Events

Sweet Charity Dessert Challenge

November 18, 2016 by polishhousewife 4 Comments

We joined hundreds of people for the Sweet Charity Dessert Challenge to sample some of the finest desserts and cocktails in Tucson. The Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance (SAACA) hosted Baja Arizona’s largest dessert competition to raise funds to support SAACA’s arts therapy programs at the our local VA hospital.

Here you see some spicy flavors of cotton candy.

The fourth annual event featured sweet treats and drinks from twenty-five restaurants, bakers, and mixologists. The servings were much larger than expected considereding how many they were serving and how many we were sampling.

If you’ve never attended, let me tell you that you’ll find a party atmosphere, complete with DJ, music videos, and laser lights in the ceiling. You’ll get to chat across the table with business owners and chefs. They will be happy to tell you about their creations, and answer you questions. You’ll receive a ballot sheet as you arrive and be asked, after making the rounds, to vote for your favorite in multiple categories.

One of my favorites of the evening was a cocktail prepared by the team from the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain. They served a butternut squash Old Fashioned. The squash was roasted with spices and steeped in a combination of spirits. It reminded me of a Polish tincture, steeping seasonal produce in alcohol! A very familiar process.

The folks from Dove Mountain brought some of the most memorable treats including a frozen Pumpkin Pop and a chocolate panna cotta.

The overall winner for the evening was Rigo’s Restaurant with a chocolate offering.

In my opinion it was an evening full of winners. Attendees got to connect with local business, a win on both sides. Everyone at the Sweet Charity Dessert Challenge got to support SAACA’s no cost arts and writing programming to veterans in poly-trauma, blind rehab and the memory care units, and that is something we can all call a win!

Many thanks to SAACA for providing two press passes for this event.

Polish F-16 Base, an Open House

September 8, 2014 by polishhousewife 4 Comments

Well friends, it finally happened. After five years, I , a foreigner, visited my husband’s workplace — a Polish F-16 base. There is an annual Open House, but we’d always heard visitors had to be Polish to enter the base. Considering the fact that Ed’s supervisor must request access to the base at least 30 days in advance and hope for the best to visit him on the job, that made sense.

Word trickled down that with a written request and my passport info, I might be granted permission, so we gave it a shot. On Friday, Ed came home with a letter that was my pass. All I needed was for the guards at the gate to accept it. What do you know, they did! I was among the thousands to visit Krzesiny, a Polish F-16 base Saturday.

Polish military bases are very different than American bases. An American base is essentially a small town with housing, shopping, a gas station, schools, a child care center, medical care, fitness center and pools, restaurants, clubs, a bowling alley, movie theater, recreation and hobby centers; you get the idea. This Polish F-16 base, which is the largest unit in the Polish Air Force, has a runway, aircraft hangars, and a few office buildings. There is a new gymnasium and pool, but access is very limited even to Polish airmen and civilian employees.

The base has a long history. In 1941, Nazi Germany, built a Focke-Wulf aircraft factory and a runway at Krzesiny. In 1945, it was captured by the Soviet Air Force and years later passed to the Polish military. There are signs of the base’s past, including aircraft shelters built into mounds of earth, and a sod bunker that is now home to two falcons (used to keep birds away from the runway) and an enormous Irish Wolfhound. A sturdy cement structure remains from the Focke-Wulf engine shop. We’ve also heard that the factory structures were built deep into the ground, and that to this day, there are brand new aircraft several floors below ground level. The ground water is a little higher here than in Arizona, so those planes are now submerged in water.

Leaving the past behind, we saw a long line of planes, military and civilian and an antique car show. There were displays of military equipment and activities for kids, a marching band and a long parade of military personnel.

I knew that different nationalities salute differently; now, I know that they also have different styles of marching. The Polish version involves a lot of arm movement, across the body arm movement. They practice often and put on a good show for the crowd.

The highlight of my visit, the simulator building where Ed works, wasn’t open to the public. It was just the folks who work there with their families. It was nice to see the space and meet the people I’ve heard so much about. Leszek, the serious bicyclist, was demonstrating the ejection seat trainer. George was kind enough to show me the amazing models that he’s created of warships and tanks; all made from paper!

