#moderately difficult

Today is Lola the Corgi's presumed birthday. We chose it approximately, while at the vet's, because Lola's story is nothing short of a canine miracle. She jumped in my cab, somewhere in the humble outskirts of Bucharest, on Saint Nicholas' Day. The driver asked, absurdly, if that was 'my dog' and I simply answered 'well, now it is'.

Little did we know the shaking, stone cold and scared to death puppy was a very rare Cardigan Corgi - this came later, when a British friend was amazed at the recovery and pointed it out adamantly. She could have been stolen or simply lost, but we will never know and we never looked back.

All our dogs had Spanish names (except for cats, always boys and always Pasha, namesakes of a beloved Shipper Mom's childhood pet), simply because they are easy to learn and remember. In her case, Lola is for...

for well... for obvious locomotion reasons 🤣 #LolaFlores. Twelve years with a supremely intelligent and empathic friend deserved a batch of my homemade chocolate, don't you think?

Too bad she can't try it. But enough babbling, here goes.

You will need: 2 cups/ 250 grams milk powder - I recommend Nestlé's Carnation, if you can't get hold of Rarăul, the obscure, Communist local brand (so damn good); 2 sticks/200 grams full fat butter (I recommend Irish butter, always with excellent results), at room temperature, cubed; 7 Tablespoons/50 grams cocoa (Dutch, if you can, but I prefer either Ghirardelli or the Greek Ion brand, which I think are the best on this planet); 2½ cups/ 500 grams Demerara sugar (or caster sugar). A dash of instant coffee, for decorating. You can replace sugar by stevia sweetener (measure accordingly - I used this, because I was also cooking for a severe diabetic who can't control herself), with very good results. Optional: crushed tea biscuits or cookies in the US/chopped hazelnuts/pine nuts/walnuts/peanut butter (in swirls) - sky is the limit. For the adult version, feel free to add a hefty swig of brandy/rhum/whisky/bourbon/vodka/limoncello or hey, let's be totally dirty (sssh!), Bailey's.

In a nonstick pan, gently simmer 3/4 cup or 170 ml cold water with ALL the sugar. Stir nonstop (only with wooden spoon or silicone spatula, never metal - it lends a foul taste!) until you get a sort of thin syrup - basically the sugar should dissolve, nothing more. 2 to 3 minutes should be enough.

Add the cubed butter, stir gently until it melts and incorporates completely. 10 minutes max, but never stop stirring!

Take the pan off the heat. Gently pour dry milk in small batches, stirring and incorporating continuously. It should immediately thicken, sticky fudge consistency.

Gently mix the cocoa, with slow, ample bottom/top movements (you don't want it anywhere else but in that pan, for sure). Right consistency should be a thick ribbon, pouring from the spoon.

Back to the heat for about 30 to 45 seconds, stirring all the time. I have no idea why, but my grandma always insisted it was very important, go figure. Take off the heat and immediately add the nuts and (if you choose) the alcohol, mixing vigorously.

Pour into a well buttered loaf tin. Dust with instant coffee. Let cool, put into fridge for 6 hours minimum (overnight is better). Only cut with a wet knife. Devour and don't think about the damn calories.

I am sorry for the very, very old pic (2010, I think). Tonight, it was impossible to take a proper one 😱.

This is what we do call 'homemade chocolate' all over Eastern Europe, but to be honest, it's rather some very, very good fudge. The dry milk is a dead giveaway of the real age of the recipe, which is around 1945 - postwar rationing, of course.

I could never (never, ever) compare my modest and very lazy cooking skills to my own grandmother's, but this is always a BIG hit in our home, especially on cold and rainy days. The secret is boiling the rice twice and yes, the mandatory use of sweet, condensed milk.

For 4 people (keeps very well in the fridge and tastes even better the next day), you will need: 230 grams/1 1/8 cups of regular white rice; 500 ml/2 cups full fat milk; 1 can (14 oz) of sweet condensed milk; 175 ml/3/4 cup of heavy (cooking - not sour!) cream/whipping cream, in the US; pinch of salt. Optional: raspberry jam/preserves (whole fruit); cocoa; cinnamon - sky is the limit.

Bring the rice to a boil in 500 ml/2 cups cold water, with a pinch of salt, over low heat. Will take about 20-25 minutes, rice should be al dente.

It shouldn't be the case, but if the rice did not absorb all the water, drain it. Then, in a big plastic bowl (never use metal - sorry, I cannot explain why), mix it with the condensed milk, the whipping cream and the milk.

