Wednesday, January 28, 2015
The Best Bread Ever!
When I lived in Poland, some of my friends went abroad to work. While there, they said that they missed and craved Polish bread. I could agree then that the bread in Poland was absolutely delicious; unlike any bread I ever ate in the States growing up which was pretty much "Wonder or Rainbow and Butternut" bread... if you recall the brands. Funny, as a child, I thought bread was supposed to be gummy and sponge like. Glad I had the chance to eat real bread. I wish I could buy big rounds here but just can't find a baker. So, of course, now, that I am back in the US, I miss and crave Polish bread.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Poland is known for its apples
Poland does produce a lot of apples and they are delicious. According to a recent EU survey, they are now recognized by the European Union as being the biggest at producing apples.
I loved to take a drive in Poland, especially near Warsaw because one could drive by miles of apple trees growing in their perfect rows, humble in stature but robust in delivery. Poland also produces berries, such as black and red currant. They make excellent jam or jelly as well as syrup and schnapps. As for vegetable crops one would notice immediately potatoes and cabbage, staples in the Polish diet. When in Poland, you have to try Bigos, a cabbage stew like dish with pork, mushrooms and even dried prunes.
I loved to take a drive in Poland, especially near Warsaw because one could drive by miles of apple trees growing in their perfect rows, humble in stature but robust in delivery. Poland also produces berries, such as black and red currant. They make excellent jam or jelly as well as syrup and schnapps. As for vegetable crops one would notice immediately potatoes and cabbage, staples in the Polish diet. When in Poland, you have to try Bigos, a cabbage stew like dish with pork, mushrooms and even dried prunes.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Some of Poland's Best Food ~ Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese!
Poland has the best sour cream and cottage cheese I have ever eaten. Their sour cream is so rich, and creamy its like pudding. I remember taking palm sized sweet cheese filled pierogi (cooked and cooled) and dipping them into a wide mouthed jar of fresh homemade sour cream. Amazing!
Poles make cottage cheese by taking what they call their everyday white cheese (cooked curd) and adding sour cream to it. Well, basically this is how cottage cheese is made.
In fact, cottage cheese is a soft, cooked
curd cheese that originated in eastern and central Europe. Unlike many other
cheeses, cottage cheese is low in fat and carbohydrates but high in protein,
making it a popular food among dieters. Its soft texture and relatively bland
flavor also make it ideal for babies and young children. Cottage cheese can be
easily prepared at home and will keep well in a refrigerator for up to one
week.
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Cottage cheese is a
soft, cooked curd cheese that originated in eastern and central Europe.
Unlike many other cheeses, cottage cheese is low in fat and
carbohydrates but high in protein, making it a popular food among
dieters. Its soft texture and relatively bland flavor also make it ideal
for babies and young children. Cottage cheese can be easily prepared at
home and will keep well in a refrigerator for up to one week.
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
In fact, cottage cheese is a soft, cooked
curd cheese that originated in eastern and central Europe. Unlike many other
cheeses, cottage cheese is low in fat and carbohydrates but high in protein,
making it a popular food among dieters. Its soft texture and relatively bland
flavor also make it ideal for babies and young children. Cottage cheese can be
easily prepared at home and will keep well in a refrigerator for up to one
week.Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Cottage cheese is a
soft, cooked curd cheese that originated in eastern and central Europe.
Unlike many other cheeses, cottage cheese is low in fat and
carbohydrates but high in protein, making it a popular food among
dieters. Its soft texture and relatively bland flavor also make it ideal
for babies and young children. Cottage cheese can be easily prepared at
home and will keep well in a refrigerator for up to one week.
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Cottage cheese is a
soft, cooked curd cheese that originated in eastern and central Europe.
Unlike many other cheeses, cottage cheese is low in fat and
carbohydrates but high in protein, making it a popular food among
dieters. Its soft texture and relatively bland flavor also make it ideal
for babies and young children. Cottage cheese can be easily prepared at
home and will keep well in a refrigerator for up to one week.
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4602745_make-cottage-cheese.html
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Polish Borderland ~ Where East Meets West
There is a borderland in Poland unlike most borders. Yes, there are similarities. There are daily commuters, there are those who feel cross cultural as they live in more than one local space. What is different is that Poland's eastern border (from the upper northeast corner of Poland down strongly demarcated by the Bug River) remains the Curzon Line where ~ East meets West.
A bit of history ~ Curzon Line, demarcation line between Poland and Soviet Russia that was proposed during the Russo-Polish War of 1919–20 as a possible armistice line and became (with a few alterations) the Soviet-Polish border after WWII. After World War I, the Allied Supreme Council, which was determining the frontiers of the recently reestablished Polish state, created a temporary boundary marking the minimum eastern frontier of Poland and authorized a Polish administration to be formed on the lands west of it (Dec. 8, 1919). That line extended southward from Grodno, passed through Brest-Litovsk, and then followed the Bug River to its junction with the former frontier between the Austrian Empire and Russia. Whether eastern Galicia with Lvov, should be Polish or Ukrainian was not decided.