The was an aerial demonstration team. I hope we don’t sound jaded, but we had left the base and were on our way to lunch in a nearby village when the team took to the air. We caught glimpses of them as we were driving. As we left, I was thinking that I wouldn’t want to be in the line of traffic when it was all over. There are two gates to the base, and they are both on two lane country roads. Lunch at Eatalia was fantastic!

Transatlantyk Kino Kulinarne 2014

August 10, 2014 by polishhousewife 7 Comments

Organized by Oscar winning composer, Jan Kaczmarek, the Transatlantyk — Poznan International Film and Music Festival began in 2011, the year I moved to Poland. It seems only fitting that in our last summer here, that we join in the festivities of their fourth season.

Transatlantyk Kino Kulinarne

The Film

We participated in grand style last night. My friend, Barbara, was kind enough to invite us to join her group of friends for Transatlantyk Kino Kulinarne, which is done in partnership with Kulinarisches Kino (Culinary Cinema) from Berlin. We were part of about 200 people who saw Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 film Modern Times. I’ve never watched all of one of Chaplin’s films before and was surprised to see that besides starring, he wrote, directed, and composed the music for the theme song.

The film was not actually silent, but in keeping with the theme of technology and dehumanization, the only time the audience hears spoken voices are when they delivered by mechanical devices such as the videophones used by the factory president, who works a jigsaw puzzle while commanding the masses on the factory floor to “work faster!” Apparently, an anti-capitalism world view in Hollywood is nothing new. 😉

The Meal

The real highlight of the evening for me was the meal that came after the film. Two Polish chefs, Robert Trzopek from Warsaw and Jacek Fedde from Poznan, using the film we had just seen as their inspiration, prepared a four course meal in a tent set up just outside the theater. Let me walk you through our menu:

The first course was three mini-sausages, one each of pork, lamb, and boar; served on top of an onion marmalade. It came in a 35 mm film can, which we were invited to take home as a souvenir of the evening. I’m such a fan of caramelized onions that I think I would love anything put on top of onion marmalade.

The second course was a disc of chopped toasted nuts and black sesame seeds bound together with a light syrup, topped with a thin slice of turbot and a curry oil. I loved the nut and sesame seed combo; it’s one I’ll remember and incorporate into my own repertoire in some way.

Our main course was a oxtail topped with a small piece of rib-eye, foie gras, and a truffle jelly. Served with a sauce made from port wine and sherry vinegar and maxim potatoes. The potatoes originating from Maxim’s in Paris are very thin slices arranged in a flower pattern, brushed with clarified butter and baked into a beautiful crisp disk. Someone at our table picked up the thin potato flower and joked about such a small serving of potatoes in Poznan. This region has to be the potato capital of Poland. They even have their own regional word for potato, pyra rather than ziemniaka. Pyra is also used to refer to people from Poznan. We were chatting with our waitress last week, and when we asked where she was from, her response was, “I’m a Pyra.” Potato jokes aside, this course was amazing. The sort of thing you’d make at home if you had a big talented kitchen team for backup.

The dessert was described as banana parfait with crunchy macadamia, salty caramel sauce, corn bread crumble. The banana ice cream came out in the form of corn on the cob. This was especially creative because in the movie, an automated machine is feeding Chaplin corn on the cob, of course, it goes out of control at that point. One of our table mates said about the dessert, “it’s good that it’s not too sweet.” While I applaud the creativity of the dish, for me, it was a very Polish dessert, not at all sweet, and I want my desserts to be sweet — just a difference in taste.

The evening ended with a standing ovation for the crew who prepared and served our meals. It was amazing to watch the wait staff as they served the courses. Picture this; we’re at tables of 10. Five waiters arrive with a plate in each hand, standing behind every other chair. The lead waiter nods and in unison they place their plate on the table and then step to the left. The leader waiter nods again, and the second plate is served. A final nod and the team circles the table and they file after the leader waiter and return to the kitchen. It was a beautiful performance.

They sent us home with a goodie bag that included two copies of Food & Friends magazine and a jar of house made chutney from Bazar 1838. It was a great evening. If you have the chance to attend, by all means, do! It was pricier than your average meal out in Poznan, but this was no average meal! I am blessed to have friends like Barbara who make sure I get to see what makes Poznan so special!

ps – I should also add that Jan Kaczmarek stopped by every table during the evening, just to chat for a few minutes, see if everyone was enjoying the evening. I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to an Academy Award winner.