Pour everything back on the stove and boil it for a second time, over low heat (20-25 minutes max). Don't forget to mix from time to time, it tends to stick to the bottom of your saucepan and even burn. Shipper Mum and I love it when it's a bit burnt and has a subtle smoky flavor, but you might hate it. I am taking no risks, here. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes on the stove, off the heat. Devour.

It should look like this:

You can add cinnamon, cocoa and even raspberry jam/preserves on top. If you add raspberry jam, you can go fancy and call it riz Impératrice - allegedly Eugenia de Montijo, Napoleon III's wife, was crazy about this combo, hence the posh (and probably fake) name.

Very humble, but absolutely beloved by all of us, including Lola the corgi and Baby the Lab.

To end the Wikipedia saga on a cheerful note and since it's been asked or rather alluded in comments, it's with great pleasure that I am sharing with you my foolproof lemon squares recipe I nevertheless managed to completely screw yesterday.

This is my way of saying thank you, all of you. And satisfy @sop123456778 's sweet tooth.

It takes about one hour from start to finish, baking included. A 10 year old could make it without any trouble. And it's so good, I always bake a double batch for friends: it will not last overnight, otherwise.

Before you start: preheat oven at 350 F/180 C.

For the crust, you will need: 1 cup (2 sticks)/250 grams softened, diced butter (take it out of the fridge half an hour before), 1 cup/125 grams icing sugar, 1¼ cups/200 grams flour (Robin Hood is a good idea and yes, they have it in Greece), 2 cups/200 grams finely chopped nuts (not macadamia and not pecan: walnuts/ hazelnuts are perfect and pistachios are spectacular). If you want a nuttier base, you can play with flour to nuts proportions.

Step 1: mix everything, preferably using one of those blenders/choppers (five minutes tops will do, in this case).

Step 2: gently pat evenly onto the bottom of a 13x8 (lined with parchment paper, of course) baking pan.

Step 3: bake about 15 to 20 minutes (not more!). That toothpick must be dry, after all, but you don't need crunch at this point.

In the meanwhile, whip the topping in an eyeblink:

You will need: 4 eggs (at room's temperature, always); 1,5 cups/300 grams granulated sugar; juice and zest of 3 plump lemons (Meyer lemons would be ideal, but we miss them sorely here and I sometimes mix 2 lemons and 1 lime, sky is the limit) and 4 tablespoons/60 grams flour (I put half of it, but that's me).

Step 1: gently mix everything with a spoon. Do not overmix, no need, just allow for that sugar to dissolve properly (again, five minutes tops).

Step 2: immediately pour this mix on the hot crust you just took out of the oven (that was the lightbulb moment, hehe).

Step 3: bake for 15 to 20 more minutes. Immediately and liberally dust with icing sugar (which may or may not caramelize a bit).

Let cool. Cut into squares only when completely cooled. Try not to eat everything before guests arrive.

This is the end result, last time I made it (emphatically not yesterday):

If I manage another sleuthing feat of the sort, I promise to unveil Watson's Torta Caprese, ok? :)

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Basic Information

Elevation Profile

Photo Gallery

Notes on the walk

Hiking Velky Javornik – Basic Information

A 20 km hill walk through varied countryside.

964 m height gain.

Great views across the Beskydy and Tatra Mountains.

Access by car.

Restaurants and hotels available.

Hiking Velky Javornik – Elevation Profile

Click here to open the map in a new tab with the route marked on it

Hiking Velky Javornik – Photo Gallery

Farmhouse

Trail marker at Javornicek

Viewpoint at Javornicek

Chapel at Javornicek

Holiday cottages at Prischlop

Warning – State Border!

Czech Republic on the left, Slovakia on the right

Make your own path!

War memorial on Ztracenec

View from Ztracenec – Jeseniky Mountains on the horizon, 120 km away

View from Ztracenec – North over the Beskydy Mountains

War memorial on Ztracenec

View from Ztracenec – South over the Mala Fatra and Tatra Mountains

View from Ztracenec – North over the Beskydy Mountains

Panorama ove rthe Beskydy Mountains from Ztracenec

View from Ztracenec – North over the Beskydy Mountains

The ridge path

Memorial to Jan Mec, ‘The mountains, I loved them.The Mountains, they took me.’

Spooky tree

Holiday cottage at Prischlop

Autumn colours

Autumn colours

Highland cattle

Traditional forestry equipment

The Trail Of The Mountain Gods – Notes

Velky Javornik is not a difficult hike as such. There are a few steep parts to the trail, but not many and not long. The trails are clearly marked with coloured lines painted on trees and signposts where trails cross.

Park your car in the turnaround at the top of the road up from Velke Karlovice. The road continues up for some way but it is not open to the public. Make sure you leave enough space for the bus to turn around, otherwise someone might get upset with you!

