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Polish Housewife

Polish recipes served up with tidbits of folklore, customs, and history

Events

Holi Open Air Poznan

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photo: from Holi Open Air Poznan’s facebook page

Holi is a Hindu religious festival celebrating the arrival of spring.  It involves among other things, dance, food, music, and tossing galul (colored paint powder) into the air.  In case you’re wondering, yes, everyone ends up totally covered in paint of all colors. The concept has been borrowed by many groups around the world as a concert/event theme.  Holi Open Air arrived in Poznan this week and will take place in Warsaw in a fortnight.

We’re a long way from the arrival of spring, but that didn’t stop reveling concert goers from the paint part of the celebration.  We were not in attendance, but a Dutch expat friend was and I’ve read about it online.  One blog post recounted the author’s experience at Holi Open Air events in Austria.  Her advice:
— Drink before you go.  The beer is expensive and the lines for the toilet are long.
— She felt the right age for the audience was 18 – 21.  She was 22 and thought that was OK, but if you were 25, that might be too old to enjoy it.

It’s crazy to think our youngest child, turning 25 on Friday, is aging out of things!
😉

Poznan Uprising – June 28, 1956

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All of the trams and buses were sporting Polish flags

Yesterday was the 57th anniversary of the Poznan Uprising, the first of several protests against the communist government because of the very poor economy.  100,000 people demonstrated in the city center.  In response, the government sent in 10,000 troops and 400 tanks.  They opened fire on the protesting civilians.  There are conflicting reports on the number of dead.  The Gazeta put the figure at over 100, with hundreds more injured.

Contrary to American tradition, there are no June 28 sales at the shopping malls.

Paul McCartney – Out There – Warsaw

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Hey, Polskie Forum The Beatles and beatles.kielce.com, thanks for stopping by!

Last Saturday was Paul McCartney’s first performance in Poland, and my first time to see him in concert.  It was the third time for Ed, so it was interesting to hear how this show compared to others.  If it was like previous tours, we knew that the concert would be long, about three hours, and that Sir Paul would not leave the stage during the evening.  That’s right, he sang song after song, without a break.  Occasionally for a short time, the band would leave the stage, while he did something solo.  He is quite a showman still, at 70, and obviously loves what he does.

Ed and our daughter, Lauren, are both huge fans of The Beatles and Paul McCartney in particular.  They’ve read the bios and know all of the trivia.  I think I’m just the wrong age to have grown up loving The Beatles.  I would have been 7 or 8 when they first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show – too young to care, and their music was too counter-culture for my parent’s household.  Remember, they were revolutionary in their day.  I’m a late comer to the circle of Paul McCartney fans.

There are three things I found especially memorable about our evening with the former Beatle: our shared connection to Tucson, the audience’s shared connection with the USSR, and their response in general.

As he sang The Long and Winding Road, the largest screen on the stage was filled with photos of the Sonoran Desert.  That’s home for me; the McCartneys own a 150 acre spread just outside of Tucson. Saguaros, our mountain ranges, I wasn’t expecting to see them in Warsaw of all places.  To recognize the sights from the other side of the world was very touching and made me more than just a little homesick.  I read once that the McCartneys appreciated the fact that generally, Tucsonans just left them alone. Several years ago, when Lauren was home from grad school for a friend’s wedding, her boyfriend at the time wanted to drive out in the desert to try to find their ranch after the rehearsal dinner.  It would have made a good story, but I don’t think it ever came to pass, and it just shows that he wasn’t a local boy.  Josh was from . . . California.  If you think about the lyrics of the song and know that their home in  Tucson is where Linda died, you can see why he always uses these photos, which she may have taken, when he performs this tune.

At one point during the concert, I leaned over to Ed and said, “I wonder if he’ll do back in the USSR.”  Yep, he did, and I was right to wonder how it would be received.  The visuals to go with the song were perfect and included a sign that said “Warsaw girls make me sing and shout” and a fast, almost subliminal flash of “free Pussy Riot.”  The Spanish couple to Ed’s left were standing and rocking out.  The Poles surrounding us who had been clapping along, swaying in their seats and smiling, sat perfectly still during the song just waiting for it to be over. It crossed my mind that it was a good thing that they loved him; he would not completely lose the audience over this.  When we got back to the hotel, I wanted to know the background of the catchy lyrics.  It was written during the height of the Cold War, during a very partisan time in the UK.  It’s supposed to be about a Russian spy who has been in the United States so long that he’s thrilled to be returning home.  It was very controversial at the time, seen as glamorizing and promoting the enemy.  It was so “in your face” that Ringo left the band over it.  Paul McCartney played the drums on the original recording.  His band mates eventually wooed Ringo back and the group moved on.  You can imagine how thrilled I was to have a piece of Beatles trivia that Ed had not heard before.

