Euro Madness 2012!

As mentioned in an earlier post, the month of June was filled with Euro Cup madness with Warsaw being one of the host cities for the tournament!  It was so much fun to be in the heart of the action and to see all of the fans from all over Europe come to support their teams. 

We were super lucky to have one of our favorite futbol fans, our brother in law Mauricio, visit us during the tournament.  Mauricio was born and raised in Brazil....a huge futbol loving country.  So, he has been a long time fan! 

He just so happened to get to see two of his favorite teams, Italy and Portugal, play durinig his time in Warsaw. The Portugal vs Spain game was being played in the Ukraine so we headed down to the fan zone in Warsaw to watch the game and drink beers with 100,000 other fans.  It was so much fun and Maurcio quickly made friends during the night.  The next night Tom and Mauricio went to the stadium for the semifinal match up of Italy vs Germany.  Tom and I learned that there is a longstanding rivalry between these two teams.  And, due to Germany's physical proximity to Poland, Warsaw was flooded with German fans.  This made Mauricio all the more joyful when Italy pulled out a huge upset that evening to advance to the final. 

We are so happy that Mauricio was able to make the trip!   The Euro Cup experience was so much fun to be a part of and having Mauricio here for part of it made it all the more memorable!  After so many years of  not understanding my brother in law's passion for futbol, I now have a new and enlightened appreciation for the sport and the fans!  Thanks for visiting Mauricio!

The Warsaw Stadium in the background

Mauricio makes friends everywhere he goes!

An aerial shot of the Fan Zone in Warsaw

Grafitti from the Poland vs Russia game

Fan Zone Viewing on the Big Screen

Every good futbol fan travels with their team flag

Getting a blessing from JPII before the big game!

When in Poland...you must try pork knuckle

Brotherly Love!



Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #22

Awesome Thing About Living in Europe  #22: Berry Season!

Fresh mashed strawberries!

Finished product "setting"

Poland is a huge grower and exporter of berries.  We are now experiencing Berry Season for the second time...so we know what to expect and can take advantage of it.  Poland produces amazingly tasty berries...strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.  Each berry is available at the market for only a 3-4 week period so it is critical to take advantage of the season when it hits.  I find it fascinating that the price of the berries will literally drop overnight as the supply becomes more available.  And, the price change from the beginning of a season to the peak is even more drastic...dropping by as much as 2/3rds.  Now, Tom, Charlie and I love berries...but there are only so many that one can eat. 

So, this year I decided to try my hand at making and canning jam.  It is a famous Polish tradition and the jars and ingredients are readily available in all of the local markets.  Having never gone thru this process before I googled a number of recipes and watched countless YouTube videos.  I had no idea there were so many different ways to sterilize jars for the canning process!  My first batch of strawberry jam was a success.  I received rave reviews from friends who received jars of it as gifts!  Being my own worst critic, some of the fruit settled a bit too much to the bottom.  But, a few more google searches later and  I think I have a way to prevent this in may next batch.  This weekend I am trying my hand at raspberry jam...hope it is just as tasty as the first batch, and crossing my fingers that the fruit is more evenly mixed in.  : )  It's been really fun learning and taking part in the "Polish" tradition and I look forward to making it an annual tradition for the Sullivan house!