New and old friends

It's always weird with those people where your only basis of interaction is some kind of a forced constellation. You graduate school to never talk to each other again. 3 years pass by and you hardly say "hi" anymore. Those people who you used to be friends with but that you really didn't have much in common with.

I'm being faced with requests for reunions from both primary and high school class mates. It's one of these settings were I really want to see some people again, but on the other hand there are a lot of people I hope I will never encounter again in my entire life.

This weekend was filled with various activities. A party at the Institute of History, an anti-ACTA demonstration and a big party at a certain collective. Friday I managed to meet a classmate from way back and someone I went to high school with who apparently didn't remember me at all (Which is ok because I only remember her because I think she's really annoying). The demo on Saturday was filled with people, so I saw a lot of people around I didn't even bother to go up and say hi to. Too much effort, too many people.

The party was packed and it was great! I got to talk to people I haven't seen for a while. That was nice! But I also "met" some people that didn't bother to come up and say hi, but clearly noticed I was there because they spend some time staring at me. I didn't say hi either, so I guess it's my own fault. But I didn't exactly feel like going up to people who apparently won't do the same to me.

I don't know if it's another case of "The Danish Syndrome" but I find it really weird. You spend years being friends, seeing each other every day, and then you graduate/move away/become less connected with the scene and all of a sudden people stop calling. I guess we all move on, but it's so weird being close to someone and then a single event just ends it all. I've seen a lot of people move away from the scene and suddenly they are not interested in going out anymore, or all our friends activities stop because the only basis of relation maybe was that scene.

Bonus: Spot me!

Sushi!
We made sushi when we got back from the demo on Saturday.
Sushi doesn't need to be expensive nor time consuming. I'll use porridge rice instead of the expensive sushi rice. It does the job! I won't buy rice vinegar, but use regular vinegar with salt and sugar. Tofu is always nice, but just using veggies and making a nice peanut butter sauce is really tasty as well.

The only precaution is: You will get dirty, those rice are sticky and messy as well!

warsaw and polish-danish love

Warsaw is like a black hole at times. On one hand I am overwhelmed with unexpected health problems and my constant struggle with university bureaucracy. I am stuck with a huge hole after a tooth removal and waiting for a piece of my vain to be cut out. On the other hand I let myself get lost between familiar spots and faces. Finally there's enough time to visit all nice vegan and vegetarian temples and gossip till you drop. I went on a walk round old Jewish ghetto and witnessed the horror of gentrification which I was only reading about till now. Old square, which was the last stop before the concentration camp was turned into a hip, concrete, modern desert. The last piece of rails was saved after some protest. And now one of the last old houses is being transformed into a fancy hotel. Above the square you can see the glass nightmare rising, and pope's monument cheering you nicely. You can never have enough of both down here.





If you continue and walk down John Paul II's street you will pass cheap sex shops. This is "Poland". Leave it behind and you will reach one of the paradises: Hala Mirowska. It's a huge market situated between two buildings, which resembles something between a magazine and a cathedral.



I found those pictures here and there so you know what I am talking about.

I think there's no better art gallery then vegetable stalls, where prices are always "circa" and people tend to chat, even if it complaining. You can also find people who paid the price for Polish transition and are severely punished for every attempt to get by, for example by selling underwear grandam's style on the sidewalk. And here it is, at the last corner: Asian shop, where you can buy a huge cube of fresh tofu for 4 PLN (8DKK, sic!), soya sauce, all kinds of noodles and ingredients that don't have a name in my modest language. So after a terrible diagnosis I tried to cheer myself up with a delicious food. I forgot how it feels to actually buy food, so this taste of oddness is my extra spice tonight. Oh! And of course long time no see friends!

ULTIMATE TOFU!

-2 cubes of tofu
-soya sauce
-fresh ginger
-oil

Pour soya sauce into a little bowl and grate a spoon of fresh ginger. Cut tofu into slices, 1-2 cm width and soak them before frying on the pan. That's it. If it was up to me I would stick to the cheapest oil but I know some people are fond of "olive oil". Let them have it;-)

NEW SAUCE

-one big leak
-green peace in a can
-can of coconut milk
-salt, pepper, curry

Wash the leak and cut its leaves along. Then cut into slices. Once I saw A using also the very green part and I felt in love with this idea! The more leak, the better. Fry it on olive oil (yes). Then add peas and coconut milk. Spice it and then wait till the liquid evaporates. We want it dense!