Follow the yellow trail up the spur, through the forest and out onto a pasture.at the signpost on Javorníček. Here is your first nice view of the trip and a good place to capture the mood of the season with your camera. Carry on along the ridge and down to the saddle at Příschlop – sedlo where you cross a small road by some cottages.

The yellow trail ends here and you continue on the green one. It’s a steady climb up, crossing the border into Slovakia as you approach the ridge. When you get to the ridge, you turn left onto the red trail and carry on to the view tower and war memorials at Ztracenec.

This is the place for panoramic photos of the Beskydys. On a clear day you can clearly see almost the whole range and on the north-west horizon you can even see the Jeseniky Mountains, around 120 km away.

The view tower is built near a gap in the trees, so from up there you can see down into Slovakia and into the Fatra and Tatra mountain ranges. It is often windy on the ridge and if you want to stop for a break and get out of the wind, there is a little wooden shelter here which is perfect.

The war memorial is dedicated to 3 soldiers who were killed here in 1945 during the liberation by the Red Army of Velke Karlovice. The memorial stone reads, ‘On May 3rd, 1945, during the liberation of Velke Karlovice, here on Ztracenec, fell two unknown members of the 1st Czechoslovakian Army Group and Andrej Rabcan, born 9.11.1922 in Drabska.’ 

At this point, you have seen the best of the views on the walk, so if you like, it’s a good place to turn around and head back. If you want to check out the other viewpoints and get to the highest point of the route at Velky Javornik, just continue along the red trail.

The trees along here are quite sparse on the Czech side, so there are regular good views in clear weather. The trail is well-defined and still marked on rocks where there are no trees. At the viewpoint just past Velky Javorniky, you can shelter from the wind among the trees and have a break, although there’s no shelter building here.

The route back is the same way you came up. This can be helpful if you are heading back at the end of the day. It can get quite dark in the forest even though it’s still light on the ridge. And there you have it, a fantastic walk with some good climbs, wonderful views and lots of fresh air. If you need any more information, use the comments section or our contact form.

Happy hiking!

As I will be responsible for training and leading people who are about 30 years younger than me, I thought it might be a good idea to actually be able to do what I’ll be training them to do. You know, set an example, sort of thing.

With this in mind, I have been looking at maps and picking routes which could be used for teaching all the skills necessary for a successful expedition. Everywhere more than 200 metres above sea level is covered in snow at the moment, so it’s a good time to start. I won’t be up here training kids before March, which gives me another month to find suitable routes and get fit enough!

DofE Czech Republic – The Beskydy Environment

As far as I can tell, the Beskydy Mountains fits the definition of ‘normal, rural open countryside or forest’. I’m not sure they are remote enough from habitation to qualify as Wild Country, so when the time comes for that I guess I’ll head over to the Jeseniky Mountains instead.

The route I picked for this weekend’s little adventure was around a local hill called Skalka (see map and profile below). It works out as 14.3 km with 659 metres height gain, so perfect for a medium length hike over varied terrain. The Czech hiking trail system, as I’ve remarked before, is the best I’ve ever seen. Getting lost here is not impossible but it is really difficult! As you can see in the photos at the bottom of the post, even when the visibility is less than 50 metres you can’t lose the path because there are trees on either side of it.

DofE Czech Republic – Photos And Notes On The Walk

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All in all a great morning out. It was a bit hard at the beginning due to the steep hill and the weight of my trusty pack (22 kg) but nothing too painful! I only had the kit required for a D. of E. expedition with me – spare clothes, sleeping bag, small tent, cooker, first aid kit, food and waterproofs but most of my gear is old and therefore heavier than modern lightweight stuff.

Because I only stayed on marked hiking trails, I didn’t really need the compass. The trails are colour coded and the colours are regularly painted on trees or rocks and orientating the map is easy. There are also regular signposts which are marked on the maps, making it really easy to find your way around, even in cloud or fog.

All my kit seems to be working properly with the notable exception of the snow grips I had on my boots. They turned out to be dangerous because they are difficult to put on, nearly impossible to adjust and have clearly been designed to slip around so the spikes are on top of the boots. They are destined for the bin and I’ll let you know what I replace them with!

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Basic Information

Elevation Profile

Photo Galley

Notes on the walk

The Trail Of The Mountain Gods – Basic Information

An 11 km hill walk through picturesque countryside.

622 m height gain.

Great views across the Beskydy Mountains.

Historical local architecture and folklore.

Access by car or bus.

Restaurants and hotels available.

