main course, I chose the Grilled Beef Tenderloin, with Peppercorn Sauce, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Sauteed Spinach. I told the flight attendant that I'd like mine medium rare. That gets a laugh every time. They love me up there.

Much better, of course, than what you'd get in coach class, but this particular tenderloin left much to be desired. Well done, lukewarm and rather flavorless. (The Seared Beef Tenderloin with demi-glace sauce, wasabi mashed potatoes, and sugar snap peas that I had on my return flight was excellent, however. It can be done!)


With my steak, I had what was probably a bottle's worth of Casillero Diablo Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 from Chile. I love Chilean reds, and this was no exception. The onboard menu describes it as being Bordeaux-like, with dusty cedar, lead pencil scents, and dark cassis fruit. I'll concur on the dark cassis fruit. But lead pencil scents? Love it!

For dessert, I opted for the Selection of Fine Cheeses with Fresh Fruit, instead of the Chocolate Tart or the Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae, the latter of which I had on the return leg.

A lovely selection of unidentified fromage. Although they could be more generous with the crackers. (I'm sure they'd have given me more if I'd only asked.)

I also had a few glasses of dessert wine -- Pacific Rim Riesling, Vin de Glaciere 2007, from the Selenium Vineyard in Washington state. Though I love deep, chewy reds, I'm also a sucker for dessert wines, and this Pacific Rim tasted like the nectar of the gods.


For the so-called pre-arrival meal, I tucked into an excellent Hot Turkey and Cheddar Cheese Sandwich with Carmelized Onions and Peppers and a Carrot and Raisin Salad. I thoroughly enjoyed this sandwich. It would not have been out of place at any decent American deli. Kudos.


The service on our flight from Paris to Atlanta on December 16 was top-notch. Hats off to that particular Delta crew.

I'm still waiting for Delta to upgrade its comfortable but rather tired Business Elite cabins on all of their planes. They're in the middle of a fleetwide upgrade, but I have yet to actually fly an updated cabin, probably because I fly out of Prague, mostly, and not London or Singapore.

The Business Elite cabins feel very 1995 to me. Hard to complain, though, when you're enjoying a fine bourbon and watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on your personal video screen. Can't wait for the next time.

A Little Bit Of 'Mad Men' Part II

Back in May 2010, I wrote a blog post about what I considered to be a very cool set of vintage glassware that I had purchased at an antique shop in Cumberland, Maryland, a few years ago. The glasses featured different world cities and appeared to date from the 1950s, considering that Havana was one of the cities and that the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba starting in 1960.

Turns out they were made by the Libbey glassware company and do, indeed, date from the 1950s. How do I know? You see, I'm not the only one out there who thinks these glasses are way cool. That blog post garnered almost 30 comments, and it's consistently one of my most frequently visited posts.

In addition to the comments on the blog post itself, I've heard personally from a few other collectors out there, including John Warming from "sunny Minnesota." Over the holidays, John sent me some photos of his incredible -- and complete! -- collection of this line of glassware, which come in three distinct styles -- Beverage, Double Old Fashioned, and Continental Goblet.

I'm publishing some of John's photos with this blog item. I love the brass-plated caddy for the beverage-style glasses (pictured below). Me want!

Thanks for taking the time to share your collection with us, John.

I also heard from Ayla Freeman, who has a cool blog, Vintage With A Vengeance, and who also wrote about this particular set of Libbey glassware.

As she notes, the set originally featured eight cities: London, Bombay, The Hague, Madrid, Havana, Athens, Rome, and Paris.

Happy collecting, folks. I'm really glad to know so much about my glassware!

I'd love to complete my set, but I doubt the glasses would make it all the way to Prague intact.

Limited Collector's Edition

I found all sorts of funny stuff as I went through my old papers ahead of our big move a month or so ago. Including what I'm sure are the only existing copies of "Ye Olde Tribune" or "The Apartment Tribune," proudly serving the Garden Apartments of New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh.

My good friend Tony Bezich and I wrote, typed, and distributed this "newspaper" in August 1975. I was 14 years old. Tony and his family lived in the Garden Apartments at the time. My family lived in a house down the road a bit.

Pretty embarrassing for a 14-year-old, but I guess it's an interesting artifact, considering that I did become a journalist.

I will say, we did a pretty good job of filling two typed pages considering the complete news vacuum in New Alexandria.

Fascinated By Fonts

I've always been fascinated by fonts. And living here in the Czech Republic, I often come across store names and various other types of signage still in their original fonts dating from the communist era. I've sporadically taken photos of these signs and will try to post many of them here.

I was reminded of my obsession when I went to an audition yesterday in the OKD Vltavska building near the Vltavska metro in Prague 7. I found these incredibly cool numbers on lobby signage indicating which office was on which floor. I love them.

Sky On Fire

I happened to be driving near the village of Horomerice, west of Prague, last night and was astounded by this sunset.

Acting The Part

Checkmate from Umer Durrani on Vimeo.

When I was a younger man, I used to dream of being a filmmaker and an actor. A good friend and I used to write, direct and star in some pretty awful amateur 8mm horror movies. (I wrote about them and posted them previously here.) I was also in my drama club in high school.