Browar Fest Poznań & Poznańska Majówka Kulinarna: New Festival in Poznan

May 31, 2014 by polishhousewife 6 Comments

How’s this for good luck? I just returned to Poznan after four weeks in the USA to discover that my first weekend back would add a new festival to the list of happenings in our market square! Browar (Brewery) Fest Poznań and Poznańska Majówka Kulinarna (Picnic Cooking) ran Friday to Sunday last week. Is there anything better than hanging out in the Stary Rynek watching the crowds go by?

With this festival focusing on medium to micro breweries and local eateries that emphasize fresh, local, often organic foods, I knew this would be the perfect spot to snap my photo with a copy of Edible Baja Arizona (eBA), a local publication from southern Arizona that connects readers with family farmers, chefs, food artisans of all kinds. I read on facebook, just before we left home, that a photo with the current issue of eBA was all you needed to enter a contest for a free subscription. Lucky, me; our daughters had picked up a copy for me to read on the plane. I’m hoping my chances are good; eBA shared this photo on their facebook page!

edbile baja arizona, poznan, browar fest

Blending my two worlds, wish you could have joined us Baja AZ!

We spent two evenings at the festival, because it was fun and with hundreds of beers being offered, one visit isn’t enough. Even so, there is much that we missed. The event included live music, and I heard that there were workshops. My understanding is that the organizer the same as our annual August Festival of Good Taste (as in flavor), which has always been one of my favorites. Check out this post from 2011 which features a pierogi demonstration with the dumplings being made at lightening speed.

Poznan is a small enough city, or maybe it’s because we’ve been here long enough, that we always run into someone that we know. Friday night, we sat and had beers with friends who are just finishing up at the medical college and met some of their classmates. What an accomplishment, and what a fun way to celebrate. I’m also glad that we ran into them because they were the ones who told us where the picnic cooking was happening. The local food vendors were kind of off by themselves, and I’m afraid we might have missed them otherwise.

We snapped some photos of food and drink along the way, join us on our beer/food fest:

Both evenings included meals that were part of the Picnic Cooking. On Friday, we sampled asparagus, pasta with chorizo, gazpacho, and of course, wine from Voyager Wine Club. Saturday brought us pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw from Bigfoot Coffee Shop – a taste of home!

We also had to try the sweet and the savory versions of little Dutch pancakes – one topped with cherry preserves and powdered sugar, the other a tomato olive tapanade and cheese.

This was the first time we’d tried Kvass, a drink made with fermented bread and sometimes fruit, that’s been popular in Slavic countries since the Middle Ages. We were surprised to hear that it’s so low in alcohol that many versions can be called alcohol-free according to some country’s laws. The taste was unique, intense, and very refreshing, kind of like cola or Dr. Pepper but not so sweet. Apparently, this is a well known drink, two days later, I see photos of a facebook friend enjoying Kvas in Hong Kong!

At another booth, we enjoyed some fine Belgium beer offered by our friends at Kriek Belgium Pub and sample skin care products made with beer.

PS – In google-ing the festival, I found some media write-ups online which conveyed the facts. I was not surprised but disappointed to see negative comments — many having to do with the price of the beers and posted so early that I wonder if they’d actually been to the festival before commenting. One saying that people wouldn’t come here to get drunk it was just too expensive for that. To which I say, FINE! I, for one, won’t miss them. This isn’t meant to be the equivalent of the bars that offer vodka shots for 4 zl ($1.30 USD). It’s a chance to try some unusual and new things, something that I’m glad we get to do. Hopefully, this will become an annual event.

The Great Escape 70th Anniversary

April 18, 2014 by polishhousewife 2 Comments

Until recently, everything I knew about The Great Escape came from the film with Steve McQueen and James Garner playing American POWs; I saw it when I was a kid. Hollywood tells a heck of a story.

It happened in Poland and this is the real story. The Nazis built an “escape-proof” POW camp at what is now Zagan, Poland and put their problem prisoners there – the ones who were repeat offenders in attempted escapes. What they really did was put the best and brightest together in one place.