The Trail Of The Mountain Gods – Elevation Profile

The Trail Of The Mountain Gods – Photo Gallery

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The Trail Of The Mountain Gods – Notes

This trail has a nice mix of relatively quiet walking, unique architecture and folklore attached to it. The beginning is steep, which is typical of the Beskydy Mountains but once you are on the ridge, the path is wide and easy with some fantastic landscape panoramas over the Beskydy Mountains and the Moravian Gate.

If you start from the car park/bus stop in the village of Trojanovice, you almost immediately have a choice between hiking up and taking the chair lift… I leave it up to you! I assume you’re reading this because you like hiking but there are some excellent restaurants and pubs at the top of Pustevny, so the chair lift is always an option for getting back down.

The trail is at its best from late spring until the winter snows. Even when the snow has mostly melted from the mountains, be careful on the trails. A lot of people hike them during the winter and this compacts the snow into ice, which lasts into late spring at times. Due to the thick forest, it is often difficult to walk beside the trail where the snow has melted.

When the weather is nice, the forests protect you from the sun during the climb up and down. Pustevny is relatively rare in the Beskydys because the top and the ridge is not forested, so you get nice views.

The ridge consistes of 2 hills – Pustevny and Radhost. The Pustevny end has the chair lift from one side and a road and car park from the other, so it gets quite crowded in nice weather. The Radhost end is only accessible on foot, so is much quieter. Whichever end you visit, there is some excellent food available although obviously if it’s crowded at Pustevny, the queues will be longer. You can typically always get soup and goulash, as well as coffee and of course beer (this is the Czech Republic, remember!)

There are 2 local specialities which I absolutely recommend if you feel hungry. One is Frgal, which is a kind of soft disc-shaped cake covered in fruit compot and dusted with fine sugar – ideal for taking with you. The other is bryndzové halušky, which is one of Slovakia’s most famous dishes. It consists of something like gnocchi, sprinkled with smoked bacon and a delicious soft sheep’s cheese called bryndza. It is excellent winter food but if you eat it in the summer, you should plan on having some extra time to digest it before you continue your walk. Of course, you can buy these foods in the valley close to the mountain as well but somehow they taste nicer in the mountains where they originated.

At the Pustevny end of the ridge, you can see some wonderful folk architecture in the form of wooden buildings. these were designed and built around the end of the 19th Century and are practically unique. They blend the local Wallachian style of wooden construction with colours and motifs which are more typical in city buildings of the period. Sadly, one of them burned down a few years ago and the reconstruction isn’t finished yet.

At the other end of the ridge is the beautiful wooden church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They brought Christianity to the Slavic peoples in the 9th Century and developed a writing system for their languages, which is why the Russian alphabet is know as ‘Cyrillic’ in English. This is a working church but if you find it open, there is no service happening and you are respectful of the code of behaviour in a Catholic church, you will probably be allowed in.

Between Pustevny and Radhost is the statue of Radegast. He is something of a local character even though he has few worshipers. He is the pagan god of hospitality, the harvest and barley as well as being the namesake of a local brewery and their emblem. Legend has it that when Cyril and Methodius arrived and destroyed his idol, they faced no divine retribution and so won over the local pagans to Christianity. These days it is all much more civilised and each of them maintains part of the territory in a peaceful and gentlemanly manner.

If you are interested in visiting Pustevny and would like more information, you can download a guidebook here. It includes a map, detailed notes on the walk and points of interested as well as a GPX file which you can use in your GPS device.

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Basic Information

Elevation Profile

Photo Galley

Notes on the walk

  Ropice Ridge Hiking Trail – Basic Information

24 km, approximately 7.5 hours.

922 metres height gain.

Moderately challenging terrain – a steep beginning but no steep decents. Mixture of hiking trails, cycle trails and roads.

Ropice Ridge Hiking Trail – Elevation Profile

  Ropice Ridge Hiking Trail – Photos

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    Ropice Ridge Hiking Trail – Notes

The Ropice Ridge Hiking Trail is a collection of trails which take you along the ridges after the first peak of Ropice (1033m). It has a steep start up into the forests but after the first hour and a half you are mostly on gently rising and falling trails.

The trail is not generally crowded. You can walk for a long time without meeting anybody, even in summer. There are rare animals such as lynx to see if you’re very quiet and very lucky and excellent views in areas with no trees. Mostly you can just relax and enjoy a very peaceful walk indeed. There are a couple of places where there are tourist hotels and you will meet more people in these areas. Remember this is the Czech definition of ‘tourist’ though. It means something like ‘a person who loves hiking in the mountains’ and the hotels built by and for them are wonderfully welcoming places. Even if you don’t stay in one of these hotels, you can enjoy a refreshing drink and a meal along your route at very reasonable prices.

