Mysterious rhubarb.

Yes! A rhubarb is a synonym of my childhood. Still, in my garden in Koło my grand father cultivates this brilliant plant. All the time my grand mother in spring and summer prepares me a sweet compote. I remember that all summer I ate it with my brother - just like that, directly from the ground. I'm the great fan of rhubarb, but attention - rhubarb leaves contain poisonous substances, including oxalic acid which is a nephrotoxic and corrosive acid that is present in many plants. So, do not eat it too much! But for me it is so tasty...  Last month I made a great tart for my name-day! Delicious! 

Bake with me!

So I start to cook! Today I would recommend you a really nice and quick recipe for madeleines - a real french cookies!  It's a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France. Enjoy!

My own work! :)

Ingredients:
- 120g (1 cup) flour + some for sprinkling forms
- 100g butter + a little to grease the mold,
- About 1/3 cups of milk,
- 100g (1/2 cups) sugar
- 2 eggs,
- 1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- Almond extract / vanilla

Created by:
1) melt butter in a saucepan or microwave and let cool.
2) fluff eggs with a fork or whisk in a small bowl.
3) In a second bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and sugar.
4) Once cooled, add the butter and egg into the flour, pour the extract and mix thoroughly with a whisk.
5) Add enough milk to the batter was not too thick and not too thin, I added 1/3 - 1/2 cups of milk).
6) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour.
7) Set the oven to 200C.
8) Prepare the form.
9) Fill it up to three quarters of each form (better a little less).
10) Bake 10 min at 200C, then reduce temperature  to 180C and bake for another 10 min.


Bon appetit!

French time!

Cooking!

I love to eat. It is obvious, everybody love to eat. Especially a really good food. When I was at Erasmus, in Brittany (Bretagne) in the north of France I had an opportunity to try a wery diffrent kind of dishes. Brittany offers a wide range of fresh seafood and fish, especially mussels and oysters. Pancakes and galettes are the two most iconic Breton dishes. The pancakes, made and served with butter, are eaten for dessert or breakfast, and the galettes are usually salty and made with buckwheat. They traditionally replaced bread as basic food and they can be served with cheese, sausages, bacon, mushrooms or eggs. At first time, for me it was awful to try all sea food, by finally I done it! And I can say, that I really like shrimps and mussels St. James. The traditional drink of Brittany is cider. Brittany is the second largest cider-producing region in France. It's soo delicious! I really love Brittany!

For me France means cuisine!

 Snails - you can buy it everywhere!

My beloved shrimps - obligatory for an apperitif!

I try really hard to do galette :)

In a lift... and problem with accent.

Hey, after a little break here I am!

So, today when I was going in a great hurry to our English classes I took a lift... yes, our department lift. I came in, after that, normally, the doors was closed aaad - I was in total darkness! It was not comfortable, the lift wast illuminated only by the little red light of the current floor. It was a little stressful and very long journey! And you? What was the most stressful to you last time? I recommend you a brillinat film, that takes place in a lift. I love english humor and as we know, a problem with the lift does not have to be the most important :)




To chill you, I just read, that Daft Punk prepares a new album! Listen :)

Family portrait

Well, we were asked to show a photo of ours families. So, as we can see I have a huge family, but I love that. I have a great deal of aunts, uncles, cousins. This photo was taken in 2011 to celebrate 50th wedding anniversary of my beloved grand parents Józef and Barbara. It was a great party! Like a little wedding - a lot of food, music group and dancing until the morning.

I would like to show a photo of my crazy dog, also a member of my family. His name is Karat and he does all the time "amen" signe with his ears :)

Oh, it's sooo British!

I just read that the majority of Americans still believe in stereotypes about the British. Why them? It is obvious that every nation and every man may still believe in stereotypes, but the British and Americans, are sometimes really nasty!

What can we find? Well things like:
- they are reserved, 
- they have an obsession about the class system,
- they drink a lot!
- they are still obesed about second world war, 
- they still have old - fashioned customs: tea time!
- Everyone in Britain has a plummy accent and talks like the Queen
- All Britons have bad teeth
- Britons love to queue .... 

Ouf! it's a lot! I recommend you 2 articles to confirm this opinion. And you? Did you know about that?

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2011/09/lost-in-translation-five-british-stereotypes-that-are-true/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/26/british-stereotypes-please-mention-war

Aaand a realy nice picture, that conform this is still tue :))

It's hard to be your best friend....

Hi, 

Well, sometimes I love watching advertisement in TV. Unfortunately, I do not have a TV recently, so my contact with  pop culture is limited to the Internet. I am obviously not the only one! The Polish television  have rather poor quality and effectiveness of advertising. Often it's based on showing a healthy, beautiful family. "Buy a powder!", "Buy a toothpaste!" And so on ... 

Advertising in the West are much more dare. Some fall into abject stupidity, but still there are those that really play and make an impression! The last ad I found is the last production of Carlsberg. It's hard to be your best friend - watch and see that true friendship and real beer is priceless!

The power of color!

Hi everybody!

Looking out the window and seeing all this snow I really miss the colors. When spring is coming? I'm waiting! Reviewing thousand of films in You Tube I've found a really interesting proposition, that explain to me one question of my childhood - if red color that I can see is the same RED that you can see? or, if yours RED is my GREEN? This guy explain it in incredible simply way, I recommend you all his channel :)

Enjoy!

1000 Years of Annoying the French - Touché!

I just read a brilliant book entitled "1000 Years of Annoying the French" written by British author, ho lives currently in Paris - Stephen Clarke. Why that tile? 

As we can read on the back cover the author breaks down the myths that created a national identity of the French and he tells us a real story about what happened from 1066. Clarke asked himself: "One of the most frequent questions I get when doing readings and talks is: why is there such a love-hate relationship between the French and the Brits? (...) I realize that any book that gives a balanced view of history is going to irritate French people a lot. So I’m really sorry, France, but the 1,000 years of being annoyed by les Anglo-Saxons aren't over yet …"

We can find that Jeanne d'Arc was betrayed by French, that bubbles in champagne we can owe to Mr Merret (Briton) and a guillotine (Halifax) was invented in England. During reading I couldn't stop laughing - Clarke use popular, almost "speaking" style of writing, using all the time irony and lards his book with British humor. In fact, he shows a real historic facts, that sometimes can be cliché in our belief.

I present you a nice interview from France 24 (yes, it's in English!) with Stephen Clarke and I truly recommend you this book! Voila!

http://www.france24.com/en/20101009-2010-10-09-0110-wb-en-culture

A review from The Daily Mail : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1258399/How-English-invented-champagne-facts-guaranteed-infuriate-French--1-000-YEARS-OF-ANNOYING-THE-FRENCH-BY-STEPHEN-CLARKE.html

Aaand my own copy in Polish :) 

So, let open the secret door.

As the project has to be in English, I will publish interesting articles (and other things) in English only. That's the point!

Well, for a good begining, as I just read, let open the secret door :)

Enjoy!

http://www.safestyle-windows.co.uk/secret-door/