Polish Food

I know you can't wait for more food posts, so here are the top dishes we've had while in Poland, so far--best tasting or at least most "memorable." Generally Polish food is very similar to Czech--lots of pork and some lard thrown in for good measure. No kidding. How folks stay so thin here is beyond me.



5. Stuffed Cabbage, at a traditional Polish restaurant in Krakow. Stuffed with saurkraut, meat and rice, topped with some sort of yummy gravy, with buttery dill potatos on the side.

4. Bigos: lots of pork, some spare ribs, saurkraut, and maybe some plums or some sort of fruit. Yumm. Under the Golden Deer in Wroclaw.

3. Lobster Risotto at an Italian Restaurant in Wroclaw. Definitely not Polish food, but certainly a nice change.

2. Lard spread--really. See the suspicious-looking crocks of spread on the right. Well, we tried it, not knowing what it was. But this familiar flavor came through and Ian had to ask the waiter what it was. Very proudly, he replied, "lard." Apparently thinking our shocked faces meant we didn't understand, rather than disbelief, he clarified--"pork fat." This is often brought to the table just like chips and salsa at Chi Chi's back home. It's also served like bread and butter sandwiches. Needless to say, we haven't had it since this little clash with cholesterol in Krakow.

 1. Birthday Pierogis in Krakow. Little balls of doughy goodness stuffed with saurkraut and meat. Probably swimming in butter. Happy birthday to me.

Hanging Out with Friends

We made it to Wroclaw a day early because of the flooding in Poland. It's pretty serious really, but the worst is behind us, thank goodness. The best part is meeting up with Blerim and Emira. We haven't seen them in at least two years, so we've had a great reunion catching up with them and exploring Wroclaw. And the weather has definitely improved, so all is well.

Here we are in the main square in Wroclaw. This weekend the square has been really active with music and everyone is out enjoying the weather. It is bringing our travels to a nice close.

Oh yea, sabbatical...

For those of you keeping score, I really am on sabbatical and supposed to be working for my travel. So Monday I did a lecture at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Jagiellonian University is the oldest University in Poland and one of the most prestigious in Europe, founded in the 1300s. I must admit, Poland is one of those places I never thought I would go, so having the opportunity to lecture here is really cool. The Euroculture Program has created lots of great opportunities to meet faculty and students from all over the world. A student from the UK who is studying in Krakow will be at IUPUI in the fall, so it will be nice to welcome her to Indiana and probably nice for her to feel like she has a contact there.

The lecture went OK. I talked about my research on U.S. female politicians and then tried to make sense of some of the data I've collected in the Czech Republic from women politicians. I still have a lot of work to do on that front, but it was a good opportunity for me to talk through it. The audience mostly wanted to talk about the 2008 presidential election in the U.S., and specifically about Obama and Hillary, so that was actually a lot of fun. They asked good questions and seemed to be interested, or were at least polite!

What I found most fascinating about the lecture was where it was held. This part of Jagiellonian University is called "the Przegorzaly Castle." If you click on the link you'll see why. It is located at the top of a hill, and is basically two huge buildings--a hotel and an old building that is now a university office and classroom building for the Institute of European Studies. So this part of the universtiy is also rather isolated. Interestingly, during WWII, the building housed pilots for the German Luftwaffa. So, I'm standing in a room talking about women and politics and 65 years ago, German pilots were standing in that same room talking about their next bombing run. That's enough to make your head explode, isn't it?

As a side note, it has done nothing but rain here in Krakow for four days, and it's not expected to let up for a couple more days. When we got to "the castle," we commented to my colleague Marcin that he had a great view from the top of the hill--overlooking trees and a lovely lake. Well, there isn't supposed to be a lake there. That's just how much rain we've had. Streets are flooded, bridges are washed out, and things are overall just damn wet. We'd love to be able to get out to explore this incredible city, but haven't been able to. The oldest street in Poland is located here (1000+ years old), which leads to Wawel Castle. It's called the King's road and it starts at the Barbicon, the entrance gate to the city, and goes straight to Wawel. There is also an old Jewish area, the Kazmierz, where Arthur Schindler's factory was located. And there's apparently an amazing salt mine located just outside the city, where the miners made incredible sculptures and it's now a tourist attraction. So much to see, but high temps of 50 degrees and torrential rains inhibit our sightseeing. But if you want to do a little virtual sightseeing, you can click here.

So kids, that's your cultural lesson for the day. I promise, more food posts coming soon!

