On my walk along the River in Kórnik with D

After an already filled 2 weeks with about a gazillion kids... okay only 7... a new puppy... who keeps peeing on the floor... and a very nice visit from D complete with a visit to a castle and arboretum, my weekend is about to start tomorrow.

Starting tomorrow I am off on a small 'holiday' to see Gdańsk, a short stop in the Malmo & Copenhagen Airports, and then to Roskilde, Denmark.  (Looking forward to seeing you La!)

Although the main pain will be all the different types of transport I will be getting... train, bus, airplane... it will certainly be a nice weekend. ALSO! It's going to be warm in Poland! 25-30C that's in the high 70s Fahrenheit for you folks back home. :)

I am looking forward to getting to a new city in Poland. Gdańsk is a beautiful coastal city, and home of the birthplace of the first battle of European theatre of WWII.

My computer will no doubt be uploading a couple hundred pictures of all these places and I will have some writing to do about the Polish National Holiday on May 3rd, as well as all the usual happenings. I will most definitely have to catch up with the happenings of last week, which will consequently be the last 2 weeks after I get back haha... I think I have some work to do. 

More soon. It was a good past... few weeks :)

Polska Kultura

Where's Charlie.... wait what?

I love this picture simply because it's a perfect example of some of the strange things I see here in Poland. This Charlie person needs to find Waldo pronto. I thought I would dedicate this post to somewhat strange, comical, and unique things pertaining to Polish culture that I have noticed while being here. And they think 'the American' (me) is strange--hah! :)

1. Shopkeepers usually open around 10am (ish), and one of the first things they do is wash the threshold/sidewalk/windowsills of their shop with a broom and mop. Honestly in America this would never happen. However, I find this somewhat endearing. 
2. In addition to the first, the Poles also find it necessary to wash their streetsigns as well--complete with a special utility vehicle that is used for such purposes. It looks like a tractor with a giant mop on the front arm.
3. The family here finds it strange that I never peel any of the vegetables or fruits, such as apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, and potatoes. They must peel everything! All I can think of is all the wasted peel, and I am not sure if this is due to me liking the added fiber to my diet, me not minding eating the peel, or all of the above.
4. Wearing stockings is a big thing here--if you don't wear them they claim you will get sick. 
5. Similarly, you must wear house shoes at all times indoors--if you don't you will also get sick from that too. 
6. When someone gets sick they take a week off... and call the doctor. This goes for a little chest cold. 
7. Milk used in cereal, hot cocoa, or pudding must be warm--not cold. 
8. The family doesn't eat the ends of bananas, due to a bacteria that grows there.... I am not sure if this is true. 
9. A bathing suit for a male consists of a Speedo--I have yet to see swim shorts. 
10. When paying for something they round up and will often ask you for a specific amount of change to make what they give back to you more 'even'.
11. The most popular shoe for a female is some sort of high heel or boot. They dress up more here which is evidence of  the Eastern European way of dressing.
12. Today I had my first experience of milk... it came in a sealed up bag. Yes. Weird.
13. If the power goes out at the house there is a limited amount of appliances that work. This makes me grateful for gas appliances! Here everything is electric... the stove/oven, heating, kettle, and the INTERNET! When you can't even cook on the stove top with a match... it's bread and butter for lunch. 
14. It's the law in Poland to have your headlights on at all times. This makes it quite fun when driving, because in order to warn other drivers of this mishap, you flash your high beams at them. This may proceed with a wave in acknowledgement.
15. Wedding rings here are worn on the ring finger of the right hand. 
16. The family here has a very wide selection of medicines, vitamins, tablets, pills, and other herbal things. Apparently this is a big thing in Poland.
17. Poles consume a lot of meat and are one of the highest consumers of meat in Europe. Bring on the kielbasa, ham, etc. 
18.  Hospitality here is something special to experience. They really take pride in giving the guest a full plate in both food and in being the perfect host. When guests arrive there is usually a wide spread of foods and alcohol of course. Lots of talking.... lots of eating... and this may repeat for several hours. Don't expect them to leave anytime soon. 
19. Christmas easily lasts until February--in fact it is tradition. Many a carol are sung after New Years, and there are still lots of sweets leftover. 
20. Chopin is their pride and joy who hailed from Warsaw, the capital of Poland.

How is that for culture!

Drama[tist]

The past few weeks have been an amazing whirlwind--maybe even a hurricane--but that is no excuse for lack of a bit of writing. I feel compelled to ask how are you, maybe that is because I feel like I need some caffeine after a very long day of (always hungry), noisy, and upset kids. My life is certainly a play put on by a master dramatist. Seems fitting doesn't it? Anyway, how are you?

Where to begin? My last post seems like it was ages ago rather than a week. Time is flying by so quickly it's unreal. Here we are already in the second week of April--where did the first four months go? Since my last post we have eaten all the sourdough bread. It was a big hit, especially the loaf I baked in the crock pot in the oven. From now on I will use a big heavy pot like that for bread baking--it turned out perfect! I would have saved you some, sorry. I was please that the loaf impressed the auntie and 'Babcia' Zosia (Grandmother in Polish). They really loved the bread and told me 'I would have no problem keeping a house of my own'. Baking bread or cooking in general is considered a very big positive in being able to keep a household--thus the emphasis. It made me proud. This week I made a huge loaf of garlic bread--I wish I had taken a picture because the loaf was seriously so big and took up most of a cookie sheet. I used about 7 cloves of garlic too--so the kids loved it with their spaghetti.