The crowd, which I’m estimating at 30,000, loved it when he tried a few Polish phrases – no easy task, believe me.  The main portion of the concert closed with Hey Jude.  We knew something was up because we’d seen people around us carrying in pieces of paper printed with “Hey” and “Paul.”  During Hey Jude, these were in the air.  I’ve found no mention of this happening in other cities during the tour nor did I find any reference on google.pl.  My guess would be the Legia Warsawa fan network spreading the word. (see comments) It was a nice birthday present for the star.

After two short encore sets, the stage dimmed and the stadium lights came up.  Thankfully, the police had blocked the street from the stadium towards downtown.  We and thousands of others took to the street and walked back our hotel.

We traveled to Warsaw by train Saturday and returned Sunday.  I made a mistake at the Intercity office that I will never make again.  I didn’t insure that we were on the express train to Warsaw.  The extra time on the train didn’t matter, but having 8 people in the compartment rather than 6 was very uncomfortable.  With 6 other people in close quarters, there will always be one or two who fancy themselves the center of the universe.  We had one at each end of the compartment.  🙁  Less than perfect bookends to a great weekend.

He’s still wearing Beatle boots

Midsummer Night 2013

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On the evening of June 21, the skies over Poznan are traditionally aglow with paper lanterns.  The goal for tonight is to launch 30,000 of the tissue paper hot air balloons.  You can check of my post from last year, complete with video of the crowd and the lanterns.

The sight of the sky filled with the glowing lanterns is breathtaking, but it has always struck the American in me as dangerous, wildfires are a big risk at home this time of year.  The landscape is much greener here and the humidity much higher, but apparently I’m not the only one with concerns according to an article in The Gazeta today.  Firefighters have argued that most European countries have outlawed this practice and Poland should too.  The event is organized by a non-profit organization (to help promote Poznan internationally) and approval  given by the city.  The mayor of Poznan (the office is called president here) is permitting the huge undertaking, but those of you familiar with Polish culture will not be surprised, that he and the city are not taking responsibility for the safety of participants, that belongs to the organizer.

The organizer, who feels the firefighters are overstating the danger, will offer not extend his assurance of safety if there are people setting the lanterns off incorrectly.  Those individuals would be responsible for any dangerous results.  Good luck finding them.  There is currently one lawsuit against the non-profit from last year’s lantern event; the suit is brought by someone injured by a lit fuel cube falling from the sky.

The Warta river is higher than most years, so the location has been moved a little further north.  Tonight from 8 PM until midnight, they’ll be launching from the bridge near the Cathedral.  I’ve heard that they will be going off from both banks this year; we hope to catch a glimpse.

Poznań Half Marathon 2013

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Today was the nicest day, weather-wise, since I’ve been back in Poznań – sunny skies and temperatures promising to hit 42 by mid afternoon – perhaps the first day without snow flurries.  The runners in this year’s half marathon couldn’t have asked for better weather.  Our friend, Sławek, was partipicating, so we walked to the lake to watch for him as he passed by.  After a while, we started to worry that we wouldn’t recognize him.

I may have been the only one with that thought.  During a Susan G Komen 3-day, 60 mile walk, I remember waiting for our niece and her friends at an interesction.  I didn’t see her and she didn’t see me.  If it wasn’t for cell phones, we never would have connected.  You know, all those exhausted people in their athletic gear, trying to suck in as much oxygen as possible.  And if I’m perfectly honest, there’s a much more homogenous look to the population here.

We did catch a glimpse of Sławek and shout a word of encouragement as he went by.  We saw some folks running in interesting costumes, from Pippi Longstocking to a guy in a business suit. Ed got some great photos that you can see on his blog.

This was the sixth annual half marathon.  They had  7,650 entries and 6,800 runners (a 50% increase over last year!)

Bountiful Baskets

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7 AM pickup at the park

Last fall, I noticed a poster in a Tucson restaurant window which said they were a Bountiful Baskets pickup location.  That was the first I’d heard of Bountiful Baskets (BB).

A friend mentioned that she and her daughter had tried them.  The daughter is a big fan and volunteers frequently at her location in Flagstaff.  My friend gave up on getting the baskets.  The pickup time at her location came too early on a Saturday morning, and her husband is not very adventurous when it comes to produce.

