Polish Army Liberation Field Trip

Yes, the hat is just a bit big for me mom!

On Friday the two youngest girls and I went on a school field trip.  This field trip wasn’t just as simple as going to the local zoo or apple orchard.  This field trip we went to a Polish Army training base and learned out about how they train and what kind of equipment they use along with 700+ other kids.  This I would have to say this was IS the coolest field trip that I have been on in the 13 years I have had kids in school.

The local news station TVP-Bydgoszcz was there as well, doing a segment for the nightly news.  Yes, it is in Polish but a few seconds of it is in English because I  got interviewed and my Polish language skills is not up to a conversation level yet.  Click HERE to see the clip.

Below are just a FEW of the pictures that I took of the trip.

Of course the little ones don’t care about bullets they would rather look for rocks!

Local TV crew doing interviews.

Now the fighting is done so out go the kids to find the shell casings.

And the got the bad guy!

They caught the bad guy.

Here comes our hero’s!

My girls!

AnnaFleur and her teacher.

Lunch time.

Lunch was Polish pea soup and it tasted GREAT!

AnnaFleur on top of the tank.

Inside the tank.

Who cares if there is pretend war going on, we are hungry!

Gas mask trying time.

Paintball, the best part according to the kids.

Crash test chair.

Sorry Dad I am going the Army!

Yes the hat is just a bit big for me, mom!

Let the craziness begin!

Here comes the helicopter to land.

Paintball anyone?

Grades 0 & 1 of the girls school.

And away we go!

So what is the best field trip that you have gone on with your kids?

Palace Ostromecko

Isn't the view of Palace Ostromecko beautiful?

Few weeks ago my husband and I had to attend a social for his work.  Let me tell you it was rough having to put on a nice dress, do my hair, eat someone else’s cooking and finally meeting a few of my  husband’s work buddies.  But the best part was where this social was held at.  It was held in one of the oldest buildings in this area, Palace Ostrecko, which is just outside of Bydgoszcz about 3 kilometers.

This is my first palace in Poland that I have been to and it did not disappoint me!  As you can see by the pictures below that place is AMAZING!  We were told by several people that we needed to go there and now I can see why.

The palace was built in 1832-1848.  Over the years many rooms where added to it by different owners.  There are actually 2 palaces on this location along with a magnificent park with lots of greenery.  Throughout time Polish freedom fighters, Napoleon’s Army and the Prussion Army have all used the main palace at one time or another.  Today it is owned by the city of Bydgoszcz.  During the spring and summer is hosts music concerts, open-air events, exhibitions and many other activities.  The palace also has a restaurant and 22 hotel rooms.

I can’t wait until the weather gets better so we can what it looks like when everything is green!

A lot of dutch came to the is area and here are the tiles to prove it on the fireplace.

The desert area, need I say more?

The dining room.

A private dining room and the only real quite spot once the social started.

Another hall with more food.

Yes, I liked the ceiling and the light fixtures in place.

Another hall.

The non-alcoholic beverage area. Needless to say Jim and I had plenty of options to choose from!

Now if you were a wine drinker you weren’t short any options that night!

Aren’t the ceiling neat?

One of the halls with GREAT food and music for us!

Isn’t the view of Palace Ostromecko beautiful?

Time to cook….Borscht

One of the foods that I LOVE here in Poland is the Beet Soup or as they say call it Barszcz.  We have eaten this at a few different places and well each place makes it different, no two have been exactly the same.  And if search for recipes you will bring up hundreds all cooked just a bit differently.

So here is just one way to make it….

Ingredients: 2 or 3 mushrooms, 1 lb beets, 4c vegetable stock or fish stock, 1 lg apple, 1-2 c beet sour, 1 clove garlic, 1/4 c dry red wine, salt, pepper, lemon juice.

Slice mushrooms.

Next, peel and chop the apple.

Now, peel the beets and grate them or if you have this AMAZING Tupperware chopper like you, you put them in it and start turning. REMEMBER beets do stain things if you are careful!

I turned my 5 times and this is what I had. Perfectly grated beets!

