These are, as usual, photographs from yesterday, a day that started with a glass of fresh cherry juice and a cuddle with the Feline Princess of Poland. Oh, Poland were paradise enow! (Click pictures to enlarge.)
A selfie:
I was interviewed in the garden by Kaja Bryx and her partner Jacek Tabisz, who work with the Polish Society of Rationalists and produce a series of videos with humanists, atheists, artists, and politicians. There were about six 10-minute videos that will eventually be posted in bits, and with Polish subtitles. The “tunnel” is a child’s toy, which blew back and forth during the interview, but wasn’t visible. It was in that tunnel that Hili set her famous trap using an apple as bait.
The interview gave me my first chance to wear the Official Hili Shirt™, which I’ll be wearing again in October at a very special event that I cannot yet announce. I posted this picture yesterday but it is so nice that I will post it again.
Hiroko, the shirtmaker and embroiderer, has now posted my review of this shirt, and a closeup of it, as well as the details, at her shop GoGo5 on Etsy (note that there are six views of it).
Hiroko’s photo which shows the tail (not visible above):
Cyrus gets a substantial meal of “dog sausage.” (In the morning he gets dry food.)
Cyrus had his teeth cleaned today (Wednesday) at a vet in Wloclawek (pronounced Vwote-slaw-vek”). The other day the lodger Gosia noticed that when Cyrus fetched a tennis ball, there was blood on it. So off to the dog dentist he went. He had a lot of plaque, but his teeth were healthy and none needed to be removed. He is now out of it, having been anesthetized for the procedure, and is sleeping it off at home:
Another 9 kilos of cherries were picked for the second batch of jam.
A pre-dinner snack (as I said, Poles are like hobbits, eating five or six times per day). This consisted of homemade cheesecake, a sweet challah (Jewish braided loaf), spread with butter and homemade apricot jam, and cherry pie, washed down with coffee. Dinner was two hours later.
Pre-dinner walkies by the river. Andrzej has a chat with Kaja and Jacek:
Sunset on the Vistula river, down a forested slope from the end of the orchard:
Dinner: “Swedish lasagna” with pork and beef, served with a salad and a French red wine. Chocolate from the Ukraine (!) followed for dessert.
And, of course, the Princess is available in the evening for cuddling and photography:
It all looks fabulous. I wish I could spend summer in Poland. Especially since it’s winter here.
I like Hili’s “white gloves” on her feet. “Cyrus, out of it” is a hall-of-fame photo caption.
Holy smoke, I can certainly see why you vacation in Poland every year! Beautiful place, wonderful people, and delicious food!
That has started my belly growling!
Mushroom omelette, I think.
With all those goodies, how is it that everybody in Poland isn’t at least 400 lbs?
It’s their penchant for walkies that keep things in balance…
Moderation in all things, even excess….
b&
Moderation in all things, even moderation.
But do you do the moderation of the excess in moderation? Is there a fixed point?
It’s moderation all the way down!
b&
D*G TIP OF THE DAY
Easy way to keep their teeth clean: Add a raw frozen chicken wing to their dinner. No kidding, this really really works.
Thanks! I will try it.
“Cyrus had his teeth cleaned today”
Oh, poor Cyrus! Nothing like a trip to the dentist to wreck your day.
I thought that chicken bones were deadly dangerous for dogs???
Only when cooked. Raw whole chicken parts, especially including skin and even feathers, are great food for d*gs and cats.
b&
Exactly!
That’s why you don’t see many chicken predators in the wild with bones stuck in their throats.
I presume the uncooked bones must crunch better?
Actually, it’s the crunching that’s bad. Raw bones are chewable and don’t crunch.
b&
I see:-)
So I guess including live chickens…My grand-dog, Lloyd, was rescued by my son when the future Lloyd was found eating live chickens on the edge of a reservation north of Whistler. My Currie- the-Pooch once took a rooster for a ride, but the rooster seemed to have survived the “fun”.