Here’s how it works.  You visit the website between noon on Monday and 10 PM on Tuesday.  You find a location near you; they’re in 16 states at this point.  Using a credit or debit card, you make your financial contribution to participate for the coming week.  It’s better to do this sooner rather than later because locations can sell out.  The standard basket is $15 for a mix of fruits and vegetables that would be $50 in a grocery store. I chose to upgrade to an organic basket for $25 and added on an organic bread basket for $10.

You don’t know what will be in the basket, and from reading the comments on the BB facebook page, I would say sometimes it isn’t known what’s in the basket even after it’s been picked up.  I noticed a lot of people asking about celery root and heirloom tomatoes.  “What are these things and how do I use them?”

While the selection will vary weekly, this is what I brought home this week:

  • 4 heirloom tomatoes
  • 3 mangos
  • 5 small apples
  • 1 enormous cauliflower
  • 2 avocados
  • 6 bananas
  • 1 bulb fennel
  • 3 zucchini
  • 1 bundle of green onions
  • 2 heads leaf lettuce

Our organic bread basket included:

  • 3 loaves of 9 grain bread
  • 1 loaf cranberry walnut bread
  • 1 baguette

You have the chance to inspect (and reject if need be) the produce on site.  Personally, I would enjoy finding a never before tried item in the basket and don’t mind at all planning a menu based on what’s in the box.  In addition to the $35 I mentioned above, there is a one time $3 charge for new participants and a regular handling fee of $1.50. The pickup locations are all staffed by volunteers.  This co-op idea is similar to a CSA co-op but without the shared risk and long term commitment.  Have you tried something like this?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

PS – I’ve just picked up my second Bountiful Basket.  I went nuts shopping this week, spending $100.  In addition to the organic basket for $25, I selected:
2 tropical  add-ons – the description said we hope to have 2 vanilla beans, many fruits and ginger.  As it turned out, there were no vanilla beans.  The ginger root is a piece of 1 cubic inch, kind of a joke, but there is a nice selection of citrus, pineapple, mangoes, kiwi, and coconut.
2 half-gallon jars of coconut oil – this was a good buy for a huge container.  Both our daughters in Tempe and Tucson use coconut oil, so I ordered two.  The site manager was under the mistaken impression that I wanted olive oil, so she refused to accept it.  They will issue a credit to my Bountiful Basket account, not my bank account, and it will take 4 weeks to appear.  I’m a little miffed about this.  If they had taken the coconut oil and it wasn’t what I wanted, I would still have to wait for a credit.  I don’t see the risk in taking it since the order print-out said that I’d ordered 2 coconut oils, but as I said above, this is totally staffed by volunteers.  
5 pack of tortillas – this is a 5 dozen assortment of corn and large and small flour tortillas.
A bag of granola – curious to see if this is as good as homemade.

Our organic box – this week includes, 5 oranges, 6 apples, 5 bananas 6 oz. blueberries, a head of garlic, Brussels sprouts, 3 pounds red potatoes, fennel, celery, broccoli, and a head of lettuce.  Not bad for $25!

Restaurant Day is Coming to Arizona

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From the moment I learned of Restaurant Day, I’ve wanted to participate by setting up a one day only, pop-up restaurant. We’ve been on the customer side of the table in Poznan, Poland twice and it has been great fun and delicious food.

I’m in Arizona for a couple of months and Restaurant Day is again approaching on February 17th. I just listed my restaurant at RestaurantDay.org. At the moment, I’m the only one in Arizona and one of two in the United States! I’m sure we’ll see a few more as date draws near.

In case you’ve missed my other posts, Restaurant Day began in Helsinki, Finland in May 2011. People who love to cook, set up a restaurant for a day, kind of like a bake sale. It happens four times a year. The idea is to just recover your food costs or to donate any profit to charity. The sharing of food is done with a volunteer spirit rather than a profit motive, not that I have anything against profits. It’s also a totally underground movement, ignoring all government regulations, but the mayor of Helsinki has recently praised the practice for thinking outside of the box, indicating that the city has a lot to learn from Restaurant Day.

Some people have their R-Day events in the home, some on the street corner, in a park. The only thing that’s forbidden is for a real restaurant or commercial venture to taking part.

I plan to have a big basket of cookies and will try to find a shady spot on the Arizona State University campus on that Sunday afternoon – somewhere between the Memorial (student) Union and the library. I hope the campus police are understanding; my daughter tells me she doesn’t have bail money.

I’ll have a much easier time than many of the other participants who will be venturing out during frigid winter weather to share their goodies. I’ve decided to donate all of the money to collected to the United Food Bank in the Mesa, AZ.

Fellow food bloggers, I’ve love to hear your thoughts on this idea.

