Yes Warsaw, I neglected you.

Sorry Warsaw. I know. I have totally been distracted by the world of Portugal. So what can I say.....???? Sorry again.

Ok so life in Warsaw is now changing drastically. It is September, the time when Warsaw kicks back into life. Everyone has returned from their holidays in the lakes or abroad. Public transport is less dominated by Grannies and more by stinky noisey school kids. The weather has turned it on, and it is radiant. Even clothes dry on the line in an afternoon.

Recently Marty and I have been lucky enough to have Luke and Zuzypants over from the States and Spain, respectively. So we have been eating great food, playing parlour games and painting, as we like to try to make all our guests.

The Summer has also inspired me to get creative with food and become a more self sufficient cottage industry person, in a way.

Take some good Polish apples, preferably a little tart in flavour.
Cut them up into small cubes, after removing the cores. Keep the skins on for flavour.
Add sugar, brandy and of course something traditional, Polish Vodka.
Then shake it all about. Try to dissolve all the sugar. An easier, but less fun alternative, is to dissolve the sugar in warm water earlier.
There you have it. The making of a schnapps/liquor. All we need now is time to really let the flavour of the apples get into the alcohol.

Something else I really desperately wanted to try and had the chance, due to Obi being near the house and because they have Demi-johns. Was Gingerbeer. This is how it works......

Combine yeast and warm water, with sugar and warm water.

Peel the ginger and then chop it up really finely, with this add lemon juice, and more water, this time cold.And there you have it, already to go. It is sitting next to me now, bubbling away at differing intervals, as the little yeast ferments away.

Ok and finally to stay on the topic of beverages, with Winter poking his ugly mug around the corner, it means we will leave the house a little less. Also we were (I was) sick of cleaning up the exploding stove top espresso coffee maker. So we splurged....

Yes we now have a lovely Spanish girl in our kitchen. It must be a girl as anyone who knows Spanish boys knows that most of them are useless in a kitchen. :) This one makes delicious coffees!

So now every morning we don't hide around the corner in case of explosion, instead we stand with awe as this amazing 18 bar wonder pumps out some tasty brown deposits. If you are living in Poland and looking for a coffee machine, this is great value on sale at Saturn now! :) Enjoy, and if you want to drop round for coffee drop me a line! :)