Meeting the Family in Prague

We had a great visit with the family. Meet my cousin Angie, her husband Chris and their daughter Natalie. They live in a little village in western Germany, Trier, where Chris is stationed in the Air Force. They've been there for 3 years, so it's been a long time since we've seen them, and we've never met Miss Natalie. So we had a great time catching up and showing them around Prague, even if it did rain one of the days of their visit.

This is Miss Natalie. She is three years old going on 16. Good luck with that Angie and Chris!

Ian and I still laugh at the first thing Natalie said to us: "Where's your kid?" She is a character and I think she takes after her mother in the talent category. When we were walking around Prague Castle, Natalie would find an open area that looked like a stage and start giving everyone a performance at the top of her lungs from "Mama Mia" or some other musical rendition. She is very talented and knows all the words to the songs she sings.

So here are a few pictures from our day of touring the castle--the one sunny day of their visit.

This is St. Vitus Cathedral, in the background in the pictures above. Here is it closer, but you can't really get a sense of perspective because it is so big.

We had to stop for lunch. Walking and singing all over that castle is tiring. So we had some goulash soup.

As we made our way through the castle area there were a few areas for great photo ops of the main part of the town. Here you can see the Charles Bridge over my shoulder. Yes, I'm a little tired. By this time I think Natalie was giving orders to "jump" down the steps. And she was doing it with attitude.

Of course it wouldn't be a blog post if there weren't more pictures of food. One night we went out for a traditional Czech dinner at this tiny restaurant that is in a building hundreds of years old (see the first picture of all of us in the restaurant). The boys started with asparagus soup.

The girls went for goulash and potato pancakes.

And the boys went for the flaming male stranska, several different kinds of meat wrapped in more meat, served on fire with a plum sauce.

So thanks for a great visit Angie and Chris. We enjoyed showing you around one of our favorite cities and we hope it's not so long until we see you the next time. xoxo

To Our Friends . . .

we miss you . . .

In Bratislava, at a Cuban bar on the main street near the old town square, the customers are encouraged to write on the walls. So we did.

Ian's Choice: Paris

(Dan, there will be food [pictures] forthcoming ;)

When I asked Ian where in Europe he wanted to go, one of the cities he mentioned was Paris. You've gotta go there before you die, right? So we hopped on Easy Jet and spent three days there. Looking back, we got really lucky with our air travel--no ash problems . . . yet. And I had fun showing Ian the major sites of Paris. Neither of us speak French (but we tried our best), and with just a few notable exceptions, we had a really great trip. I'm still not a fan of the Paris attitude, however.

Our Hotel had a lovely entryway, but unfortunately that was the best part of the hotel, along with the very friendly staff and the location (an easy walk to the Eiffel Tower). I can't say I recommend Hotel Nicolo. There was a layer of grime on everything, which, quite frankly, I would say of the entire city. But the hotel did have a lovely entryway which suggested there had been much warmer days before we arrived. The weather when we were there was quite chilly and sometimes rainy for May, and the contrast was probably exaggerated since we were coming from Barcelona. When we arrived, we needed brunch and I introduced Ian to Croque Madame. YUM. Sorry, no food pictures yet. I think we would have been evicted for such uncouth behavior.

But, the first sight we took in was the Arc de Triomph. We took the metro, an amazingly intricate system. We were on the escalator ascending to the street level facing the Arc, so it was fun watching Ian take it in for the first time. We sort of stood in wonder for a few minutes, then decided to take some pictures. Didn't Chevy Chase keep driving around the Arc in one of those stupid Vacation movies? I'm not sure I could navigate the streets of Paris (or of anywhere we've been, quite frankly) in a car. Lanes are where you make them, and speed limits are optional. We wandered down the Champs de Elysees for a while up to the Concord monument before we caught the metro to the next required sight . . .

Next was the big ticket item, the Eiffel Tower. AMB shot a great video of a light show at the tower that you'll hopefully get to see soon. Now I remember when I was here years ago, that we went all the way to the top, but for some reason the top level was closed this night. It may have just been too late to get up there for the day, I don't know, so we decided not to tackle the line and go up. But we did get some great shots. Guess who shot this one!

Even though it's not the best shot, it's probably one of my favorites! 

Now you'll never believe the next day, especially those of you who know how much someone likes to walk. Well, we walked all the way from our hotel and the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame. I'm guessing that's upwards of 3 miles. But it was a lovely walk along the Seine, past the Louvre. We did go into the Louvre the next day and saw all the requisite things, including the Mona Lisa. Ian's reaction was the same as mine--"that's it?" But you've gotta see it, right? Anyway, back to Notre Dame.

Guess who took this picture?

