I've taken up smoking

Yes at the age of 33 I have decided that it is about time I tried to smoke. I think you can't really appreciate this when you are younger as it is just something that older people tend to do. Oh yes, of course people, I am not talking about cigarettes, pipes or a cheeky cigar. No. I am talking about foodstuffs. We repaired the smoker in Sokolka with a nice bricklaying display by myself and Marty. Now, we may even be able to smoke hot as well as cold there. We have produced our first batch of smoked cheese and well it wasn't too bad I must say. I was a nice light apple-wood smoke.

is that corn?

looks like two!

Oh it is cheeses! Yum!

Look at that smoker go!

Smoked cheese, for everyone outside of Poland, is a Polish tradition, delicacy and appears god given birth right. Here in Poland (as opposed to the UK, NZ and Australia) is a veritable sea of smoked products! There is smoked: sausages, cheeses, chicken, turkey, beef, and of course, lots of fish of all types shapes. So it was only natural that I would eventually get to this point in time. :) The next challenges to look at is can we smoke turkey, as the flavour of smoked turkey is just delicious, I would also love to do beef, but think that would be a little harder.... we will see though. Anything is possible. :) Suggestions or tips and hints will be gladly received.

Also, on the weekend of smoking, I was lucky enough to try something I didn't know existed. No, not the mosquito repellent that was needed to keep away the innumerable blood sucking bastards. Like you can see in the photos of me swimming in the sea of chamomile, and trying to dance to remove them from my delicate models skin.
I hear a buzzing.....

Mosquitos!!!!!

It was the chance to drink the unheralded Russian Champagne (sort of) wine! It was very reminiscent of Chateau Yaldara sparkling wine, for anyone who was once a teenager in Adelaide. Sweet to the extend that it was like sparkling cordial! So maybe something I don't need to return to in the very near future, maybe the Russians should stick to things they are good at, Caviar and English football teams.

Yay, something new to try!

But it has a plastic cork!

Oh well here goes nothing, if I am blind in the morning blame the Ruski's.

And so the sun sets on another Sokolka experience...... what will happen next?

So kooky Sokolka

Well the long weekend allowed us to get on the road again to see the in laws in the North East.

After the drive in the rain into the area of lakes (I know how they get filled now!), we arrived to another great feast of food from Marta's mother. We also got the chance to see the new world they have created in the attic for us. It is a new bedroom and another 2 living spaces. So it was nice to go and see that and the new world that exists for us.

The next day was spent relaxing and enjoying the ambience of serenity in Sokolka, along with a little job which we thought would be a lot quicker than it was. We dug up the old food smoker, as it had been struggling to work of recent times. After getting through the trees, soil and then concrete, we found out that the pipe that let the smoke through, to the food, was totally full of soil and ash. So after about 1.5 hours of digging to get it out, breaking through the concrete footings, we realised we had broken the pipe!! So we could have just smashed it all up in the first place! Hopeless!

That day we also cooked a nice little (not too spicey) Curry for the family, complete with Naan Breads which are suprisingly easy to make! Just need a little flour, yeast, water and small amounts of salt and sugar, and happy bubbly days! See below.

So that was Day one. Day two and three was mostly painting in the new area in the attic. It was indeed great fun getting dirty again. Rolling around on the floor trying to get into tiny angled corners and with it being white paint on white board, trying to figure out which parts we had painted was also a challenge.

This was actually one of the few things we could do, as you can imagine at this time of year in Poland (especially in the Eastern provinces), it can tend to be wet. So being inside and painting was fun. We also did this on a smaller scale by getting the family to sit around the table and paint some small canvases with more creative themes than the white on white we had played with.

Sunday came and we got the chance to go out for dinner to a local restuarant. I was able to try two local delicacies which were Pyzy (large meat-filled potato dumplings) and KISZKA ZIEMNIACZANA (potato sausage), see the pics below :)


And this is how they look inside. The external dumpling is a potato based starchy concoction. It is actually a lot nice than it sounds!

This is a Schnitzel well not exactly it is called a KOTLET SCHADOWY, which is pork rather than in Australia where we have mostly Chicken and Beef.


Of course Marta couldn't resist, but to have her traditional Pierogi dumplings, which is something we are planning to make at home very soon! We have even bought the devices that make them as it isn't done entirely by hand. So we are going to try and bring the old world to a new world with some random flavours. These of course were Russian style (sheep cheese).