Hi again!

As you have probably seen I've had a bit of blog free time. I've been a bit busy lately with my son...and cooking.

Two weeks ago I bought Jamie Oliver's "30 minute meals" and I'm reinventing my kitchen now according to Jamie's "must have" list. It's a combination of kitchen gadgets to make life easier. Fortunately I have most of it but I still need a good set of pans, first class knives and other smaller objects. Lately I bought ice cream scoop. This very important piece of kitchen's equipment comes in handy while serving the potatoes or rice. Does it make the dish look good? I seriously don't know. Never tried. But I'm gonna!

Basically due to the time of year I'm back to square one: Christmas preparation. Yes, yes it's already two days after Halloween so IT IS OK TO TALK ABOUT CHRISTMAS AGAIN!
My in laws are coming over. Unfortunately my parents couldn't come. It's very busy time of year for my dad at work and mum ...mum wouldn't let my dad to have a lonely Christmas. One thing is sure for this year. There will be no roast turkey! I can't handle the meat that looks like an animal. I wanted to try last year but it's beyond my abilities to eat it(the same is for chickens and other meats).

Last month it was Nataniel's birthday. He is two already. I baked a cake but this year not only it tasted great but also looked ...OK (I guess some things never change).



We are having so much fun now with Nataniel. He is such a cutie. A month ago we packed his cot and put him in a big bed. It is so funny when we go to check on him and he is sleeping with his back blocking the door ...or at the windowsill (thank God we have the windows child proofed).

Update ...and the glorious rain

First of all I need to update the book list:

so

Book six: Stieg Larsson "The girl who played with fire"
Book seven:Stieg Larsson "The girl who kicked the hornets nest"
Book eight: Joseph O'Neill "Nederland"

Currently I'm reading "Wolf Hall " by Hilary Mantel. Winner of 2009 Man Booker Prize. Story about Thomas Cromwell.


Is it me or is the weather in Ireland actually nicer than in the rest of the world? No heat wave, pleasant 20 degrees, lots of sunshine. Not bad.

The long weekend is approaching and we don't have plans yet...aaaa. It's a pity the The Festival of World Cultures is over. It took place last weekend in Dún Laoghaire. What a fascinating experience to see so much diversity in one place. We tasted the Lebanese and Indian kitchen. Listened to African tribal music, Hindu music.Saw Tibetan monks!!!Truly great time!

"Stevie" the TV

The time has finally come for us to buy a TV. We are no longer the outcast of the society. There will be no more late book sessions in bed...Just kidding! We probably are the only people to buy the old second hand TV. It may by big and heavy but still looks great.

The freshly brewed coffee awaits me. Let me excuse myself so I can continue with "The girl who played with fire". It has stricken me today that it's a bit written as a play....she came to the room, took a bath, put on a robe and ate a ham sandwich...nevertheless I enjoy that.

Back home

It's a couple of days that we are back from France. Nataniel is rediscovering his toys and I'm enjoying the beautiful Irish weather.

France was great. Perfect family spot in a middle of nowhere...a nice break from the city lights. The village we were in is called Pen Ar Creach just outside Plonevez Porzay. The village consisted of two houses:our gite and the owners house:).



The only noise we heard was from flies (they are not so annoying in Ireland) and the owner's kleptomaniac dog. Seriously, we are not used to animals at all.Even my new plant collection is on it's last feet.

Upon the arrival I checked the Breton grass. It wasn't too green so I thought that it doesn't rain as much as in Ireland. How mistaken was I? There wasn't maybe the Mediterranean weather but nevertheless we enjoyed our stay the lot as the temperature remained over 20 degrees. The rain was different though it contained more water and the wind wasn't bothering us too much.

The people we met were so nice. Well, maybe apart one arrogant French bard from Locronan who didn't know where Poland is and said that Romania and Hungary are our neighbours.

