Getting into the groove

July 20, 2012

Well, we arrived safe and sound with the critters, and introduced them to our new apartment just a couple of days ago!  Since then, we've been waiting for our household items and car to arrive, and killing time like anyone would in a new city.  You know, the normal stuff...shopping for new sheets (our apartment came with a nice king size bed!), sightseeing, napping, and cooking!

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"ARE WE THERE YET??"  ~ Piper, future US President

Piper practicing yoga in Warsaw. She needed a BIG stretch after 10 hours on an airplane!

Warsaw central train station.  I was told by multiple teachers at FSI that this place is horribly dirty and scary - they must have done a ton of work to it before the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, because it was SPOTLESS!

Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw

Danger may be popular in America, but on the train from Warsaw to Gdansk - he was a SUPERHERO!

He was snuggled by at least 5 children throughout the trip.  

This is Ewan, a Polish-American kid from Chicago. 

He was delighted to speak Poglish -think Spanglish :)- with us and snuggle Danger.

The train experience:

The train trip was long, about 8 hours. It usually takes about 4 hours to drive. 

First class tickets are $35 each. The first-class cabin will hold 6 people, or 3 people, 2 cats, and one big dog! The train was clean, but old and none of the lights worked. The most shocking thing was - when you flushed the toilet on the train, the bottom of the toilet opened up, and dumped your waste directly onto the tracks below, and the toilet paper had LARGE RAISED BUMPS printed into it! YIKES!

The view from our largest balcony, off the living room

I'm FREEEEEE!  Oh, wait. No I'm not.

Princess approved!

Guess where we had lunch!  Tastes like home, or Sweden. 

Another Olmsted spouse had mentioned that ice cube trays are really hard to find in Europe.  I looked at IKEA, and was given the choice between blue fish or orange starfish silicone molds. No "regular" square molds on a rectangular tray.  I was informed that these silicone guys are NOT used for baking.

A little friend I found on the sidewalk.  

I bought what looked good and fresh at the market today and then decided what to do with it.

I could not resist buying a "Polish" sunflower at the market.  It cost 3 PLN (zloty) or $1.00

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are, but they are pretty!

We have a couple of very dull knives and an old warped cutting board...but I managed to make spaghetti carbonara for dinner tonight. I bet Jamie Oliver feels like this when he goes to film a show out in the woods somewhere in France with borrowed equipment.

First dish in Poland - Spaghetti Carbonara Gdańska

The bacon here is not smoked, not salted, and not cured in any way. 

If you want to try my version, you can often buy non-cured, non-smoked pork belly (bacon) from small pork producers at farmers markets or at your local Korean/Asian grocery.

Off-the-cuff spaghetti "carbonara"......

Ingredients:

25g butter

4-6 pieces of bacon, chopped

1 leek, thoroughly rinsed and the white/light green parts chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

4 large eggs

500g spaghetti (a whole regular package)

200 ml 2% milk 

- I have only been able to find skim milk in one store here and it was the "boxed-Parmalat" variety - I'll just take the fresh, local stuff with fat in it -

20g Parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Boil water to cook your pasta, add some salt to the water.  Cook your spaghetti per package directions.

Start your pasta right after you put the bacon in the pan.

You want the pasta to be HOT when you  mix in the egg-mixture, otherwise you will have raw egg in your dish!

Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook on medium heat.  

After 5 minutes, add the chopped leeks, and cook on medium heat until translucent/softened

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the garlic.

Remove from heat when garlic is fragrant.

Whisk in a bowl the 4 eggs, milk, parsley, Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Once the pasta is done, drain it, reserving a cup of the pasta-water - just in case you need to moisten the final product.

Put the HOT pasta back into the pot and toss in the egg mixture.  Toss together.  

Add in the bacon/leek mixture and keep tossing until creamy and combined.

Serve immediately with fresh grated Parmesan and fresh chopped parsley.

Smacznego!