Mix the grated beets, chopped apple and mushrooms with the 4 cups of stock in a big pot.

Mix together. Yes, I forgot to add the bouillon to the water before I poured it in, so that is what the brown sugar looking stuff is. Mix in beet sour. Don't have beet sour then just add more water and more grated beets!

Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.

Add crashed garlic, and red wine and simmer for 2 more minutes. You don't have too but I wanted to make sure the alcohol was cooked out.

After simmering you are going to stain the soup so it is now a broth.

Lastly, add salt, pepper and lemon juice until you achieve just the right tangy taste you like!

AND if you want to make it more of a meal add some little ravioli's (uszka).

The soup with the ravioli’s feed about 4 people.

So what is your favorite soup to eat?  

BUT  wait if you going to cook you are going to an apron just like this right….

YOU FOUND IT! We are giving this Southern Seam Apron away in Mays Cooking Explosion!

Hurry leave a post message and head back to Kim and link back to me HERE!

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Wordless Wednesday (#2)

Well it’s Wednesday and that means little or no words from me!  So here is how we spent the last week.

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So what fun family thing did you do this past week?

Want to join my Wordless Wednesday? Add your blog to the list and/or click some and see what others people are up too!

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Why pay full price when you can get it second hand?

Every Monday morning after dropping off my two little ones off to school you will find me and a few of the other moms at a local second hand clothing store called “Fuks.”   I have yet to figure out what is the correct way to say the name because of what I might hear.    Now why do we shop there on Monday’s?  Because on Monday everything is marked down to 2 or 3 zlotys’ (50 to 75 cents).  Normally the clothing is marked anywhere from 2 for a gently used pair of kids short to 35 for a dress or winter jacket.

When you go on Monday’s make sure you shop with your elbows up and out.  Why?  The people are brutal when it comes to shopping and discounts.  I know this is a poorer economy compared to other places that I have lived but they take no prisoners.  When I get there it is usually about 8:55am and there is already a line at least 5 people deep and by the time the doors open at 9am there is about 15 to 20 people.  Then within the next 5 minutes the store easily has 30+ people.  With this many people you quickly look through the clothes and grab whatever you think you might want to buy because if you don’t there is good chance it will be gone when you come back. You think I am kidding?

See I am not!  But if you are willing to deal with a group like this you can get some really good deals!  Here is the jackpot that I got yesterday..

I snagged 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and 2 pot-holders for myself, 1 shirt and 1 tie for Jim, 1 really cool stocking for my oldest daughter and for my 2 little ones, 3 dresses,  5 pairs of pants, 1 shirt, 1 skirt and 1 costume(you can never have to many dress up clothes!)  If you have keeping track there is also 4 ties and 3 belts.  Now the 4 ties are for Easter egg dye that I saw on Pinterest (head over to my Pinterest “Holiday Ideas” board to see what I am talking about).  The 3 belts well Ella I think claimed the pink one but for the other 2 I am going to cut off the buckle part and make either headbands or some kind of fun jewelry with them.

I got all of this for only…..60 zloty or $15!

As you can see I LOVE second-hand stores especially if you are going to repurpose the items like I do or if you have kids are rough on clothes like mine they are going to look like this within 2 washes anyway!

So the girls wanted to do a fashion show for you with my fashion finds. Here is what they look like up close and personal!

This is handmade. I LOVE IT!!!

Are you a second shopper?  Why or why not?

Chuck Norris takes over Poland

I LOVED the TV show “Walker, Texas Ranger, ” and I guess you could say an overall Chuck Norris fan.  One of the local banks here WBK, current ad campaign involves the one and only Chuck Norris.  You can’t go 5 minutes around Bydgoszcz without seeing him on a billboard, a street sign or driving past one of their banks.  Now they have really started pushing their TV ad on Polish television.

Click HERE follow this link to see a Youtube clip of one of the TV spots.  I found one with English subtitles so we all can understand it as my Polish only involves counting numbers and greetings.

So one question I have though is, does this guy ever age?