But the best Paris pictures are coming soon . . .

After all that walking we were hungry, so we stopped in this lovely little wine shop, and I do mean tiny--4 tables. Oh, and it was pouring rain, so we had to duck (ha ha, wait for it)  in somewhere. Look at our lunch--foie gras and a delicious bottle of Bordeaux. Can you imagine getting this lunch in the states? The price would be 4 times as much and the taste wouldn't even compare. Oh, and did I mention that we had a view of Notre Dame...lunch on the left bank! And we met a nice couple who spoke very good English who recommended the next area that we explored.

After we thoroughly enjoyed our little Parisian lunch, we wandered to a Jewish area of the city, on the recommendation of a couple we met at the wine shop. Given that it was Sunday, things were closing . . . except in the Jewish area! One of our best discoveries on the way there was this unbelievable cheese shop. I have never seen or smelled such cheesy goodness. Here, take a look:

I couldn't just stand there looking in the window, I had to go in. I asked the cheesemonger to recommend something, and he did. A delicious 2 year old something, probably cheddar, a wonderful creamy goat cheese, and a delicious medium blue. So we bought them. Guess what we had for dinner (enough for two nights actually)? And when you have cheese, you need wine. So we went into a grocery and found two lovely bottles of Bordeaux for only 5 euros each. Can you imagine a bottle of Bordeaux that inexpensive at home. It wouldn't be pretty. So, every time we went out in Paris, I had Bordeaux, because I could.

All in all we had a great time exploring the wine and cheese, oh, and the sights of Paris.

Curing the Dublin Chill

Getting ready to enjoy an Irish coffee and my new cookbook in front of the fire on this chilly Dublin afternoon. The Dubliners really have a great sense of humor. The busdriver today not only gave us street directions, but directions to the bar. We have enjoyed tours of Guinness and the Jamieson distillery. But can't get used to the cold...which is why the Irish made whiskey.

Barcelona Sites

OK, we did more than eat in Barcelona, but not much I suppose. Here are some of the beautiful sites. Much of the architecture was developed or inspred by a man named Gaudi, not to be confused with gaudy. To the contrary, his style is reminiscent of ocean waves, very curvy lines.

We did one of those hop on hop off bus tours and were really amazed that the energy of the people is well represented in the architecture and grandeur of the spaces in Barcelona.

Hello from Placa Catalunya. If you visit Barcelona, you will surely see this place. It is a hub of energy. At night, lighted fountains are at one end. During the day, children chase pigeons. And every day all day, tourists flock here to catch sightseeing busses. It is at one end of La Rambla, so all the energy seems to empty here.

This is La Rambla and it is this busy whether it is 1:00 am or 1:00 pm. It is filled with people selling everything from postcards to parakeets, t-shirts and trinkets, and it is amazing. I keep saying that it has energy, and it does.

Another beautiful place that we visited was seemingly in the center of the city, the National Museum of Art. It is stunningly landscaped and jewelery makers sell their products on the steps leading to the top. The view from the top is absolutely amazing as you can literally see the entire city.

And can you see what appears to be tiny spires above my right shoulder? Here it is close up, or as close as we could get for any perspective. It is the Sagrada Familia, a one man labor of love of sorts that is still under construction well after his death. For a better picture and more info, go here.

But of course, Barcelona is on the Meditarranean Sea and this Indiana gal thoroughly loved sticking her feet in the water on the beautiful sunny day.

So I hope you enjoyed this little tour of Barcelona. We certainly did.

Barcelona Adventures in Food

Hi Kids, finally a free few minutes with Internet access and I thought I would give you a little culinary tour through our food adventures in Barcelona.

Fried artichokes at Ciudad Comtal. This was our favorite tapas restaurant. If you're ever in Barcelona, it is a block from Placa Catalunya on the corner and is a hub of electricity well after midnight. Highly recommended.




Here are more of the highlights from Ciudad Comtal. We think this is roasted peppers, clams, baby squid, shrimp, and these potato bacon fritter things that became one of our favorites.

Of course, sangria is always a favorite:

More tapas: squid (which look pretty, but were overcooked), olives, and anchovies in vinegar.Tomato bread, olives, and more potato fritter things.

We didn't find a good paella place, so we just stopped in one place on La Rambla. Probably should have ventured further away from the tourist area, but this was a nice taste.

But, we were surely not to go hungry. This is roughly 20% of the breakfast buffet that we enjoyed every morning, complete with fabulous coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice, hot and cold entrees. Yumm

So, great food in Barcelona. If you're ever there, let us know. We're ready to go back.