I even had a small speaking role in a low-budget drama that was filmed in Syracuse, New York, back in the late 1980s. (You can see a clip of that film, "Worst of Enemies," here.)

Living in Prague got me to thinking about getting back into the game, at least from an acting standpoint. Prague's illustrious Barrandov studios has long drawn big-budget films from all over the world ("Mission Impossible IV" being the latest Hollywood blockbuster filmed partially in Prague), and both the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) and the Prague Film School (PFS) attract talented young actors and directors from all over the world.


The director of "Checkmate," Umer Durrani, and the wonderful Sarah Brown, who plays my put-upon wife.

I was also inspired by the success of my good friend, Stewart Mooore, who threw himself into the acting game a few years back, with excellent results (including roles in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and "Solomon Kane.")

So, I mustered up my courage, registered with some casting agents here in Prague, and put my name, photo, and details into the database at the PFS.

I don't know if I'm any good, but I'm having a lot of fun. It's amazing how close you end up feeling to the cast and crew of each film, despite having spent only a couple of days together. But I guess they are days of intense emotion and hard work, so the bond develops.

Monogamous Man from Doron Tempert on Vimeo.

So far, I've had roles in seven PFS films (one of which, "Dream House," directed by Eirini Karamanoli, has been officially selected for the 2012 Angeleno Film Festival in L.A.). I also nabbed a small speaking role as "Embassy Official" in one episode of the upcoming ABC-TV series "Missing," starring Ashley Judd, Sean Bean, and Keith Carradine. It debuts in the U.S. at 8 p.m. on March 15.

For some reason, I keep getting cast as either the abusive husband or cruel father, or, in my latest film, a cop who loses his cool. Weird.


Two scenes from "Dream House," in which the main character, played by Nicole Gay Grisco, is buying a house where each of the rooms reveals a snippet of a bleak future. Of course, I play an abusive husband. The film also stars the great Peter Hosking as the creepy real estate agent.


I will admit, it's hard to hold down a full-time job and fit in these acting gigs. I may be forced to take my name out of the PFS database and simply hope for a few more major jobs, like "Missing," to come along. If they ever do.

In the meantime, I'm eagerly awaiting the final cuts of three PFS films I've been working on. If I'm allowed, I'll post them here when I get copies. Many times, the students can't enter the films into festivals if they're available online somewhere already.


In the PFS film "Checkmate," I play a chess master who becomes obsessed with the game at the expense of his wife. In the end, he gets his comeuppance. Interestingly, that's a real gun, and we had to have a gun handler on set from Barrandov to supervise while we filmed.

I hope you enjoy the surreal "Monogamous Man" by Doron Tempert, in which I co-star with the incomparable David Worden. That film was supposed to be an entirely different script, and filmed outside, but since it was raining quite hard on the day of the shoot, Doron and his PFS pal Raam Reddy rewrote the script in one day and we filmed inside from about 6 p.m. until 2:30 a.m.


In the PFS film "Blue Lines," directed by Zach Nanus, I play an overly aggressive cop who is filmed abusing an Occupy Wall Street protester.


A scene from an as-yet-untitled PFS film directed by Sarthak Johar, in which I play a father who heaps abuse on his dying son in an effort to get him to come to grips with his life.

Paris Restaurant Tips & A Question

Fantastic escargot at Le Vin de Bellechasse.

Daisy, Emma and I spent a long weekend in Paris a few weeks ago. I thought I'd share some of our culinary adventures, a top-notch restaurant recommendation, and ask my readers a question about sardines.


We stumbled upon Le Vin de Bellechasse at 20 Rue de Bellechase, near the Musee d'Orsay, and were very happy we did.


Lovely grilled lamb chops at Le Vin de Bellechasse.


The house red at Le Vin de Bellechasse.


Steak tartare at Cafe Cassette, 73 rue de Rennes.


Help me with this one. At Cafe Cassette, I ordered sardines as a starter. I figured it would be grilled sardines, or perhaps fresh sardines with a little lemon and olive oil. Instead, a tin of Rodel sardines were brought to the table, with a serving of butter and a few toast points. The dish cost 14 euros (around $20). Am I missing something here? I must admit that I was quite shocked to pay 14 euros for a tin of sardines. They were good, but my tastebuds couldn't discern anything extraordinary about them.


Some friends of ours took us to La Casserole on Rue Mouffetard for raclette, something I'd never had before. Basically, each table has a number of burners, and you cook your own charcuterie and cheese on little frying pans. Steamed potatoes are also brought out to the table. It was great for the kids. The problem is that the restaurant becomes a sauna once it's full of patrons, what with all those little burners going full blast. It's also not very subtle cuisine, but a fun way to spend an evening, nevertheless.



La Casserole on Rue Mouffetard.


The amazing food markets on Rue Mouffetard.


The amazing food markets on Rue Mouffetard.


The amazing food markets on Rue Mouffetard.


The amazing food markets on Rue Mouffetard.


A plate of eggs and pommes frites? 10.50 euros, or about $14.50. Small beer? Oh, another 4.50 euro, or about $6.15. It will come as no surprise to learn that food in Paris is ridiculously expensive. Even a simple cappuccino is $6.

Teen-Age Kicks

I've lovingly carried these comic books through about 20 moves across two continents over 35 years, but it's time to see them off to a good home.