Enjoying the Polish Summer!

My two favorite boys!



Happiness!

I know I have mentioned how great the local flower markets are here.  Its amazing how something as simple as a few fresh flowers can make my day!  These Polish wildflowers caught my eye and are brightening up the house!



An Italian Retreat

Last week I was fortuante to spend some time in Northwest Italy staying on an Italian agriturismo.  An agriturismo is a style of vacationing in a farm house or villa in the countryside.  I spent my time outside of the small town of Asti, Italy. 

I was drawn to this trip thru one of those serendipitous moments in life.  I found out about the trip through my old pilates studio in Chicago, who's email list I happened to still be on.  The trip sounded like a perfect getaway...Italian countryside, pilates classes on site, and cooking classes in the evening....sign me up! 

It was a super relaxing vacation and was incredibly nourishing to body, mind and soul.  Since the trip was organized through a Chicago pilates studio I also got to meet some wonderful Chicagoans who will hopefully come visit us in Warsaw someday.  : )  On the trip we spent mornings in pilates class and evenings learning Italian cooking under Chef Gino.  Afternoons varied between lazy afternoons at the pool and trips into the nearby villages for sightseeing.  And we spent late evenings enjoying wine made on site on the veranda.

It was so wonderful exploring this part of Italy and I hope Tom and I can make a trip back together sometime soon!

The view from the Agriturismo

We got to drink the wine made on site...delicious!

Prepping for dinner al fresco

The outside of the agriturismo house

Sam, the owner's dog, kept us company during our stay

Chef Gino teaching us Pea, Mint and Peccorino Lasagnettes - yum!

Homemade garganelli pasta - a ton of work, but so worth it

Enjoying the fruits of our labor

A great group!

We'll be back Poppy Farmhouse!



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!

Craziness in Warsaw!

It is Poland's time to shine during the month of June!  The Euro Cup Football (Soccer to us Americans) Tournament is being held jointly by Poland and the Ukraine during this month.  The tournament is a huge deal and happens only once every four years!  It is second only to the World Cup.  Over the past year there have been a number of qualifying matches to determine which countries team's would even make it into the tournament.  Poland's team isn't great, but fortunately for them they get automatic entry into the tournament as host country.  The tournament kicked off this past weekend and has been so much fun to watch! 

There are three different cities in Poland hosting games....Warsaw being one of them.  While the stadium in Warsaw is across the river and about 15 minutes from our house, the "Fan Zone" is a stones throw from our apartment.  We can hear all of the fans at all hours of the night.  : )  Warsaw has set up this Fan Zone surrounding the Palace of Science and Culture.  It holds nearly 120,000 people, has 8 giant screens for watching the games, numerous food and beer booths, and even a new McDonald's has been built on this site.  This is one of the first times that Eastern Europe has hosted this tournament, so the Poles are quite proud to show off their country and want people to have a great experience!  All day on Friday the city started buzzing with tons and tons of people dressed in their red and white gear ready to cheer on their home country.  Poland played well Friday night and tied 1-1 against Greece.  They will also play the Czech Republic and Russia in the first round and the two teams with the highest number of points at the end of the round will move on in the tournament.  According to the Poles, they will all be thrilled if Poland can make it onto the next round...from there things will get difficult if not, impossible.  Depending on who you ask Germany and Spain are favored to win the whole thing.  We, of course, are rooting for Poland!  And, not just the football team, but for the country.  We have grown to love this country and hope that all of the fans from all over Europe love it too! 

We'll be glued to our TV for Tuesday night's big match....Poland versus Russia.  With the crazy history between these two countries there is a lot of pride and bragging rights at stake!

GO POLAND!  Biali i czerwoni!

A few pics of the Fan Zone by our house



Corpus Christi

Today is Corpus Christi, a very important Catholic Holiday, in Poland.

The Feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) or Boże Ciało is a Catholic Feast observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday in villages, towns and cities all over Poland. In smaller areas, virtually the whole village or town becomes involved in an organized procession through the streets. Householders will decorate their windows with religious icons. Traffic is stopped and at midday the congregation leaves the Church. It will then walk in a procession along the streets, stopping en route at various temporary shrines in order to pray. The shrines are decorated with branches from birch trees and members of the procession will tear off twigs from the various shrines for luck and happiness. Young girls dressed in their first communion dresses (which look like white wedding dresses) scatter rose and other flower petals on the streets. These petals are for Christ who Catholics believe is walking the streets alongside the people during these Corpus Christi processions. Throughout the festival, the Priest walks around holding the monstrance under some sort of umbrella (called a baldachin) held by four or more men from the village or town, while altar boys swirl burning incense around him. The most prominent procession in Warsaw is along Krakowskie Przedmiescie, along the route to Old Town. In Lowicz, the procession is very lively and colorful as the participants dress in the national costume.