The Allied prisoners planned to escape and worked on three different tunnels with that goal in mind. On March 24, 1944 (a little more than a year before the war ended in Europe), 76 men successfully escaped. The 77th man exiting the tunnel was spotted. Only three of the 76 avoided capture and made it to safety. In retaliation for the escape, 50 of the recaptured prisoners were murdered, and 48 of the 50 were buried in the British Cemetery in Poznan’s Cytadela (Citadel), including the group’s leader, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell.

Most, but not all, of the escapees were members of the Royal Air Force. There were Americans at the camp and they helped with the tunneling efforts, but the Yanks were moved to another camp before the escape. Steve McQueen’s character and the motorcycle jump only happened in the movie. They did find one of the Americans from the camp and he returned to Poland for the anniversary. He had been a “penguin,” someone with the job of smuggling out sand from the tunnel to the yard in their trousers. They would shake their foot in dispersing the sand, mimicking a penguin’s walk. The sand was a different color than the surface soil, so they had to be very careful about disposal. This account from an RAF Wing Commander, explains the penguin’s work and many other details of life in the camp.

On the 70th Anniversary of the escape, a large, multi-national ceremony in Zagan commemorated what happened there, and the next day, 50 members of the RAF set off on a 200 km (about 120 miles) march from Zagan to Poznan in memory of the 50.

They arrived at the British Cemetery in Poznan’s Citadel, limping, on Friday afternoon – many had changed from military boots to civilian sport shoes with their uniform. The brightest shoes being worn by a woman; whom we later learned was an RAF Chaplain. Each carried a photo and short bio of one of the murdered prisoners. They filed in to stand in front of that prisoner’s grave during a brief ceremony, placing the photos in front of the headstones in unison.

Our friend, Rev. Robert Gamble offered a prayer, the chaplain read scripture, we observed a moment of silence, and it was over – a moving tribute to their bravery and a symbol of the enormous loss.

One of the 50 was a Polish POW. We overheard the organizer tell the young man marching in his memory that his family was in attendance that day and they he would introduce them after the ceremony. How nice that they got to meet the young man representing their loved one, and it made those touched by this tragedy all the more real.

We chatted with two of the marchers after the ceremony. They were both enlisted men, munitions troops, from a base near Brighton. They were exhausted, said their feet had gone numb on the first day, and they expected them to be very painful when feeling returned. The men were very surprised and touched by the enormous turnout in Zagan. They hadn’t heard much news on their four day march, so Ed caught them up on the important outcomes in Premier League that they’d missed. One of their highlights along the way had been a pick-up football match with local youth. We asked about their plans for that night, recommending a visit to the Stary Rynek. They only knew that they were attending a dinner that evening and just hoping to stay awake until it was over. After averaging 30 miles (50 km) a day on foot, for four days, it’s understandable that they were absolutely exhausted.

They both indicated that they were among many who had volunteered for the project, and they felt honored to have been chosen. We noticed a headstone in the British Cemetery with our surname (not part of the Great Escape), he was a Bomb Aimer. I left the Cytadela a little misty eyed and with a growing understanding of the local history.

Wine, Polish Drivers, and Cricket

March 2, 2014 by polishhousewife 2 Comments

With a weekend that included a wine tasting, and international gathering, and the Poznan Cricket Club, how do I categorize this post? Daily life? An interesting daily life. 🙂

We stopped by Mine Wine at Galeria Malta Friday evening for a wine tasting. We tried some very nice wines from Czech Republic, but what stuck in my mind from the evening was the tidbit that the average annual wine consumption in Poland is three liters per person. I’m afraid it’s a little more than that at our home.

After the wine tasting, we stopped by an informal gathering of expats in Poznan at one of the hostels, an interesting mix of people and an example of how our perceptions differ. I was talking with my Israeli friend and a Polish woman who has been teaching in the International School System with a recent assignment in Dehli. As she talked about the driving she’d witnessed in India, my friend said something like, ” . . . and Polish drivers are so polite.”

I had to take her by the arm, look her square in the eye, and ask, “you think Polish drivers are polite?!!” It’s all relative, I guess! Apparently compared to drivers in the Middle East, Poles are polite and predictable. Compared to the United States, not so much. I won’t go into all of the details, but I will quote another American’s post on How to Drive in Warsaw. “1. Get in your car, take a deep breath, and call on your inner aggression.”