Most especially including live fowl, at least nutritionally…but that creates significant problems for people trying to raise chickens, of course….
b&
Not to mention the chickens themselves…
Yes, I imagine they’d object to predation by dogs…but, to be fair, many of those same chickens are destined for the stew pot….
b&
That is a good picture of the Princess. Nice eye color. The Swedish lasagna looks sublime.
Could we get the recipe for the “Swedish Lasagna” please?
Andrzej and Malgorzata knows this better, but I assume it is the mixed meat and the whole package (salad, wine).
Oh, and instead of meticulous love substitute a lot of freewheeling fun, it is not lovesagna but la-la-la-lasagna.
Lasagne according to a Swedish cookbook (Vår kokbok, fjortande upplagan, Raben & Sjögren)
You need:
22-24 lasagne noodles;
Meat sauce: ¾ kg ground meat (half beef, half pork)
3 tablespoons of margarine or butter
5-6 onions
2 cans (400gr) of tomatoes
4-5 tablespoons of tomato puree
2 stock cubes
2 teaspoons basil or thyme
2 garlic cloves
salt, pepper
Cheese sauce: 1 liter milk
1 deciliter flour
50 gram margarine
200 gram grated hard cheese
salt
How to make it:
Meat sauce: Dice onions. Heat up a saucepan with margarine. Fry the meat in two portions. Transfer it to a big pan (4 liter). Fry the onions, add 1 deciliter water and transfer to the pan with meat. Add tomatoes from the cans, tomato puree, stock cubes, spices and pressed garlic. Cook for 20 min. Add salt and pepper.
Cheese sauce: Mix flour with a little amount of milk to a smooth thickening. Boil the rest of milk with margarine. Add the thickening and boil for 2-3 minutes. Take the pan from the heat and mix in half of the grated cheese. Add salt.
Grease a big and deep baking tray. Pour half of the cheese sauce so that it covers the whole bottom. Place one layer lasagna noodles and cover with half of meat sauce. Place another layer of noodles and cover with the rest of the meat sauce. Place the next layer of noodles and cover with the other half of cheese sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top.
Bake in 200C for 30 minutes.
Yum, thanks, Malgorzata!
I wonder if that’s similar ingredientswise to Breen/Swedish meatballs …
Not really, you usually make Swedish meatballs with grounded meat, breadcrumbs, potatoe flour, onion, milk and eggs.
Thank you!
““Swedish lasagna” with pork and beef, served with a salad and a French red wine.”
Indeed. And Hili for dessert!
Terrific — no wonder you keep going back! I loved Poland and the Poles. I hope to return there soon. I missed all the major cities when I was there in 1992, which was a very interesting time to be in eastern Germany, Poland, and the (brand new) Czech Republic.
I’m hungry!
Methinks that the Princess is hogging the couch, but I guess it’s just her due:-)
I can’t stand it–I am going to have to find cherry pie—but it will be NOTHING compared to your pics! 🙁
In case anyone co-ing with a cat has missed the Aeon magazine post on the uncannily familiar cat, it is well worth a read. I have now renamed Prince, our rescue Himalayan, to Katmandu. He seems not to notice the word play, perhaps having been raised Polish.
I haven’t seen that article; could you provide a link?
http://aeonmagazine.tumblr.com/post/56320107696/the-uncanny-familiar-can-we-ever-really-know-a
Amusing cartoon: http://farleftside.com/2011/6-29-2011.html
Love the cartoon!
Tooooo funny! Thanks!
Hili has such an adorable nose!
Wow, those are some serious pies, I shouldn’t be looking at this website when I’m hungry…
Chinese stir-fry yesterday and Swedish lasagna today. That’s quite a cosmopolitan cook. I can almost smell the love from here. 🙂
Thanks a million for your detailed relations of your stay in Dobrzyń, makes me feel closer to that beloved place!
Dr. Coyne, those are the largest cherries I’ve ever scene. I’d love to see one in someone’s hand.
The food, great outdoors and the people all are so inviting! Not to mention the beautiful Princess Cat and her attending Knight Cyrus
A “very special event in October”
Good to hear they gave you an early notification for your Nobel Prize! 😉