The amazing thing about the place we have been to is that everything looks so ...French...tiny, detailed...even small deli shops in 2 street village were decorated up to the highest standards.



I loved the farmer's markets. We had one in Plonevez Porzay on Sunday morning. Fruits, crepes, olives, local cuisine were a joy to look at...and cheap to buy.
There was one lady from Malaysia selling food. When we said that we don't speak French she started to sing the United States national anthem as it was the only thing she knew in English. How nice was that?



We visited so many beautiful spots like Locronan, Crozon Peninsula, Douarnenez, Quimper, Concarneau, Landevennec.



As we tend not to visit the same spots twice, next time we will probably go to the northern part of Brittany or southern part of France as I want to see St. Tropez where they filmed "the Gendarme" with Louis de Funes.

I like the Breton lazy way of living( although it was a bit annoying when shops were closed most of the day). From day one I wanted to move there but all in all I wouldn't change Ireland for the world. This is the best place in the whole Universe.

France

So I'm going on holidays !!! In just 2 days we will be in Brittany. Can someone please tell me why the region we are going to is called "little Ireland" ?:).

I'm taking with me the next Stieg Larssen's book "A girl who played with fire" so should be fun. Actually my friend warned me not to take this one as it's so captivating I wouldn't do any sightseeing:).

Now I'm off to pack. We have one bag for three of us so it will be 98% Nataniel's stuff and a pair of socks to share for us.

Book Five: "Let the Great World Spin" by Collum McCann

...so I'm becoming a chef again...cooking is so creative...like being an artist...preparing marvelous things...I own a Michelin star kitchen...ok, no more boasting. I certainly don't own any Michelin stars ...yet:).Lately I've been a fan of Rachel Allen's "Bake!" series. I learn a lot with every episode. Rachel creates amazing things with simple ingredients and visits these fantastic kitchens of culinary craftsman. Today she visited wedding cake maker.It takes hours to decorate the cake with all those intricate decorations like little petals,roses and other swirly wiggly things...no wonder it costs so much.

My late discoveries are freshly baked scones eaten with butter and jam, delicious carrot cake with orangy creamy cheese topping and muffins. I bought these cute little silicone muffin cups and Nataniel loves them.

I'm thinking of creating my own greenhouse on the balcony.I would like to have some fresh herbs...and other stuff ...yes ,my knowledge on gardening pretty much ends on shop bought herbs, so forgive me my lack of anything in that matter.

The April's book for the book club is amazing one "Let the Great World Spin" by an Irish writer Colum McCann. It's a New York tale of the 70ties. It consists of amazing stories build around man's crossing between World Trade Center towers on a wire. The thing accually happened and there a movie was made last year called: A man on the wire". I didn't see it but the members of the book club said that in spite of being a documentary it really keeps you at the edge of your seat. But back to the stories...Collum's ability to write makes the characters alive and although you meet them only for a split second you can get to their core. The place- New York looks kind of scary though...I haven't finished the novel..so many diversities...so much violence...like everybody has to fight to survive. New York... as big as the whole world.

I need a hug

It's not easy these days.

On Saturday a plane crushed near Smolensk killing 97 Polish government officials including a President and his wife. This kind of news leaves you in a state of shock.How such a terrible thing could have happened? Why did they land instead of going to the safer airport where there was no fog? The plane was old, the small mostly closed for landing airport was not prepared for accurate navigation. Was is the place and the time that wasn't right. Is the land forever forsaken for it's previous monstrous killings of Polish elite 70 years ago and just wants to be left in peace? It is a horrible news for Poland and even more horrible for the families that are left here to mourn after their relatives and friends. I am so sad it happened and offer my condolences to the ones left behind.

My parents came back to Wroclaw today. It was so good to have them here ...I miss them all the time. I saw them today and next time I will see them in August in Poland. I can't wait. It was our first Easter with my parents in Dublin. They were here for two weeks and helped us a lot as we got a tummy bug and later a cold. I would never have managed taking care of sick Nataniel, Nikodem and being sick myself. So my dear parents thank you for being here and see you next time (bugs and colds are not welcome to take part).