 April also brought us Easter, the day in celebration of Christ's ultimate sacrifice to die for all his children and his being raised from the dead--our Miracle. I was excited to experience Easter here in Poland, namely in seeing what is different or the same.

 The family attended alot of mass during Easter week, and Babcia Zosia and auntie came to spend part of the week here. They are sisters. I find it endearing to be with them because they don't speak English and I don't speak fluent Polish to speak with them. There is alot of smiling, laughing, and hand gestures. But I like how well I get along with them, especially auntie. I think it's our common love of cooking. Even if communicating is difficult we still find ways to make each other smile. On the weekend I was helping Aga prepare some of the Easter food. Their tradition is to bring a basket of food to church to be blessed. This is then shared on Easter Sunday with the family.

 The basket consists of what they would call the basics of their meals: Butter, meat, bread, boiled eggs that are decorated by the kids, and the horseradish and salt and pepper also hold significance specific to Easter similarly to the Jewish tradition.

The Polish traditionally have a very large Easter breakfast after early morning mass always with a prayer included for those who are no longer with us. Among Polish kielbasa, boiled eggs, a variety of cold meats, molded butter made into sheep figurines, and radishes, auntie made a wonderful piece of beef infused with garlic and baked for a few hours. We were all so full though from breakfast that we weren't hungry for it by the time lunch came around!

We also made a salad of cubed potato, carrot, parsley root (it actually exists, just not at home--I had no idea what she was talking about), pickles, apples, boiled eggs, mayo, and green parsley. It was different but also really good. I also helped her make a huge cheesecake made with two kilos of cheese, powdered sugar, and raisins. Also good... Aga loves it and could eat it all day everyday. Unfortunately our weight rose a little this weekend--no surprise right? Between all the food (there were alot of little meals) I am back to the ab workouts and eating less this week! On Sunday I made Baked Duck and Apples for the first time--another authentic Polish dish. We had everyone together for lunch including the priest and they all commented how good it was. I have Aga to thank for emailing me the recipe. Cabbage and a special soup with boiled egg and kielbasa called 'Zurek' was also served. 

Zurek soup

I decorated eggs with the kids and had fun making them pretty colors with their paints. They claim mine with the yellow chick and flowers was the best.

Speaking of kids....we have friends of the family spending the mornings/afternoons with us from Switzerland. So not only am I having to cook lunch and snacks for (my) three kids, but four more have been added to that--all boys. It's a bit crazy around here! Fortunately I feel after this week that after feeding 7 kids I can take on the world.... well maybe not quite, but still.

Next week is also just as busy with the kids, and my beloved is coming to visit me again for a few days. PLUS! (As if things couldn't get any more dramatic) We are getting a new puppy as of next Friday. Oh wow is right.

Until next time!

Yeast

First Ever sourdough starter--Day 1

When I was younger I was afraid of yeast breads. I didn't want to mess with them all because of the fear that 'I would mess them up'. Instead I stuck to quick breads that are nearly impossible to mess up (unless you confuse the salt and sugar as I did my first month here). But really--they are fail proof! After all why is it that we hear the word yeast and it freaks us out? Quite the conundrum.  You might ask who has all that time for all that rising, kneading, yeast testing, etc, and quite frankly some people do have a point. It is time consuming and requires alot of time and patience.

As I got older and more confident in trying new things in the kitchen I tried my hand at yeast breads and what I found was that they weren't all that intimidating. Probably the most frustrating thing is if your yeast is dead, but I have found that if you bake regularly this is usually not a problem. I would say I have gotten to be quite the expert since being in Poland. I bake yeast breads more than I do quick breads because bread is such an important and abundant food staple here. I also was introduced to using a fresh 'yeast cake' rather than instant yeast. I have to say I am starting to like the cakes better--I find them easier to measure out and they seem to be easier to tell if they have gone bad.

This past week I decided to try one of the things on my recent 'to do' list--Sourdough starter. I was quite excited as I started a 5 day process of 'fermenting' my dough mixture. Every day I would give it a few stirs and watch as it bubbled like a hot swamp in summer. Aga said the kitchen smelled like a bakery and I when the 5 days were up and I made the loaf and tasted it--oh man-- it was good.

I would have liked more of a 'sour' taste but I realize this could have been a variety of factors.

• The recipe said 5 days, but I wonder if I could have fermented the starter an additional day or so
  
• Perhaps the 'brown bread' type of flour made a difference in taste

I am sad to say that it only made 2 cups of starter and I have used the remaining portion today for Best-Ever-Oatmeal-Bread. Can you feel the excitement? it looks pretty good at its rising stage and the kitchen already smells (again) like a bakery. I have a pretty amazing looking banana bread loaf in the oven too. ;)