4th of July Funky Fun

Nothing better than spending Fourth of July in a small American city -this is where you get the essence of how huge this holiday is in the US. My town has organized an event downtown filled with attractions such as parade, food court, concerts, petting zoo, lots of vendors, and, of course, amazing fireworks show, as they do every year. Magnificent!
Walking downtown we encountered a couple of very patriotic dogs. One of them was a Great Dane, who was 160 pounds and only two years old. What a champ! Lunch choices consisted of fair food, such as foot long hotdogs, fries, lemonade and such. I opted for deep fried cheese curds, as I like to eat healthy. ;) Funnel cake made the cut as well!

Farmer's Market

Town Square Farmers Market is one of my favorite hangout spots on summer Saturday mornings. You can get anything there, from fresh bread to sausages made by locals, to my favorite German kuchens - little cakes filled with custard and topping of choice. Sometimes they have attractions such as music playing or petting zoo, which I often take advantage of myself!
Today was the first one of the season, I believe, and still early in the summer, so a lot of vendors that I was used to were not present. I was very happy, however, to find some "Polishness" there! I purchased "kluski", or dumplings, which are big, shapeless dumplings fried with onion and served hot. Very filling, very tasty, very unhealthy! Also, I found an artist selling "pisanki", or colored egg shells, which are presented on the picture. Someone standing in line to see them claimed they are from Ukraine, so I had to google it, and it turns out they are Polish, just as I suspected! They are usually made for Easter and put in the Easter basket to take to church to be blessed.

The City of Trees

According to a legend French Canadian fur trappers came upon the valley and named it "le bois", which means the woods. The name stuck, and is very accurate when it comes to this beautiful city filled with old trees.
During my visit I especially enjoyed the Farmer's Market where I purchased a much needed painting from a local artist. Also, consumed every food sample that I came upon!
We had lunch at Bombay Grill on West Main, which, among others, served delicious Saag Paneer - my favorite! The conviniently placed French cafe nearby, named La Vie en Rose, served us with tiramisu and chocolate cheesecake! Their cakes reminded me of those in Europe; meticulously designed and so delicious!

Easter Babka aka a lot of work!

Babka cake is present on every Polish table during Easter. It is a yeast cake that looks simple to make but do not be fooled... I did succeed, however, and here is the fruit, or cake, of my labors!

Barszcz, not Borscht!

Any respectable Polish person will tell you there is no "t" in the name of this soup ;)
The other weekend Lacey, Megan and I went to a wonderful little bakery downtown that also makes soups for lunch. They are all homemade and as far as I know organic! Also, their ingredients are locally grown. I decided to have this beet wonder for lunch, and although it was not the "real borszcz", as the one you may see in the picture, I was pleasantly surprised! The soup was full of vegetables and even had beef in it, something new for me when it comes to borszcz.
I do have to mention, that the borszcz featured on the picture was one of the best I have ever had, in a Lithuanian restaurant in Poland called "Krasowianka". The color of the soup is deep red and either "uszka", or tiny dumplings filled with meat or mushrooms may find their way into the bowl. Usually found on the Christmas Eve dinner table, this wonderful soup also warms my heart during long winters here, in the north! Another favorite is Flaki, or intestine soup (yes I said intestine), but that's a story for another day!

Palm Sunday - Easter is almost here!

Very exciting time for Polish people. Why? It is a time of new beginnings, family gatherings, great foods and time spent in church, even though one may not be a religious person. First off, let me introduce the ideas that I miss:
Swieconka, or translating, "basket that is to be blessed". A small basket is brought to church on Holy Saturday and blessed by the holy water. The baskets are put on a long table running in the middle of the church set up for this very purpose. The basket contains a piece of kielbasa (sausage) - a mandatory part of any Polish meal! A piece of cheese, salt and pepper, bread, eggs and springs of boxwood plant, which I have not seen around here yet. It is usually covered with a lace or napkin to protect the items from falling out. Now, we are talking about very small pieces of food, only for the symbolic reason. They are later put in the center of the table and everyone can munch on a piece of holy sausage!
Babka, Mazurek or many other dessert cakes. Although on Easter Sunday usually brunch is prepared, desserts are a vital part of this meal. Dessert for breakfast, nothing better than that! Perhaps I will attempt to bake some of those deliciousness for next week.
Palm Sunday is a great tradition, although I have to say I do not have that many memories associated with it. I just remember those sticks filled with colorful ribbons and such and going to church on the Sunday before the Easter. I am posting a picture of them, although it is not mine - thanks Wikipedia! As I was on Wikipedia borrowing the picture, I saw that the Palm Sunday has been celebrated in Poland since the middle ages!