Also at the expat meet-up, were members of the Poznan Cricket Club. We’ve been wanting to stop by the Cytadela Park and watch them play. When we found out they were meeting the next day at noon, we made that part of our bike ride on Sunday. I still don’t understand the sport. I’m temped to call it genteel, but Queen Anne is reported to have said, “Cricket is not illegal, for it’s a manly game.” Again, it all depends on where you come from. I think next time, watching cricket will call for a picnic.

That brings me to the question: what deserves to be in a picnic basket (or in our case bicycle pannier) for cricket? My British friend, Caroline, was kind enough to suggest Pimms. I had to google it, so I hope we can find it here, blackberry elderflower and lemonade. That just says summer doesn’t it? It’s just the thing. For noshing, maybe sausage rolls, hummus, brie?

What do you suggest?

Restaurant Day February 2014

February 17, 2014 by polishhousewife 6 Comments

Restaurant Day began in Helsinki, Finland almost three years ago. A would-be restaurateur, put off by government restrictions and paperwork, joined together with friends with the thought of opening a one-day popup restaurant. The laws don’t apply in Finland if you’re only doing it for one day – similar to Health Department exemptions for Bake Sales in the US. They called it Restaurant Day and there were 36 popups in Finland and one in Pineville, North Carolina, USA back in May 2011. Restaurant Day now happens four times a year. With social media, it has spread across the globe. Anyone who wants to can join the fun and set up a restaurant for a day.

Yesterday, there were 1168 popup restaurants, 23 of them here in Poznan. With our friends, we managed to sample the fare at six of them.

Our first stop was at a language school in a beautiful old apartment building on Plac Bernardynski. As you can imagine, those who teach foreign languages need to travel and hone their skills with native speakers. Some of the staff had spent time in Portugal and wanted to share the good food with the rest of Poznan. They just hadn’t expected so much of Poznan to take them up of the offer.

When we arrived, they apologized profusely saying that they were really sorry, but they didn’t have a place for us. We gladly waited in the hallway, and within a few minutes, they brought in a table from another room and set it up in the hallway for us. After more than one person apologized for our seating, saying that it was the first time they’ve done this, we ordered one of everything on their menu, sampling five savory dishes and two sweets.

Most of the savory dishes included fish. It was used in ways that surprised me including something like a pancake. I snapped a photo of their menu, in case I want to google the dishes and try making some of them myself.

After catching the tram to Marcinkowskiego, we set out on foot, sampling yummy cupcakes and savory muffins prepared by Dolina Muffinkow. Then on to the Poco Loco Hostel where several popups were installed on the 3rd floor. Here we had Moroccan food and an excellent little pear tart. As we crossed through Plac Wolnosci for the second time, I grabbed a bite-sized almond tart (my favorite flavor) from fellow food blogger Ali Baby. I have to thank our mutual friend, Justyna, for the photo of the Ali Baby popup. (Her’s were better than mine.) Our final stop was an outdoor grill serving up cheeseburgers with a hot sauce and bacon marmalade (something that sounds so interesting that I know I will have to make it.)

As we were traipsing about town, we noticed police on almost every corner. Before we got to the Old Market Square, we could hear the chant of the football fans. Marching toward the stadium for that evening’s match. Wanting to see them pass through the square, we also crossed paths with a church procession, entering the square at the same time.

The football fans were carrying flares as if they were torches, tossing the occasional cherry bomb. In addition to singing their usual football chants, there were also patriotic songs. As we later debated whether they were fans or nationalists, an English gentleman, an Arsenal supporter, in town to visit a Polish friend, told us it was a group of football fans, but that they were also commemorating a famous date in history between Poland and German in ~~1914~~ 1919 (I have been corrected, thanks, Klaudia). They had been part of the group but had popped into Basilium for a cold one before the match. Mystery solved; except that I can’t find record of an important date this early in 1914. Polish readers, can you help me out?

I’ve condensed our day into just over two minutes in the video below. I hope it tempts to you look for Restaurant Day near you in May, or to make your own restaurant for a day!