Other articles about R-Day:
Idea became a global movement
The Village Voice
A New Zealander making Pavlova for R-Day

New World Light Rail vs. Old World Tram

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Trains on the single line run about every 10 minutes, stops include the airport and baseball stadium, as well as the university

If you’ve read much on my blog, you know that I love the tram system in Poznan.  It’s our preferred method of getting around the city.

Yesterday, for the first time, I rode the light rail from Tempe to Phoenix.  Lauren and I were going downtown to a Food Truck lunch.

I was curious about comparing the two transportation systems.  This is what I came up with:

Poznan
First tram – 1880
Track – 40 miles

Phoenix Metro Area
First light rail = 2008
Track – 20 miles

It surprised me that the length of track in Phoenix was  half as long as in Poznan.   I would have guessed it to be a much smaller percentage.  The light rail has been well received and it ranks 12th in the country for ridership, and yet, it seems woefully inadequate.  The areas served are very limited.

Phoenix pales in comparison to Poznan.  I think that’s because Poznan is an area of 100 square miles.  The Phoenix metro area is over 16,500 square miles – 165 times as much space.  There are plans to expand the coverage, but with the differences in population density, it will never be as practical.  The population is only 9 times greater.  We like to spread out in the southwest.

On the plus side, every light rail stop has a ticket machine, very handy.  And I didn’t check every stop that we went by, but several seemed to include some public art.

Mosaic sculpture at our stop

Today, well make the trek to Tucson to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  I’m glad to be here with family for the occasion, but I’m missing the Pilot of the Year Ball in Poznan tonight.  Ed has promised to take some pictures.  The honoree is one of the young pilots who was finishing up his training in Tucson just as Ed left for Poland and was one of our Polish guests at Ed’s farewell party.  We have always called him Jack, but I now know that his name, Jacek, is pronounced very differently, Yatsek would be more like it.  Jacek and I got to chat at the party, and that’s where I learned important things like meals in Poland always begin with soup.  I’m sure it’s no surprise that I would ask him about Polish food.

One thing did surprise me though.  I asked what he had flown before the F-16, and he replied with  MiG 29s.  It makes perfect sense, but it caught me off guard at the time.  Ed was on active duty during the Cold War, and I never would have expected to be entertaining MiG pilots in our home.  Very cool that we were!

Ice Carving 2012

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Ready for the teams
The old Town Hall, the city’s Christmas tree and the whipping post
My favorite souvenir shop – selling locally made arts and crafts
Now I understand why they flock Christmas trees
Beautiful – but don’t forget your thermals
Post Euro – fewer football themed carvings
The big winner, split between the two member team, 750 euros isn’t bad for a day’s work

The ice carving competition that almost wasn’t – that’s how I’ll remember this year’s event.  Things were scaled down, smaller, but the old square would have been so empty without it.  The weather has been below freezing for the last week – just right for ice carving.   No worries about the statuary melting too soon.  Everything has looked beautiful with a light covering of snow and ice – spoken like someone who doesn’t have to get myself to work every day.

2012 Ice Carving – It’s Back On!

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From the City of Poznan Facebook page: This year we will once again host the best sculptors in the world! The International Ice Sculpture Festival will be held in the Old Market on the weekend 8-9 December, please :)! A strategic partner of the festival is the company TriGránit [photo Pawel Urbanski]

Three weeks ago, I learned that the city had canceled the annual ice carving competition and the corresponding festival in the Old Square – Bethlehem Poznanski. I remember thinking at the time that it seemed very late to cancel. It’s a really big event with international teams that travel great distances to be here. Even the vendor’s at the holiday marketplace, I”m sure there schedules are booked a year out. They had probably foregone other festivals to be present at this one, and I’m assuming that both the ice carvers and vendor’s may have paid an registration fee to reserve their spot.

Yesterday, I saw on the city’s facebook page that the ice carving competition is back on. (I’m still wondering about Bethlehem Poznanski.) It reminded me of times when local events in Tucson would be threatened with closing because of financial constraints. It always seemed like one of our local businessmen, who had earned great wealth in the local community, would set up and sponsor The Passion Play or whatever it might be.

I read a translation of the city’s post more carefully today, and I see that their sponsor is TriGranit, an international real estate development company. They are the folks that just remodeled the main train station in Poznan – a sprucing up which involves adding a shopping mall to the facility.

As a former Business Administrator who has been in on the behind the scenes planning for many events, I wonder what the communication was like. Did the city say to participants, “don’t change your plans just yet; we’re only announcing it’s canceled to find a sponsor,” or did everyone get the same info as the public? Were prospective participants cancelling flights and hotel rooms only to be re-booking them at what seems like the last minute?

Regardless, I’m glad that it’s happening, and I look forward to watching these icy artists at work.