Monday 16 June 2008

springing it up...

Spring hoard. Cucumber, baby potatoes, young garlic, cherries, strawberries, dill.
And a new colander from the market.

It’s been a while. During my slack-arse blogging period I began to convince myself that Poland stopped being novel and therefore there was no longer a need for me to write about it. But who was I kidding? It is enough that it is strawberry season and that in itself deserves a bloody post. These delicious beauties are at $2 a kilo! A kilo!! People are shitting their pants literally during this short-lived period (strawberry season only lasts a couple of weeks). I went to my local veggies market and overheard two vendors chatting. I was buying cherries and bent down to repack my backpack in order to catch every word. It went something like this:

Vendor 1 (bleached curly hair, socks and flip flops, a bum-bag):

You know Stasia (short for Stanislawa), I ate about one and a half kilos of strawberries yesterday for dinner.

Stasia (brown curly hair, normal looking shoes, a bum-bag):

Big deal. We’ve all been doing it.

Vendor 1: Yes. But afterwards I drank a litre of buttermilk!

Stasia: Oh no! (o jej!)

Vendor 1: I was glued to the bog for the whole evening! (chuckles with pleasure)

Stasia: Well you deserve the runs for that you silly duck!

Indeed. Never eat an abundance of fruit followed by a fermented beverage. Nor drink water with cherries. The result is strikingly similar.


a whole lot of strawberry love - I made jam

Incidentally it is also cucumber season.
I have begun the pickling process. Garlic, salt, wild dill.
Clay pickling pot, Christmas present from my mum. I asked for it.

No comment. I didn't even make the damn thing.

I just ate it. (Efforts courtesy of Michal's mum).


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to have you back. My inbox has been barren and lifeless for ages :)

Anonymous said...

Lap it up Justyna. I don't remember that last time strawberries were under $5.99 a punnet here!

Natalia

mischa said...

yum yum yum and welcome back to your blog.

Michael Wong Thye Seng said...

Tell Matylda to adopt me! I have spent the last 2 weekends thinking about her golabki and wondering if I should even bother trying to make them. God damn it.

Anonymous said...

WOW... hang on, let me wipe off my drool. Can you send a jar of jam over please? Keep blogging!

Michael Wong Thye Seng said...

Contra deal: you send me strawberry jam; I send you Dundee marmalade.

My Dundee marmalade has been endorsed by many — including a Scotsman, who declared it 'excellent'.

Anonymous said...

i actually paid 4 dollars a punnet as decoration for my desert dish this last cousin dinner. . . wouldnt mind eating strawberries as a main! tell me will it still be season in late july? heres hoping! glad ur back to writing!!