Ground Cover, Phoenix, AZ

February 15, 2014 by polishhousewife 2 Comments

Yarn Bombing, or covering things with knitting or crochet has been around for a couple of decades, but Ground Cover is a novel twist on this public art medium. Rather than linger for years, this fiber-art installation lasted less than 48 hours and then was put into service. The City of Phoenix commissioned Arizona artist, Ann Morton for this project, which was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Ann, with a background in graphic design, created and graphed a lush desert floral scene, similar to something I might use for my counted cross-stitch projects. Except that in Ground Cover, each square was 10 inches x 10 inches not just one x stitch.

The squares, which were knitted, crocheted, and quilted according to the color chart and graph, were put together in rectangles – four squares by seven squares. That’s what each volunteer “blanketeer” or group of volunteers committed to do – a 40 x 70 inch blanket. The individual blankets were assembled on a vacant lot in downtown Phoenix in December. With a lot of planning and care, the assembled blankets created Ann’s original design. My daughter and I operate a home bakery, and I just happened to be selling our biscotti at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market the day the project was completed and got to see it before it was disassembled. From ground level, it was difficult to see just what the picture was, but the graph was on display, and once I knew what I was looking at, I could make out the design.

I got to speak with one of the participants, a yarn shop owner from the White Mountains (a four hour drive from Phoenix). Her customers had heard about the project and they started asking if the shop was going to participate. As a group, she and her customers, some out of state, completed one of the rectangles.

It was a happy surprise to find one of my daughter’s friends among the group of volunteers – an accomplished knitter and probably one of the younger participants, you can read her account of the project and see some great work-in-process photos on her blog: Anti-Quotidian. There’s also a facebook page for Ground Cover Public Art Project. Their photos will give you a better idea about the scale of the project and the variety of techniques used.

The best part of this project in my mind is that after it was assembled, oohed and aahed over, and photographed, the blankets were distributed to nearby homeless people and to several agencies working with the homeless.

This was only my second time to personally encounter a fiber-art project such as this. This first was here in Poznan when our Stary Marych statue sported a customized afghan. When I told my sister-in-law about Ground Cover, she said it reminded her of the Knit the Bridge project that lined the Andy Warhol bridge in Pittsburgh.

How about you, have this style of public art made it to your area?

Kamil – the Pride of Poland

February 10, 2014 by polishhousewife

Kamil Wictor Stoch is the toast of Poland this morning. The twenty-six year old Polish ski jumper won the gold medal in the men’s normal hill ski jumping last night. Poland’s first in the sport since 1972. Very impressive for a guy who began the day with a headache and fever. This morning my facebook feed is full of posts with the YouTube video of young Kamil (see below).

Born in Zakopane, the place where all of the Polish pilots go for their ski vacations, young Kamil was on skis at the tender age of three – taking his first jumps on hills he built with his friends one year later. He attended the School of Sports Championship in Zakopane and has a masters from the Academy of Physical Education in Krakow. His helmet last night was the red and white checkerboard, symbol of the Polish Air Force. According to the guys in Ed’s office, Kamil hasn’t served in the Polish Air Force but he has a family connect that dates back to the early days of military aviation.

WSD13 Berlin Follow Up

September 16, 2013 by polishhousewife 2 Comments

Pick up all kinds of info on Berlin in Berlin: Insider Travel Tips

Let me take you on a quick photo/video summary of our trip to Berlin for World Sepsis Day:

When we arrived at the Brandenburg Gate, we found the team setting up chairs, 600 of them. They’re a visual display, not meant for sitting.

Fortunately, Ed brought his own seat.

So much going on – including the removal of a big pile of snow. I’m not sure what they were promoting, but apparently the time window for their permit had ended.

600 chairs, each one representing 300 people who had sepsis in the last year, just in Germany

1/3 of the sepsis patients do not survive or 60,000 people die from sepsis in Germany every year

Happily, 120,000 do survive every year. This woman has coreographed a dance about sepsis. It was performed at Hauptbahnof earlier in the day. She said they took all kinds of artistic people behind the scenes to see the research that’s being done and asked them to communicate via their medium about sepsis.

Ed chatting with another sepsis survivor. This frail, young man is recently released from the hospital. He became ill over a year ago! His sepsis resulted from a small scratch. He needed surgery, and actually had sepsis twice during this time. They’re making a documentary about his experience.

James the Butler Bear at the Hilton

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