While my parents were here we managed to see "Samson and Delilah" and "A girl with a dragon tattoo". The first one was in IFI so the atmosphere was magical. Before the movie we had a pint a cheese plate in the IFI's cafe and it was delicious. The movie was by Australian director Warwick Thornton and took place mostly in a desert of his homeland. The main characters were natives living in a desert. The boredom and simplicity of living were striking especially as I am used to big cities and opportunities they offer. For me an opportunity for them a scare. There was almost no dialogue. The face expressions and the harsh land said it all.Very interesting take on Australia we are not used to see.
"The girl with a dragon tattoo" was our first time in Lighthouse cinema. It also belongs to the network of "European cinemas" as The IFI or the ACF in Wroclaw so very high marks from us even before entering the building. I wanted to see this movie as this is an adaptation of the Stieg's Larsson's novel with the same title. I wanted to see the Swedish version before Americans make their own one. It was as watching a criminal from the 70ties.The language was amazing. I love how Swedish language sounds. The movie was a bit too long but even if I knew what will happen in the end it made ma sit on the edge of the seat almost to the very last minute. The other thing: Don't they have prettier actors in Sweden? In comparison with American movies where everyone is beautiful this was very striking and realistic. All in all the movie was a good experience for the language and landscape maybe not really to be remembered for the future generations.

The missed book club

The last couple of days have been hard. I got a tummy bug than Nataniel got it from me. It's all better now but we are still recovering. Because of that I missed my yesterday's book club:(. The book for March was "A girl with a dragon tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. The book was amazing. I read it very quickly. The language was perfect-simple and too the point...very Scandinavian. I won't be getting into that book now I will save that for later as my parents are coming over today. I'm so happy. I miss them so much and finally I will be the one to be taken care of ha!

"Mister Pip" - final conclusion

I finished Mister Pip yesterday and I have to take back the words I wrote about some of the characters and the story line. Dolores, finally made an astonishing impression on me. Her last sacrifice blew me away. I won't tell you what happened as some of you may want to read the story but my point of view changed drastically. Yes, Dolores was the big catalyst of the horrifying events on the island but she redeemed herself completely in the final chapters. And the storyline...it got very emotional towards the end of the book. I cried for half an hour while reading it. Later that night I was so scared that I slept with my son's toy Grover (don't blame me I still love the Sesame Street as much as I was 10).

Book Three: Lloyd Jones "Mister Pip" ...and shaman's stories

Hello! I'm back again.If only someone invented the self cleaning kitchen I would be so grateful.So here I am with coffee in one hand and a slice of sticky gingerbread in the other. Outside there is a mixture of snow and rain. A dark and dingy day someone might say but I don't mind. I already took Nataniel outside and we sent some photos for my dad for his birthday.I feel so bad for not writing for so long. It's just I've been very busy lately. First of all I probably poisoned my dear son and husband with my delicious bolognese sauce and than I had to cure them for a week. So now I decided to go for more natural cooking. Nigella unfortunately is banned from my kitchen for a while. Now we came back to where we started - simple but delicious food. I have to admit that I'm blessed with such a wonderful son who loves to eat whatever I give him. Last Friday he even ate tofu with vegetables I made. So I make my own yeast free bread now, started to eat quinoa with apples and blueberries for breakfast, made soups with mung and adzuki beans, drink lots of fresh juices. I feel so good, light and with so much energy.