The actual terrain of the Ropice Ridge Hiking Trail is not very difficult to walk on. The main challenge lies in its length and the steepness of the first section. Many hiking trails in the Beskydy Mountains have large, loose rocks which can be a hazard for your ankles if you’re distracted by the beauty of the trail. They are left when heavy rain or spring melt washes away the soil smaller stones. This trail is more often soil and tree roots, with sections of gravel cycle trail and paved road.

I recommend that you have clothing and footwear for colder conditions than you find in the valleys. I took the photographs in the gallery above on the May Day weekend, when it was quite summery in the valley. I was wearing summer-weight boots with a Gore-Tex lining and my feet were soaked after the first hour of walking in the snow. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting snow because of the recent warm weather and I couldn’t find any weather reports for this area. The old snow was a 20 cm layer of wet slush with another 20 cm of fresh snow on top. Due to sunshine on the peaks, small rivers of melt-water were running under all of this, which made for interesting walking conditions.

As well as making your feet wet, the snow covers up the wheel ruts left by the forestry trucks hauling logs. Eventually, I put my foot down, and down, and down further, through the snow and slush, into 40 cm of freezing cold water. It doesn’t matter how much Gore-Tex you’re wearing when you actually need rubber wading boots!

Still, these conditions don’t last all year and anyone who hikes for fun needs a good sense of humour anyway! I would like to try this trail again in the winter with snowshoes. A lot of it is Nordic groomed cross country trails during the snowy season.

Like all other hiking trails in the Czech Republic, there are regular trail markers. Where trails cross or at important navigation points, there are metal signposts with colour-coded arrows pointing out the trail direction. There is also the name of the position as shown on the map, height above sea level and distances to other points, like hotels, villages and bus stops.

There are often boards with local information and QR codes to web pages with the information in  English, German and Polish. Unfortunately, there was a long part of this trail  where I didn’t have a phone signal, which is unusual  in the Beskydy Mountains, even in the valleys.

14 km of this trail is also part of the ‘Wolfram Educational Trail’. This gives information about the members and activities of Parachute Group Wolfram, who were Czechoslovakian soldiers trained by the British ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ and dropped behind enemy lines at a risk to themselves, anyone who helped them and the families of anyone who helped them, that most of us today would struggle to believe. Unfortunately, some kind of black mould has attacked the inside of the plastic covering the information and most of the boards are unreadable. Those that are readable are only written in  Czech. I am in the process of trying to find PDF versions of each board and translating them, so if you are interested, use the contact page to let me know.

This hike can be shortened by a few kilometres if you take a route following a road for the last part or you can just walk up to Ropice and back to the car park if you prefer. In mid summer there will be as many blueberries as the spring frosts and local animals leave for you (check the map and make sure you’re not in a designated nature reserve first!). In early autumn the conditions along the trail are good for edible mushrooms, if you know what to look for.

As soon as I get time, I will upload a guidebook, map and GPS files for download on my main site Discover Moravia. The aim is to offer a series of downloads to let independent travellers plan their own trip. I hope you will find the price as attractive as the destinations!

In the meantime, you can sign up for updates or contact me from my contacts page for more information. I hope to see you in the mountains one day!

NMAT 2013, the computer-based entrance blue book considering NMIMS Mumbai, has started on October 11 and ardor continue till December 19. This article of MBAUniverse.com shares a detailed metageometry of the exam so far by an guide out of Career Launcher. <\p>

The first lap few days of NMAT 2013 were more or less on the expected lines. Overall, the final examination has been moderately uncompromising. Speed neolith the name apropos of the game in NMAT. <\p>

The test provides candidates even with a section order choice, which means that candidates can choose the response that he\she wants to attempt first. Each in respect to the three sections has implicative section timings and candidates need to answer and review the questions as respects a divisional station within the allotted time. <\p>

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Yurak skills<\p>

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Para jumbles were a mix of 4 and 5-sentence types and were easy. Synonyms and antonyms featured pokingly exacting words. Sentence correction questions were easy and mostly revolved on subject-verb-agreement errors, idiomatic errors, pronoun errors and preposition errors. There was one sedate analogy question in the bag. Quantitative Skills<\p>

This was a moderate difficult section with the usual mix in regard to easy-moderate questions on number systems, percentage, ratio\proportion, profit and loss, juste-milieu, time-speed-distance, miracle\time, mixture & solution\alligations, simple\compound winnings, mensuration, geometry, algebra(Successional\Quadratic reciprocal), probability, permutations & combinations, and coordinate geometry. <\p>