When a subsequent Polish drive eastward into the Ukraine collapsed, the Polish prime minister, W.Grabski, appealed to the Allies for assistance (July 1920). On July 10, 1920, the Allies proposed an armistice plan to Grabski, designating the line of Dec. 8, 1919, with a southwestward continuation to the Carpathian Mountains, keeping Przemyśl for Poland but ceding eastern Galicia; the following day the British foreign secretary, Lord Curzon, whose name was subsequently attached to the entire line, made a similar suggestion to the Soviet government. Neither the Poles nor the Soviets, however, accepted the Allied plan. The final peace treaty (concluded in March 1921), reflecting the ultimate Polish victory in the Russo-Polish War, provided Poland with almost 52,000 square miles (135,000 square kilometres) of land east of the Curzon Line. Although the Curzon Line, which had never been proposed as a permanent boundary, lost significance after the Russo-Polish War, the Soviet Union later revived it, claiming all the territory east of the line and occupying that area (in accordance with the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939) at the outbreak of World War II. Later, after Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, the Red Army pushed back the German troops and occupied all of the former state of Poland by the end of 1944; the United States and The United Kingdom then agreed to Soviet demands (Yalta Conference; Feb. 6, 1945) and recognized the Curzon Line as the Soviet-Polish border. On Aug. 16, 1945, a Soviet-Polish treaty officially designated a line almost equivalent to the Curzon Line as their mutual border; in 1951 some minor frontier adjustments were made.
Main Source - http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/648813/World-War-II
I can tell you that this border remains, with the difference being that Poland is an European Union Member State; which in my opinion, makes the idea of "East meets West meets East" even stronger. The Ukraine is not in the EU nor does it appear that it will be in the near future given the unrest there and Russian investment including the incorporation through election of Crimea. I am sure there are those who would disagree with this wording but I am reluctant to call it anything else than that. What do I mean by East/West meeting on the especially along the Bug whereby the river is the visible line? It means that this is a place where differing world views meet. One is more prone to individualism and relativism and the other to more collectivism and absolutism. Again, many will disagree. I could say like this... where doing meets being in a place. The West is about doing and the East is about being. Not that there isn't any idea of being in a place in the West; there is but, it is more fluid more like a free flowing river hopeful and eager to change. This sounds good to Western ears, hope and change. For others, it sounds unrealistic, not practical and not reasonable given their long time cultural heritage. The West has a problem accepting that people who live outside the West see life different when it comes to change especially. Hence, we see people supporting authority that we Westerners see as tyrants/obstacles to change.
A bit of history ~ Curzon Line, demarcation line between Poland and Soviet Russia that was proposed during the Russo-Polish War of 1919–20 as a possible armistice line and became (with a few alterations) the Soviet-Polish border after WWII. After World War I, the Allied Supreme Council, which was determining the frontiers of the recently reestablished Polish state, created a temporary boundary marking the minimum eastern frontier of Poland and authorized a Polish administration to be formed on the lands west of it (Dec. 8, 1919). That line extended southward from Grodno, passed through Brest-Litovsk, and then followed the Bug River to its junction with the former frontier between the Austrian Empire and Russia. Whether eastern Galicia with Lvov, should be Polish or Ukrainian was not decided.
When a subsequent Polish drive eastward into the Ukraine collapsed, the Polish prime minister, W.Grabski, appealed to the Allies for assistance (July 1920). On July 10, 1920, the Allies proposed an armistice plan to Grabski, designating the line of Dec. 8, 1919, with a southwestward continuation to the Carpathian Mountains, keeping Przemyśl for Poland but ceding eastern Galicia; the following day the British foreign secretary, Lord Curzon, whose name was subsequently attached to the entire line, made a similar suggestion to the Soviet government. Neither the Poles nor the Soviets, however, accepted the Allied plan. The final peace treaty (concluded in March 1921), reflecting the ultimate Polish victory in the Russo-Polish War, provided Poland with almost 52,000 square miles (135,000 square kilometres) of land east of the Curzon Line. Although the Curzon Line, which had never been proposed as a permanent boundary, lost significance after the Russo-Polish War, the Soviet Union later revived it, claiming all the territory east of the line and occupying that area (in accordance with the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939) at the outbreak of World War II. Later, after Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, the Red Army pushed back the German troops and occupied all of the former state of Poland by the end of 1944; the United States and The United Kingdom then agreed to Soviet demands (Yalta Conference; Feb. 6, 1945) and recognized the Curzon Line as the Soviet-Polish border. On Aug. 16, 1945, a Soviet-Polish treaty officially designated a line almost equivalent to the Curzon Line as their mutual border; in 1951 some minor frontier adjustments were made.
Main Source - http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/648813/World-War-II
I can tell you that this border remains, with the difference being that Poland is an European Union Member State; which in my opinion, makes the idea of "East meets West meets East" even stronger. The Ukraine is not in the EU nor does it appear that it will be in the near future given the unrest there and Russian investment including the incorporation through election of Crimea. I am sure there are those who would disagree with this wording but I am reluctant to call it anything else than that. What do I mean by East/West meeting on the especially along the Bug whereby the river is the visible line? It means that this is a place where differing world views meet. One is more prone to individualism and relativism and the other to more collectivism and absolutism. Again, many will disagree. I could say like this... where doing meets being in a place. The West is about doing and the East is about being. Not that there isn't any idea of being in a place in the West; there is but, it is more fluid more like a free flowing river hopeful and eager to change. This sounds good to Western ears, hope and change. For others, it sounds unrealistic, not practical and not reasonable given their long time cultural heritage. The West has a problem accepting that people who live outside the West see life different when it comes to change especially. Hence, we see people supporting authority that we Westerners see as tyrants/obstacles to change.
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