The Flood

Some spring! It may be sunny and warming up in Poland, but here in the "deep North", as I like to call it, the weather is nowhere near springy... CNN, the Today Show and many other local news stations have been reporting the worrying Red River level rises in North Dakota. Due to some communities being endangered with rising waters many colleges have canceled classes so that students are available to help with sandbagging.
Here are couple of pictures of a farm in rural ND where we helped with sandbagging. I think that at this point we were minimizing damages as opposed to protecting the land itself. As you can see, the water is surrounding the farm and getting on the road as well, preventing from easy transportation of sand bags.
It is amazing that the community is working together and helping each other, but again, after living in the area for a few years not, I would not expect anything different. What I like about the North is the sense of belonging and knowing that people will come with help when you are in need. Amazing the people we met when sandbagging, from school principals to college swimmers, everyone contributed! Go ND!

Let's go for a walk

Inspired by the melting snow outside and increasing temperatures I have started thinking about taking longer walks with Jackson. I went back to the pictures that I took on my last trip and found this... It is a perfect fall picture... although taken in December! I took it while taking a walk with my Mom, Dad and Grandpa when we were visiting one of the castles nearby our town. Taking walks is not very popular in the US, especially not in the area I live in - perhaps because it is always covered in snow!
I have a lot of memories associated with walks and my family. My Grandpa used to come over every Sunday and take us to the park when we were little - this was his way of spending time with us. It just seems so natural to me to start walking and exploring the area. We used to gather pretty colorful leaves and chestnuts and later make crafts - you use a large chestnut and a few little ones and hold them together with matches, you can create a dog or a cow, or whatever you want!
The park that we used to visit has a small fenced area where the animals live - deer, wild boars and some birds. We used to go there often and look at the animals, which we thought was the greatest thing!

The Women's Day

Happy Womens Day! Although initially celebrated as a communistic holiday, I think that the days of associating Women's Day with negativity because of that, are over, although I know of some people not celebrating the holiday because of the history of it.
In Poland tulips are the flower of choice, but of course others are appreciated just as much! Happy Women's Day!

My Cousin the artist

My cousin's birthday is coming up and I thought I would celebrate it by posting couple pictures of her art. I never knew she could paint like this and I wish I were artistic, unfortunately drawing stick figures and taking pictures is the extend of it. My cousin's major in college has nothing to do with art, yet she creates these in her spare time. Last Christmas I was visiting Warsaw, where she lives and she made us really delicious desserts that she learned on one of her trips to Italy. We sat around for a while and talked about going to the Old City of Warsaw, but we ran out of time. I have never actually visited the tourist part of Warsaw yet, which is in my plan of my next trip. I especially like the first painting, it reminds me of so many stories we had read as kids in school. This is exactly as I imagined the villages where the heroes of the stories lived... Anyway, Aga, the coffee and dessert were great and I really enjoyed looking at your art!

Grandma's Day

Today is the Grandma's Day in Poland, which means that all the grand kids call their grandmas, or give them handmade (hopefully) cards wishing them all the best in the world. I'm not sure if this holiday is celebrated in the US, I have never heard anyone mention anything about it.
This day is important to me because it makes me remember. I would remember regardless, but on this day particularly I think about all of our times together and how much about life I have learned from her. As a little girl I admired the way she looked, the smell of her perfume, her strength. It will always stay with me. A picture of her is sitting on my desk, she looks absolutely beautiful; she is reading something and smiling a little, while drinking a cup of tea. I look at it when I am in doubt or if I just need a minute of peace.
It was once written about her that as a "Renaissance woman she showed others how to achieve what you want. Therefore the joy of life. The joy that people who choose an easier path will never know". I appreciate the words of the article writer, because this exactly describes my dear grandma. She had to push away a lot of obstacles to get to where she did, yet she did it with grace. For that, she was a very respected woman, by her colleagues and certainly by her family.

Reminiscing... again!

The more I look at my pictures, the more I want to write about my trips back home. This wonderful picture was taken a few years ago in Krakow, when we met up with my old friends from high school and visited the Royal Castle. The picture here was taken from the road around the castle, and I think it is so beautiful. Seeing this I automatically imagine myself back at that castle, being a little cold and not being able to wait to go to the cafe next to the castle for some delicious hot chocolate, drinking chocolate actually, more so than just the regular hot chocolate. Look at the roof tops! No wonder so many talented artists settled in this place. Living there you would not have to be talented to be an artist - I imagine it just comes naturally from the surroundings.

St Andrews

Have you even touched anything that was created in the 11th century? This is it. The St Andrew's Apostle Church located in Krakow, Poland. As many churches have, during the wars this church served as a shelter, including the Tatar invasions in 1300's. The architecture of the church also altered with the time passing, from medieval to Romanesque to baroque. It may have been partially destroyed during the WWII, but due to the age of the building it was difficult for me to tell what was destroyed by men, and was was caused by time.

Tea Party

I just had some delicious jasmine tea, straight from China, which made me think about the "tea drinking" custom in Poland, and all of the Europe for that matter. I imagine an average person thinks than only the Brits have the right to consume tea in unbelievable quantities! My Mom brings out the best porcelain cups and tea... every day! I miss the feeling of visiting my family, getting on the train and going to Krakow, one of the most beautiful places. And here it is...

The pancakes

Those oatmeal pancakes are a family secret and it took me years after marrying into the family to finally receive the recipe!