My new book "Mister Pip" is the one I read for the Book Club this week. It's not long. About 220 pages. The story takes place on Bougainville Island (near New Zealand) during the 1990s. It's shaped around a civil war between the natives and the invading redskin soldiers. The main Character -13 year old Matilda - lives on the island with her mother while her father works in Australia. After the invasion the school was closed, many have escaped while they still could. But something amazing happens when the only white man on the island (married to the native) takes up a position as a teacher. He is not trained to do that but I cannot imagine anyone more ready. Mr. Watts, as that's his name, starts to read to the children "Great expectations" written by Charles Dickens. All pupils are thrilled with the story from another world. Every school day is like an escape from terrible things that are happening in their village.I'm still reading the book so please don't blame me for wrong judgements but Mr. Watts seems like a good guy. He befriends Matilda. Very interesting is also the relationship between a girl and her mum Dolores. Dolores is very religious type and disapproves the book reading or rather the impact of the reading on her daughter. For now I can say that I didn't like the mum from the start. She didn't talk to Matilda, she stole the "Great Expectations" with terrible results for the village and she didn't even had dignity to come up clear while she could to prevent the redskins from burning the villagers possessions. It was fascinating to see the relationship people have with the Ocean and it's creatures. It was their whole world and everything depended from the quality of that relationship.One cute example: Grace, wife of Mr. Watts had made a family tree that begins with fish. It's a good read that proves that stories can often have the life changing powers.

My last sentence reminded me about the Northern Exposure. There you can often find a shaman's story that is said to have healing properties. I experience that as with every episode I learn something new, something fascinating that makes me want to think about my life.

As for the weather forecast follow up: It's snowing. Is it a Christmas miracle? I think so!

Book Two: Cecelia Ahern: "Where Rainbows End"

Pages:584

My new read...well, I've already finished it so not that new I guess...was so hard to put down that I actually ended up reading it till the 1 o'clock at night. It was a story of two best friends Rosie and Alex from the age of six or seven and finished in their fifties. It nearly gave me a heart attack as I wanted the main characters to get together so much. I absolutely loved the story and the idea of writing a book consisting of letters, emails or instant messages only.Cecelia is a genius I can't get enough of her books.

And the Book Club was such a step forward to me. It was exactly how I imagined it would be. There it was, in the library at 6.30 pm, around 10 ladies gathered to discuss a book of the month. It wasn't like school at all, thank God, but more like casual, social gathering of people who love books. I felt so good even on my way there, it was just my thing so instead of a buggy I had a bag full of books. I felt like a student again. The weather was nice and it was a pleasure to walk. I really feel very hopeful in this new journey of mine.I loved the coffee, I loved the friendly faces, the atmosphere. So now I have two books to read for next month: Lloyd Jones "Mister Pip" recommended by Jack and Judy and David Wroblewski's (not Polish though)"Story of Edgar Sawtelle"(Oprah's Book Club). The second one is extra as it won the hearts of all the members of the book club. I'm a bit afraid of that one as it has almost 600 pages, very small print and not so easy to read language (maybe that's how they write in Wisconsin) so keep your fingers crossed.

Now the most important part: Thankfully I don't have much time to read now as I WRITE. I write, write and write and feel excellent and I really love that. Hopefully in 3 months I'll finish it and then I can start preparing myself, Nik and Nataniel for the big trip to Australia. I want to go there for few years now and maybe now it will finally come true.

As for my cooking skills they seem to take a break as lately my beetroot cake looked like a volcano and my seafood sauce...was good ...but cold (I forgot to warm it up before pouring over the potatoes during a party with our friends from Dundalk). I'm forgetful again. If I wasn't sure I would think that I'm pregnant(it was like my head went for holidays during the whole 9 months). Eh, hopefully the phase will pass and I'll be a Super Dooper Master Chef again.

Chef at home

Dear friends,

I would have never thought that I will fall in love with cooking,ever! But it happened.With this blog, my book and fascinating food discoveries I feel that I finally have found myself. This took me 27 years !!!

Last Saturday I watched the 1st episode of Chef at home. The host is a Canadian chef Michael Smith. He talks so passionately about ingredients that fire your imagination, about beautiful tomatoes, herbs, smells, creating new tastes that it changed my point of view. It's not about spending hours in the kitchen but about spending hours in the kitchen having fun!

