The Dancing House, Fred and Ginger, Drunk House all are nicknames of the Nationale-Nederlanden building in downtown  Prague, Czech Republic ( Rašínovo nábeží 80, 120 00 Praha 2)

Prague contains one of the world’s most varied collections of architecture: Neo-Baroque, Gothic, Cubist, Renaissance and Art Nouveau.

The two architects Vlado Miluni & Frank Gehry designed this building on a vacant space on the riverfront of the Vlatva (The previous building was destroyed in 1945) and it was completed in 1996.

The Dancing House resembles a dancing couple, and it really stands out among the old historic buildings of Prague.

We included the visit to the building in our schedule while planning for this trip. On the 19th of November 2008, the plan was to find The Hard Rock Caffe in Old Town (buying t-shirt for my brother in law),  check out the Dancing House, find a good restaurant for lunch, and have dinner at Robert’s place where we got to meet his amazing family.

It was very cold, rainy and windy and that made finding the building a difficult task.
When we got there I started taking photos from several angles, we crossed the road facing the famous building and there we were standing on a bridge  taking photos of the dancing house and the amazing Vlatva river, when we came across “Matilda”, an Italian Restaurant-Boat.

I was literally able to see my husband’s eyes light up! So we decided to have lunch there.
It was the perfect refuge from rain and cold and the perfect choice for lunch, the food was delicious and service was great.

All in all it was an amazing experience. We were able to see Prague’s Castle from the boat.  We also spent some time picking on some swans and ducks swimming in Vlatva…

We couldn’t resist ordering Pasta! Abdallah had a Tagliatelle Al Funghi.
and I had Gnocchi and Chicken dish with pancetta, basil, chicken stock and Parmesan.

My Grandmother and mother were coming to have lunch at our place last week.
It all happened the last minute, I was cleaning the house and preparing many things… I was nevertheless  able to make a decent meal.
I cooked a chicken and potato casserole (with wine and mushroom) and even made a delicious banana cake. But what about salad?  Granny loves cabbage! and that’s how the idea of  this combination came out:

Ingredients:

• Cabbage (mixture or green & red cabbage) julienned
• Carrots shredded
• Avocado (cut to cubes)
• Lemon Juice
• Olive oil
• Parmesan shavings
• Walnuts crushed
• Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Mix the cabbage and carrots together and add the lemon juice, salt & pepper and olive oil.
Serve them in a big salad plate, distribute the avocado cubes evenly on top.
Use a potato peeler to make Parmesan shavings to garnish the salad.

Bon appetit!