Sadly, this is the last report from my trip to Dobrzyn, as I take the afternoon train to Warsaw. We leave in 15 minutes for the station.
A typical day begins with me exiting my room at about 7:30 a.m. By that time, Andrzej and Malgorzata have already risen, showered, eaten breakfast, and are hard at work on Listy (“Letters from our Orchard,” their rationalist website). They have adjoining desks, and are at it, save for food breaks and walkies, until about 11 p.m. You can see Cyrus the d*g sleeping at lower right:
Hili was out all night again, and didn’t come back yesterday until after breakfast. As always, she announces her presence by jumping on the windowsill and meowing. But she won’t come in on her own–someone has to go get her. This task fell to me:
Rescued!:
After breakfast, a nap was in order for all carnivores:
For dinner Malgorzata made a special dish that she calls “famine dish,” as a version of it–made only with potatoes and onions–was staple peasant food in Sweden in times of famine. Malgorzata gussies up her dish (potatis gratäng) with cheese, ham, cream, and spices. It was served with homemade Polish pickles (krasne orgórki) and, of course, cold beer:
A dissection to show the layers:
Walkies after dinner, and a pleasant time in the garden. Gosia invited another mother and her daughter over to be playmates for Hania, and everybody was hanging out in the yard, including the quadrupeds:
Andrzej, who loves children, had a chat with Hania, who is two:
while Hili hung out under the tree:
Finally, to commemorate my impending departure, we made a big bonfire in the front yard (it was cool), had a few beers, and chatted as the half moon rose:
And so a sad farewell to Dobrzyn and my friends, both human and carnivore. I will miss it and them, and the Albatross is waiting. . .
Prof. Coyne is travelling now so it’s probably safe to ask. What’s the Albatross?
That’s the book he has recently written and is getting ready for publication.
Ah, right. Some of the recent posts made it sound like he was going to be arrested on return to the US.
That depends if the TSA have him on their “UnAmerican activities” watchlist. I’m sure that Ken Ham and co have been trying to get him listed for ages.
I’ve been making the joke that my Canadian passport has been delayed because I follow Russian stuff on Twitter, try to shame my own PM for his religious & anti-science behaviour on Twitter & engage in openly atheist discussions (as well as identify myself as atheist) on social media.
I guess I will find out the next time I try to fly.
Just having unpleasant flash-forwards to the Defenestration of Toronto.
(It’s not Toronto, is it, but somewhere in Canada. To quote the TSA training manual, “Isn’t Margaret Atwood a Canuk? QED.”)
How do you defenestrate a whole city?
A carefully place sonic boom? Or a medium-yield nuke?
Shhhh the NSA! You’ll get on the no-fly list! 😉
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
You chose the happy part of the poem, I always quote this part (which might say something about me):
The Book…
This may be better answered by people in the english culture sphere, but it is an allegory of The Burden That Can’t Be Put Down (penance) used as a metaphor. Or something like that.
As I remember it Jerry has hinted that TBTCBPD is a book of his in progress.
[My hope is that it will be a Sophisticated [well read] Response™ to Sophisticated Theology™, Jerry taking the bullet for the rest of us. I can dream, can’t I?]
Yes, it’s from Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The albatross is a symbol of good luck to sailors and, IIRC, the sailor shoots the albatross with a cross bow because they are all starving, then they have terrible luck, so his punishment is he has to wear the albatross around his neck.
My eyeballs were getting fat seeing all those delicious noms so it’s good you’re coming home.
Yum. Recipe?
Recipe?
(1) Be in the middle of a famine ;
(2) Peel, cook and eat anything you can.
Repeat as necessary (if necessary, eat the peel).
There’s a Terry Pratchett recipe somewhere … In “Small Gods” (the one about the tortoise without many believers), “Pets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o’course.”
There are worse ways to spend an evening.
Absolutely fabulous! Working out how to make that dish without the Polish Pickles. Any chance of a recipe?
Many recipes found thanks to Mr Google. Translated from Swedish but has step by step photos http://www.recepten.se/recept/potatisgrataeng.html
No farewell to the feline? or is she human?
Famine dish: looks excellent! And this illustrates Hempenstein’s first culinary axiom (formulated last week): As long as you have onions, as long as there’s anything else edible in the house, more’n likely you’ll be able to make dinner.
The second axiom: Even the worst beer can probably be used to advantage in cooking.
Even if you have nothing else edible in the house, sautéed, caramelized, or even grilled onions can make a meal
For some reason. read carnivore as canine.
The famine dish dissection photo was much appreciated. 🙂
Malgorzata, would you be willing to please share the recipe for the famine dish? Looks really good!
I can inform the readers that Professor Ceiling Cat is now safely in Warsaw at the hotel by the airport. And here is the recipe for the “famine dish”:
Slice 10 biggish potatoes into thin slices.
Slice 1 big onion.
Cut 200 gram good ham into strips.
100 milliliter cream.
Put a layer of potatoes on the bottom of a greased baking tray, sprinkle with salt, black peper and plenty of dried thyme.
Next, spread the onion slices evenly over. Ham comes as the next layer. Cover with the remaining potato slices and add salt pepper and thyme.
Pour cream over it and cover with grated cheese.
Bake in the oven (210C) for 40-50 minutes.
Yes, indeed, i’m at the airport hotel, and wish mightily that I could dine on famine food. That was a GREAT dish. Thanks to Andrzej and Malgorzata once again (for the third time!) for their incomparable hospitality.
Malgorzata, are you perhaps of Swedish background? I make a similar dish, minus the cream but with a little butter, and with grated whatever leftover bits of cheese I have in the fridge. I then often cover with Plastic film (Saran Wrap) and nuke fir about 1/2 hr. It’s nice to make in the microwave when the kitchen’s alreadyhot enough.
My Swedish background consists of living in Sweden for 15 years. I like the country, I like the people and I liked plenty of dishes (though I can live happily without lutfisk).
Despite my 1/4 Norwegianess, i don’t believe I’ve ever tasted lutefisk, and as adventurous a cook and eater as I am, I am in no rush to sample it:-)
Someone I knew once (a Norwegian) described lutefisk to me as a cross between soap and vodka …
Oh, yummy-not:-(
Malgorzata needs to write a cook book for us all – with some profits going to free thinkers, FFRF or similar? All her recipes look so delicious…..and with a dedication to you, Professor.
“Cooking for Skeptics”. “Food for Free Thinkers.” “Areligious Appetites.” “Rational Recipes.”
It would have to illustrated with Hili Dialogues about food (which almost all of them are anyway). Cats + Food = a sure best-seller.
Great post. Thanks for sharing. Would have loved to share in those scrumptious repasts too.
I often wonder about all these “peasant foods” and “starvation foods” (etc.) in Europe that contain potatoes. I don’t deny that potatoes were incredibly popular all over Europe once introduced. But they are from North America! What did the Irish, for example, do before hand? Starve by the thousands?
Potatoes are from Peru in South America,Keith.Before their introduction augmented and improved the diet of the majority of Europeans various grains,chestnuts and even acorns served as the main source of calories.
Due to a computer disaster that put me off the air for quite some time, I have only now caught up with your posts from Dobrzyn. Thanks very much for doing that — I really enjoyed reading the posts, and the pictures were great (even though many of them made me salivate in the middle of the night, which is usually when I have the time to read my emails). Thanks again.