St. Patrick’s Day Polish Style

Well tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and that probably means CORNED BEEF and Cabbage. WRONG!! I am going to celebrate my Irish roots Polish style with Gołąbki. I can’t get Corned Beef here (I have looked!) but cabbage is everywhere so I am going to make this recipe instead.

We will however have some green sugar cookies shaped in shamrocks for some Irish good luck!

I know I shared this recipe a few weeks ago but this is too good not to share again in honor of St. Patrick’s Day!

A few weeks ago, I spent the day learning to cook this AMAZING polish dish Gołąbki with my dear friends Ewa and Kornilia. They remember cooking these with their grandma’s.  So what are Gołąbki’s? They remind me of stuffed cabbage that my grandmother made just she didn’t cook the meat ahead of time she but the casserole dish in the oven to cook. Just that these polish version has a sweet tomato sauce on top.  It took about 3 hours for us to make them.

So off we go to make them!  

Ingredients: 4 cabbage heads, 1/2 kg of bacon, 2 kg ground pork, 2 onions, 2 bag of instant rice (not in the picture).

Finely chop onions and bacon.

Boil cabbage heads.

Fry bacon till partially cooked then add onions and cook until translucent.

Next, make sure the kids are entertained as it makes cooking much easier and faster!

Fry ground pork until no longer pink.

Cabbage leaves are cooked when they peal right off. They will cook layer by layer.

Cut off the core part of leaves.

Boil 2 bags of instant rice and then add to meat mixture.

Combine all the ingredients and add spices. (Marjome, salt, pepper, no measurements just to your tasting)

Spoon mixture onto the center of the leaf.

Fold the leaves in and then roll up.

Make sure ends of leaves are rolled in and then your done!

Once rolled put them in a casserole dish.

We finally rolled all 60 of them.

Melt a nice chunk of butter to fry the cabbage rolls.

Fry cabbage rolls until nicely browned.

Ingrediants for tomato sauce. Water, tomato sauce, butter and sour cream.

Melt another nice chunk of butter.

Stir in tomato paste (we used 1/2 of medium sized jar) and a nice dollop of sour cream.

Add just dab of water and stir.

And we are done and TIME TO EAT!!!

So what special thing are you going to do for St. Patricks Day?

If you are visiting from Home Maid Simple make you sure subscribe to my email list, my Twitter or “like” me on Facebook to learn more about Poland and the great food that is made here!

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes there is no reason for words, just let the picture do the talking.

So here is my week in Poland in pictures!

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So anything exciting happen to you this week?

Do you have your flowers and chocolate ready?

It’s Miedzynarodowy Dzien Kobiet

Attention men: Do you have your chocolate and/or flowers ready for all the women in your life today?  Why? Because today, March 8th, the women receive flowers and gifts from their loved ones.  In Poland the International Women’s Day was an official holiday, but was a working day. After the fall of communism, it has been abolished as an official holiday in 1993 by the government led by a woman – Hanna Suchocka, crazy huh?

However, it is still observed in Poland and men and boys buy flowers to their wives, lovers, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, teachers and even women colleagues at work.

So how is this different than Valentine’s Day’s,  It is celebrated on March the 8th of each year. Women’s Day is the old Polish version of the Valentine’s Day with the one difference that all women are on the receiving side while all men are on the giving side. While the Valentine’s Day is more privately celebrated between the lovers, the Women’s Day is celebrated more as a national holiday for all women, whether they are 8, or 80 years old.

So what kind of flowers and/or chocolates do you hope to get?

For me tulips and any polish chocolate will do! (hint, hint Jim!)

Yes, I get homesick for North Dakota!

Well today the weather was absolutely amazing to go for a walk with the 2 little one’s so the oldest could do some homework Youtube time in piece and quiet.   At the end of our block is one of Bydgoszcz’s famous canals.   Every time I either drive or walk by it, I get a bit homesick for North Dakota.  The mallard’s bring back some great childhood memories with my dad, grandpa and my uncle Dave and their love for hunting these ducks and the fun family weekends hunting together.  But then I also remember the nasty smell of cleaning them which is not so great!

So what is your fondest memory of doing things with your family?