Mark Hopkins teaches Czech I, Czech II and a Czech literature course at UT Austin and hosts the weekly conversation group with the tongue-in-cheek name, Czechs Mix. Once a semester, he treats his students to a homemade Czech dish and, in exchange, they role play being either wait staff or customers at a restaurant to practice speaking the language. (I must try this with my sons.) Lori Najvar and I got to photograph the class for our Texas Czechs exhibit when he served guláš with bread dumplings to his Czech I students. (Photo of Mark's guláš below.) Mark Hopkins (far left) and his Czech I and II students at UT Austin. And - yummy! - we got to sample Mark's guláš and also Czech Garnet Cookies made by his student, Mary Cernoch (second from right, front row in the photo above.) Mary is a Texas-Czech from La Grange who grew up hearing the Czech language, but not speaking it. She inherited some food traditions, though - the cookie recipe came from her mother. The only place I
family + history + food = me