So the title of the first episode was: Easy Asian Beef Stew. So a couple of hours later (including a trip to the shop) I was tasting an incredible combination of beef, ginger and...oranges. One of the ingredients was orange marmalade which I made from scratch!!! It was so much fun. The marmalade, orange juice, soy sauce (Dorota, it's still the same bottle you bought:))with bean sprouts and spinach in the end it literally blew my mind away. I made that? The effort was so worth it. Nik and I devoured it in 3 minutes but somehow we managed to take a picture (it was was torture though as it postponed the eating:)).
God bless Canada!

Northern Exposure

Thank God it's not cold anymore and hopefully soon enough we won't be looking like dr Fleischman in Alaska...but with the long evenings at home there is plenty to be glad about... a warm cup of tea or cocoa (ok. it's beer or wine actually) and episodes of our favourite TV series "Northern exposure". I manage to get the season 5. Well dr Fleischman and Maggie O'Connell, Maurice, Holling, Shelly,Marilin,Ed, Ruth-Anne and Chris bring on the real winter, abundance of good cheer and your inspiring conversations!

Book One: Anita Diamant "Day after night"

Pages:294

The first book in New Year, the one I've read for the book club, is one of these stories that I would never pick up from the shelf. I've read a couple books on the subject during high school and I wanted to stop there. I didn't want to imagine in my head the heartbreaking stories of people, stories that were real. It was as if every part of me cried with every word I've read. "The day after night" is also a difficult one, tackling the subject of Jews during WWII and their rescue, but I'm glad I've read this. Very delicate subject. I guess it helped that the author is Jewish. Anita Diamant tells a story of 4 women with different war experiences which are held in a British Immigration camp in Alit. They didn't have any documents to get to the Palestine as other Jews so they just were left there.Four women Zorah-camp survivor, Tedi-Dutch Jew, Shayndel-Polish Zionist and Leonie from Paris...had amazing stories. It's so well written. It wasn't exactly a concentration camp story but about survivors, so it was hopeful. Thank God that there are people to tell about this time.

In search of good weather

Last night Dublin City Council decided to cut off the water supply in Dublin as there is a dangerous shortage. The water is said to return to normal during the course of the morning (it's 12.23 and still no drop from the tap).I will wait. I'm patient. I feel actually quite luxurious as I use the French water Evian for washing and cooking now (the only brand left in supermarket). My tea and morning coffee never tasted so fabulous!!!

There is no snow anymore but there is very strong wind and heavy rain forecast ahead. How lovely! I can manage the cold during walks with Nataniel but wind...wind traps us home...and I don't like that at all.

No more moaning!

I just discovered a new chicken recipe on rte.ie site. You marinade the fillets in dark soy sauce, honey and black pepper than bake it in the oven. I'm giving it a try right now. I will let you know how it goes. I will serve that with lettuce and my miracle dressing (not mine actually, from Canadian chef Michael Smith). It really transforms boring lettuce into a little drop of heaven. I've never eaten so much of this veg in my life. It goes like that: in a small bowl mix a tablespoon of natural yogurt, a teaspoon of honey, juice of half a lemon and a tiny bit of salt and pepper. You should definitely give it a try.

It's my Birthday!

Hi! On the cold day of 11th of January 28 years ago I came to the world.

To celebrate this lovely occasion I went to the movies on Saturday. The city center was deserted as it was coooold and the roads were hazardous to drive. So I took the best tram in the world and went to see "It's complicated". The movie was good. A romantic comedy with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. The plot was pretty standard, nothing surprising, but the cast on the other hand was amazing. I adore Meryl Streep as she always guarantees a good movie. I love those lazy Saturdays when I can go to the city center, take a stroll, see a movie and grab a cup of fab coffee. I can't wait when Nataniel will be old enough to go to the movies to. It will be so cool to go -the three of us.

