All About Poland

12/09/2021

Time to come back! And start new season. If you are an expat woman, and want to know some other expat women - come to the meeting

22/03/2021

Horseradish is another "must be" during Polish Easter.Fresh horseradish is a valuable cosmetic and often used in natural medicine. It contains a lot of vitamins C, folic acid and other microelements and vitamins. Moreover, horseradish is a natural antibiotic, syrup made from it is a great cough cure. It also speeds up metabolism.

You can make compresses from grated horseradish, they will cause tissue congestion and create an intense feeling of heat; however they'll also reduce any pains, improve the mobility of joints, reduce swelling and tensions in muscles.

Horseradish is not rich in iron, instead, it's rich in ascorbic acid, which can increase up to three times the absorption of non-haem iron. It also contains large amounts of folic acid.

Horseradish is also widely used in Polish cuisine. But where do we use it?

It's best to grate the horseradish by hand. You can of course easily buy it at the store, it is a wide range of „CHRZAN” on the shelves; next to mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup.

Ćwikła is a mixture of cooked and grated beets with freshly grated horseradish. Season it with lemon juice, salt and sugar and it will be a great addition to any meat.

Especially during Easter you will find a lot of horseradish - we have horseradish sauce, eggs with horseradish, red borshcht with horseradish, white borshcht with horseradish
And of course, we also add horseradish leaves and roots while we pickle cucumbers (or other veggies).

Ania

18/03/2021

When you ask a Pole, what soup do they associate with Easter, most likely they will answer Żurek. It's one of the eldest Polish soup, mentioned in recipes as early as in the XIII century.
In the south of Małopolska and in Podlasie it's usually made with buckwheat flour, whereas in the rest of Poland, it with rye flour.
Żurek is eaten with boiled broad beans, peas, groats, herring, noodles or potatoes.
During Lent, it was served at every table, no matter the social status.
Traditionally - rarely seen being done today - in the middle of the Holy Week the people would organize "the hanging of żurek and the funeral of the herring" as a symbol of the ending of Lent.

So, what differs Lent żurek from Easter żurek? The fact that Lent żurek is made without any addition of meat, while Easter żurek is generally made with smoked bacon or white sausage ( sausage stuffed with raw pork meat ).

translation supported by L**h

07/02/2021

01/12/2020

01/12/2020

Some suggestions regarding Polish Christmas carols:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dxjt1u6c3w (Philharmonic
concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQeMAgFYHuo (Mazowsze)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKBuk8bwieIo2Z6YgZ1N3LrWmFQbIDtj (Stanisław Sojka)
Mizerna cichahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtQdOf86iCs
W żłobie leżyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9px1FHy_wI
Bracia patrzcie jenohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vUTNk4va2Q
Oj maluśki, maluśkihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOQhTZ48Tq4
A wcora z wiecorahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umyplvxQMJg
Preisnerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2sq1qQdrG0&list=PLgRThJ2kTaTgWB5JgXsN-sRzkhi7bQtAB
kolędnicyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOOjhyRQmtc

szopka krakowskahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRi_5Mk2S6w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fXx2wW4ig8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm8FwdgVm2E - koleda preissner
http://muzeumkrakowa.pl/en/krakow-nativity-scene

0:25 F. Nowowiejski (1877-1946) Polish Fantasia, Op. 31 No. 4 “Christmas in Poland” / Fantazja polska op. 31 nr 4 Boże Narodzenie w Polsce for organ solo / n...

01/12/2020

When my kids were just kids, during the Advent time we were reading them the wonderful book of Jostein Gaarder - "The Christmas Mystery". 24 stories, secret advent calendar, travelling through time and space. And everything started in a mall in Oslo with a small sheep....