KOTLETY

I am a burger freak. You gotta learn this wors -> kotlety! This time I used Karola's old recipe, pimped with a little bit of red lentils.

-1 glass of red lentils
-1 glass of oatflakes
-2 glasses of corn flakes
-salt, black pepper, sweet red pepper and curry

Boil the lentils. Usually you need only a few minutes and small amount of water so make sure you won't burn them. Pour boiling water onto the other flakes in a bowl. After 5 minutes mix everything together and fry them all! Just recently I started paying attention to shapes, structure and texture. Tastes better. So I try to form nice, flat and round burgers instead of splashing a big spoon of dough into the oil.







POLISH-DANISH CASSEROLE

Basic dumbsterdiving dish because of the most common findings. Danish memmory, spiced with a little bit of Polish love herb.

-2 or 3 carrots
-2 big beat roots
-4 potatoes
-2 parsleys
- 2 cloves of garlic
-lovage!/ lubczyk!/ løvstikke! This is the reason why I'm constantly in love;-)

You can also use garlic, onion, peppers, parsnip and that other Danish root I don't know a name of...

Peel what needs to be peeled, cut vegetables in slices. Place on a plate with baking paper. Pour a little bit of oil, some salt and of course the lovage! Lots! Bake for around 30 minutes in 200C.



SALAT A.

-red pepper
-fresh cucumber
-lettuce
-sesame seeds
-olive oil
-half of a red grapefruit

Cut pepper, lettuce and cucumber into thin stripes. Add some roasted sesame seeds and a dressing made out of 3-4 spoons of olive oil and squeezed grapefruit juice.

SALAT B

Can you imagine a Polish dinner without salted cucumber pickles? Tastes best with chopped onion! Yey!






I miss you as well and you know it;-)!

Pizza Tuesday and kitchen make-over

Yesterday was Tuesday and Tuesdays are pizza day!
Plus we picked up a new wonder: The combi oven/spaceship - a moving in gift from my parents.

So while the dough was resting, I installed this crazy machine. The best thing about it is that it has a pizza program that cooks really good pizzas in just 14-17 minutes - fuck yeah!

Crusty pizza recipe
Wash your filthy little hands. Mix half a package (25 g.) of yeast with 3 dl of water. Add salt, a bit of sugar and a just a scoop of rapeseed or olive oil - whatever's in your kitchen.

 Then rummage through your cabinet for flour - I used leftover graham flour, whole grain wheat and plain white wheat. A good rule is that about half the flour should be plain white flour, otherwise the pizza dough will get too heavy. Only using white flour will make the pizza too light and it won't keep you full for long. I like to use rye for variations, but never more than 1/4-1/3 of the total amount of flour, because the pizza will get too hard and heavy.

Flour of choice

Mix in the flour. When mixing gets too tough, take the dough out of the bowl and mix the rest of the flour in on the kitchen table. Remember to cover the table top in flour as well! Get your hands dirty! When the dough is smooth but not sticky, you'll have added enough flour. Then knead the fuck out of that dough! The more you knead, the more airy the dough gets and the better the pizza.
Then put the dough back in the bowl, cover it in a tiny bit of oil and let it rest somewhere warm until it has doubled in size.

Mixing

The finished dough

Prepare the toppings while the dough rests. You can use whatever you have handy in your kitchen. My favorites are fresh tomato, potato, mushroom, tofu, beans and onion. Blend canned tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper to make a good pizza sauce. Mix oil, vinegar, a bit of soymilk and a whole lot of garlic, merian and oregano to make a good sauce for the toppings. Merian is the super-secret ingredient and a trick all professional pizza places use to keep you coming back for more.

Toppins!

When the dough is ready, roll it on the table top. Put it on a oven pan before you add the toppings. Add the red sauce, toppings and then the oil-vinegar sauce. The more toppings you add, the harder it will get to eat without using a fork. And eating pizza like that is blaspheme, right?

Ready for the oven!

As I mentioned before, my fancy oven has a pizza program. If you don't, set the oven to 200-220 degrees and let it warm up for 10 minutes before popping your pizza in. Your pizza will need 20-40 minutes depending on your oven and the dough. Too much red sauce = longer cooking time to apply a thin layer only! Check your pizza after 20 minutes, and then in 5-10 minute time intervals until it's done.

The spaceship w/ pizza

Enjoy!

We made a total of 5 pizzas, enough for both lunch and dinner today as well! Pizza Tuesday = pizza Wednesday.

P.s. Z I miss you like crazy!