The snow began to thaw. I'm glad. Well, at first it was nice with the snow. It looked beautiful, but after Saturday night and another frost the pipe in our apartment building burst out and it wasn't so beautiful anymore.We didn't have water for a day.It was fixed temporarily but it should be ok today as hopefully Dublin City Council will take care of that.

For my Birthday I baked the most amazing cake I ever tasted. The recipe came from a Rachel Allen's cooking series. She invited to her Christmas special an Italian chef and he told about this amazing Italian traditional Christmas cake. It was called:Zuccotto di Panettone a traditional Tuscan Christmas pudding. Pannetone as I saw on a video was a kind of a fruit cake. I tried to find the recipe but it takes days to prepare so I went for beetroot cake and used that as a base for a pud. The making of that is a real art. The layers are as follows: beetroot cake drizzled withe sweet white wine, ricotta cheese mixed with sugar, almonds, dried fruits, beetroot cake again with wine, ricotta mixed with cocoa and beetroot cake wine mixture on top. You cover that with cling film and leave overnight. It looked(covered in cocoa) and tasted divine !I will add a picture in the evening.

Summary

Where have the next ten books disappeared? To be honest I don't know. Maybe someone kidnapped them or they needed some time off and went to a vacation? Ok, I've read only ten books since last September. Maybe the task wasn't fully completed but I made so much effort and it was so much fun to discover many great books. The blog changed me. It helped me find a way to be creative. It helped me to find more time for myself by being more organized.I have a New Years resolution to be more out there, to meet people, to get out of the comfort zone. As a start I found a book club in my local library which has meetings once a month. I borrowed next book ( Anita Diamant:"Day after night")they are going to discuss and I'm going to go and share my views. I will get rid of that scared little girl hidden inside me and spoiling my experience. This is my life after all.

Book Ten: Paulo Coelho "Veronika decides to die"

Around 200 pages

I borrowed this book from my brother-in-law and he got it from Santie. It's a story of a girl who decides to die and after attempting a suicide embarks on a journey of self discovery. It reads extremely well. Story touches the subjects of so called normality in our lives.That we sometimes hang on to rules, habits and we forget that inside everyone there is an artist, a total freak, a crazy free spirit. This book really surprised me as I few years back read the Alchemist and didn't really like it. I kind of thought that this Coelho craze is a misunderstanding , that he writes a few wise sentences and then everyone worships him as a saint(I heard about pilgrimages of fans to the places that meant something to him). I thought that his religious inclination was too much in your face. But now...I think that he is like everyone else who wants to find his path, his place. The book about Veronika was very inspirational. I will give Coelho another try.

Happy New Year!!!

So Christmas is over...and another year of preparation ahead of me:). To be honest thanks to Nigella my food turned out to be a success.I made sticky gingerbread, rocky road, beetroot cake, Christmas cake...the only thing I didn't make was the turkey. There was just so much food that on Christmas day I served sirloin,which my mother-in-law brought from Poland, with Brussels sprouts with pecans and caramelised onions and oven baked parsnips in maple syrup. Not bad for my first official Christmas. If only the weather was better...it was...still is... very cold. During the night even -8 degrees.There wasn't much of a chance to take the in-laws for long walks with Nataniel. I read yesterday that this is the coldest winter in 40 years. As we are here almost five years now (I can't believe how time flies) we never experienced such cold. It was always around 10 degrees.Last year we didn't even turn the heating on as it was warm enough. Ok, the gas heating broke down during Christmas '08 but still- it was warm!

As for the lovely New Years Eve we had a crazy party with martini drinks, a movie and Nataniel sleeping in next room:).The movie "City island" with Andy Garcia was great. The counting down was magical as it started to snow. We went out on a balcony and watched the fireworks and as adults...and children were running around in the snow building a snowman.

The most important thing is that Nataniel is getting more confident with his walking. He still crawls most of the time but you should see the the proud look on his face when he makes his cute independent steps.